From the rainforest to the ocean, artificial intelligence is decoding nature’s most complex data patterns and is proving to be a game-changer in conservation.



For as long as there has been wildlife conservation, there has been a need for data. In order to understand ecosystem health, animal behavior and population trends, you have to be able to measure what’s going on in nature. And while there are many ways to do this, from drones to tracking devices, thermal cameras and even rangers on-foot, satellite imagery and camera traps have made study- ing wildlife movement a little bit easier. Not only can conservationists collect ample data, there’s minimal disturbance to animals. When it comes to analyzing the imagery, all that’s really needed is someone who can recognize an animal and there are many training programs to do just that.



But to really understand ecological trends, there are many creatures that are simply too small to be captured through pictures. “With very big animals like elephants, you can see them using satellite data which is great but a significant portion of the ecosystem is hidden,” says Dr Juan Lavista Ferres, who has worked in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) for over 20 years, and is the Chief Data Scientist of Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab. Luckily, those animals that are undetectable in satel- lite imagery make up for their size with sound, which is where acoustic data comes in – and in the case of ani- mal sounds, bioacoustic data. “From a noise perspec- tive, they are there,” laughs Ferres. “There is no corre- lation between the size of an animal and the sound it makes. Very small animals can make a lot of noise and can do very specific frequencies.”



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nature-s-silent-signals">Nature’s silent signals</h1>



There’s huge potential in environmental recordings (bio- acoustics are important bioindicators —they are nature’s health signalers) and the good news is that a lot of the data is already available. At the AI for Good Lab, Ferres and his team have continuous surveillance recordings from the Amazon that go back to 1992. The problem is that there are only a handful of scientific experts who can understand what is going on when the data is visualized, and then interpret the frequencies to identify specific animals. “It’s extremely niche. In the case of bioacoustic data, you need a huge level of expertise and there are very few people in the world that can recognize these sounds and frequencies,” adds Ferres.



Another challenge is that going through all of this audio takes time. Ferres says that many of the record- ings he has run non-stop, day and night, for 365 days. “A person would need to be listening to these sounds for a whole year to get through just one year’s worth of data. Now imagine that you have multiple recordings in one forest?” There’s simply too much data for hu- mans to process manually, which is why AI is such a game-changer in conservation – it’s making research a much more efficient process. AI can learn from these experts to automate identifying and classifying animal sounds across large datasets. “We can go through all of the recordings and understand how the health of the ecosystem is changing,” says Ferrers. “Now that we have more compute and better models, we can work with these different types of data, whether it’s images, videos or acoustic data.”



<h1 class="wp-block-heading">Under the sea</h1>



One of the AI for Good Lab’s first projects using acoustic data was with endangered beluga whales in Alaska us- ing underwater sensors. “You can capture the sound of these whales, their vocalizations,” says Ferres. Because sounds travel much further than visual cues, with acous- tic data, researchers can detect (and even potentially identify) different types of whales over vast distances in the ocean, far beyond what would be possible with visual observation methods. “There are particular frequencies in the water that will be very difficult to detect without AI,” adds Ferres. “You can’t solve a problem if you can’t measure it. By doing this, we can actually start measuring the problem.”



Working with different industries and partners throughout the world, Ferres’ hope is that now that the information is in these AI models, more people will be able to use them to track animals over time. All the work that comes out of the AI for Good Lab is also open source which means all of the projects are freely available to re- searchers and organizations worldwide. “It’s a complete philanthropic effort. We give up the idea. We publish everything. All the work we do is for the societal good,” he says. “AI is not just the solution, but sometimes it’s the only solution we have.”

Botswana. Woman photographing giraffe in Chobe National Park with tablet.

Work On The Wild Side: How AI Is Helping Conservation In Africa And The Huge Potential Of Environment Recordings

Meet the women challenging stereotypes deep in the bush in Botswana’s
tourism capital Maun, filling roles conventionally held by men.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



For 10 years, until 2018, Botswana had no First Lady, as President Ian Khama was unmarried. Botswana’s first First Lady, Ruth Williams Khama, the wife of Botswana’s first president Sir Seretse Khama, was recognized for her charitable work with women, and the current First Lady, Neo Masisi, is a champion for these causes too.



 However, Masisi is also an accountant by profession with an MBA and an impressive resume (United Nations Headquarters in New York, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic). 



But not just on the frontlines, in the deeper realms of this southern African country and acclaimed tourism destination, there are more women defying stereotypes, especially in its famed safari industry. 



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In
the country’s tourism capital of Maun, at Kwando Safaris, guests visiting the
iconic Okavango Delta waterways and predator plains of the Central Kalahari
might be surprised to discover that for over a decade, a majority team of women
have been behind the operation. 



“Having
so many women work in the company was never a policy; it just happened that
way. I guess that women were just more capable,” says Sue Smart in her office
in Maun. 



