Thermal imaging cameras protect endangered rhinos

Covid win

The pandemic froze travel, but it didn’t pause the project. Over hundreds of hours of video calls, WWF trained local partners to design, build, install, operate, and—just as crucial—troubleshoot and maintain a thermal technology system in Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Before, if a component broke, it might not get fixed until a US-based conservation engineer could visit. Now, conservancy staff can maintain the system themselves.

Widening vision

In 2023, WWF, Kenya Wildlife Service, and newly trained Ol Pejeta Conservancy tech experts established the largest FLIR thermal technology system for conservation yet in Kenya’s Solio Game Reserve—a rhino conservancy that hosts 30% of Kenya’s rhinos and is vulnerable to poaching. Solio has since recorded no wildlife poaching within its borders.

Community resource

Thermal cameras aren’t just protecting wildlife; they’re also supporting human-wildlife coexistence. In Kenya, for example, they detected an elephant herd that had strayed outside a national park—and alerted rangers, who mobilized quickly to shield the nearby community. The cameras have had unanticipated benefits, too, like helping to solve local crimes, including a donkey theft and a hit and run.

Growing numbers

After dropping to around 400 individuals in the 1980s, Kenya’s black rhino population had more than doubled by the end of 2023—a remarkable milestone indicating the country is on track to reach its goal of 2,000 black rhinos by 2037.

On the move

WWF has distributed 13 vehicle-mounted FLIR cameras to parks and conservancies protecting Kenya’s most vulnerable black rhinos—helping rangers apprehend poachers at night while keeping themselves safe.