On a bitterly cold night at Lapalala Wilderness nature reserve in South Africa’s Limpopo province, Duncan Kanyakera watches as instructor Jacques Viljoen launches a thermal drone in search of a lone cheetah. As the drone disappears into the dark sky, Kanyakera, who is from Tsavo in Kenya, and 20 other conservation professionals from across Africa turn their attention to an outdoor screen, waiting to see what the technology will reveal.
Many of the students witnessing the demonstration come from 11 African countries, including Benin, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar. They earned their places at Lapalala after performing well in an online training programme for protected area technicians (PAT), organised by the Connected Conservation Foundation (CCF). Five members of Peace Parks staff are also participating in the training.
“Data and technology are critical to modern conservation,” says CCF’s Sophie Maxwell. She explains that cameras, tracking collars and software such as EarthRanger have transformed efforts to combat poaching. However, she notes that technology can still be vulnerable to simple challenges. “But then an elephant knocks over a pole and you are back to square one.”
Since 2015, the CCF has installed advanced technology systems in parks across Africa, with significant success. The systems have helped protect nearly 10 million hectares (25 million acres) of land. According to Maxwell, parks equipped with technology solutions are safer, more biodiverse and have stronger relationships with surrounding communities.
Over the years, the CCF identified what Carien Soldatos, who oversees the PAT training programme, describes as a “critical gap”. While technology is increasingly important, its effectiveness depends heavily on having trained technicians on the ground.
“Tech is fantastic, but it all depends on having trained technicians on the ground. Without people who know how to use, repair and maintain them, the fanciest gizmos in the world aren’t much use,” Soldatos says.
Although some parks have skilled technicians, they remain in short supply in many parts of Africa.
After failing to find a technology course specifically designed for conservation professionals, the CCF decided to create its own. Its 10-module course, launched in July 2025, was described as a global first. During its first year, 680 people from around the world completed at least one module.
Participants who completed all 10 modules were invited for interviews, after which the top 16 were selected to attend the practical training at Lapalala.
During the drone demonstration, Viljoen’s heat-sensing technology locates the cheetah resting with her cubs in less than 10 minutes. After identifying the animal’s location, the operator sends a pin to the park’s field rangers on duty, who immediately head to the site.
“I was stunned,” Kanyakera says. “There was no moon and the cheetah was miles away from us. But we could see exactly what was happening as the rangers got out of their vehicle and checked up on her.”
Kanyakera works for the Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (TTWCA), supporting a network of 35 conservancies and ranches across Kenya’s vast Tsavo landscape. He immediately recognised the potential value of drones in his home area.
Human-wildlife conflict remains a challenge in Tsavo. When elephants enter cornfields, they can cause significant destruction, while also creating the risk of retaliation from affected communities.
The goal, Kanyakera explains, is to keep people and wildlife apart by using designated wildlife corridors. However, this becomes more difficult during the dry season, when both humans and animals are drawn towards available water sources.
At present, when Kanyakera receives reports of an elephant near a village, he first has to determine the animal’s location and direction of movement before sending rangers to intervene. The process can take several hours.
“With a drone, we could find the elephant in minutes,” he says. “The noise of the drone alone would probably be enough to scare the animal off. And if that doesn’t work, I can deploy rangers much more accurately.”
Although a night-vision drone may be the most exciting technology on Kanyakera’s wish list, the training has also demonstrated how relatively simple changes could significantly improve the technology systems, or “stack”, used back in Tsavo.
Maxwell says this is partly a result of the way the course is structured. Each day, participants build a new element of the technology stack before dismantling it at the end of the day and rebuilding it the following morning with another layer added.
“It’s all about building muscle memory,” she explains.
The approach appears to be producing results. Kanyakera says that when he returns home, he plans to reconfigure the organisation’s camera traps to make better use of artificial intelligence. He also intends to improve the operations room in Tsavo.
“In the past, we would just Google and make a decision. Now I know so much more, I can target what I really want,” he says. “The learnings from this course can make a big difference to the people and animals of Tsavo.”
The course included guest lectures and practical sessions led by nine experts covering areas such as connectivity, communication, power systems, monitoring sensors, hardware integration and GIS visualisation tools.
Its impact is already extending beyond Tsavo.
Effort Zivengwa, who works at the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority headquarters in Harare, is part of a technology team responsible for 11 national parks. He says the training has changed his view of what the team can achieve.
“We were content with what we were doing,” he says. “But, after completing this course, I think we have to do more. We are already using EarthRanger and we do have sensors, but they are not integrated.”
Zivengwa also points to internet connectivity as another challenge. Some park headquarters and lodges do not have internet access, but he believes point-to-point internet could provide a straightforward solution.
The course’s module on solar power also changed his understanding of what could be achieved in remote locations.
“We have a lot of remote stations,” he says. “But the sun shines everywhere.”
Mabel Nokhuthula Piki, who teaches wildlife monitoring skills at the Chinhoyi University of Technology in central Zimbabwe, also describes the training as empowering.
She says her students previously struggled to understand the importance of technology to wildlife conservation and did not see the connection between computers and protecting animals.
“My students didn’t comprehend that tech was important. They couldn’t get the link between saving animals and computers. But now I am going to change their minds,” she says. “It is impossible to understand the value of tech until you have seen it.”
The CCF plans to organise a second practical course for another group of students in the first quarter of 2027.
In addition, Soldatos says the organisation will support five participants from the first course through internships and/or hardware donations.
The five participants have not yet been selected, but Kanyakera, Zivengwa and Piki are among those in consideration.
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