When it was at its peak AfriCam was seen as an innovative e-business success story. With dozens of live Web cameras situated in game reserves around South Africa beaming live pictures of wildlife to thousands of dedicated "AfriCammers" around the world, the site was getting up to 38 million page impressions a month.
A consortium led by founder and Real Time Travel Connection MD Paul Clifford, founder Graham Wallington, former CEO Peter Armitage, "adventurer" Alex Wills and Djuma Game Reserve owners Jurie Moolman, Pippa Moolman and Campbell Scott bought the business back earlier this year.
Although AfriCam seems set to reach the degree of global popularity that it enjoyed before, the owners say that for now the business will remain small, operating with low margins and few staff. Donations and advertising revenue keep the site viable and the content free.
"The Internet world is in complete disarray at the moment," says Armitage, "so our strategy is to simply keep AfriCam going without eating up a lot of cash, and we will look at further plans later. However, we have had talks on a significant project involving international TV. Any announcements on this will be made only later this year."
Visit AfriCam at www.africam.co.za.
