[HN Gopher] Live Stream from the Namib Desert
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Live Stream from the Namib Desert
Author : surprisetalk
Score : 371 points
Date : 2025-10-17 12:23 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (bookofjoe2.blogspot.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (bookofjoe2.blogspot.com)
| basilikum wrote:
| The Namib is also home to this rather strange but extremely
| adapted plant: Welwitschia -
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welwitschia
| reaperducer wrote:
| People tend to think that deserts are lifeless wastes to be
| readily exploited because who cares, right?
|
| If you've ever actually lived in or explored a desert, you
| quickly learn that they are full of life. More than most urban
| landscapes.
| whiplash451 wrote:
| Why especially on HN?
| seclorum_wien wrote:
| Can confirm, have ventured all over the deserts of my
| homeland, and every time I do, I am filled with awe at the
| temerity of life on the brink of hardship.
|
| It is a spiritually rewarding activity to look out over a
| landscape, be still for a while, and notice the absolute
| abundance of life, as robust as ever.
|
| Even in the dustiest Earth voids, there are colours and
| growth. It pays to look for it.
| rafram wrote:
| The Mojave Desert has some of the most beautiful life (plants
| and animals both) that I've ever seen. I think the lack of a
| green canopy just misleads people - it looks like a sea of
| yellow-brown in a satellite image, and even in person, you
| have to look closely to see the life. But that just makes it
| more special IMO.
| IncreasePosts wrote:
| The word "Namib" means "place where there is nothing" in
| Khoekhoegowab, spoken by the people who live right next to
| the desert and assuredly explored it.
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| Where are you getting the gloss? Wiktionary has a
| definition "wasteland", but also derives it etymologically
| from a verb meaning "walk". Is there an element that means
| "nothing"?
| sandworm101 wrote:
| They are empty places. The biomass per square area is a
| pittance compared to any other habitat. Water is life. Places
| with less water have less life. Not all places are equal.
| DyslexicAtheist wrote:
| awesome, would be nice to stream this to a screen on the wall in
| my home office ... even with low volume sound. project for the
| weekend :)
| gfna wrote:
| We did this in a project where, due to reasons, we used a
| windowless, dull, claustrophobic meeting room for 6 months.
| Every now and then our daily was interrupted by the sight of an
| elephant on the screen
| reaperducer wrote:
| _would be nice to stream this to a screen on the wall in my
| home office_
|
| I once toured an elementary school in one country that was
| "twinned" with another elementary school in another country.
|
| One of the classrooms (4th grade, maybe?) had one wall that was
| entirely a projection from a camera set up in a classroom of
| the other school. The other school had the opposite setup.
|
| The effect was of one large classroom, though the projected one
| was naturally a little dimmer, fuzzier, and de-saturated. But I
| was told that even though there was no audio link between them,
| the children of the different classrooms got to know each other
| on sight, and formed social bonds.
| bookofjoe wrote:
| I had exactly this thought looking at this camera's feed. Put
| it on a huge screen in a classroom BUT only turn it on as a
| reward. Otherwise no one would ever get anything done.
| genmon wrote:
| I have regularly done just that! a projector on a big wall, and
| a portal to the namib desert... 100% recommend
|
| see my other post with the full-viewport waterhole, that was
| what I used to get rid of YouTube chrome.
| forinti wrote:
| How about time shifted so you are at the same time of day as
| the video? That would be nice.
| alexpotato wrote:
| I love that YouTube lets you jump back up to 12 hours on live
| streams so that you can see what happened recently/overnight etc.
| xnx wrote:
| And you can jump back 5 days(!) with ytarchive:
| https://github.com/Kethsar/ytarchive
| Havoc wrote:
| This also works well for safari lodges. They worked out you can
| just put a pond there and elephants etc will come while guests
| are having breakfast. Reliably present fresh water in a dry area
| = animals
| arkensaw wrote:
| how often does it rain there? I seem to have joined the feed just
| as a shower started
| nvahalik wrote:
| Same. What are the odds?
| astral_drama wrote:
| Same
|
| It made me think of The Who - Love, Reign O'er Me.
| Only love can bring the rain That makes you yearn to the
| sky Only love can bring the rain That falls like
| tears from on high
| armadsen wrote:
| The rainy season is during the summer (Northern Hemisphere's
| winter). Outside of those months it doesn't rain very often!
| I've spent two winters (June-August) in Namibia and can't
| recall much, if any rain. But now that we're approaching summer
| there, I imagine there's a little more rain. The Namib desert
| (which is a small percentage of Namibia, to be clear) is one
| of, if not the, driest deserts in the world.
| genmon wrote:
| Fellow fan of the Namid Desert waterhole here!
|
| As it happens, I made this wrapper for it
|
| https://waterhole.genmon.partykit.dev
|
| This single-serving waterhole:
|
| - makes the YouTube stream fill the browser for an Immersive
| Experience(TM)
|
| - shows how many people are watching in real-time
|
| - provides ephemeral chat with other people present
|
| I know at least one team at an unnamed big tech co who would all
| have it open on their second screens for shared ambience +
| chat...
|
| (If anybody from YouTube is reading, I have a ton of idea about
| how ambient live steams are the Next Big Thing and how to lean
| into that.)
