The new HerdTracker app plots the position of the massive herds of wildebeest using updates sent in by pilots and rangers in Kenya and Tanzania. The aim is to help people decide which lodges to visit and when, to make sure they don’t miss this amazing event, says Andre van Kets, co-founder of Cape Town-based Discover Africa. The app was developed by its in-house technical team using open source software, taking two months to complete along with a general overhaul of the company’s website.

The technology is simple, but nobody had used it for tracking wildebeest before, Van Kets says. “It’s not groundbreaking technology. We’ve used open-source tools and Google Maps, which has an open API, although we used our own icons, not the standard set. We’ve combined that with the human element so we’re not just posting the GPS coordinates, but the comments of our guides too.”