Kruger Park Sightings IPHONE IPAD APP

[Bushcraft]

Nothing wrong with it, Flutty, as long as you are enjoying the company of lots of fellow big five/cat/dog lovers What I am saying is only: You can not have everything: Affordable conservation fees/accommodation, comfortable tourist infrastructure, high concentration of iconic species and very few tourists (along with management priorities on biodiversity conservation) -O

Agreed


Many will hate me for this, but it’s my personal view


I’m paying nearly R2000 per night for my clan to stay in a chalet in KNP. What does a day visitor pay to enter and if they have a wild card it’s free. Why should those who pay more to stay have their sightings destroyed by the hordes of day visitors? Reduce the gate quotas and charge more for day visitors to balance the books, therefore the same amount of money with less impact.

Obviously the logistics must be looked at as the overcrowding is in the south, so adjust those entry fees and quotas

[Sprocky]

2013-07-23 12:00

Duncan Alfreds

Cape Town - A locally developed Facebook application will hopefully contribute to the development of tourism as well as make an impact on rhino poaching in South Africa, the developer has said.

Satpack Travel on Tuesday announced the launch of the Facebook application for its Africa: Live application that allows users to map the locations of big game.

The marketing tool on the social network can assist the operators of reserves to attract tourists, the company said.

"This unique free marketing tool enables lodges, operators and reserves to bring to life in really dynamic way the amazing experiences their clients are enjoying every day of the year within their own social media pages where it can be shared immediately with other potential guests," Satpack Travel said in a statement.

The Africa: Live application has been a hit with smartphone users. It has scored over 12 000 sightings from 22 000 people in 13 African countries, but the company said that users want more than just the location of animals.

Rhino poaching

"We noticed that our followers were watching sightings happen on our website from all over the world," said Rob Maclean, Satpack managing director.

"They weren't using it to find animals whilst in the parks, but almost as an entertainment channel to follow raw nature unfold in wild Africa. They don't just want to know what was where and when, but they want to see pictures. So the new app and website is all about showcasing sightings photos."

The application also contributes to limiting rhino poaching in that results of rhino locations are never published to ensure the safety of the animals heavily targeted by criminal syndicates.

According to StopRhinoPoaching.com, 446 rhino have been poached in SA in 2013. Figures from 2012 indicate that poachers killed 668 rhino in South Africa, a 50% increase over the previous year.

The information provided by the app has also played a role in helping conservation efforts.

"Thanks to apps like Africa: Live anyone, anywhere can now easily play a crucial role in conserving Africa's wildlife simply by using the app to record which animals they see and where they see them - both inside and outside of protected areas," said Dr Tali Hoffman, Endangered Wildlife Trust MammalMAP project manager.

The Africa: Live app has been updated to allow offline maps and the company said that the Android application will be updated within weeks.

[RogerFraser]

See there is a bit of a long discussion around sightings apps on FB again .actually some interesting posts :

‎Anita Baert‎ to SANParks - Kruger National Park
3 hrs ·
I am posting here what I wrote in response to Jacqueline Abington's post about the "Latest Sightings" on the Camps and Roads of Kruger page..
Dear Nadav....I have read reports of people who have met you and they say you are a really nice person...I see you on TV, in magazines, pictures of you all over the world shaking hand with people in the know and so on...I have no doubt that your original intentions were good, I read about those too...but you have created a monster, I have been witness many many times to people arriving at a scene in a hurry in huge numbers and completely alter the animal,s natural behaviour, cats being chased off their kill, cubs almost killed and separated from their mother, people behaving in the most appalling manner, road rage caused by the huge numbers of cars, people swearing and shouting at one another caused by their frustration at not being able to get to the "sighting"...I have wondered at some of these people, they reach for their cell phones immediately they arrive, seem to have no real interest in what they are looking at quickly take that cell pic and rush off again...you have changed the way people behave in Kruger and I for one object, you have changed my Kruger experience and that hurts...you dont have the right to do this, you dont pay for my time in Kruger. yet you are influencing my experience and you dont have the right to do that. You have the power to change all this yet you tell us how much good you are doing and how many animals you are saving, you are harming many more that you are saving by changing their behaviour, Kruger is their home, the only one they have, they should be safe and allowed to go about their lives without us interfering...Kruger and its animals are not our commodity, they are our heritage and you would do well to remember this. The behaviour of people since the inception of Kruger Sightings is not a coincidence but a fact and you can change this...but will you...regards Anita Baert.

