Human-wildlife conflict, reported by WhatsApp. Routed to the nearest rangers.
VirtualRanger lets communities living alongside wildlife report an incident from any phone in under a minute, and puts it in front of the conservation team responsible for that landscape.
$0
free to use
no cost to community members to report a human-wildlife conflict
<3 min
average time to submit a report
from first message to rangers notified
<25kb
of data used per report
no app, built on WhatsApp
450+
community members trained
Masai Mara, Kenya
How it works
Each partner organisation publishes a WhatsApp number in its landscape. Anyone who sees an incident messages it and follows the prompts, in English or Swahili.
01Share your location
The reporter uses WhatsApp's built in location sharing feature to share their exact coordinates, so there is no describing where the conflict is taking place.
02Answer a few questions
Using buttons, instead of typing VirtualRanger captures: what happened, which animal, how many, and whether anyone is in immediate danger. Under two minutes for most reports.
03The right team is notified
VirtualRanger works out which organisation covers that location and species and sends the full report to its operations team, with all report details and a reference the reporter can quote.
- Works on
- any phone with WhatsApp
- Languages
- English and Swahili
- Data per report
- ~25 KB
- Cost to the reporter
- none beyond WhatsApp's data cost
The dashboard
Partner teams sign in to a live dashboard of their landscape. Each report lands with its coordinates, what was reported and how urgent it is, alongside the picture over time.
- 01
Live reports
New reports appear as they come in, with coordinates, incident details, danger flags and the reference the reporter was given.
- 02
Real incidents, separated from training
Teams mark reports as verified incidents or training runs, so the numbers reflect what actually happened in the field.
- 03
Analytics over time
Report volume, incident types, time of day and response speed, filterable by organisation and date range. As well as the ability to visualise data into maps and charts to show patterns over time.
- 04
Your data, your access
Each organisation sees its own landscape, reports and data live from anywhere with internet access.
Where we work
VirtualRanger has been deployed in the Masai Mara since 2024/25 with the Mara Elephant Project, whose rangers receive and respond to the reports. MEP have trained over 400+ community members on how and when to use VirtualRanger to respond to an incident.
The next landscapes are being chosen with our partners. If you work in an area with human-wildlife conflict and want reporting that reaches your team, we would like to hear from you.
Talk to us about your landscape
Our partners
MEP's rangers receive VirtualRanger reports and respond to human-elephant conflict across the Mara. MEP were the first organisation to deploy VirtualRanger and led the pilot program and the community training behind it.
Visit website ↗
HME is a UK conservation charity that works to protect African elephants and champion female wildlife rangers globally. HME is VirtualRanger's strategic partner, hosting the funding that supports delivery in the Mara.
Visit website ↗
“Sylvia has helped equip more than 340 people, including rangers and community members, with the tools and confidence to use the platform, helping incidents move from local reporting to ranger awareness in under three minutes.”
News
World Elephant Day · 3 August 2026
VirtualRanger: the tool that's helping communities and conservation teams respond faster to human-elephant conflict
A feature on how VirtualRanger works in the Masai Mara with Mara Elephant Project and How Many Elephants, published for World Elephant Day.
Read the article ↗
The Independent · July 2026
How AI, drones and data are transforming African wildlife conservation
The Independent's look at technology in conservation profiles Mara Elephant Project ranger Sylvia Pemba and her work introducing VirtualRanger to rangers and communities.
Read the article ↗
Work with us
For conservation organisations
If your team responds to human-wildlife conflict, VirtualRanger can put reports from your landscape in front of them, on a number you own, in the language your communities use. Pilots are free to set up.
Partner with usFor funders and supporters
Support goes directly to what makes reporting work on the ground: training, incentives for the people who report, and opening new landscapes. We report back on what your funding produced.
Support the work