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Hanno Truter, Sales Manager for Microdrones Africa, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, discusses some of the challenges and advantages drone users across the continent are facing.

Africa is unlike all of the other Microdrones territories when it comes to sheer size and scope. “First of all, let me give you a bit of perspective on the actual size of Africa,” explains Hanno. “If you look at it from South to North, you’re talking about 8,000 kilometers and from East to West about 7500 km. North America, China, India, Eastern Europe, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Japan all can fit into Africa itself. So that’s quite a vast area to cover.”

Although size and travel can be a challenge in Africa, Hanno explains what makes it so unique is that it’s very less institutionalized than the Unites States and Europe, meaning there’s a lot of room for entrepreneurs to experiment. Drones have similar applications in Africa as other markets including agriculture, mapping surveying, and inspection. However, distinctive to African countries are uses for land planning, emergency medical delivery routes and wildlife conservation. According to Hanno, the deployment of drone technology in Africa still faces technological, economic, social and legal regulatory challenges. Only 28% of African countries have official regulations in place which covers the use of drones. It’s a very unique market compared to the United States and Europe.