Hear the lion breathing into your ear

Hardly any visitor to Etosha National Park comes without binoculars. No photographer without a telephoto lens. Namibia vacationers primarily experience nature with their eyes. The Onguma Safari Camps on the eastern edge of Etosha now allow the ears to participate intensely in the experience. By using highly sensitive microphones...

The experience is called 'Onkolo Soundscapes' – analogous to landscapes. Onguma has installed special microphones around the waterhole at its 'Onkolo Hide'.

Inside the hide, the guide can flexibly point a directional microphone at desired locations. This network of microphones offers guests the opportunity to experience the sounds of nature in a new and incredibly immersive way.

Directional microphones in the hide bring sounds from any desired point at the waterhole directly to your ears.  Photo: Screenshot from the Onguma website

You don't just watch the lion drink; you also hear it slurping, snorting and breathing. Thanks to the microphones, you can practically hear the lion breathing into your ear.

Bird lovers are also thrilled by the 'soundscapes'. When the kori bustard strides majestically through the savannah grass or the Egyptian goose flaps its wings, your ears are right there.

Even the whirring of a dragonfly's wings becomes audible (see Onguma's video on YouTube). It feels like being a sound engineer on the set of one of David Attenborough's great BBC nature documentaries...

Learn more about 'Onkolo Soundscapes' in the blog post on the Onguma website.

Thanks to highly sensitive microphones, you can almost hear the lion breathing into your ear.  Photo: Screenshot from the Onguma video on YouTube