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| Consider contributing to Peertube!
|
| https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube
| bookofjoe wrote:
| This came out last month: https://blog.youtube/news-and-
| events/live-updates/
| mckeed wrote:
| Seems like YT is mostly focusing on the interaction between
| streamer and audience (which makes sense because streaming is
| big with young ppl rn).
|
| I understand "ambient streams" to be more like a setting for
| a group chat or chat room, where you're interacting with
| friends or strangers only, there's no focus on a single
| creator/streamer. Like hanging out at an interesting location
| instead of a featureless room.
| xnx wrote:
| > I have a ton of idea about how ambient live streams are the
| Next Big Thing and how to lean into that.)
|
| Are you me?
|
| It's crazy that these giant screens spend most of their time as
| black rectangles when they could be windows to the world (with
| very tasteful/quiet/no-motion advertisements).
|
| Happy to pitch to Netflix, Roku, or other streaming services
| and/or TV manufacturers. :-)
| Gud wrote:
| I'd rather have my blank screens than ads.
| bcye wrote:
| On the topic of ambient livestreams: https://lofi.cafe
| seclorum_wien wrote:
| In my opinion this is one of the most productive uses of the
| Internet.
|
| It can really help to have this running on some spare screen
| while trapped in the deep, deep depths of cubicle hell.
|
| Even the wind is soothing.
|
| Another great Namibian destination is the "Ocean Conservation
| Namibia" channel, where one can witness the rescue of ocean life
| (mostly mammals, i.e. seals) from the plastic trash of humanity.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@OceanConservationNamibia
|
| This has been a constantly soothing device in my life for a few
| years. There is something so cathartic about seeing the little
| pups being chased down to have their bindings removed.
| nxor wrote:
| Less youtube is my next big thing. My screen time is too high.
| fishstamp82 wrote:
| I had this problem for a long time, the only thing that worked
| was installing an ad on that removes recommendations. The only
| thing I use youtube for today is intentionally following ASL
| (starcraft broodwar) in korea.
|
| The ad-on makes the home screen completely white/empty, meaning
| I just get reminded constantly ohh, yeah I am not supposed to
| use youtube unless there is something particular I want to
| watch.
| darthcircuit wrote:
| You can do this without addons. I turned off recommendations
| and history, so I get nothing in my feed and YouTube wont
| even give me a queue of shorts to scroll through. I have to
| be very intentional on YouTube now and it has cut my usage
| down a ton.
| nullwarp wrote:
| I have had this set for a while now and anytime I see
| someone elses youtube page I am horrified.
|
| Probably the first setting I would recommend for anyone to
| enable.
| Jhsto wrote:
| Where you do this?
| sionisrecur wrote:
| I guess that only works if you are logged in?
| dj_gitmo wrote:
| I'm in the exact same boat. I spend too much time on YT and
| only thing I really want it for is ASL. I'll probably try the
| plugin.
| RobKohr wrote:
| I use "Code Injector" extension which is available for
| firefox and chrome. You can add custom javascript and css to
| any page. I usually inspect the page, find the classes or ids
| of the elements I want to get rid of, and do a display:none
| on them.
| lukan wrote:
| Yes, the easy custom solution for any site, if you know a
| little js and html.
| curiosity42 wrote:
| Closest to a religious experience I could have had. Thanks!
| oblosys wrote:
| I was kind of expecting to hear Toto in the background.
| https://maxsiedentopf.com/toto-forever/
| matthew-craig wrote:
| Interestingly, I see that the watering hole is available on
| Google street view: 24deg04'29.7"S 15deg53'14.7"E
| danielfalbo wrote:
| Do you know when you look for a restaurant on google maps and you
| see a "Popular times" map of people density throughout the day +
| live updates like "Less busy than usual"? Would be fun to build
| such a thing for this
| tamimio wrote:
| Speaking of Namib Desert, yesterday I was in a nature museum and
| saw the Namib beetle, the fog collector beetle!
|
| https://imgur.com/a/UbIefte
|
| I love nature, and I am seriously thinking of changing careers
| completely away from technology and getting into a nature-related
| field, or at least something to use my technology background but
| spend most of the day with animals and in nature. I just don't
| know the whats and hows of that change yet. I would definitely
| take a job even if it's not paying that much in that direction if
| I found one in a heartbeat!
