Eye in the Sky

　　Once regulated，drones could play a multi-purpose role across Africa

　　Little Kiara is palpably excited on her big day， though the source of the excitement is not what her handlers had bargained for. The nearly 11-month-old cheetah， reared by human caregivers at an initiative in Johannesburg， is being taught to hunt on her own so that she can be released into the wild. However， instead of chasing prey， she is more taken up with the drone hovering overhead to videotape the exercise. As the much-watched video shows， she keeps on bounding toward the buzzing intruder， taking little ineffective swipes at it with her fluffy paws.

　　Watching over wildlife

　　Earl Smith， founder of Volunteer Southern Africa (VSA)， an ecotourism agency in Johannesburg working with volunteers， describes their Living with Cheetahs project： “Cheetahs are at risk of becoming extinct. They are being shot or poisoned [by] farmers [for killing] livestock， hunters [too are killing them， and they are also endangered because of] territory loss due to development. This project breeds cheetahs， raises them and teaches them to hunt and survive on their own.

　　“We used a drone to film cheetahs running from above. While we were filming in the bush， one cheetah found the drone to be very entertaining and decided to chase [it]， jump up and take a swipe at it.”

　　Unmanned aerial vehicles - commonly known as drones - are an asset for aerial wildlife photography and have been used in several countries on the continent， particularly by ecotourism agencies specializing in wildlife safaris.

　　Ben Kreimer， a graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Drone Journalism Lab， is adept at flying drones. The 26-year-old American has been working with tourism companies across Africa. “I have worked with a safari company in Botswana， taking drone videos of wildlife across the Okavango Delta， in Zambia along the Zambezi River， and at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. In Ethiopia， we covered UNESCO-declared heritage monuments in Lalibela， ancient churches carved from rock.”

　　Besides aerial wildlife photography， drones can have an important use in conservation， especially helping combat poaching of endangered wildlife.

　　Three years ago， the Daily Telegraph reported how the Endangered Wildlife Trust， a South African environmental organization， was deploying a drone to keep an eye out for rhino poachers at the Greater Kruger National Park. The light Falcon， carrying a camera， hovered over the scrubland. If a white blob appeared on the screen indicating something was approaching， the drone would came closer to get a better view of the new arrival. If it was a poacher， an alarm would be sounded， alerting armed guards.

　　Earl Smith says VSA is in talks with a United States-based company writing software for drones to monitor wildlife game reserves. “The project is in the pilot stage at this point， starting off with elephants，” Smith said. “VSA will be filming elephants from the air with a drone； the footage will be used to ’teach’ the software what an elephant looks like from the sky. This software will eventually be able to track when people are close to elephants and then alert the authorities to a potential poaching situation.”

　　Getting the bigger picture

　　Dickens Olewe remembers how bad the floods were in Kenya in 2012. Swirling waters reached the roofs of houses and the crisis was compounded by landslides. As the digital content manager at the Star newspaper in Nairobi， the then 32-year-old was struck by how reporters were trying to cover the calamity.

　　“They would hire local fishermen to take them in small fishing boats to as close to the submerged houses as possible，” the Knight Journalism fellow at Stanford University told ChinAfrica. “When police helicopters organized a tour of submerged areas for journalists， I felt it became an issue of editorial independence. When you are covering a flood， you are also looking at how the government is handling the crisis. If you are touring with them your coverage is bound to be biased.”

　　It dawned on him how useful drones would be. They would be cheaper and safer and would also give a better idea of the scale of the disaster. So when the African Media Initiative， a pan-African organization headquartered in Nairobi， started the African News Innovation Challenge the same year， urging journalists to come up with innovative ways of reportage using new media， Olewe pitched the idea of aerial storytelling. It meant using not only drones， even balloons fitted with cameras. His African SkyCAM project made it to the list of 20 winners chosen for funding.

　　“But I had no experience of flying a drone and was looking for someone when a mutual friend introduced me to Ben，” Olewe said. That was how Kreimer， then working on a drone project in India， “met” Olewe in cyber space and came over to Nairobi.

　　“I bought the drone online for about $800，” Kreimer said. One of their bird’s eyeview reports was on the Dandora Dump， a huge landfill close to Nairobi， receiving over 850 tons of rubbish daily. It was declared full by the authorities in 2001 but was still being used.

　　“It was a story about [more than 10，000] people who survive by picking through the garbage，” Kreimer said. ’It was also about safety concerns. A lot of pharmaceutical companies were dumping their chemical waste there and Dandora was becoming a health issue for the city. By taking an aerial video and making a 3D reconstruction of the landfill， we could provide a scale.“

　　“There are diverse areas where drones can be used，” Olewe added. “Africa is a land of vast space. Using drones farmers could monitor their crops. The government could get data on pollution or natural disasters. Drones could be used for emergency services and rescue operations.”

　　The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. is reportedly planning to deploy drones to monitor its oil-bearing ships and prevent oil theft. About 100，000 barrels， estimated to be about 5 percent of Nigeria’s daily oil production， were said to be siphoned off from ships regularly. Nigeria is also factoring in drones among its anti-terror measures. In 2013 it got its first homemade drone， Gulma， meant to help the military fight criminal and guerilla groups.

　　The same year， Sudan Tribune reported that Ethiopia had also built its first drone. The purpose was said to be military missions like monitoring border security， geophysical surveys， and observing forest fires and other natural disasters.

　　The new year promises further drone-related projects. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne has an initiative， Afrotech， to introduce advanced technologies in Africa on a massive scale. The Red Line flying robot consortium is an ambitious cargo drone route meant to connect towns and villages. Proposed to start in 2016， one of its first uses would be transporting blood from a blood bank to clinics. Before 2020， the plan is to have larger drone craft which can fly loads of 20 kg or more to destinations “several hundred kilometers” away.

　　No-fly zones

　　But despite the potential， several countries have banned the use of drones， at least till regulations are in place for their use.

　　“Flying drones now requires a permit in South Africa，” said VSA’s Earl Smith. “This is to regulate the flight and use of drones， which could only be a good thing. Any pilot wishing to fly a drone would need to have the correct permit and permission.”

　　Ecotourism operator Wilderness Safaris， which originated in Botswana and now operates in seven more countries on the continent， said while drones can be beneficial， their unethical use “can and has led to unacceptable levels of disturbance of wildlife and other elements in our areas.”

　　“We have decided to prohibit this activity on our concessions in Botswana， Congo， Malawi， Namibia， South Africa， Zambia and Zimbabwe，” the agency’s Botswana Managing Director Grant Woodrow told ChinAfrica.

　　The Kenyan Government banned the use of drones in January 2015. But Dickens Olewe thinks instead of an outright ban， the government and those in the industry should put their heads together to discuss how the industry can be regulated， given its immense benefits. In April 2015， Olewe attended a conference on the drone industry at the University of California， Berkeley， which brought together academics， manufacturers， journalists and lawyers.

　　This year， Olewe is trying to have a similar conference in Nairobi which will also include government officials so that a case can be made for the regulated use of drones. If that fails， his fallback plan is to find an assignment with a university in Kenya to produce research that would persuade the authorities to allow a fresh lease of life to his canned African SkyCAM project.

　　By Sudeshna Sarkar