Tarangire National Park to trial UAVs in anti poaching operations

Tarangire National Park is trialing a pilot program in deployment of special
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for surveillance of wildlife and to search for
poachers.

"The trial aerial scrutiny will be conducted later this September and the second
one is expected to come up in October," said Mr Michael Chambers, the Director of
Bathawk-Recon, an organization which is introducing the idea of aerial
surveillance to Tanzania.

The use of UAVs  for aerial survey and wildlife patrols aims at  greatly reducing, the slaughter of elephants, rhinos and other wildlife species by poaching gangs. The initiative is being implemented through Bathawk-Recon (BHR, a leading International organization and Tanzanian limited liability company, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) with support from the Elephant Survival Organization (ESO).

"The equipment will fly over parks covering as much area as possible using
advanced high definition video and Infra-red equipment," stated Mr. Chambers who
is also the BHR Communications and Strategy officer. The participation of the
private sector in the war against poaching is vital to help ensure success in the
global war against the illegal killing of wildlife.

Tarangire is a great place to watch Elephants, as they love to congregate around
the river in large family groups. The Park is around 2600 sq km, but is
part of a 30000 sq km ecosystem as for much of the year outside the dry
season many of the animals leave the park and head into the Maasai steppes.