The raw sounds of the African wilderness
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- Опубліковано 15 лис 2024
- What does the African wilderness really sound like?
On my expeditions to South Luangwa in Zambia, I had the pleasure of sleeping in tents and on open platforms in the middle of the savanna on several occasions. It's an exhilarating experience to be completely surrounded by darkness while being able to hear an incredible amount of activity. Sometimes it's a bit too close for comfort, but even so it's relatively safe. Sometimes it's a bit boring, if all the activity happens far from where I am on that given night. Other times I'm very close to the action and I can hear hyena clans fighting prides of lions, trying to steal their prey.
On this particular night I wanted to capture the raw sounds of the African bush at night. I had plenty of similar content already, so this time I decided to focus on the acoustics of the location. The topography of South Luangwa national park is excellent for sound recording. The river South Luangwa flows at the bottom of a valley nestled between hillsides. This blocks the distant sound of aircraft and shelters the valley itself from the influence of outside factors to some extent.
Within this larger picture, there are little pockets of quiet surrounded by woodland and/or bumps in the topography. This is not scientifically researched but a mere observation - sometimes I think hyenas know where to call from to get the best acoustics and reverberation from the environment. One such place was close to our camp, and I kept hearing the hyenas call from there on several nights.
I decided to set up a rig in the middle of this little valley. My aim was to capture the hyena calls together with the reflections from all around. Quieter sounds like the nightjars and frogs would lose energy before they reaches these reflective surfaces, but louder elements like the whoops and wails of hyenas were plenty loud to bounce back and be reinforced by the peculiar acoustics. During the night I was very pleased to hear the hyenas call again, and the next day when I collected the rigs I was delighted to find these beautiful recordings. Do you think I succeeded?
Recorded at Kapamba Bushcamp with Sony PCM A10 and Lom mikroUsi microphones. Enjoying the videos I upload on here? Please consider supporting me by:
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#soundsofafrica #animalsounds #africansavanna
More soundscapes from Zambia: ua-cam.com/video/xnGuW1RLgBk/v-deo.htmlsi=Xbea5UYTK_91M5iL
Looking at the vastness of space... and then considering that this tiny blue dot is so full of life
Yes yes.
The depth and visceral effects of the hyenas is something that I have never experienced in a Nat Geo documentary or any other company specializing in African wildlife. It should be noted that this recording is for the city dweller the closest thing to experiencing, as the title rightly states, the "raw" ambiance of wilderness (be it only audio). Many thanks for this amazing recording!
My pleasure, happy to hear that.
That nightjar is my favourite! Thank you for posting this video!
Mine too!
Love this. Living in the uk, your content is played on repeat to create some ambience amidst these double glazed sound blockers…
Glad to hear these recordings help.
It just dawned on me - do you maybe have gps/google maps coordinates to the location? That would be actually amazing - maybe even include it in video description. It would really give the dimension to the recording, to explore the map while listening
I'm STILL looking for someone that actually does immersive tours with NO COMMENTARY and video records a walk thru these Jungles and hard too access areas....that would be incredible for individuals like me that read Humboldt, Darwin, Wallace, Spruce and all the natural explorers....no talking, no music...just like 60 Minute video material of these incredible areas.
@@Raydensheraj Will try to create something like this. I'm camera shy and don't have a good voice, and this sounds like the perfect job for me
I normally mention the general area in the video description. Unfortunately poachers scour the internet for certain species and I don't want to make their jobs easier by sharing exact locations.
@@GeorgeVlad Much agreed, unfortunately. Thanks for reply
Without a doubt you succeeded! I love hyena calls and with the reverb, these are just awsome, and maybe even a little scary too. Thanks as awlays.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Nunca me canso 😊
Reverberation is quite surprisingly huge
That was my plan!
I'm sorry but, unlike videos before, the sounds from this video looks like so artificial. Why does the hyena make echo? Where was the hyena to make echo? It is known the sabana is a vast flat terrain
I'm curious to hear an answer from george, as I am pretty new to field recording and thought it to be amazing, to be able to somewhat "trace" the sound of the hyena stretching out into the vastness of space
Guys, it's in the video description.
As @stefko788 mentioned, the explanation is in the video description.
@@GeorgeVlad ok thanks