She talks about her role as the Director of Kwando Safaris for 12 years as an accidental occupation, but a gutsy corporate background primed her for the head position. 



“Coming
to Gaborone as a volunteer, I worked with children impacted by HIV/AIDS. Then I
visited the Okavango Delta on holiday. A chain of life events eventually led to
me working at Kwando Safaris’ Kwara Camp, volunteering back of house, in the
kitchen, with housekeeping – anywhere they needed it.”



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Ungwang-Makuluba-Moremi-Air-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-41513" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Ungwang-Makuluba-Moremi-Air-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Ungwang-Makuluba-Moremi-Air-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Ungwang-Makuluba-Moremi-Air-1-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Ungwang-Makuluba-Moremi-Air-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Ungwang-Makuluba-Moremi-Air-1.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Ungwang Makuluba is Moremi Air&#8217;s first local female pilot. Picture: Melanie Van Zyl </figcaption></figure>



Formerly
a Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, with a background in environmental
biology, it was a chance meeting with the owner that saw her grow from
volunteer to boss in just three months. “In many ways, I was not a conventional
fit for this role. I’m not African, a pilot, a guide, or a man, but my
background in other areas meant I could run a business – even in the bush.” 



Having
a woman at the helm has had significant side effects for the company. Many
women at Kwando Safaris hold high positions, from the general manager to
operations manager to those in reservations to sales and marketing. This
unofficial head office policy also extends into the camps in a formal staff
management plan, where each lodge has a male and a female camp manager always
on duty.&nbsp; 



Looking
at the origins of tourism in Botswana, it’s perhaps not surprising that
(generally speaking) travel in southern Africa has been a male-dominated
industry. After all, the very first visitors to Botswana’s wild spaces were
rough and tough gun-slinging, trophy-seeking tourists. 



The current CEO of Botswana Tourism is a woman and, attesting to the country’s progressiveness, she’s not the first either. Myra Sekgororoane is encouraging about women in the industry saying, “I have not encountered any significant challenges because of my gender. Perhaps, I have been lucky in that the hospitality and tourism industry tends to have a high predominance of females globally.” 



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According
to National Geographic, research shows working women in developing
countries invest 90% of their income in their families, compared to the 35%
generally contributed by men. 



Tumie
Matlhware and Ruth Stewart, managers for Travel For Impact, wholeheartedly
agree. The Maun-based NGO aims to spread the wealth generated from tourism
activities into the community, providing a direct and tangible link between
conservation and its benefits. 



“We
want tourism dollars working beyond the traditional tourism world,” says
Stewart, when we meet for coffee at the charming Tshilli Farmstall, another
female-run establishment in Maun. 



Travel For Impact has a powerful goal, with the slogan of “If every tourist who slept in our beautiful country paid 1 USD for every night they spent here, we would raise in excess of 300,000 USD per year”. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">By partnering with exclusive lodges, camps, tour operators and hotels in Botswana, funds generated are put into local community partners, such as support for basket-weaving cooperatives. Looking at the company profile, the NGO funds many projects that support women. </blockquote>



Stewart shares the scientific standpoint endorsed by National Geographic, saying: “Women are the backbone of the community. If you support women, it gets passed down. They buy food, school supplies and more. They are the pillars of society.”&nbsp; 



The corporate social responsibility choice at Kwando Safaris concurs. Smart believes that “the ultimate saviors of animals are people, which is why we sponsor the grassroots initiative, Mummy’s Angels, instead of a more usual conservation project”. 



Mummy’s
Angels started in April 2018, spearheaded by three women in Maun, to empower
mothers with newborns who have little by way of financial support. 



“We
had second-hand clothes and other baby items in good condition and wanted to
donate somewhere it would make a difference,” says one founder, Rochelle Katz. 







<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-15-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-41512" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-15-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-15-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-15-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-15-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-15.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Poling visitors through the Okovango Delta. Picture: Melanie Van Zyl</figcaption></figure></div>



Thus,
they put the word out and soon began delivering baby bags stocked with
essentials, such as nappies, clothes and wipes, plus pyjamas for the mothers. 



“Items
that seem so indispensable to us count as luxuries to these moms. Women come
from as far as Ghanzi to give birth in Maun, often they have very little with
them, or the moms are young without work or funds to support a family,” says
Katz on a visit to the maternity wing at Ngami District Health Management Team.




“Luckily,
there is no one in need today,” a nurse smiles, as Katz walks in. The local
Maun hospital certainly approves of the initiative, which is driven by need
rather than imposed, and the nurses on duty identify mothers that can benefit
from the meaningful baby bags. 



Speaking
of children, Bontekanye ‘Bonty’ Botumile is a research student based in Maun
specializing in oral traditions and land use. She is also a prolific
story-teller. 



