Our LiDAR sensors are helping to protect endangered elephants in Kenya

Mount Kenya is the second largest mountain in Africa, and the UNESCO listed National Park was established to protect the mountain and surrounding areas to provide refuge for a vast array of wildlife including a large population of elephants, estimated at around 2,500.

Despite the numbers, the animals are under constant threat from poachers. The changing geography of the region, and the proliferation of agricultural farms, which has also resulted in increased incidences of human-elephant conflict, with the Elephants causing damage to the fencing and property that surround these farms when trying to re-enter the park.

Instarect Limited, a security fencing solutions provider based in Nairobi, was asked by Mount Kenya Trust to design and install a new access control system within the three elephant corridors. Our intelligent RLS-2020 LiDAR sensors were selected as an integral part of the project. Using our sensor, elephants are detected as they approach, and a solar-powered gate automatically opens for them letting them into the park. As the size of the object detected can be customised within the settings, the RLS-2020 have been configure to only detect elephants. Humans and smaller animals will be ignored, and the gates will remain closed.

When the elephants trigger a gate to be opened, authorised park rangers are immediately notified via an SMS and are then able to view the CCTV cameras on their phone to check all of the elephants have re-entered the park safely. The rangers then send an SMS to close the gate.

Ebrahim Nyali, Security Solutions Designer at Instarect Limited, says the new system is working well: “The elephants are very intelligent and have quickly adapted to these new gates. They have learned to wait for the gates to open for them to re-enter the park and do not try to enter with force.”

We are pleased and proud to have worked with Instarect on this fantastic project which helps to protect elephants and reduce wildlife conflict in the beautiful Mont Kenya National Park.