Yahoo Lifestyle Take an African safari without leaving your seat
Google Street View has launched its maps of Kenya's Samburu National Park, allowing Internet users to take a virtual safari in the conservancy.
The virtual safari is the result of Google’s work with the Save the Elephants charity, which has a research camp in the park.
Exploring the panoramic imagery captured along a track running through the 130-square-kilometre park we can see some of the park’s 600+ elephants, zebras, leopards, lions, and even a group of Samburu warriors wandering by.
The project aims to tell the stories of the elephant families in the park.
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David Daballen, head of Save the Elephants’ field operations, touched on his work in a post introducing the new content: “For the last 15 years… I’ve spent my days among the elephants, working alongside my fellow Samburu people to study and protect them. Research shows that 100,000 elephants across Africa were killed for their ivory between 2010 and 2012, but thanks to our work in the Samburu National Reserve their numbers are now slowly increasing.”
The Kenya Tourist board says it is the country's first national park to be accessible in such a virtual way.
"We hope that by bringing Street View to Samburu, we will inspire people around the world to gain a deeper appreciation for elephants," the AFP news agency quotes Google Kenya's Farzana Khubchandani as saying.
The Samburu county governor, Moses Lenolkulal, also attended the ceremonial launch.
"The more people experience our culture, our people and the majestic elephants and other wildlife with which we co-exist, the more we are able to conserve and sustain the Samburu culture and its fragile ecosystem for generations to come," he said.
