In partnership with Save the Elephants and with the support of the Samburu County Government, Google released the Street View imagery of Kenya last week, where the Samburu National Reserve, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust will be featured.
This gives wildlife enthusiasts a visit to Samburu National Reserve, where one will not only be able to see 600+ elephants elephants and other wildlife in their natural habitat, but also discover a uniquely beautiful landscape where people’s lives are interwoven with the landscape’s wildlife.
South of Samburu, up into the hills of Kenya, the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy awaits exploration via Street View. In this greener landscape, one can cross the open savannah, where animals like zebras and rhinoceroses live protected from poachers and hunters. Every day, the Lewa radio command center plots the movements of elephants (and other GPS-collared wildlife) onto Google Earth to help rangers determine where elephants are and when they might be in danger. If an elephant’s GPS collar sends an alert to indicate the elephant has stopped moving, a team of rangers and tracking dogs will investigate.
Exploring the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on Street View, the other hand, allows one to see the devastating effect of poaching and other causes of elephant deaths in Kenya. Founded in 1977, the Trust provides lifesaving assistance at their Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi to wild animals in need, including orphaned elephants and rhinos.