By Pascal Mwandambo
For many years, human-wildlife conflicts have led to loss of lives, injuries and damages to property worth millions of shillings in Taita-Taveta County.
Residents of Sagalla area, especially Lahore village have been the most affected by the elephants that roam freely in the area creating a lot of suffering and anger among local communities.
Leaders in Lahore village in Voi sub-count have always acccused the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) of failing to tame the jumbo menace.
Apart from causing massive damage to property, the pachyderms have also on many occasions disrupted learning activities, forcing school administrations to adjust learning timetables so that students report to school late or leave early in the for fear of being attacked by the wild animals.
Many parents on many occasions decide to keep their children at home for fear of them either being injured or killed by the marauding jumbos.
However, as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, students from the hitherto little known Lahore Girls High School have invented an elephant tracking device that monitors the movement of jumbos in the area.
The invention has propelled the status of the girls school to international limelight after it was cited as a success story.
The novel device produces alarms and mobile alerts to KWS rangers and the villagers, thereby ensuring timely response to elephant movement before they can invade farms or residential areas to cause havoc.
The gadget is an integration of motion censors and GSM, a system that is based on the principle of infrared radiation generated by body heat which triggers the passive infrared (PIR) sensor.
The innovative trio led by Sandra Lukindo and has featured severally in trade forums and bagged awards.
“The invention of this gadget called Ndovu Care has elevated the status of our school from a little known girl’s school at the foot of Sagalla hill to a national and international sensation” said Phidilia Kilimo the Principal.
She says the invention has attracted other institutions, local groups and institutions to go and learn from the students’ creativity and entrepreneurship.
The students have been working under the able guidance of Ezra Abuka the school ICT patron.
The trio has showcased their novel invention while representing Kenya during a competition held at the University of Delaware in the United States after coming top during the National Diamond Africa Challenge which was held in ElgeyoMarakwet county.
The three Sandra Lukindo, Anastasia Wairimu and Macarina Antonia have so far etched their names as innovators of note whose research findings should be replicated anywhere in the country to address elephant encroachment problems .
The gadget is mounted along the elephant migratory path and programmed to generate mobile alerts and send notification to KWS and the villagers by raising a siren before jumbos can cause damage.
It encompasses a sensor that can detect elephants passing within a radius of 180 metres.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Kenya chapter has sponsored the piloting of the project at Rukinga ranch with the assistance of Rebecca Lynn, a human -wildlife conflicts researcher from the US.
The gadget is currently being improved before it can be officially patented and commercialized.