[Bushcraft]

I have used Nadav’s app also when in the park and battling for sightings. I have met him twice and he’s a nice kid and his original intentions were honourable. We also shared plenty email correspondence initially (before he started the actual app and he initiated the correspondence) which helped me big time in plotting leopard/lion territories in KNP and the stats also clearly indicate the best sighting areas to drive for viewing of particular species. I don’t use the app anymore while in the park as the Cow loses it big time if we “chase” other people’s sightings.

The app helps massively with the reporting of snared animals. I’m not sure who follows it every day, but I do and there have been at least 4 wild dogs reported with snares and there locations in the last month and due to this 3 of the 4 have had the snares removed. (There have also been ellies, hyena, etc reported and the “media” pressure causes SANParks to react faster in my opinion) It’s also used to report bad behaviour which can’t be censored by SANParks and this creates more “media pressure”. Last week there was a “township” dog cruising around Kruger at the S1/S65 intersection and someone posted pics of it attacking a wartie on Nadav’s app which caused an outcry and SANParks response, etc, so there are merits to it.

The biggest problem isn’t the app (OSV’s have used radios for years), it’s the behaviour of visitors and SANParks through lack of interest, control, enforcement of rules, etc are allowing this deterioration in the visitor’s behaviour.

[RobertT]

Agree BC, used the app once for a sighting too. The app has nothing to do with the numbers in South. If you stop the app, those people will still be there chasing up and down the roads looking for sightings. If you just stop on Elloff within minutes there is a traffic jam before anyone can report on an app. There are just too many people.

[Richprins]

Ja, sounds a bit self-righteous to dictate what people may or may not think or do in Kruger by this lady...

Some use the app to head in the opposite direction, as said, so serves a double purpose!

One thing I miss is being able to post sightings via the normal internet website, like the old days, without the privilege of a smartphone or twitter or what not, unless one can, and I'm missing it?

[Bushcraft]

Get a smart phone RP, you are missing out

[Lisbeth]

Revolutionising the safari experience

Through combining the concept of crowdsourcing and social media, Kruger enthusiast Nadav Ossendryver has created an app that has revolutionised the way tourist and wildlife lovers interact and participate in game-viewing. Including the Latest Sightings app, a YouTube channel and the website, no-one will have to miss out on the latest wild sightings while on a safari.
We spoke to Ossendryver about his passion and his Latest Sightings.

Tell us about Latest Sightings.

Nadav Ossendryver: Latest Sightings is a platform for visitors who are currently in the Kruger National Park, be they rangers or tourists, to report the animals and events that they are seeing live. They report their location, time and sighting to Latest Sightings, which in turn broadcasts these 'tings' (a reported sighting) over the various media (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and smartphone apps). The Latest Sightings community has 450 000+ members.

This project meets many needs:

1. Enhances the safari experience by enabling visitors to go directly to interesting sightings.

2. Contributes toward research projects, such as the Wild Dog Project, the Ground Hornbill project, the Leopard Identification project, Pangolin and Bat projects. I also contribute towards EWT special projects, like roadkill awareness, etc.

3. Contributes towards wildlife conservation. When I receive a report of a snared animal or suspicious activity, I report it immediately to the authorities that I am in touch with. So far, Latest Sightings has saved rhinos (which we do not report seeing due to poaching), hyenas, wild dogs and lions who have been injured by poachers.

4. Educates my followers about the correct behaviour acceptable in the bush. Each morning, the first posts on all the media are about "bush etiquette" and how to report poaching and suspicious behaviour.

5. Communicates with wildlife enthusiasts who have become addicted followers of the sightings. Many South Africans living overseas report how they are living vicariously in Kruger by following the sightings, and many have been motivated to come visit Kruger.

