NAIROBI, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese-made DJI drone rises into the sky in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve, hovering above rolling grasslands and dense shrubs.
Below, wildlife ranger Alfred Bett operates the drone with a controller, watching live footage on the screen. The river, hippos, and herds of wildebeest come into view, along with areas hidden from ground patrols by dense vegetation and uneven terrain.
For Bett and his fellows, the device has played an increasingly helpful role, extending their eyes and reach beyond the limits of ground patrols.
"We are currently using three Chinese-made DJI drones for patrol work," Bett said, noting that they are used for routine monitoring and anti-poaching operations. One is equipped with thermal imaging technology for nighttime surveillance.
During anti-poaching patrols, drones can scout areas that are difficult or dangerous for rangers to reach. Live footage allows teams on the ground to spot potential threats, assess the situation, and decide how to respond.
If suspected poachers attempt to flee, the drone can continue tracking their movements and relay their location to rangers on the ground, Bett added.
By combining aerial and ground patrols, rangers can cover larger areas and monitor wildlife more effectively.
In parts of the Maasai Mara where dense bush and uneven terrain limit visibility, animals such as rhinos can easily disappear from view.
Steven Kenta, a senior ranger, said he once used a drone to locate a rhino that had not been seen for years. "The drone is used for individual rhino identification and sex determination," Kenta added.
Kenta and his colleagues have also used drones to locate a dead elephant and investigate the circumstances surrounding its death.
"If there was no drone, this dead elephant could have gone unnoticed," he said.
Drones are also being used to respond to conflicts between wildlife and nearby communities.
Elephants occasionally leave protected areas and enter nearby communities, threatening crops and residents. In the past, staff relied on vehicles and ground crew to locate them.
Drones can quickly identify the elephants and help rangers guide them back toward protected areas, said Denis Rotiken, a senior tourism and ecology warden in the Maasai Mara.
The reserve's technological toolkit extends beyond drones, with cameras positioned along roads, near wildlife hotspots and on patrol vehicles giving rangers an extra set of eyes.
Pan-tilt-zoom cameras can rotate and zoom in on distant vehicles and tourists, while fixed cameras at wildlife crossing points such as the Mara River allow rangers to keep watch over particular locations.
Speed cameras have also been installed. Kenta said the measure has helped slow down traffic, reducing both speed-related accidents and the number of animals hit by vehicles.
In areas that are difficult to observe with regular patrols, camera traps provide another layer of monitoring.
Installed in places frequently visited by wildlife, the cameras are automatically triggered when animals pass by, recording their movements over long periods, Kenta said.
For rhinos that often remain hidden in dense vegetation, such cameras can help fill gaps that ground patrols cannot easily cover, he added.
The growing range of technologies is becoming more effective as the information they collect is brought together through digital systems.
In 2024, the Maasai Mara introduced the EarthRanger digital system to collect and record information on wildlife and patrol activities in real time.
Daniel Koilel, a staff member at the center, explained that each marker represents real-time information. Records of individual animals show when and where they were last observed, while tracking devices installed on patrol vehicles allow staff to follow their movements on the map.
For Maasai Mara conservation workers, training in China has provided an opportunity to learn about new technologies and their application in wildlife conservation.
Rotiken traveled to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou last year, where he received training on drones, camera traps, and other technologies used in wildlife protection.
After returning to Kenya, he applied what he had learned to daily patrols and monitoring in the Maasai Mara. He is scheduled to travel to the Chinese capital Beijing for another training program in September.
For Rotiken, artificial intelligence can emerge as the next frontier for wildlife conservation.
While the Maasai Mara has yet to widely adopt the technology, conservation workers are beginning to explore its potential and hope to learn more through future training, he said. ■
