Modding Blues

And then there’s Mod… I’m a Chat Moderator at the NamibiaCam livestream, a proud member of The Blue Crew!

We’re all volunteers, seated patiently in front of our various-sized screens, guiding the 24-7 discussion of the animals (and other phenomena) seen and heard at the three cams livestreaming from Etosha, the Kalahari, and the Namib desert.

I first found this channel in late 2021 as the La Palma volcano eruption was winding down - people at that stream’s chat were looking for new places to go and some suggested the Namib Desert livestream (the only cam streaming at that time).

I fell in love with the view… it spoke to something primeval within me, soothing my nerves and relieving stress. The Namib desert is tens of millions of years old; the jackals haven’t changed much in almost 3 million years - my daily dramas faded to insignificance as I watched the slow ebb and flow of desert days and nights, letting the rhythm of the desert reconnect with my primal instincts and remind me of the world that once was… and here, still is.

After a while I began participating in the chat; many of the chatters from that time are still chatting today. A while later I was asked to be a moderator. I haven’t looked back…

While “modding” has its responsibilities, the positives FAR outweigh the negatives: Team Blue is a community of its own within the much larger “NamCam Family” of mods, chatters and viewers. We support one another, cry on each others’ shoulders when we need to, share the facts & info we’ve researched on our own time and according to our individual observations, and help each other be the best mods we can be.