Louis Liebenberg, a scientist turned tracker, has begun to revolutionise conservation and wildlife management techniques with the aid of a unique hand-held computer. The device is enabling Southern Africa's Bushmen to preserve their tracking skills and turn their unrivalled knowledge of nature's biodiversity into a tool for conservation.
Instead of storing their observations of nature in their heads, they record whatever they can on the handheld computer.
The software works with icons so that illiterate people can use it.
"More than 40 animal species are indicated on the screen ," says Liebenberg. "Once the tracker has selected the animal he is stalking, he can scroll through the display screens and record activities such as drinking, feeding, running, fighting, mating and sleeping." Thanks to a GPS connection, the longitude and latitude at the sighting are automatically stored.
What makes this possible is the CyberTracker software created by Liebenberg and UCT computer science graduate Lindsay Steventon. Using this technology Liebenberg hopes to revitalise the art of tracking and develop it into a modern and respected profession.
He was rewarded for his efforts when CyberTracker won the prestigious Rolex Award for enterprise earlier this year.
For now, CyberTracker is supported by donor funding, mainly from the European Commission, with some cofunding from Conservation International and the WWF . This allows him to make the software available at no charge.
Liebenberg is now engaged in persuading park managers across the African continent to use his invention. So far, he says, CyberTracker has more than 500 registered users in more than 30 countries. In the Kruger Park, for example, 120 rangers whose main job is deterring poachers employ CyberTrackers to record and map the damage done to trees by the park's elephant population.
