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Kenya is located on the east coast of the African continent.

It's gotten equatorial climate that makes it ideal for the cultivation of coffee, tea, and tourism.

And it boasts idyllic landscapes in over 42 national parks and reserves, full of lush wildlife.

It's home to over 100 species of mammals, including impalas, rhinos, giraffes, lions, and, of course, elephants.

But this isn't your average wildlife documentary.

I'm Earl, and that's Craig, my best friend.

We both wear glasses.

He's the one with the red shoes.

And we call ourselves phil-anthropologists, because we spend our lives studying the messy business of helping people.

And now we're traveling the world looking for do-gooders and change-makers.

And that's why we're here in Kenya, to tell the story of a local tech company trying to make a difference in the land they love.

A tech company determined to support the stewards of this wildlife, and aid them in their fight against poachers and progress.

It's a partnership to make sure, that even at the edge of civilization, this guy can get a signal.

[theme music] It's 4:30 AM in Nairobi, Kenya, the heart of the Silicon Savannah, a tech hub you probably didn't know existed.

We're embarking on a journey to a remote region of the Chyulu Hills, a national park in the shadow of Kilimanjaro.

Our mission?

To bring the internet to a nonprofit protecting wildlife from poachers and other threats, across millions of acres.

A few hours outside of Nairobi.

And we cut from the main road, and just like that, civilization falls away and we're in open country-- the middle of nowhere.

This is a BRCK expedition.

BRCK is a for-profit company of engineers, programmers, and technologists.

Their goal is to take the internet to the ends of the Earth, to anywhere that a big internet service provider can't go or won't go.

Their offices may be in Nairobi, but several times a year, they put together a small team for outreach and exploration.

They're like a band of misfits from some lost adventure series, each bringing their own special skills to the table.

They field test their equipment, meet the people they help, and try to have a good time doing it.

This year we were lucky enough to tag along.

Every stop is a stop for chai.

Real tea.

Real chai.

That's Kenya, man.

Almost a religion.

Maasai people, living in the boma nearby, have turned up to say "hello," one of the many tribes that are notable for having adhered to their traditional nomadic lifestyle.

No small feat, in a rapidly modernizing Kenya.

So this little boma here is Maasai, and all of the livestock in the middle is their value.

That's their money right there.

Right.

So they protect the livestock.

So you get an inner circle, an outer circle.

And the shrubs around the thicket is to keep lions and other animals out.

It's hard to tell which ones are-- so sheep, tail down.

Yeah, sheep tails down.

Goats, tail up.

And here's all the Maasai.

Yeah.

Ca va?

They bring exquisite handmade jewelry and cultural artifacts to sell, mostly to Craig.

And in return, we share one of the West's greatest exports.

It's my ability to balance almost anything on my nose.

[laughter] A mutually beneficial exchange of goods and cultures for sure.

Our destination, near Amboseli National Park, is only a couple kilometers from Nairobi, but this isn't exactly the autobahn.

It's a cocktail of dirt, sand, rocks, and culture, that on any other trip would be an adventure unto itself.

Another few hours of dirt, and we arrive at the Big Life Foundation headquarters.

It's one of the largest anti-poaching organizations in Kenya, and their far-flung range of posts are the definition off-the-grid.

Rick is going to bring internet connectivity to these outposts deep in the Kenyan bush, to improve ranger quality of life, and to minimize the need for boots on the ground in this unforgivable terrain.

This is their head of security, Craig Miller.

He's a Kenyan native who's spent his life fighting poachers, flying planes, and drinking chai.

Serve me one as well, if you would.

Not in the flowery cup.

Just the regular white ones.

[laughter] This is going to be seen by people.

Oh, sorry.

I didn't realize that you went with the butterflies.

Yeah.

What's the dog's name?

Groga.

Groga.

Groga.

Groga.

So the role of Big Life in these areas is to do what?

So under my department, which is of security, is to provide wildlife security and prevent poaching from happening, and mitigate human-wildlife conflict.

But the whole ethos behind Big Life is to drive meaningful benefits for the local people through wildlife.

If wildlife's going to have a future here, then obviously it has to mean economic returns in the long run.

So what animals are you guys protecting?

Pretty much everything within there.

You obviously pay more attention to high-value species, which are elephant, lion, leopard, et cetera.

Stuff where they're trophies essentially, that are then entered into the illegal wildlife trade.

In Kenya, it's illegal to kill any of those.

Even the traditional tribes like the Maasai and people like that are still prevented or prohibited from killing to eat.

Yeah.

Depends, again, on the certain situation.

You get guys who come in from Tanzania, fully armed, to try and get as many elephants as they can.

We've had a case where six elephants were shot in one thing.

But then you've got a farmer who his farm is being squashed by an elephant.

