The following tracks are recorded in mid-side stereo.
I lived in South Africa near Kruger Park in early 2006. This was recorded off the back verandah of Mundulea House on Karongwe Reserve in Limpopo Province. This is the beginning of a very huge storm coming in. We recorded greater than 100mm of rain on the gauge the next morning.
We camped one evening at Nakluft View near Sesriem, Namibia on the edge of the Namib Desert, the oldest desert in the world. At about midnight we began to hear jackals calling around of campground and I went up onto a plateau near our campsite to record one of them. There were thousands of giant armoured ground crickets crawling along the ground as well and it was all I could do keep quiet as they slowly walked across my feet.
Here is a recording of a lovely huge, pale grey, pink eyed juvenile Giant Eagle Owl. He or she is perched nearby up in a Leadwood Tree on Karongwe Reserve.
At Boulders Beach on the Cape Peninsula there is a colony of about 3000 African Penguins, the largest colony on mainland Africa. You’ll hear why these birds were called Jackass Penguins until very recently. Just down the road from where these penguins were recorded is a portion of the beach where humans are allowed to swim in the bay along with the penguins. So fun.
Two young male impala going at it to test their mettle and secure their mates.
A swarm of Matabele Ants communicating. I can only assume they are planning their next raid on a termite mound. You cannot hear this strange squeaking from 6 feet off the ground, but when you lower your ear, or your microphone to ant level this sound is surprisingly loud.
Caterpillars Eating Marula Tree
Probably the strangest ambient sound I’ve heard yet. This subtle clicking you hear is actually made by caterpillars. The caterpillars will attack a tree and over the course of a few days, will eat all the leaves off the tree. This tree is a Marula Tree on Karongwe Reserve and the clicking sound is actually their feces hitting the tree on its way to the ground. Weird.
A group of Baboons up in some trees recorded from Mundulea House on Karongwe Reserve.
My hairiest moment in South Africa. While on research drive one afternoon on Karongwe, we drove up a road and inadvertently between the elephant herd and the Matriarch of the herd. In her own way, she let us know that we were not in a spot that she approved of. While normally we would stand firm in our truck when an Elephant approached, this encounter found us deciding it best to speed in reverse away from her as quickly as we could. She came charging at us full tilt and trumpeting to boot. She was within about 3 meters of our truck before she stopped running.
Just a short piece of a lion relaxing and stretching on the reserve.
These two recordings are of a group of three lions tucking into a baby giraffe which they had only just taken down and killed. You’ll hear them chewing on bone, tearing skin, breathing and gulping and swallowing. We were lucky enough to sit for 2 hours only 10 meters away from this scene during a beautiful sundown on Karongwe.
These four tracks are various roaring sequences. Rather than aggressive roars, these are contact calls to let others know where they are and to request a response for reciprocal information. They are all at night and feature two lions roaring at once. The 3rd track is an edited piece of a roar as the beginning was too loud for the recorder.
An enormous thunderstorm rolling in from a few miles away. Recorded at dusk in the middle of Karongwe Reserve with flie svery interested in what I was doing.
Recorded as the sun was almost down at Croc Dam on Karongwe Reserve. Egyptian Geese can be heard across the water as well as many frogs and the splashing of fish as they jump out of the water to catch insects.
These are my favorite frogs at Karongwe. I’m wasn't sure what the species name was, to me they make a sound that reminds me of a raindrop. But Walter Knapp came to the rescue and ID'd these as Bubbling Kassina [Kassina senegalensi]. Recorded at dusk again along the edge of a small dam.
This following recordings are of a man named Goodman singing on a street corner in downtown Cape Town. Goodman is blind and busks most afternoons. He plays in open tuning with a similar chord structure for all of his songs. He also plays the guitar in an unusual position sitting and holding the guitar upright and facing him and barring the chords with his thumb only. While his songs are simple I believe there is something pure and driven about his performance.
The following tracks are recorded in binaural stereo.
This is a lazy Monday afternoon wandering up the hill towards Table Mountain, through the Bo Kaap neighborhood in Cape Town. This is a largely Muslim area, home to the erroneously titled Cape Malay people of South Africa.
A walk through Greenmarket Square and surrounding area, right in downtown Cape Town on a Thursday afternoon.
This and the following three tracks are recorded at Tamfafa’s Shebeen [bar] in Imizamo Yethu Township near Hout Bay. Hout Bay is down the Cape Peninsula from Cape Town, on the way to the Cape of Good Hope. This track is the sound of the jukebox and young folks cheering as some of their rank are breakdancing for us.
Brothers With Voices/Iman Fuma
The Brothers With Voices Choir perform one of their songs Iman Fuma.
Brothers With Voices/Welcome to Cape Town
The Brothers With Voices Choir perform another of their songs.
Brothers With Voices/Lindelani
The Brothers With Voices Choir perform another of their songs.
These two tracks are recorded one afternoon in a small alley off Greenmarket Square in Cape Town. The songs are performed by small school children.