“I
come from a family of story-tellers, and I think maybe because I don’t have
children, I needed a channel for my stories. I created books such as Tlou
the Elephant to share what I’ve learned and to pass on the teachings I
learned at home.” 



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She
believes that women are predominantly custodians of culture, passing it onto to
children in diverse ways that include story-telling. “My challenge isn’t so
much a gender issue, but a sector issue. Carving a niche is hard work. I am
trying to develop cultural tourism in a destination renowned for wildlife. It’s
a steep incline on many levels.” She is also an inspiration for others. 



“If
it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have joined the tourism industry,” says Wabone
Temane. Hailing from Moeti Ward in Maun, Temane is the current camp manager for
Pom Pom Camp, a luxury stay in the Okavango. She’s been in tourism for almost
20 years but admits to some gender-based challenges. 



“As
a female manager, I come across people who do not want to be supervised by a
woman. They are afraid of change and do not accept criticism easily. They can
even change the whole working environment since they are full of negativity and
very influential on the other staff. It’s very disrespectful at times.”
However, there is strength in numbers. 



“Bontekanye
‘Bonty’ Botumile is my inspiration in the tourism industry. She has always been
very supportive and encouraging – a sister, indeed,” she adds.&nbsp; 



Camps
such as Pom Pom are famed for its forward-thinking environmental policies and
sustainability, but the crucial means to access and experience Botswana’s
remote landscapes is to fly in.&nbsp; 



Ungwang
Makuluba is Moremi Air’s first local female pilot. “About 20 pilots in Maun are
female, and I think 12 of us are locals too,” she says, when we meet at the
Maun Airport. 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-14-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-41514" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-14-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-14-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-14-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-14-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Mokoro-Sophie-and-Nora-14.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>A mokoro is one of Botswana&#8217;s most iconic travel offerings. Picture: Melanie Van Zyl </figcaption></figure>



“The
guys I’ve worked with have been very supportive, and I’ve learned so much from
them. I think we are past the stage of flying being a male-dominated industry
and there’s been gradual change. I want to work for Air Botswana. It’s great
flying across the Delta, but I want to work for my country.”



The
General Manager of Moremi Air, Kelly Serole, has been in charge for over 10
years, reinforcing the notion that women are not new to the safari scene. 



From
the sky to the soil, two more women demonstrate this on the ground. Floating
through on the waters of the Okavango Delta in a mokoro (a traditional
dugout canoe) has to be one of Botswana’s most iconic travel offerings, yet, at
many high-end lodges, you’ll find its a male guide that steers guests between
the tall reeds and yellow-centered waterlilies. 



The
Okavango Kopano Mokoro Community Trust (OKMCT) early on saw the need to include
women in their operations. On an overnight trip facilitated by Delta Rain,
Sophie Kehemetswe and Nora Tsaru, pole visitors through the UNESCO World
Heritage Site waters of the Okavango Delta. 



“More
women are poling the rivers now than men; there are many women,” the two agree
when asked about the gender split. 



“It
can be difficult to get the guiding license though. I studied for a month,
which includes a written test and interview. Some old women in the village
cannot write,” says Kehemetswe, as she gently poles between the swishing reeds.




A
community-run operation, the OKMCT operates in six villages at the southern
access points to the Delta, namely Ditshuping, Boro, Xharaxao, Xuoxao, Daunara
and Xaxaba. This safari offering started back in 1997, and a visit to head
office reveals that women were included in the operation as early as 1998 – just one year into
business. 



“I can
lead walks on the islands as well. I much prefer walks to the canoeing and
seeing zebra is my favorite – that is our national animal. Do you know why? The
zebra is black and white reflecting our history. Sir Seretse Khama, a black
man, married Ruth Williams, a white woman. All people are welcome in Botswana,”
she smiles proudly. The
country’s two First Ladies can be proud. &nbsp;



Meet the women challenging stereotypes deep in the bush in Botswana’s tourism capital Maun, filling roles conventionally held by men.



