Namibia: Dutch Firm Sets Up ‘Smart Park’ Technology

THE Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) can now monitor the movement of its over 40 resident cheetahs, thanks to a Dutch technology company that set up the monitoring device.

In a statement released last month, CCF said over the past six months Smart Parks, a Dutch technology enterprise, has been installing new technology to monitor the animals and assets on the fund’s 67 000-hectare private reserve at Otjiwarongo.

This, said CCF, resulted in the company setting up the Cheetah Smart Park, the first in Namibia.

A smart park is a nature reserve that uses smart sensor technology to collect information for the improvement of nature protection and management.

The fund says with the Smart Park Low Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) installed, it can deploy collars and other sensors in its landscape and receive near real-time location updates at an affordable cost.

The CCF founder and executive director, Laurie Marker, said, “We are very excited to have this new technology to help CCF staff keep an eye on our cheetahs. With the pandemic (Covid-19), we had to exist with fewer resources, so getting the Smart Park LoRaWAN network installed during this time is an advancement that we very much appreciate.”

According to CCF, the network will enable them to deploy battery-powered sensors and devices across their entire wildlife reserve for real-time monitoring and fine-scale data collection.

This would allow CCF to optimise efficiency in operations within the landscape it manages while enabling CCF scientists to collect data for research in new and different ways.

Smart Parks executed the project with the help of a Namibian technology partner, Teltech.

The Dutch technology enterprise’s engineers created the high-end technology solution in the Netherlands, while Teltech installed it remotely under the direction of the Dutch engineers.

CCF’s cheetah curator Eli Walker supervised the design and installation of the Smart Park LoRaWAN network and his understanding of the cheetah ecology helped the engineers maximise the potential benefits from the LoRaWAN network.

“Working with the local technology partners in Africa sheds a new light on Smart Parks’ working module. Going forward, this allows us to scale the solution, provide more wildlife protection and simultaneously boost the economy by providing local employment,” said Walker.

Smart Parks Namibia co-ordinator Luuk Eikelboom said: “We are excited to say that we have been able to turn the coronavirus setbacks into something positive for wildlife and the local economy.”

Founded in 1990, CCF is the global leader in research and conservation of cheetahs.

Source:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *