I’ve always wanted to go to Africa. Actually, that’s a massive lie, I didn’t even realise it was a continent and not a country until about 5 years ago. But it is on my to-do list. I’ve got a couple of friends in South Africa I keep promising to visit and there’s this little mountain in Tanzania that’s apparently pretty amazing to climb.

But I don’t know where I stand on the whole safari thing. I love animals and all and it’d be pretty amazing to see lions in their natural habitat rather than looking suicidal in their enclosure at Whipsnade Zoo but the thought of hurtling through their home in a jeep makes me feel a bit bad. I mean, how would you like it if people came traipsing through your lounge every night while you were trying to watch Danni Minogue make homophobic remarks on X Factor?

Besides, Easyjet don’t do flights there (yet) so I can’t actually afford to go anyway.

Bummer. Right?

WRONG!

Say hello to Africam, live video streaming from Africa! This is the next best thing for sure - I’ve been watching the Elephant Plains camera the most which allows you to spy on the animals around the watering hole at the Sabi Sand Game Reserve  in South Africa. I just saw a couple of giraffes milling around the Nkorho Pan whilst this warthog type creature was chilling in the water. It all looked pretty sweet. And considering the technicalities of installing these cameras in such remote places, the whole thing’s pretty impressive.

So yeah the downside is sometimes you’re just sat there watching a few trees blow around, waiting for something to happen but hey, you did it during Big Brother and this is way more cultural. (Ironically though the soothing bird noises you hear are pretty similar to those they used on Big Brother when they were swearing/making libelous comments/singing songs they couldn’t afford to pay royalties for.)

OMFG I JUST SAW A GIRAFFE SNIFFING ANOTHER GIRAFFE’S BUM!

Seriously, this is the future.

I’m hooked.