With Southern African tourism at a halt, you may be wondering how nature conservation is keeping up without our visitors’ conservation fees to help out. Fortunately, conservationists are a resourceful bunch.
One in particular, has come up with an innovative approach to bring awareness to the plight of animals everywhere.
Internet of Elephants
Gautam Shah is an IT specialist with well over twenty years of experience, as well as a passionate conservationist. For years, he pored over scientific journals on the topic of conservation, his technical expertise making quick sense of the reams of data he discovered in these studies.
His educated eye was quick to pick up riveting storylines among all the facts and figures, and he soon realised that he could spin this information into a format that audiences find engaging.
Eager to use his skills for good, Shah started a game company called Internet of Elephants in 2016, that’s become even more relevant now in these times of social distancing.
Internet of Elephants focusses on creating digital experiences from real-life conservation stories, based on real facts.
Conservation is in Everyone’s Hands
One of his games called Wildeverse, is an augmented reality mobile app similar to Pokémon Go. The app was launched in April 2020 in the midst of worldwide shutdowns and has a growing following amongst the world’s 2,1 billion avid gamers.
In this game, players take the role of researchers ‘tracking’ endangered apes through their own neighbourhoods, collecting environmental samples as they go. In this way, they learn about the real struggles of conservationists on the ground – and they’re loving it.
Another one of Gautam’s innovations, Run Wild, allows fitness fanatics to pit their skills against one of the world’s most endangered animal athletes, a wild snow leopard.
The reasoning behind Gautam’s games is that by reaching audiences where they are, conservationists can more easily create empathy and involvement from large numbers of people. By using real data, he’s also educating the masses about the real struggles of these animals.
Ongoing Innovations for a Sustainable Future
So far, his tactics are working as more people get on board with this unique concept and start to learn to love wild creatures in a fun, engaging, and informative way.
It’s encouraging to know that people like Gautam are hard at work behind the scenes to ensure we all have wild spaces to enjoy in future. If you’d like to find out more about conservation, keep reading our blog for more ways to enjoy the treasures of southern Africa.
