After camping at the Mabuasehube area in Botswana with our friends we headed off to the Nossob camp on the South African side using the Mabuasehube Wilderness 4x4 trail which is about 155km.  We were in two cars a Land Rover Discovery 4 and a Toyota FJ.  Things took a turn for the worse when the Toyota got stuck on top of a dune about 38km from Nossob Camp.  I was in the Land Rover and tried to turn around to go and rescue the Toyota but through errors on my side I also got stuck in the sand.  Both vehicles were thoroughly stuck and required a recovery vehicle.  We spent several hours trying to free the vehicles with no success and therefore had to the night in our vehicles.  Nossob Camp would have been worried that we did not turn up and we found out later when we arrived at the camp that they thought we were on the lower road (Nossob/Bosobogolo 4X4 Acess route).  It would have taken time for anyone to find us as the road we were on is not frequently used.  There is no cell phone communication in this area so one could not simply pick up a cell phone and call for help.  Cell phone communication only exits at Two Rivers which is right at the bottom of the park which is about 3 ½ hrs travelling time from Nossob. The next morning, we had a brilliant idea of attaching a cell phone to my Phantom 4 writing a text message and sending it up to 500m.  I left the Phantom at this altitude for about 5min, and to our amazement, when it landed, the message had been sent.  By this method I then let my Brother-in-law know where we were and he in turn he contacted Two Rivers Camp who in turn informed the Nossob Camp.  The Phantom was sent up every ½ hr to receive and also to send new messages.  Eventually a recovery vehicle found us and got both vehicles out of the sand and we arrived at Nossob Camp with stories of how my drone had saved the day.

  

The reason I am writing this article is to show that this another way in which drones can be positively used other than for search and rescue or video and photography.

  

WOW! Awesome story! Thanks for share!

Glad to hear that everything goes fine, you are so great with that brilliant idea, thanks for sharing with us about that.

That's a good one to remember in emergencies. There are a few hilly areas I've been recently where the phone signals exist but are often blocked by the terrain.

How did you send the message when your phone was 500 mtrs in the air ?

AWESOME USE OF A DRONE!!!!! well done guys!!

John

jcostello182@ho Posted at 2016-10-18 05:48
How did you send the message when your phone was 500 mtrs in the air ?

You write it, hit Send. If no signal, it waits until it acquires signal and sends.
Marty

Flipping hell never knew the phones did that

Great (survival) story...  I know that area ... for most "urbans" it will not make sense till you are stuck there!!  Regards (From South Africa).