Louis Liebenberg, an expert tracker has made it his life's work to revitalise the art of tracking and develop it into a modern and respected profession. His unorthodox approach, combining Stone Age practices with space age technology, could revolutionize nature conservation and wildlife management, as we know it.

"South African Bushmen are the most skilled trackers in the world, studying wildlife with expertise built over generations. However, since the majority of these trackers are illiterate, little of their experience has been documented and these ancient skills are on the brink of dying out," says Liebenberg. "As most of them are illiterate, trackers build up a phenomenal mental database through observation and hypothesis. This prompted the idea of equipping trackers with 3Com Palm Pilots, loaded with CyberTracker interactive software, which are linked to a satellite navigation Global Positioning System (GPS)."

Liebenberg is now able to codify this mental database by using the PalmPilot and CyberTracker helping to prevent the time-tested methods of the African Bushmen from dying out.

A key feature of the PalmPilot is its user interface. Illiterate Bushmen can record their observations by selecting icons that depict the animals and their behaviour patterns. "The tracker simply presses one button to activate the programme and selects options by touching icons on the screen with the tip of his finger."

Liebenberg has created hundreds of icon pictures to help the trackers with their task. More than 40 animal species are indicated on the menu. "Once the tracker has indicated the animal he is stalking, he can then scroll through the display screens and record activities such as drinking, feeding, running, fighting, mating and sleeping," he says.

By means of the integrated GPS system, the tracker is able to record the exact location, time and date of each observation and the information can be fed into a Geographical Interface System (GIS), making it possible for park managers to have instant access to all the information gathered.

When a tracker returns to the park warden's office, he follows a very simple procedure to download the data from the PalmPilot onto a desktop computer. The information can then be analysed in detail regarding the movement and geographical distribution of certain species. and charts and maps can be drawn using the information in the database.

"We chose the PalmPilot because the product includes efficiency in terms of memory and long battery life, is quick and easy to use, reasonably priced and is the best in its class," says Liebenberg. "Park management can now optimise valuable man-hours and, importantly, use the data in their war against poaching."

He points out that using the technological approach has proven to be a lot more accurate than conducting aerial surveys in managing wildlife. "For example, to monitor shifts in the feeding behaviour of the black rhino in the Karoo, scientists go once a year for five days to study feeding behaviours. The problem with this is the fact that the seasons change from month to month and so do the feeding habits of the rhinos. During the rainy season they will eat different plants than in the dry season. By using the PalmPilot and CyberTracker we can track on a month to month basis and gather on going accurate information."

Preliminary results at the Karoo test site have already indicated, amongst other things, a shift in the feeding behaviour of rhinoceros, suggesting an early sign of food shortages. Liebenberg says that by monitoring the behaviour, feeding, condition and interaction of these rhino, it may be possible to manage them more effectively.

In the Kruger Park the rare roan antelope population crashed In 1994. Aerial surveys were conducted once a year for three consecutive years prior to this. It turned out that the information that had been collected was inaccurate and the problem was only detected after three years. By this time the population had crashed. "Had our system been used the problem would have been picked up within six months," he says.

On the basis of field tests with the CyberTracker in the Karoo National Park in the Cape Province, it has been established that a single user can record 100 to 250 observations per day. However, in areas of higher game densities, the number may even be higher, and if a Palm Pilot is rotated amongst several trackers, Liebenberg believes it could generate more than 20,000 observations a year.

3Com has also announced that it will donate eight Palm Pilots to Liebenberg for distribution to the Cape Nature Conservation and in the Kalahari Gemsbok and Kruger National Parks.

"My ultimate vision is to replicate the work that has been done locally in national parks all over the world to help combat the serious global threat of survival and starvation because of the world-wide climatic change that is taking place," he says.

Liebenberg, who acts as an advisor on nature and conservation issues to South Africa's Minister of Land and Agriculture, is confident that his project will be accepted by others. Liebenberg's project recently gained world-wide recognition when he won the prestigious Rolex Award, a world-wide competition which recognises those who have undertaken projects for the better of mankind and was one of the five winners who were selected out of 130 countries world-wide.

With the help of the $50,000 prize money, Liebenberg intends to add features such as enhanced software, which will allow automatic statistical analysis of the data, digital image recognition programmes and a multi-media CD-ROM.

He says that the software can be customised for any environment and sees the possibility of the software being used in farming and any environment where huge amounts of data need to be collected and analysed. He already has a pilot up and running on an apple farm to monitor pest management.

The prize money will also help Liebenberg fulfil his dream of promoting his product world wide. He is filming a documentary on his project with National Geographic this month in the Kalahari.

3Com SA's retail programme manager, Sean Heyes, says that over 7,000 developers are developing all sorts of applications for the PalmPilot and South Africa has some revolutionary applications being developed locally including CyberTracker.

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