And he throws a spear to scare him and the elephant dies.

You wouldn't charge him under poaching.

So I mean, it's a messy business.

Yeah.

It's a messy business.

But why do you do it?

Well, I mean, I've always loved wildlife.

Growing up, first job I wanted to be was a game ranger, but very different to what I thought a game ranger was, obviously, in those early days.

So part of what do you do is you're surveying in a plane this 1 and 1/2 million acres.

You've got all the disparate ranger stations that are out there, but how does technology play in?

In so many ways, and obviously looking to increase that.

But I mean, the biggest thing in recent times has been our digital radio network, where now you can live-track rangers where they're going, analyze their patrol routes, locate them when there's something going on and organize a response.

But in terms of long-term plans, it's going to be amazing to have every elephant microchipped and tracked.

And that's coming.

I've got one elephant that I can follow on my iPhone.

Oh.

Oh, really?

Well, can anyone in the world-- can we put a-- No, no, no.

[laughter] He's a huge elephant.

You don't want to-- All of a sudden I realized how bad an idea that was, as soon as I said it.

Yeah.

[laughter] Big Life Foundation is protecting almost 2 million acres, with limited personnel and outdated technology.

They often rely on aerial surveillance, due to the extreme remoteness and the difficulty of the terrain.

From the air it looks a lot simpler-- farmlands and wildlife side by side.

On the ground, though, it's a different story.

This landscape is a huge natural resource that the local people rely on for their livelihoods.

Their farms keep growing, but with every acre they add, they encroach upon the nationally-protected land.

Back on the ground, Craig shows us a major wildlife corridor, and the electrified fences that they use to keep the animals off the surrounding farms.

Over 1,000 elephants use this crossing every three months, as they move from one part of the Amboseli Park to another, in search of food, water, and love-- which brings us to Tim.

Tim is one of the world's biggest elephants, certainly in the top five in terms of tusk size.

In the world?

In the world.

Your tusks never stop growing.

Tusks like one of his would go for a couple thousand dollars in China, so he needs a lot of protection.

But unfortunately, he's also a cereal crop raider.

There's no elephant on earth who will walk through a ripe tomato field and not eat any.

So you can understand, when someone is 100% reliant on his farm to get his kids through school, feed his kids, feed his family, and he loses all that income in one night, he's going to be understandably very angry.

Over the past four years we've treated in three different times for injuries.

What were the injuries?

Injuries are from spear wounds.

He goes into farms and someone chases him out, and while they're chasing him out, they throw a spear.

And they've all been minor, fortunately, but obviously something to be very worried about.

So tell me what it's like for a top elephant in the world.

What kind of privileges does Tim have among the other elephants?

The older you are, the closer you get to your peak breeding abilities.

So the bigger you are, the more dominant you are.

And they'll come into a thing called musth, which is just a higher testosterone level, and try and time it at the same time as all the females come into estrous.

And how many do you think he'll do in that three-month span?

Whew.

A couple of hundred.

He gets all the ladies.

[laughter] And we can get out and try to get closer if you want.

These are not the kind of elephants that are used to people.

They're not like the ones you see in parks and zoos that encounter 1,000 tourists a day.

They're like any wild animal, and they can be extremely dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.

Luckily, we got Craig with us.

Don't run, even if he's coming.

So if you start running, then he can see all of a sudden.

But if you're frozen and you make noise, he's not sure what's going on because he can't see you.

So if we're in real trouble, can I tell Earl to go running and I'll stay put?

[laughs] Slowest one gets squashed.

[laughter] That was just a little warning.

That was enough for me.

After Tim showed us why he gets all the ladies, we're ready to get back to the relative safety of the technology component of this story.

I played it cool, though.

And we're off.

[laughter] Our experience notwithstanding, you can see why millions flock to Kenya to experience these magnificent wild animals on safari.

And yet, elephants here are caught between the expansion of local community on the one hand, and the need for preservation and tourism on the other.

Throw in the growing demand for the illegal ivory trade, and it gets even more complicated.

The BRCK team was anxious to scout the Mukururo Ranger Camp.

It's where they're prototyping their Moja network, and it's another three hours into the countryside.

We crossed into the Chyulu Hills late afternoon.

It's a bizarre, but beautiful landscape from an alien world.

But with rain on the way and a setting sun, it's also the bane of four-wheeled and two-wheeled vehicles alike.

Traveling in the rain is bad enough, but in this terrain, laden with computers and cameras, it can be catastrophic.

Low, dry areas like this are susceptible to flash flooding, which make the thoroughfares and the roads impassable.

The rain came and the sun set, but we made it.

The Chyulu Hills-- the volcanic range of hills lying in the shadow of Kilimanjaro, that divides the Amboseli and the Savo plains.