Can you elaborate on the technology itself?

Ossendryver: We’ve developed a native smartphone app that is built specifically for the special conditions in wildlife areas, for example, the app works offline, people can share sightings with no signal. The app takes your geolocation so that your positioning is right to within 5m.

The app has also been built to entertain people, not only in the park but around the world, by allowing users to follow active people and soon, to be able to view sightings according to which are most trending. We have also built in push notifications to allow people to simply get alerted when a sighting of interest is near, and so there is no need for people to be on their phone the whole drive.

How do you think the app will transform safaris and general wildlife-related tourism?

Ossendryver: People who are spending lots of money to come to the park and have limited time want to maximise their safari by seeing the most in the limited time that they have. So knowing that a lion was spotted 3km from one’s current location is a powerful tool to enable more great experiences in the park.

We also share photos and videos that end up reaching millions of people throughout the world, and so the fact that we are teaching people who might not know so much about wildlife is a great game-changer for South Africa and its wildlife. Just on Youtube alone, Latest Sightings receives 13 million views a month. These views are also leading to booking at safaris that are active in our community, so not only is it helping visitors to the park, but also helping businesses around these game parks.

BizcommunityCan the app be applied in other ways?

Ossendryver: We have been approached to use our technology in similar aspects, for example, to report fires in real time. However, we are still working extremely hard on optimising our technology, and so we have felt that it’s premature for us to expand into other fields, but we are more than open to expansion.

What was the biggest challenge to getting Latest Sightings off the ground?

Ossendryver: When I was 15, I had a quiet trip to Kruger, with not so many animals around. But I knew that in a park as big as Kruger, someone at that moment was seeing something interesting, and it wasn’t me. So my initial idea was to find ways for people to share sightings, so that people in the park might see more wildlife. I thought that the biggest challenge was to find people, as I honestly thought I was the only person obsessed with Kruger.

However, I was so pleasantly shocked to find out that there are thousands of Kruger enthusiasts, and I used Twitter and Instagram to find these Kruger lovers. I contacted them directly and the response was great. The biggest challenge to date is the building of the app to be used in an area with no signal, as this makes technology very complex.

BizcommunityWhat has been the biggest highlights of the Latest Sightings journey?

Ossendryver: The biggest highlight for me has been the fact that I’m getting to visit game parks so much more often now, since going to game reserves is actually work! I love meeting members of the community wherever I go, as so many are so supportive. When I meet these members we have hour-long conversations about their sightings and people who know me, know that I can talk about that all day.

But a few people that I have had the honour to meet through being the leader of this community, were people like President Barak Obama, Prince Harry and probably the one that stands out for me, is Kinglsey Holgate. I wrote about him as my hero in a grade 4 project, and little did I know that I would end up going on an expedition with him. Kingsley was also instrumental in me being chosen to go to Vietnam, in November 2015, to help educate the public there about rhino poaching and how to use social media to combat illegal wildlife trade. This was definitely a huge highlight in my Latest Sightings career.

Staying on the topic of wildlife trade, more highlights have been each and every instance of an animal that has been saved. We often, unfortunately, get reports of animals that have been injured due to human intervention, for example, snares. These sightings get reported within minutes to the relevant people, vets and rangers who are then able to respond and save the animal immediately.

I assume you have the app? What has been your favourite latest sighting?

Ossendryver: Yes, I have the app and I am addicted. I love going on to see amazing sightings every day. So choosing one is pretty hard, but highlights have been: a python in a person’s car bonnet, tiny baby elephant chasing birds, lions making a kudu kill right on the road, a buffalo bursting a person’s tyre and using that to chase away lions (I know the buffalo didn’t do it on purpose, but it is a clever strategy), and seeing lion and leopard interactions are always interesting. Many of these sightings have been publicised in newspapers worldwide and were seen by millions.


Posted on 9 Feb 2016 09:43

[Richprins]

Thanks, Lis!

broadcasts these 'tings' (a reported sighting) over the various media (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and smartphone apps). The Latest Sightings community has 450 000+ members.

[Toko]

Is social media having a detrimental impact on our wildlife?