[NetBehaviour] Life, Death and Twitter on the African Savannah.

[marc garrett]

Life, Death and Twitter on the African Savannah.

A ranger in Kenya's acclaimed Mara Triangle wildlife park, Kimojino is a 
member of the Masai tribe. He first learned how to click a computer 
mouse in November. Now he blogs about the Mara Triangle and posts wild 
animal photos on Flickr nearly every day.

Kimojino's online outreach is an effort to raise awareness and money for 
the park, and it's urgent: Without the funds he raises online, his 
employer, the Mara Conservancy, would go broke. Admission fees from park 
visitors are the conservancy's primary source of revenue, but tourism 
dropped to almost zero during Kenya's post-election violence, and hasn't 
snapped back.

But the park's online efforts are working. Despite relatively modest 
traffic, the blog raised $40,000 from donations in March. Kimojino's 
Facebook page drew about $2,000; and a handful of safari companies 
bought advertising on the blog in exchange for sponsoring rangers.

more...
http://tinyurl.com/6ae9c5 (wired)