All three are national parks protected by the Kenyan government on paper, and organizations like the Big Life Foundation on the ground.

We're right in the middle of the Mukururo ranger base.

It's the Big Life outpost charged with protecting the black rhino population in the area.

Working alongside the Kenyan Wildlife Service, their goal is to protect these rhinos long enough for them to repopulate.

Living in the middle of nowhere for months at a time can be tough, and just plain boring.

It's one reason the BRCK team is here, to install their super BRCK router, which is the culmination of their design efforts.

This is hardware created with this type of environment in mind.

It will provide the camp with a free Wi-Fi network, which will improve the quality of life for the rangers, and support the work they do.

What were the problems that they were running into that a more high-speed reliable internet provides them?

Well, so one was cost.

We're quite remote in the bush right now.

Right, yeah.

We're doing about 30 kilometers on this, point to point.

Right.

And to try and get dedicated capacity on that length would be quite-- too expensive for this camp to run.

Gotcha.

And all the peripheral services, all these things that make the internet run, we're running on here as well, like a mini data center.

And this just keeps everything more reliable, a little bit smoother.

OK.

So rather than just a locked-down Wi-Fi for the rangers here, we've now got internet for the whole community running Moja Wi-Fi.

Moja is a free public Wi-Fi service that allows content creators and tech companies to distribute their content on the device.

And that's how we end up-- we can pay for the link as well.

Their Moja network is key.

They're able to subsidize the expense of the internet and give access and connectivity to a place that isn't feasible with traditional models.

In addition to keeping the rangers in touch with their families, and giving them access to entertainment, it allows them to send photos and maps back to headquarters in real time.

This can make a critical difference in saving an injured animal's life.

And as we soon learned from Joseph, it's more dire than we could have imagined.

But really, only seven?

Only seven.

Seven species?

I mean, seven-- Seven actual animals.

Individuals?

Wow.

Exactly.

That's crazy.

So how many males and how many females?

Two.

Two bulls.

Two bulls.

Yes.

And do you have-- have you had baby rhinos?

Yeah, we're expecting another baby in four months' time.

Yay.

Oh, really?

And they're poaching mainly for the horn.

Is the horn the only thing they take?

Only the horn.

Just the horn.

They don't use the-- So they kill that big majestic animal just for the horn?

Just a small piece.

Ugh.

It's crazy.

It's like the big ele.

They just want-- they want only the tusk.

Joseph agrees to take us out on patrol with the rangers.

They're going to take us to the rhino watering hole and to check the camera traps, which is the main way they're able to document and keep track of these animals.

What's the hardest thing about being a ranger and having to do this work?

My challenge may be the terrain.

As you have seen here, we have much-- a lot of stones.

A ton.

Yeah.

They change positions, so getting them is a challenge, going to where they are and identifying them.

Right.

That's a big challenge.

So when a young person comes up and they say they want to do this business, do you sit down and say, do you understand?

This is life and death.

Yeah, well first of all, you have to be trained.

Right.

Yeah, for nine months.

But even before training, you have to have, you know.

Passion.

The passion of doing that job.

Start it.

Right.

How long have you been a ranger?

This is my 10th year.

10th year.

And how about you?

20th year.

20th year?

Wow.

Does your family understand you're fighting for animals, and is that OK with them?

They know it's a good job.

The only way to retrieve the camera data is to come out to the bush and physically check the memory card, which is both time and resource-intensive, and then the information is days, even weeks old.

Is this on now?

[laughs] While Earl was screwing around, Mark from BRCK picked up on the issue immediately.

When I see a situation like this, I'm thinking people BRCK.

You're thinking what?

I'm thinking people BRCK.

Our sensor technology, they're built hardy, so they stay outside, and you can send this to the base camp.

So instead of them having to come to each of these cameras through the BRCK, you could actually send the signal back.

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

In real time.

So you wouldn't have to walk out here.

Yeah.

But also, you could get here more quickly if you could see live time.

Exactly, exactly.

This sensor can have multiple functions.

One of the functions could be to even check the battery level.

Wow.

So it can even tell you that area needs a change.

Camera number A1 or B1, stuff like that.

So we could do that too.

What's the plan?

For next week, maybe.

[laughter] Joseph wants you here next week.

[laughter] Today, we start with Wi-Fi and then we talk about the other stuff.

These guys really believe in what they do, and talking to Joseph, you can tell he's proud of the team he commands.

They all come from local tribes, and they're working hard to educate and inspire a new generation that understands the importance of the work they do.

When we got back to camp, we got to see just how tedious checking camera traps can be.

If going into the field is resource-intensive, at least it's an adventure, whereas this is straight data processing.

And with only seven rhino, even photos are rare.

That was as close as we got to seeing one.

