Johannesburg, 2nd October – Netstar, a leading provider of vehicle tracking and fleet management solutions, is proud to announce an important environmental initiative in collaboration with Toyota South Africa.
This strategic partnership aims to support the Pilanesberg Wildlife Trust in helping to eradicate rhino poaching and improving the safety of anti-poaching units, and game rangers in the Pilanesberg National Park.
History has shown that collaboration can create remarkable outcomes. In 2019, Toyota South Africa and Netstar joined the connected car project, deploying cutting-edge connected devices to anti-poaching unit vehicles. Year to date, Netstar has successfully tracked over 80,000km with the majority of the trips covered inside the borders of the Pilanesberg National Park, utilising its state-of-the-art vehicle tracking technology.
Netstar’s vehicle tracking is equipped to collate significant and meaningful data sets – which when analysed alongside Netstar’s heat map technology, can provide valuable insights into vehicle movements and patterns to better understand the utilisation of their anti-poaching unit
Looking ahead, Netstar working together with the team at the Pilanesberg, aims to enhance the data analysis to add future predictive insights based on the park’s specific requirements.
Toyota South Africa has been a major funder and supporter of mass dehorning projects since 2017 and in addition, has donated vehicles, rebuilt vehicles and provided essential ongoing maintenance services. Toyota South Africa’s Vice President, John Thomson, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, stating, “The partnership between Netstar and Toyota South Africa is a testament to our shared commitment to conserving wildlife and protecting the environment. Toyota’s South Africa is proud to partner with Netstar’s technology and the project is yielding stellar results as we strive to eradicate rhino poaching.”
Netstar Group Managing Director, Grant Fraser highlights Netstar’s ongoing commitment to this initiative : “We are honoured to contribute our advanced vehicle tracking technology and data insights, to help safeguard rhinos from the devastating threat of poaching. At Netstar we believe in leveraging our expertise to make a positive impact on the world around us, and this partnership with Toyota South Africa perfectly aligns with our commitment to conservation and the environment.”
Furthermore, Netstar funded the communication tower upgrade and together with Altron Nexus played a pivotal role in upgrading the critical communications infrastructure across the entire game park. The upgrade includes the installation of state-of-the-art radios for anti-poaching units and game rangers, the extension of the transmission range and incorporates a solar power installation, ensuring uninterrupted functionality for up to five days without external power.
At the heart of this project is the rhino dehorning, notching and re-growth program. The dedicated rangers and anti-poaching units at Pilanesberg National Park play a critical role in protecting rhinos through dehorning, which has proved a vital strategy to combat poaching. Since the inception of this process a limited number of rhinos have been poached in reserves where dehorning takes place.
Looking ahead, the future holds even more promise, as Netstar is applies cutting edge technology in its new product development which when combined with its existing hardware agnostic IoT platform enhances the ability to aggregate data from multiple devices.
Netstar will soon be announcing innovations which will prove invaluable across multiple industries, helping to protect a broad spectrum of non-motorised assets from trailers to rhinos.
This initiative showcases the power of collaboration and innovation in protecting wildlife and supporting conservation efforts. Netstar and Toyota South Africa are committed to making a lasting impact on the safety and preservation of rhinos and the Pilanesberg National Park.
