For years, communities around Kenya's Tsavo National Park have been impacted by the dangers posed by wildlife. However, students from a local secondary school have come up with a potentially lasting solution. They developed a solar-powered gadget that alerts locals and wildlife rangers to the presence of stray elephants. CGTN's Wilkista Nyabwa reports.

When the sun is at its highest, students at Kajire Girls High School like to cool themselves under the trees. It's cooler there. It also allows this group of four students to test their gadget without causing interfering with school activities.

This little box is the culmination of months of research. They call it Ndovu-care. The name is derived from the Swahili word Ndovu, which means elephant. It is a gadget meant to warn locals whenever elephants approach the area.

SANDRA MARYANNE CREATOR, NDOVU-CARE GADGET "The Ndovu-Care contains a motion-mover detector, a siren and an LED light. The motion-mover detector is the one that will sense the elephant. The LED light will light to indicate its presence and also to scare away elephants. According to research, it's shown that the elephant is scared of sound and light."

It all began when the four girls joined the school's ICT club. They were asked to identify local problems which could be solved with the use of technology. Residents of Taita Taveta county have been battling frequent elephant invasions. The county lies on the East Africa coastal strip, and shares a border with Tanzania.

At least 20 people were killed in the county in confrontations with elephants between 2014 and 2016. Crops were destroyed. The students decided to tackle this problem.

NANCY WAIRIMU CREATOR, NDOVU-CARE GADGET "Our fellow students couldn't come to school early and they would go home late. This is the corridor where the elephants migrate, so when they are coming to school they might find the elephants on the road."

SANDRA MARYANNE CREATOR, NDOVU-CARE GADGET "The elephants have discouraged us from doing many things. For example, we can't plant crops such as cassava because they know when we harvest and they come and destroy then we lack. People have also killed them."

The gadget also sends out messages to residents and Kenya Wildlife Service rangers who can then contain the situation. This technology won the girls a top award in a national inter-school competition. It also earned them a trip to the United States where they showcased their invention. But there's a long way to go yet before the gadget hits the stores. The students want to make it bigger and louder. They also want it mounted on a mast where it can sense elephants from at least 180 meters away. This requires funds which the four hope to secure from organizations involved in wildlife conservation.

EZRA ABUGA, TEACHER, KAJIRE GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL "Once it works here, we believe it will work all over the world."

WILKISTER NYABWA TAITA TAVETA, KENYA "It doesn't seem like much now, but the creators of this Ndovu-care gadget hope that in time it will work to give early-warning about the presence of elephants in the area, while also keeping elephants out of the farms, so that they can hold on to their farm produce. Wilkister Nyabwa, CGTN, in Taita Taveta, Kenya."