Author: Robert Elliott

Data Wrangler @ Automattic

After nearly 20 years, Cheetahs return to Malawi

High biodiversity areas flourish when game can roam freely across vast tracks of wilderness, adapting to dynamic changes in population densities, rainfall and food supplies. However, the ever increasing pressures from human populations on the edge of unfenced reserves have had devastating effects on both fauna and flora in Africa. In the late 1980’s in Malawi, Cheetahs disappeared as the pressure from nearby communities encroached on their habitat and destroyed their prey. Below is a fantastic good news story of how Cheetahs are being reintroduced to Malawi’s Liwonde National Park, where they can be protected as their population is re-established in Malawi.

by Robert Elliott

Niassa Wilderness

Niassa National Reserve is one of the last true epic wild areas left in the world. It’s a vast and diverse wilderness, located in the Northern most part of Mozambique against the Rovuma River. Niassa is the perfect example of a true African wilderness that is under increasing threat of losing it’s lion and elephant populations to poaching, and urgently needs interventions, in the form of community based projects, to turn the tide on poaching. Our mission at Custodians is to ensure that high biodiversity areas, such as Niassa, are preserved. Niassa Wilderness is a private nonprofit trust, focussed on fighting illegal poaching to ensure the sustained preservation of the Niassa Reserve.

by Robert Elliott

Remote Ranging Rangers

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by Robert Elliott

Watch Wildlife Rangers Nab Poachers With Thermal Imaging

As Custodians strives towards our mission of preserving Africa’s wilderness and biodiversity, it is unsurprising that the topic of illegal poaching will feature regularly. Whether it is highly organised crime syndicates involved in smuggling and trading ivory or subsistence meat poaching, we need to find solutions that ensure communities understand the value of preserving the populations of Africa’s unique fauna and flora.

FLIR is working with World Wildlife Fund’s Wildlife Crime Technology Project to put an end to illegal poaching in Africa.

It’s a crime that’s difficult to track and even harder to stop. By combining thermal imaging technology with cutting-edge software, FLIR and the Wildlife Crime Technology Project hope to reduce this rampant poaching problem.

 

Further reading:

Read more about the project on FLIR’s (infrared camera manufacturer) site.

Read and listen to the NPR coverage of the project.

Read more about the WWF’s involvement in the project (and here).

Read more about the recent grant from Google to support the use of technology to fight poaching.

by Robert Elliott