Savannah Tracking has worked with tracking wild animals since it was founded by Henrik Barner Rasmussen in 2008.
Originally the company set out by tracking animals for scientific research as Barner Rasmussen did research in the field of elephant behavior and conservation while getting his Ph.D. in biology.
However, these days the main business is managing wildlife in close proximity to human settlements and fighting anti-poaching which, sadly, seems to take up a larger amount of the company’s time and work.
Wildlife management is about keeping unwanted animals out of the way of humans for the protection of both parties.
The key to this is the robust tracking devices that are mounted on the animal itself. Hereby it can track position and if an animal breaches a certain perimeter of a village or farming area, a system will go off.
A siren will scare away the animal and alert the farmers in question to go out and ward off the animals to save crops or livestock.
During his work with tracking elephants, Barner Rasmussen found himself struggling with equipment breakdowns and the inconvenient need to fix trackers in the field.
He soon realized that for any project to succeed, the tracking device must be of the best quality and offer the highest degree of stability.
This was the basis for the partnership between Savannah Tracking and Trusted A/S. Based on the robust, quality tracking devices from Trusted, our engineers developed the needed features for animal tracking in the remote areas of the savannah.
As a result, one of the biggest elephant conservation programs in Africa, “Save The Elephants,” chose to work with Savannah Tracking as they found their product to be the most trustworthy.
We asked Managing Director Henrik Barner Rasmussen to share his experience working with Trusted.
He kindly offered the following answers to highlight the process and the unique challenges that were solved together.
A: Initially, we were looking for a business partner with a product resilient enough for the life of a wild animal. We wanted something stable and reliable, something sturdy enough for roaming the plains of Africa, with a long battery life and the ability to endure and function for years without any problems, and Trusted seemed on their website to be able to deliver.
I emailed them at first, and then phoned and came for a visit, because I find it important to work with someone with whom you have a connection. Chemistry is important for a frugal partnership, and we just clicked.
A: I have worked closely with Nico and Jørgen from Trusted on developing new key features in trackers for us to use, and they are always very open and accommodative, and they bring their knowledge on tracking devices whilst we bring our specific needs and wishes in a tracker for giraffes of small impalas, and we work together for the best option.
They never simply comply, they always excel and improve on our thoughts. And where many businesses do not allow for all the worst-case scenarios we imagine, working with Trusted they have always been open to our experiences in the field and how to incorporate that into our solutions.
A: We have a plan of branching out to North America, working with human/wildlife conflict in large rural areas or national parks where predators like grizzly bears, wolves, or coyotes may be a problem when coming too close to inhabited areas for scavenging or easy prey of livestock, and we certainly see Trusted’s tracking devices adapted from African to North American species of animals.
A: I used to work with tracking devices when I studied and conducted research, and sometimes I found myself having to fiddle with equipment to make some faulty device work again, and I learned that this stuff simply needs to stay operative throughout a drought or a downpour or whatever else it may encounter.
I took a leap of faith in choosing Trusted, because it seemed like quality products, because the chemistry was good, and because – even though tech is rarely beautiful – they simply deliver elegant devices.
Looking back, I especially value their input and genuine interest in making the best possible product for our needs in the field. They always stay on time, and we solve things together.