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Kruger gets R16m drone investment

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 08 Mar 2016
One of the drones being used in the Kruger National Park to combat poaching.
One of the drones being used in the Kruger National Park to combat poaching.

The Kruger National Park, one of Africa's biggest game reserves, and various partners have invested R16 million in drone technology to fight poaching.

Authorities at the park will spend the next 12 months evaluating the effectiveness of drones in the fight against wildlife crimes, especially rhino poaching.

According to the National Geographic, for the first time since 2008, SA has seen a decrease in rhino poaching. Last year, 1 175 rhinos were poached - 40 fewer than in 2014. However, poaching in Kruger National Park, which is home to somewhere between 9 000 and 12 000 white rhinos, has been on the rise.

Between 580 and 650 black rhinos of the country's population of 1 670 black rhinos are also found in Kruger.

The South African National Parks and South African government are facing increasing pressure from the public and other stakeholders to stop the poaching. On the other hand, the criminals are highly organised and have vast resources, including sophisticated technology, at their disposal.

Otto Werdmuller Von Elgg, CEO of Unmanned Ariel Vehicle and Drone Solutions, one of the partners in the initiative, says unmanned aircraft guided remotely could operate anywhere in the park.

"Generally, we fly for about two-and-a-half hours and we are given intelligence of where to fly. If we establish where there are incursions and if we identify where people are on the ground, we then give those co-ordinates to the rangers," Werdmuller Von Elgg adds.

Werdmuller Von Elgg notes Unmanned Ariel Vehicle and Drone Solutions was the first organisation to be given a commercial licence to operate drones, which meant it was allowed to fly beyond the visual line of sight.

"Drone technology in the country is still in the early stages, more technology is expected to improve. It is like the cellphone business; there is stuff we haven't even thought of. The technology is getting smaller, lighter and cheaper."

The use of drones is part of the Kruger National Park's "air mobility capacity", which was established in 2014 after a funding grant of R254.8 million. Some funding went towards the purchase of an Airbus AS350 B3e helicopter. The Howard G Buffet Foundation then granted SANParks an additional R37.7 million to purchase a second Airbus AS350 B3e helicopter with night-flying capability.

The Department of Environmental Affairs says it hopes to grow rhino populations to at least 20 400 white rhino in SA by 2020.

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