Since the late 1950s, observation from the air has played an important role in monitoring animal migration and in colonial endeavors to keep in check local human populations seen as a threat to the park’s wildlife. In a short essay for the online journal Arcadia, Simone Schleper looks at how, in the 1950s and 1960s, the use of light airplanes supported particular forms of expertise in East African wildlife management.

*Photo credit: Adam Jones (2013), Creative Commons.