Thank's... believe it or not I have travelled a lot, but NEVER in Zim or Botswana.
I do plan a trip up to Namibia on the bike. Done it about 25 years ago with a friend on 2 motorbikes.
This time want to go up to Ruacana then via Caprivi to Vic Falls and back home through Botswana.

And we have had yet another shark attack today. This video after the attack still shows the shark hanging around: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pHj8_eDVcA

Wow, would not want to meet that big guy!

A little about the locals:

Two men in their sixties who rescued a shark victim at Fish Hoek on Wednesday, told how they braved the blood-clouded water to bring him to safety.

Douglas Drysdale, 61, from Glencairn Heights, and Hugh Till, 66, from Fish Hoek were on their way home from Pollsmoor Prison, where they are voluntary spiritual guidance counsellors.

The two men, who were in one car, normally look out for whales as they round Clovelly Corner, said the NSRI's Craig Lambinon.

On Wednesday they saw a man, later identified as Michael Cohen, 43, swimming about 25m out to sea in the direction of Fish Hoek.

Then there was a dark shape, heading directly at him.

As the dark shape grew closer to the swimmer the two men realised it was a shark.

Drysdale and Till tried to warn the man, but they were too late, said Lambinon. He'd already been bitten by the shark and was struggling in the water, blood gushing from the wounds..

Human chain

Lambinon says the men kicked off their shoes and waded through the surf to reach the injured swimmer. Douglas had called the emergency services before plunging into the water.

When they reached the swimmer, Hugh grabbed him by the hand while Douglas pulled Hugh, dragging them both to shore.

Bystanders then started screaming at the men that the shark was now headed towards them.

It was about 10m away. Their luck held when a seal appeared and swam between the men and the shark.

As the men reached the beach one of the shark spotters immediately tied his belt around the stump of Cohen's severed right leg as a tourniquet.

The two men kept reassuring the victim as he waited for paramedics to arrive

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...can-beach.html

The 43-year-old is said to have swum regularly at Fish Hoek beach, notorious for Great White sightings, even telling fellow beachgoers: ‘If a shark takes me, then blame me, not the shark.’
Witnesses said he parked his car and then walked right past a flag indicating that the beach was closed.

At least two people warned him that a shark had been seen, but he strode into the water anyway.

He was moaning and crying and pleading with them, “Please help me, please help me”.

I couldn't care if he was a stupid tourist, but then the locals must put their lives at risk for him?

i see the water is very clear for such a populated area. The water where I live (coast of California) is very dirty and muddy. I've never seen the bottom of the ocean, even at 2 feet. Much could be said about that beautiful water you have over there Gerald!

My 37 minute commute to work this morning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yff7Fb1qmdE

A friend built a little controller for my video camera - it captures a 3 second segment every minute. (therefore "compressed" 20X)

Foreigners often ask me if it is safe in South Africa, or if it is safe to drive here, or if we need a 4X4 to get around. Hope videos like this answer the questions. There is no editing of the video at all. Plan to capture some of the more popular routes....

thats pretty smart. need to clean your window for sunrise shots

Cool - I think it is funny how folks think their country is the only one with paved roads !!! :D . I had a freind from Ghana and everyone always asks him if the roads are paved !. I like that controller BTW cool !!

my window cleaner moved out

Now he's cleaning nappies :)

Wow son telling his dad to clean his window...brave man ...:D
Cannot watch Youtube at work, but it sounds interesting.
Maybe I can get it to record RT-66. I am waiting to hear from the bike rental company on a 1800 cc Honda Goldwing...all the way from Vegas to Chicago at a good price.

And then going home in the afternoon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC2Pfh-wiDE (Yes that is a Dutch windmill at 36sec.)

Got to stop the reflections of the vent under the windscreen.....

Havent had a look at the video yet, but with experience of mounting cameras in aircraft, mount the camera as close as possible to the windscreen and fashion a cone shaped flag out of matt black card that you can fit between the camera lens and the windscreen, obviously the wide end of the cone must be wider that the lens view. Because the winscreen is angled you may be able to get away with just a piece of card below the lens, extending from lens to screen.

Kobus, was that you passing in the center at 1:57 ? :)

If it was....he was nice enough to wave. :)

That's typical driver behaviour on our roads . . . . where safe, move over to let another guy overtake, and the other guy then "says" thank you.

