Lewa takes conservation drive to children with virtual reality app

Renowned for hosting an annual marathon in the wild, Lewa Conservancy now has a digital footprint targeted at attracting more children to its conservation efforts.

The privately owned conservancy in Laikipia County has partnered with a virtual reality app, VirryApp, to have its wild animals broadcast in real time pictures and videos.

The VirryApp, created by US-based child development researchers, targets children aged between two and seven years giving them a real-time experience of interacting with wild animals which most can only view on drawings and pictures.

The app concentrates on individual animals and their behavioural patterns and will now include Lewa’s 6,500 migrating elephants, rhinos, cheetahs, lions, leopards, giraffes and buffalos, among others. Announcing the deal, Lewa’s Chief Executive Mike Watson said VirryApp filmmakers will conduct regular visits to Lewa to get fresh still pictures as well as video clips which will be beamed to a live global audience via their digital platform.

This, he said, presents them with an opportunity to endear children to Lewa’s conservation model where wild animals graze side by side with livestock and which engages local communities in conservation activities.

Lewa has, in the past year, hosted 6,000 children on wildlife educational trips. Mr Watson said that young people will experience Lewa’s bio-diversity first-hand and appreciate some of the worlds’ most beloved wildlife which will later blossom into a must-visit when they grow up. VirryApp’s founder Svetlana Dragayeva said they were targeting children from across the world to boost awareness on the need to conserve wildlife for posterity.

Unique experiences

“We founded VirryApp with a team of child development specialists and conservationists in order to provide a unique experience for children to learn about animals as well as developing their own emotional skills such as patience and empathy,” she said. The app already has 75,000 users from around the world. Parents and their children can download the app to view high definition live footage of animals. The partnership, which is supported by the United Nations Children’s Educational Fund, will also provide a surveillance platform for Lewa management. Cameras will be strategically placed at watering sites as well as migratory corridors within Lewa’s 62,000 acres of savannah, wetland and forest land.

Lewa, which enjoys the historic World Heritage Site status for its rich forests that boast of two-century-old indigenous trees, has become a major tourist attraction pulling in plant scientists and tree seed collectors keen on discovering new and little known species. The unprecedented live-streaming technology provides children an opportunity to log into VirryApp and view their favourite animals as they roam in the wild, sampling animal habits in a natural habitat. The app also provides children with interactive videos where they practice life skills such as impulse control, creativity reasoning and problem solving where they engage with virtual animals in mini-games.

“Children learn to respond to different animal needs by developing simple strategies to solve them, which earns them positive feedback. The site also has video playlists which help children understand different animal behaviour,” said the founder.

The Lewa conservation model emphasises that live animals are more valuable that dead ones — where poachers earn one-off peanut payments while well-moneyed cartels earn millions in underhand dealings once the game trophies reach Asian markets.

VirryApp provides parents with a video on demand service, which gives them control of what their children view on the Internet, while enjoying coaching by specialists who engage children in real time.

“The goal is that children experience cognitive, emotional and social benefits designed to meet their educational and developmental needs,” said VirryApp’s founder Dragayeva. Up to 1,256 people — among them 150 runners — flew in from 39 countries including Fiji, China, the US, the UK, France and Argentina this July. Mr Watson said the event will also be beamed on VirryApp giving children a chance to ‘‘run in the wild’’ next to wild animals.

To enhance the perception of animal sounds, genuine sounds are captured in the wild where, for instance, lions can be seen and heard chasing prey while elephants are also recorded sand bathing at their favourite spots.

The app is also available on-the-go devices including iPads, smartphones and on Google play.

Ms Dragayeva, who has emerged as a children’s thought leader in the education technology sector, started her career by helping children harness creativity.

This is not the first time Kenya is using technology to map its wildlife. Last year, Google introduced Street Trek in Samburu to track and live-stream footage of elephants as a conservation measure as well as a means of attracting tourists by providing a virtual presence.

Lewa was founded in 1983 by the Craig family jointly with the late Anna Merz. It started off as the 5,000-acre Ngare Sergoi Rhino Sanctuary and was in 1995 renamed Lewa Wildlife Conservancy with more ranchers joining in to reserve their ranches exclusively to wild animals.

This saw its acreage increase to the present day 62,000.