The future of their work depends on technology, and thanks to the new digital radio network, a communication came across about an active arrest in the vicinity.

[chatter] [non-english speech] So we got a report from an informant.

This guy killed a dik-dik last night.

A dik-dik is a small deer.

And he was still drunk this morning He had a chang'aa den and chang'aa is the illegal brew.

Right.

So this is called a [non-english],, and it's a bright torch.

You can see how many batteries there are attached to it.

So at night obviously, they shine it in their eyes and they freeze.

[beep] And then they use the light and the noise to stun the animal, and then they'll just get it cut with that.

So is he just doing this for food or-- He would have shared it with some other workers on the farm.

Hmm.

So he'll go to court now, and then we'll take a sample of that, get it sent to the lab, and get an official report that will confirm what species it is.

He'll get two three years, minimum.

Two, three years.

And that's it.

He killed a small deer simply so he and his friends could eat, and they have to throw the book at him.

It doesn't seem as black and white as someone killing an endangered species for trophies or profit.

These guys worked in this ecosystem for about 30 years.

How many times have you caught him?

About five or six times.

Commercial bushmen can get 10 years.

We've got a guy with 270 kilos of giraffe meat in June.

He was sentenced to 10 years on Thursday.

It's not a surprise to these guys that-- He knows the rules.

But he's a habitual poacher.

Just like Tim.

Yeah.

[laughter] Some habits are hard to break.

It's hard to watch this man go to jail for years, just because he had to eat.

Beyond the need to protect the animals for their own sake, tourism in and around the national parks help bolster the local economy.

Big Life's goal is to create harmony between the local people and the wildlife.

As Craig said, for wildlife to have a future here, it has to benefit the people.

Craig Miller had to deal with the situation on the ground, so we headed out with Joseph, to join up with the BRCK team in an isolated part of the Chyulu Hills.

When we finally caught up with them, they were happy to introduce us to yet another important Kenyan tradition.

The only question I have is, what are we doing here in the middle of wildebeests when the sun sets?

Sundowners.

Sundown is a very Kenyan tradition.

When the sun's about to go down, break out whatever grog you have.

Right.

[laughs] This happens every day, you know?

The sun goes down every single day.

[laughter] Which makes it a brilliant tradition.

I love it!

Cheers, yeah.

Cheers.

When you live and work in a place where you build things, you build different things than people who live elsewhere.

The guys in Palo Alto are building some of the most amazing technology in the world, however it doesn't work here.

And so, while the problems they're trying to solve are interesting, they're maybe not as big or as important as some of the problems we're trying to solve here, at least in our world.

Yeah, I mean, it's really seeing the challenges, the human challenges they're going through, and then looking at what the objectives is, and then solve some of the problems that they're facing.

Right.

It would really take us several hours, several days to reach out to each and every tribe, so I think with this technology, it will help a lot.

Also, he was telling me sometimes he'll come there once or twice a week.

If it's a week ago that the picture was taken, the poacher is long gone.

Right.

He also said he has to go all the way to the base camp to know if he even has any picture, because he has to take the memory card out.

And so, these are challenges that indie technology can help with.

In the West, the idea of innovation is, could I change my thermostat from my phone.

Could I make my coffee pots notify everybody on Facebook what blend I drank this morning.

It's insignificant.

You're not fundamentally changing anybody's life.

But here, it's life or death.

For those rhinos, if we don't if we don't capture that data more quickly, they're going to die and then they're going to be gone.

So the size and scale of the problem is much more significant.

So there's lion-sized problems, versus scratching at fleas.

Awesome, yeah.

Cheers to everyone for the whole expedition.

Cheers.

Cheers!

Cheers!

To BRCK, to the good work they do, to Big Life foundation, and the great work that you guys do.

I thought we had a good time.

There's so much more to explore, and we want you to join us on The Good Road.

For more in-depth content, meet us on the internet at thegoodroad.tv.

Hear more great stories, connect organizations, and make sure you download our podcast, Phil-anthropology.

Funding for The Good Road has been provided by-- Every road is a good road When you're behind the wheel of a Toyota Hybrid From the Toyota Venza and Sienna to Highlander Hybrid and Rav IV Hybrid And with available all-wheel drive these vehicles are designed to go the distance wether your driving to work, school or down the coast of Tanzania Proud sponsor of The Good Road, Toyota Let's go places Tomorrow's breakthroughs start with the determination and inspiration of today.

AMD helps solve the world's toughest and most interesting challenges, by creating high-performance computing technologies.

And by The Great Courses Plus, hundreds of topics from expert instructors to help you expand your knowledge.

Available for streaming anytime, anywhere.

And by Share More Stories, helping companies understand humans one story at a time.

And by Uncommon Giving.

The Generosity Company.

[theme music] [jingle]