Sandra Lukondo, Joyce Mutoto, Nancy Wairimu and Macrina Antonia are the badass innovators behind the Ndovu Care Gadget, a device intended to scare off elephants from her village.
The four are students at Kijare High School in Elgeyo Marakwet County. The solar powered device uses motion sensors that detect the presence of an elephant. When the sensors are triggered, it sets off an LED light and a siren that scares the elephants away. At the same time, an SMS is sent to alert Kenya Wildlife Service and villagers that elephants are in the area. KWS then controls the animals.
In an interview with BBC, Sandra Lukondo says she invented the gadget to try and address human wildlife conflict in her area, where elephants destroy farm crops or harm people, and people in turn harm the jumbos.
Human wildlife conflict is rampant in Elgeyo Marakwet county where three elephants from Rimoi National Reserve were killed earlier this year due to human-wildlife conflict. KWS attributes this to the drying up of River Kerio, forcing the elephants to stray to boreholes in the village to drink water meant for livestock.

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Alix Grubel

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