| dustrider wrote:
| Fun thing about these beetles is they do their territory call
| by knocking their abdomen against rocks or hard surfaces making
| a distinct TokTok sound.
|
| As kids we used to have great fun knocking rocks together
| around sunset to get them to call back. Kinda like beetle bird
| calls.
| ch4s3 wrote:
| A barn like in Philly used to put this up on their TV at night if
| there wasn't a game on and it was really popular. It was always
| cool to see large animals show up.
| ch4s3 wrote:
| That should say bar.
| johnny_canuck wrote:
| Does anyone know what type of camera the stream uses? Or
| recommendations of an outdoor camera/microphone that could
| accomplish the same thing? I'd love to do this sort of thing in
| our rural backyard
| bookofjoe wrote:
| Ask the moderators in the Comments section
| pamelafox wrote:
| I'd like to know as well, so that I can set up a caterpillar
| cam.
| _def wrote:
| How does this kind of watering hole work? It doesn't look like
| it's just a hole where rain ends up
| burkaman wrote:
| This one is artificial and is kept full by a solar-powered well
| system (according to the stream description).
| rcfox wrote:
| Just following the chat for a few minutes, people posted links to
| a couple of other locations:
|
| Okaukuejo waterhole in Etosha National Park:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeMUdOPFcXI (at the time of
| posting, a herd of elephants are enjoying the water)
|
| Kalahari Desert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME0dPuBtzug
| tcgv wrote:
| The elephants wandered off, and now a bunch of giraffes are
| drinking from the pond. Some of them even spread their legs
| wide to keep their feet from getting wet. Very relaxing to
| watch.
| arbuge wrote:
| I got 2 rhinos on my very first visit. Extremely cool.
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| > Some of them even spread their legs wide to keep their feet
| from getting wet.
|
| I always interpreted the spreadeagle pose of a drinking
| giraffe to be a way of bringing their head closer to the
| ground. Do they sometimes not do that?
| neom wrote:
| bookofjoe is one of my fav hn community members, didn't realize
| he had a blog - unsurprised to find it's fantastic. Thanks for
| being great, Joe! :)
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=bookofjoe
| buildbot wrote:
| Oh this is really soothing - and my cat is really intrigued by
| all the bird and other noises!
|
| Edit/warning - Wow the thunder is loud!
| munificent wrote:
| I've been feeling so pessimistic about software and the Internet
| lately and this is an excellent reminder of how magical and
| enriching it can be.
| whism wrote:
| Hi, we've never met but I dig the energy you put into your work
| that I've seen (books, dart etc). An idea I've had, but not
| brought to fruition, is that of using SmallTalk to produce a
| document of some kind -- that is, the result of the work would
| be a portable executable image that could be read and
| interacted with and so on :)
| munificent wrote:
| Sort of like a self-extracting archive. Do it! :D
| namib wrote:
| Nice to see this. I live in Swakopmund, not too far from the
| Namib Desert.
| billnad wrote:
| Reminds me of Africam. Back in the day my kids were very young
| and we would check it out every morning to see if we could see
| animals live at the watering holes, probably back around
| 2005-2008 or so?
| natestester2 wrote:
| This is awesome!! thank you so much!!
| sionisrecur wrote:
| Not a live stream, but another nice channel from Namibia is Ocean
| Conservation Namibia:
| https://www.youtube.com/@OceanConservationNamibia/videos
|
| I can spend hours watching them rescue seals.
| escapecharacter wrote:
| I've been following this stream since I discovered it as my post-
| NYE activity around 4 am at the beginning of 2024. It's been a
| joy since then.
| moralestapia wrote:
| I love this "genre", here's a few more live cams from nature
| https://sci.app
| sodimel wrote:
| Oh I suscribed to a bot on the fediverse that posts screenshots
| from this live!
|
| Here's the url: https://puntarella.party/@NamibDesertBot
| CapsAdmin wrote:
| I dunno why but it felt a weird to see rock pigeons outside of a
| city. (2025-10-17 17:00~)
| Giorgi wrote:
| >It is powered by solar-panels and the data is sent via Wireless
| signal over 35km of dunes to the nearest service provider.
| Initially a live stream was sent to a website and changed to
| YouTube in June 2021. A microphone was installed in August 2021
| to enhanced the experience watching the game. The camera was
| replaced in December 2021.
|
| I am more interested in how all this is technically achieved.
| lisper wrote:
| Direct link:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydYDqZQpim8
|
| And here is a live stream from southern Kenya:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsOU8JnEpNM
|
| and a whole bunch of others:
|
| https://greatplainsconservation.com/live-african-wildlife-we...
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(page generated 2025-10-17 23:00 UTC)