While the wider drone industry is still seized with finding long lasting solutions to one of the biggest problems facing conservation professionals today – namely, drones that can stay long enough in the air to detect poachers on the loose – wildlife conservation authorities in East Africa have as of now found a new way to deploy drone technology: settling disputes between humans and animals.
And that is literally putting it too: turf disputes between humans living on the edges of national parks have seen rangers being called in to act as mediators in an effort to save lives and property.
And almost always drones will act as the vanguard has scored great successes in settling these disputes.
“We call then human-animal conflicts,” explained Julieth Mboko, a ranger with the Tanzania Wildlife Authority (TAWA) on the sidelines of the Africa Drone Summit, that took place in Cape Town at the end of June.
Human-elephant conflict is the greatest threat facing African elephants today. As farms expand into ancient elephant corridors, crop-raiding incidents are increasing, leaving communities frustrated and wildlife vulnerable to retaliation.
In Kenya, farmers are now working hard to understand the habits of crop-raiding elephants – what they like to eat and, crucially, what they don’t. One of the farmers, Abigael Pertet discovered that elephants will not get near chilli crops in the field (duh).
They also do not like lavender, rosemary, tea tree, geranium and onions, and Abigael reckons her findings could be game-changing for farmers, who could grow alternative crops less appealing to elephants, thereby reducing conflict and diversifying income.
But for many subsistence farmers who have to live off the land, ignoring staple crops like maize (corn), sugarcane, millet, sorghum, and ripening fruits like bananas and mangoes is out of the question. They need these for their literal sustenance – and so they have to rely on rangers chasing away the wildlife raiders for them.
It is for this reason that Mboko and her various teams of fellow game rangers are usually deployed to national parks and game reserves all over Tanzania, such as Makuyuni Wildlife Park, Mpanga Kipengere, as well as Kilombero, Swagaswaga, and Rungwa Game Reserves.
Yes; they have to stop conflicts that pit humans against elephants, which seem to never get over the reality that some of the lands they used to claim as their own has been repurposed to resettle people.
It is a situation that mirrors what happens in Zimbabwe, where it is not news to find elephants roaming among residential properties in the tourist resort town of Kariba, or the border town of Chirundu, both in Mashonaland West Province.
Only that in Tanzania, as Mboko explains, the resettled areas were turned into farmlands for small scale farmers in the country – and the elephants apparently did not take kindly to this.
“They are always returning, usually to feast on people’s crops or be general nuisance in the areas that people live,” Mboko said, adding that areas most affected are the districts of Liwale, Manyoni and Same, as well as Maswa and Lukwika Game Reserve.
In response, parks authorities have set up first response units that would deploy drones to scenes where there is confrontation with the elephants.
“Elephants do not like noise, so the moment they hear drones hovering above them, the usually scatter. Most of the times, the droning noise of the UAVs, which is akin to that made by bees, is enough to send them running back into the forest where they belong.
“But then they always return; smart as they are, they sometimes return to a different area from the one they were chased, and the whole process has to start again.”
Luckily, TAWA always has units patrolling the borderlands between humans and animals, and they have installed a reporting system that quickly alerts authorities whenever there is an animal sighting.
“We do use drones for other wildlife saving business during our patrols, but as of now, them acting as mediators between people and elephants has been one of our most effective, if surprising deployments so far,” Mboko said.
And they are not the only ones in Africa doing that. Below, we cover Holly Budge, who had chronicled her encounters with female rangers who have been using drone and other related technology to help do their work in their various stations.
Holly is the founder of UK charity How Many Elephants and World Female Ranger Week, whose work has been celebrated worldwide, including by celebrity conservationist Sir David Attenborough.
Holly’s article first appeared in The Independent.
Did you know elephants are scared of bees? Seriously. The largest land animal on Earth can be deterred by one of the smallest. Across Africa, conservationists are using beehives to stop elephants from raiding crops, thereby helping farmers and wildlife coexist peacefully.