&#8211;Melanie Van Zyl

Mokoro – Sophie and Nora-12

No Longer In The Wilderness

It was Ernest Hemingway who lured Dan Olofsson to Africa. “I read all his books,” says the Swedish technology entrepreneur who heads the consultancy Sigma, and they lodged in his imagination.
So when he and his wife, Christin, decided in the early 2000s to build a winter home someplace warmer than their native Scandinavia, they considered the Caribbean but eventually set their sights farther south. “There’s fantastic wildlife and nature in South Africa,” the 65-year-old Olofsson says. “You don’t have that in a lot of places.”
Their plans grew to include a guest lodge at what is now the well-regarded Thanda Safari Private Game Reserve, which opened in 2004. (“Thanda” is Zulu for “love”.) Soon after, the Olofssons set out to acquire a private-island counterpart to their safari lodge and settled on one in the Shungi Mbili Island Marine Reserve in southern Tanzania. After years of negotiation and sustainability-minded construction it was rechristened Thanda Island and welcomed its first paying guests in August. The property, which has five bedrooms and rents in its entirety for $10,000 a night (for up to 10 people), is roughly 20 acres ringed by coral reefs in protected waters that teem with sea life, including whale sharks, dolphins and five species of turtles. The closest inhabited land is Mafia Island, home to more spectacular marine life, trustworthy dive centers and traditional villages. Thanda Island’s hospitality director, Antigone Meda, likens it to Zanzibar 30 years ago – and while Zanzibar now has 200-room hotels, Mafia has about 200 hotel rooms. (Thanda guests who don’t helicopter in from Dar es Salaam fly to Mafia, where Thanda staff greet them and ferry them over in a sleek mahogany boat that would do James Bond proud.)
The Olofssons envisioned the island as a private paradise where they could escape with their three children and eight grandchildren. But the Tanzanian government wouldn’t let them buy it unless it would contribute to tourism in the country and protect marine wildlife. The couple complied but remained committed to building a private family home. And here they were inspired by another 20th century American icon.
“We were at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port around the Fourth of July three or four years ago,” Olofsson recalls. “Looking around, we liked the New England style. Our South African property is more Zulu style. Here we wanted something different, and we decided on New England.” The resulting house on Thanda, with its white wainscoting, peaked rooflines and pastel palette, mixes the American and the Scandinavian, with a few African flourishes like bird’s-nest lamps in the living room and colorful fabric on the chairs in the library.
<div id="attachment_32044" style="width: 778px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32044" class="wp-image-32044 size-full" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FO091316_019.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="768" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FO091316_019.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FO091316_019-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FO091316_019-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FO091316_019-600x600.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FO091316_019-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" />Water world: The exotic rim-flow pool on Thanda Island was designed by owner Dan Olofsson, who has a degree in engineering</div>
The design is intentionally hard to classify.
Olofsson invested millions – “Less than 10,” he clarifies, though he is unsure of the exact amount – to build something that exists in very few places in the world. That’s in addition to the island itself, with its perfect white sand and clear turquoise waters just feet away from the house.
The Olofssons were very hands-on with the villa and two freestanding beach bandas (open-air bungalows, which allow the island to accommodate groups of up to 28 people), with Christin designing the interiors and Dan, a civil engineer by training, collaborating with the architects.
He was also the visionary behind the villa’s most striking feature, a glass rim-flow swimming pool that gleams with blue mosaic tiles and rises up from the deck to form a luminous cube. “This pool was quite exciting to design,” he says. “I felt like I was just out of university, even though that was 40 years ago.”
The food is far better than might be expected in such a remote location. Much of it is caught nearby. Staff will harvest some of the abundant oysters on demand and serve them with champagne.
While importing luxury foods and wine comes with a carbon footprint, the island was designed to be self-sufficient. It’s constructed with sustainable materials, and there’s a field of solar panels and a desalinization plant. The house and all its infrastructure were also built in such a way that would allow them to be taken apart and leave no trace on the island.
That eco-consciousness is important to Olofsson, who has invested heavily in conservation in the marine reserve. Thanda is working with the Tanzania Marine Parks department and a leading NGO, Sea Sense, on research projects involving sea turtles, whale sharks and coral reefs. It’s a continuation of the commitment Olofsson, the biggest Swedish philanthropist in Africa (and plenty generous at home), made when he established the Thanda Foundation in South Africa in 2005. Among other achievements, its Star for Life arm has put 110,000 children through HIV-prevention education programs.
“We are at a point in our lives where we’re able to give back to society, and I think when you’re there, you have to do it,” he says.
While Thanda has made a point of hiring most of its staff from Mafia Island and is working to improve education there, marine conservation is the main focus. Not that guests would suspect that much of the wildlife is on the endangered species list. There are frequent turtle and dolphin sightings on the boat ride from Mafia, and it’s not uncommon for guests to find themselves swimming among half a dozen whale sharks, the biggest fish in the sea.
That, it turns out, is Thanda Island’s greatest luxury: the access to such an ecosystem – and a solicitous staff to make it easier to commune with it. (They’ll even drag a copper bathtub onto the beach for a sunset soak.)
“Being a big family on an island to yourself,” Olofsson says, “there is a special feeling to that.”
And if it’s a rainy day, there’s still plenty to enjoy – Thanda Island is home to what was the largest Hemingway collection in Sweden, now sitting on shelves spanning 20 feet in a clean, well-lighted place.

Tag: Safari

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Work On The Wild Side: How AI Is Helping Conservation In Africa And The Huge Potential Of Environment Recordings

No Longer In The Wilderness

Isle Of You