Dorine Reinstein
Mobile apps designed to share information on interesting animal sightings in national parks could be the latest threat to wildlife, according to the South African National Parks (SANParks).
Hapiloe Sello, SANParks managing executive for tourism development and marketing, said that the rise in the use of these applications has resulted in an increased rate of lawlessness in the parks, including speeding and congestion at sightings as well as road kills caused by guests rushing to and congregating around these sightings.
According to Sello, since the arrival of these mobile apps authorities have received a considerable increase in reports of speeding cases, road kills as well as road rage incidents at sightings. "As an organization we appreciate the fact that technology has evolved and that guests are taking advantage of it; however, this is compromising the values of good game viewing in national parks."
Said Sello: "Most guests appreciate the leisurely drive through the parks and the potential reward of a good sighting as a key element of the visitor experience. This is an experience that SANParks commits to protecting, and therefore the usage of these mobile applications is in direct contradiction to the ethos of responsible tourism espoused by SANParks."
Sello further explained that SANParks discourages the use of these mobile applications as they tend to induce an unhealthy sense of eagerness for visitors to break the rules. She added that SANParks is exploring legal mechanisms to curtail the use of sightings apps.
However, developers of the latest sighting apps, have reacted saying that attempting to ban wildlife apps and social media is tantamount to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Nadav Ossendryver, founder of Latest Sightings (https://www.latestsightings.com/), one of the largest and most successful apps used in the park, said: "We deeply respect what SANParks does for wildlife and for South Africa. The tremendous benefits of sightings apps and social media to wildlife and tourism should not be discounted. If in fact there are unforeseen consequences of their use, we would like to work with SANParks to solve the problem.
"Latest Sightings community members have been instrumental in saving wildlife," Ossendryver added. "The community works with various organizations that dedicate their time to researching and saving wildlife."
One claim that has been made often on social media is that these apps could help poachers more easily locate wildlife. However, Ossendryver explained that when animals are snared or injured by poachers, the sightings community has helped rangers find them. (Example of how LatestSightings assisted with a rescue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5LssR7kBt8). He added that the rules also specify that app users should not report rhino sightings due to the poaching or rhinos in the park.
John White, co-owner of Tracking the Wild, a wildlife sightings app, agreed with Ossendryver and said that his app has the ability to control location sharing for any species in any of the parks that are listed. "Furthermore, we do not share the location of sightings outside protected areas, he said. "Therefore, we turn off the sharing of the location of species such as pangolin, elephant in some parks, some vulnerable reptiles, etc. We also prevent posting of rhino sightings due to the sensitive nature of this data."
With regards to the role that wildlife-sighting apps play in increased speeding, road kills as well as road rage incidents, White says it is important to point out that dedicated wildlife sighting apps (such as Tracking the Wild & Latest Sightings) are only responsible for a portion of wildlife sightings shared in places like Kruger. A large proportion of sightings are actually shared via standard social media apps, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp, etc.
"Surely it is the responsibility of everyone entering Kruger and other game reserves to behave according to the rules and regulations. Is it really fair to pin all of this terrible behaviour on wildlife sightings apps?" White said. "The Tracking the Wild app has a rules section in its User Guide, which reminds visitors to adhere to the speed limit and avoid overcrowding at sightings."