South African National Parks/webcam Giraffes at a watering hole in Kruger National Park.

When donation-funded webcams on the South African National Parks site recently went offline, their value to South Africa's tourism industry became very clear.

"Since one of the cameras has been down, there has been a corresponding and significant drop in site traffic," says Dianne Tipping-Woods, SANP's Web editor.

The SANP site uses the webcams as a draw-card to increase stakeholder involvement in the site's forums (which have nearly 7000 members). Also, they're part of a citizen media effort in which site visitors help create site content and donate funds for new cameras.

"One of the cameras at the Kruger Park has already been purchased by public donations, and more cameras are planned. It's such a big hit that forum members started their own fundraising efforts as soon as the first one was up," said Tipping-Woods. "The citizen approach has shown us that new media technologies are democratizing the preservation of our natural heritage in Africa."