Between cars and trucks it goes like this:
A moves over to the left to let B overtake,
B then flashes their hazard lights to say thank you
A flashes headlights to say it's a pleasure

Sigh that must be nice. Unfortunately here in California, you will get a much different wave, people are ignorant of indicators, and being passed isn't always an optional endeavor.

Gerald,

Only problem I saw was that you and all the other cars are driving on the wrong side of the road.

It was nice to see the video of the installation of the tracking units.

Realy nice place Gerald ,and no traffic .

Are you guys driving on the wro other side of the road . Kobus I hope you are use to drive the rig other side Be careful on your trip to the U.S.

Our Cars steering wheels are also on the wrong side:D

I plan to make a couple of these videos, and I will include some of the bad parts too.

it would be interesting to do champmans peak with more regular recordings per minute

And also to connect to a Bike in the cape Argus for 3sec for every 2min

Sean, the GoPro camera has become very popular. (Daniel got one for his birthday (today)). That camera can be set to shoot still pictures at time intervals of your choice, or it can shoot continuous videos. (I am seeing a couple of motorcyclists with them around the peninsula).

While one can assemble all the still shots into a video, it is not the same as video scenes assembled into the video. (eg. the motorcyclist's wave would have been meaningless)

When GoPro does a camera that can take video snippets at fixed time intervals, then I want one for Xmas! Now there is a heavy hint for the family and I know a family member is reading this! ;)

haha

now the problem is remembering your hint

A scenic drive today.

Low-definition video 35MB http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQCf6J1TIXc
High-Definition video 120MB http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S62oPfQ77wk

(another car with a whole set of reflection problems - will start work on that aspect soon)

Oh, those old cars are because a club had an outing today - they are not typical! :)

Youtube compressed my HD .wmv file and it don't look to good and it is much smaller than 120MB now!

Anybody know how to get decent quality at youtube?

Nice videos Gerald, another simple solution you can try for the reflections is a piece of matt black cloth (black velvet works well) on the dash.

Mooie Kaap, ek verlang nou huistoe, nice video Gerald

Hi Gerald

Chilling video of the shark, those Great Whites are just such a machine, eating machine that is. It does not look even the slightest bit guilty after ripping that guys leg off either.

Your travel videos were also a great insight into your home territory.
Correct me if I'm wrong but my guess is you don't plan on moving anytime soon, it is a very picturesque place.
The Gopro HD cams are also very popular in the surf fraternity, a body boarder friend of mine has one on his helmet when he goes surfing to record his waves.
We were all impressed by the quality of the videos the little camera produces.

Cheers
Ross

Gerald,
I think that timer you have would make filming a CNC machine cutting look a lot better. :)

Somebody else's GoPro footage from a helmet camera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2oymHHyV1M. See how a cyclist gets attacked . . .

Hi Gerald

That footage of the poor bike rider made the news here in Australia.

Regards
Ross

One of the great inventors of our time, Irvine Bell passed away at his home on Thuesday the 11th. I worked for him in 1986 and it was the high point in my career.
He was well known for his design of the triwheel sugar cane loader.
You can view his story and his international company's at

http://www.bellequipment.com/live/in...e.htm?OpenForm

John Deere owns some shares in the company as well.

Hi Johan, thanks for the news. The Bell company has always been a model company for me. I tip my hat to the Bell family.

Interesting video
 

For those of you that have been to the Motor Show.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hghRmFn22Qw

To Gerald & other interested people
 

The memorial service of Irvine Bell showing Gary Bell, his second son making his speech and two of the triloaders (Cane & Timber) that made Irvine so famous.
The Bell family build the success of their company on three words:
STRONG, SIMPLE AND RELIABLE.
The same words I was thinking when I saw a picture of a Mechmate for the first time.:D

Attachment 12569

Attachment 12570

I wish I could find a video of that tri-wheeler in action - it is poetry in motion. The big two front wheels are non-steering. The small back wheel is a pure castor (free steering) and un-powered. To steer the vehicle, the drive-wheel speeds are varied left/right, similar to a bulldozer.

A tri-loader used by a tame operator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fzq6VaJecA Other guys make these things dance!

The best drivers are the ones that loads the timber trucks in field. They can drive the the triloader on its front wheels as for as long as they want to. It is also very dangerous to people walking on site. Because it can turn on it's own axis, there is just no way of getting out of its way.