Bees are just one example of a much bigger shift taking place across the continent. From female rangers taking to the skies with drones to women reshaping conservation through AI, digital systems and nature’s own “wild innovation”, women across Africa are reimagining what conservation looks like.
African wildlife is facing mounting pressures; habitat loss, climate change, human-wildlife conflict and poaching continue to threaten ecosystems already under strain. Rangers are stretched thin, with experts estimating the world needs 1.5 million more to meet global biodiversity targets by 2030. Traditional conservation methods alone are no longer enough.
Increasingly, women are combining local knowledge with technology to help both wildlife and communities thrive. In doing so, these tools are not replacing humans – they are amplifying them to help rangers respond faster, work smarter, and strengthen coexistence between people and wildlife.
Over the past thirteen years, working alongside female rangers around the world, I’ve seen how some of the most effective ideas often come from the people closest to the problem. Following World Female Ranger Week (23-30 June), which celebrates women on the front line of conservation, these are five stories that show how female rangers are transforming conservation across Africa through bold ideas and innovation.
Kenya: The female rangers taking conservation to the skies
Not long ago, female rangers Ruth Katumbi Mathitu and Muna Kalutu could only marvel at drones they spotted hovering above local weddings.
“I used to ask myself, ‘What kind of machine is this and how does it fly on its own?’” recalls Ruth.
Ruth and Muna are part of Team Owl, a group of six Kenyan female rangers trained as drone pilots in Wildlife Works Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project, a vital elephant corridor linking Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks. For decades, rangers here relied mainly on foot patrols and vehicles. Now, teams can monitor wildlife, spot illegal activity, support rescues, and respond faster to emergencies from the skies.
After intensive training in flying drones, Team Owl ranger Jane Mwaingati says: “We no longer have to depend entirely on foot patrols. With a drone, we can scan the area from a distance, identify illegal activities, and alert the emergency response team.”
For the women involved, the shift is about more than technology. “My family is very proud and has been encouraging me on this journey,” Jane says. For Florence Mwakio, becoming a drone pilot has “made us realise that there’s truly no job a woman cannot do”.
Zambia: The woman using data to reduce human-wildlife conflict
For Ruth Chitindi from Conservation South Luangwa (CSL) in Zambia, conservation begins with data. Ruth spends her days helping communities coexist more safely with wildlife using SMART technology – a digital conservation tool transforming how incidents are recorded and responded to.
In landscapes where elephants, lions and other wildlife move through farming communities, conflict can be inevitable. Crop destruction, livestock predation and, in the worst cases, fatalities on both sides are an ever-present reality.
Before digital systems were introduced, CSL rangers relied on handwritten records, which made it harder to track and analyse. Today, CSL is the first in Zambia to use SMART technology to record human-wildlife conflict in real time. Using the data, Ruth helps conservation teams identify hotspots and focus support where it is needed most. Alongside targeted mitigation efforts informed by the data, human deaths linked to human-wildlife conflict dropped from 12 in 2023 to zero in 2025. “Passion for conserving wildlife and helping people is what drives this success,” says Ruth.
South Africa: Using drones to understand whales from above
For marine scientist Dr Loraine Shuttleworth of Marine Dynamics, some of conservation’s most important breakthroughs are happening from the sky. Based in South Africa, Dr Shuttleworth uses drone technology to study and conserve cetaceans, including southern right whales and the endangered Indian Ocean humpback dolphin.
Her previous research used drone photogrammetry – a technique that allows precise measurements to be taken from aerial imagery – to monitor whale body condition and calf growth rates, offering critical insights into the health and reproductive success of South Africa’s southern right whale population. “What makes drones so powerful,” she explains, “is that a single flight can generate multiple valuable datasets. The same aerial imagery can be used to identify individual animals, assess body condition, monitor growth, document behaviour, and investigate social associations. This allows researchers to extract far more information than was previously possible from a single survey.”