Droning for Rhinos

There is currently a Rhino poaching epidemic with more than 370 Rhino being slaughtered for their horns since the beginning of 2013. In a continent where an average wage per day is no more $1 per day, the incentive of bringing in $12000 for one horn is very attractive.

The nature reserves in Southern Africa are very big, and keeping track of the Rhino with a limited number of staff can be time consuming and very expensive.

Our Solution

The solution is simple – research, develop and produce a UAS of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle kit that that is very cost effective and very easy to use, and we have developed a kit that will do just that.

The kit consists of:

	M.A Hawk – The Hawk is a lightweight UAS, designed for mid to long range flights for surveillance and reconnaissance. The Hawk can be operated manually or programmed for full autonomous flight, utilizing its advanced avionics and accurate GPS navigation. With a wingspan of 1.7m and a weight of 3kg, the hand-launched Hawk provides aerial observation with ranges of 20km or more and endurance of up to 90mins. The high quality camera on board the Hawk provides real time video feedback to the GCS (Ground Control Station).
	M.A 400 – The 400 is a Multi-Rotor UAS, designed for rapid deployment and short to mid-range flights. It is built for agility and speed, and can be carried in a back pack to track down any poacher or rhino in a matter of seconds. As with the Hawk, the 400 can be manually operated or programmed using the same advanced avionics and GPS as the Hawk.
	M.A GSC – The GSC, or Ground Control Station, is your link to the aerial systems. It contains two HD LCD screens for mission planning and live video feedback, battery charging station, and spares for the systems all in a tough pelican case. The GCS is light weight and portable and can run off the 12 volt battery inside the GCS or from mains.

Check our Tech Page on our website for more information

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The next step

The first phase is to get 5 UAS kits ready to be donated to the top 5 serves that gets hit the most in Southern Africa. Our aim is not to make money, but more to help the endangered Rhino.

Now, the Hawk and its technology on its own can cost up to $50 000, but we want to produce them at a fraction of that cost, and that is where you come in.

For Phase One, we need $20 000 to get the equipment we need to build the first 5 UAS’s in-house and save cost

If you give more than our initial goal, we kick of Phase Two. In this phase we want to increase the video feed distance as well as add infrared and night vision cameras to the drones.

And with Phase Three, we would like every nature reserve and farm to have a UAS kit and never loose Rhino through poaching again.

And the moment you’ve all been waiting for – The rewards.

With a program like this, we cannot always give you, the backer, a tangible piece of what we are producing. So we have come up with unique incentives that we’re sure you will enjoy.

T-Shirts

Check out thess t-shirts, and vote on our facebook page for your favorite.

Yours to Own!

Imagine your logo/name flying accross the African sky! If you contribute $5000 or more, we will place your logo or name on the systems. See image below (your logo/name replaced with ours)

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 Please visit our website for more information.

Competition time!

In aid of spreading the word of Droning for Rhinos, we decided to run a little competition.

We are giving away our awesome “Fan Pack” reward to the follower with the most referrals and contributions. The competition will work on points and will run until the end of the campaign. The follower with most point wins, as easy as that!

Here’s how it works:

1)      10 points for a standard referral.

2)      50 points for a referral with a contribution from that referral.

3)      100 points for getting an article posted on major websites.

So get out there and share, share, share!

Good Luck