Pharos Overwatch · Wildlife and reserves
Eyes over the reserve, every night.
What a helicopter gives you, without paying for helicopter hours. A Pharos station on the reserve flies thermal patrols through the poaching window, every night, and puts what it finds straight onto your rangers' map.
The problem
The poaching window is dark, and the reserve is big.
Poachers move at night, on foot, across ground your rangers cannot cover at once. A helicopter can see them, but it costs too much to keep up every night. Fixed cameras watch a gate. They do not follow a track into the bush.
- Incursions at night along long boundaries
- Dead ground where people cross unseen
- Helicopter hours you cannot afford every night
- Ranger teams stretched across too much ground
What we offer
What the station does for you.
The aircraft flies the hours that matter, reading heat. A person in the bush has nowhere dark enough to stand.
The boundary traced on a schedule, dwelling at gates, corners and the dead ground where people actually cross.
A fence alarm or a ranger call puts the aircraft up in under 60 seconds. The pilot guides your team onto the position.
Fire lines checked as part of the patrol, with coordinates and stills on anything found.
What we watch for
The threats a reserve lives with.
Poaching is not one thing. A station on the reserve is planned around each of these, with your conservation manager, before it ever flies.
Patrols weighted towards the areas where your rhino, elephant and other high value animals spend the night, without flying low over them.
Snaring lines are set on foot, often at night. People moving along game paths show on thermal long before they reach the snare line.
Live trafficking needs people inside the fence for hours. The aircraft finds heat where no ranger team is deployed.
Cut fences, dug out gaps and vehicles waiting on boundary roads are logged with a position, so your team knows where the breach is.
The same patrol sees heat from a new fire, a camp fire or a poacher's fire, with coordinates on every find.
An animal that stays down or moves wrong on thermal is flagged for your vet and rangers, with its position.
An example night
A night on the reserve.
How one station works through the poaching window on a reserve. The times are an example; the pattern is planned with you.
- 18:45Last lightThe first patrol goes up as the light fades and flies the boundary sections under most pressure, dwelling at gates and dry river crossings.
- 21:30A ranger callA ranger hears a vehicle on the boundary road. The aircraft is up in under 60 seconds and finds it parked with its lights off near a known crossing point.
- 21:34Tracks into the bushThe pilot follows three people on thermal as they cross the fence, and their position updates on the EarthRanger map your control room already has open.
- 21:50The team goes to a position, not a searchYour rangers are guided in on foot by the pilot. The aircraft stays overhead, recording, until the incident is closed.
- 02:15The quiet hoursA patrol on a new pattern over the rhino areas, then home to charge. Every flight, detection and track is already in EarthRanger.
Working with your team
Built around rangers, not instead of them.
The station is a tool for your people. We set it up with your conservation manager and your ranger commanders.
Flights, detections and incidents land in EarthRanger next to your patrols and collars. No second map, no new screen.
Patrols fly at height on thermal, far above the animals, and routes are planned to avoid sensitive areas like breeding herds and dens.
Your team walks into a situation they have already seen from above: how many people, where they are, and where they are heading.
Every incident is recorded and sealed with its chain of custody, so what the aircraft saw can support a case in court.
How we do it
How it works on your ground.
- 01A station on the reservePlaced where it covers the boundary and the areas under most pressure.
- 02Patrols your rangers cannot predictNight flights on a pattern that changes, so it cannot be learned from outside the fence.
- 03Detection on the aircraftThe aircraft picks out people and vehicles itself, and a licensed pilot confirms every call.
- 04Straight to your rangersWhat the aircraft finds lands in the system your rangers already use, while it is still happening.
Built by Pharos
Our own software, working for you.
The aircraft and station are DJI hardware. What makes them one service is software we wrote ourselves. Here is what it does for you on this kind of site.
Our EarthRanger link puts each flight, detection and incident on the map your rangers already work from, next to their patrols and collars. One picture of the reserve, not two.
Our own link between the station and the alarm panels, beams and electric fences you already run. When a zone trips, the aircraft goes up on its own. Nobody has to pick up a phone first.
Our evidence chain seals every clip and every flight log the moment it is captured, with the pilot, station, time and position attached. If anything were changed afterwards, it would show.
What you get
What lands with you.
- Flights, detections and incidents in EarthRanger
- A live feed to your operations room during every incident
- Sealed evidence with a chain of custody for every incident
- A fire watch log and boundary defect notes from the same flights
Questions
Wildlife and reserves, answered.
Does it replace our rangers?
No. It gives them eyes over ground they cannot cover, and a position to go to instead of a search.
Do we have to use EarthRanger?
No. It is there for reserves that already run it. Without it, the feed and the incident go to your operations room directly.
How far can it see at night?
The aircraft flies thermal, so it sees heat, not light. The site assessment maps exactly what a station covers on your reserve.
What does it cost compared with a helicopter?
It is a monthly service. The site assessment gives you a fixed price for your ground.
Will the drone disturb the animals?
Patrols fly at height on thermal, far above the animals, and we plan routes away from sensitive areas such as breeding herds and dens.
Can the footage be used in court?
Every incident is recorded and sealed with a chain of custody: the pilot, station, time and position. That is what lets it support a prosecution.
Can it also count our game?
Yes. The same station can fly thermal counts on the nights it is not patrolling. See wildlife and livestock counts.
Book a site assessment
See what a station covers on your ground.
Outline your property on a satellite map and answer four questions, or leave your details. It costs you nothing and you are not committing to anything.