Fahari Aviation Participates in Kenya’s First National Wildlife Census

Fahari Aviation, a subsidiary of Kenya’s national carrier, Kenya Airways PLC has participated in the Tsavo Ecosystem Wildlife Census that took place between June 11 and June 18 2021.

This entailed the deployment of Fahari Aviation’s drones and crew to pilot the use of drones in the ongoing National Wildlife Census exercise that aimed to establish a national baseline of wildlife populations and their distribution in Kenya.

The census was coordinated by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the newly established Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI) with financial support from the National Government.

Fahari Aviation piloted the beneficial use of drones and unmanned aircraft in supporting vast ecosystems and wildlife conservation efforts. This includes their cost effectiveness in operations while still achieving the desired results of data output.

Allan Kilavuka, Chief Executive Officer at Kenya Airways, said, “The use of drones and unmanned aircraft has proven feasible in many different fields of application. The omni-purpose nature of these vehicles has provided opportunities to create impact on various uses. Through Fahari Aviation, we aim to furnish new dimensions to the use of aerial counting and wildlife monitoring methods in a cost effective and efficient manner.”

Brig. (Rtd) John Waweru, Kenya Wildlife Service Director General, said,  In order to facilitate sustainable conservation and management of our wildlife, monitoring populations is a major prerequisite. This census will therefore provide information on the current status and distribution of wildlife. Further it will aid in identifying threats to the vast but threatened wildlife populations and support decision making process in conservation and tourism sector. Through Fahari Aviation, we look forward to working with Kenya Airways and further the use of drones and unmanned aircraft in wildlife conservation efforts.”

The national census will count terrestrial, fresh water and marine mammals, key birds (ostrich, kori bastards and other threatened birds), endangered primates (Tana Mangabey and Tana red colobus), threatened amphibians and reptiles (crocodiles) in the 47 counties.  The specific terrestrial mammals to be counted will include elephant, rhino, giraffe, buffalo, lesser kudu, greater kudu, eland, common zebra, Grey’s zebra, Grant’s gazelle, Thomson’s gazelle, hirola, gerenuk, sitatunga, bongo, kongoni, impala, hippopotamus, and warthogs.

About Kenya Airways and Fahari Aviation 

Kenya Airways, a member of the Sky Team Alliance, is a leading African airline flying to 41 destinations worldwide, 34 of which are in Africa and carries over four million passengers annually. In 2020 KQ was named Africa’s Leading Airline by the World Travel Awards.

It continues to modernize its fleet with its 32 aircraft being some of the youngest in Africa. This includes its flagship B787 Dreamliner aircraft. Kenya Airways services cargo flights including London, Amsterdam, Guangzhou, Sharjah, Mumbai and over 25 intra-Africa routes in addition to its passenger network. The on-board service is renowned and the lie-flat business class seat on the wide-body aircraft is consistently voted among the world’s top 10.

Kenya Airways takes pride in being at the forefront of connecting Africa to the World and the World to Africa through its hub at the new ultra-modern Terminal 1A at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

 Fahari Aviation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kenya Airways PLC that will lead application of Emerging Aviation technology in the region and continent. Fahari’s initial focus will be application of drone technology in the areas of training, operations and traffic management with a view to grow into maintenance, distribution as well as design and production of drones.

Wole Shadare