Google’s Street View has definitely seen its fair share of interesting sights in the past, ranging from a vertical view of El Capitan to that of exploring the Loch Ness, although there has been no sightings of Nessie just yet over there via Street View.
Advertisement
The initiative, launched along with the charity Save the Elephants, needs to advertise wildlife conservation.
The footage shot by the vehicle became the basis of Google’s incredibly detailed map of the Park, and today you can use it for a virtual elephant safari.
The Google Avenue View automotive drove by way of the park in February 2015, assuaging any fears that the device might inadvertently assist poachers.The route follows one of many roads by way of the a hundred sixty five sq km (sixty five sq mile) central Kenyan reserve and doesn’t let the consumer go off-street.
Every time I drive into the Reserve, I can see the trust on the elephants’ faces and feel a warm welcome.
The collection of interactive images is focused primarily on the elephant life in Samburu National Reserve, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
According to the Kenyan Tourist board, this is the country’s first virtual tour of a national park.
Save the Elephants has long used Google Earth as part of their tools in tracking and managing elephant herds, so when they wanted a way to bring more awareness to Samburu and the work being done there, Google stepped in and offered their Street View trekker technology to document the reserve.
The Samburu county governor, Moses Lenolkulal, also attended the ceremonial launch.
He mentioned he hoped the glimpse into the park would encourage individuals to assist with the elephants’ plight. With ivory raking in thousands of dollars a kilo in Asia, conservationists have warned that African elephants could be extinct in the wild within a generation.
Advertisement
David Daballen, of Save the Elephants, said that upwards of 100,000 elephants had been poached in Africa from 2010 to 2012 but that the number of elephants in places like Samburu are slowly on the rise again.
