Drone set to join the war on poachers

A drone will soon be policing the 90,000-acre Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia County.

Ol Pejeta spokeswoman Elodie Sampere said the drone, made by US firm Airware, is undergoing trials and would be launched in the next two months.

A drone is an aircraft without a pilot on board. Its flight is controlled by computer or by a pilot on the ground using remote control.

Ol Pejeta is the largest black rhino sanctuary in Kenya.

“We were hoping to launch the aerial ranger this month but decided to delay this, hopefully by not more than two months to allow further tests,” Ms Sampere said.

Numerous solutions

“While there are many off- the-shelf solutions out there, including numerous ex-military options, we believe it is best to spend time and funds ensuring we have a drone that is fit for our purposes,” she said.

In particular, she said, the conservancy was seeking ways to maximise the range of radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking capabilities.

Animals under threat from poachers like elephants and rhinos will be fitted with RFID tags and their movements monitored round the clock.

“We would like to ask our supporters to bear with us as we lock this down through rigorous flight tests to ensure it’s the best device the world can offer us,” she said.

The drone, dubbed the “aerial ranger” will also allow people all over the world to take a virtual safari to an African wildlife conservancy via satellite real-time pictures.

 “The drone will be able to monitor the movements of the 120 rangers in the conservancy. If it sees poachers, it guides the rangers to the spot immediately,” Airware boss Jonathan Downey said.