The need for such an app first became clear one early morning, heading through Cecilia Forest with my hound, Tessa, who was unleashed at the time. We came around a corner on the jeep track and encountered a troop of baboons, with numerous young ones amongst them. Tessa went straight for the alpha male, who was sitting on a tree stump, and barked furiously at him. I was shouting at her — which, of course, was the wrong thing to do — but I was trying to get her away, certain the adult baboons would attack her with so many youngsters around.
She jumped back, still barking furiously, and he bared his teeth — at which point she seemed to reconsider, and started retreating, giving me the chance to leash her. I thought at the time that having some means of informing others of the troop's presence would be extremely useful, so that those with dogs could find an alternative route.
Another need became apparent when my wife, Berna, told me that even though I always let her know where I was going before a mountain outing, she had no real idea where the places I'd mentioned actually were, or which route I was taking. To make it worse, I often change my mind partway — extending the day, or turning off onto some previously unexplored path. I tried sending WhatsApp messages along the way, but was often in areas with no signal, and even when a message did get through, it gave her no real sense of exactly where I was or where I was heading.
Now, with the app, she knows where I'm headed, how far along the route I am, and how long I expect to take.