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Namibian Wildlife Surveys archive

This archive of reports of wildlife surveys in Namibia aims to:

  • provide easy public access to published information and statistics
  • enable easy stakeholder access to recent and historical data on wildlife populations
  • provide a comprehensive archive of wildlife survey reports in Namibia

Public access to information is a vital component of ensuring community engagement in prevalent issues. Wildlife surveys are critical to determine the health of wildlife populations and determine trends over time to guide conservation and management actions. 

Wildlife surveys are done for different species using methods that are suited to counting them (e.g. by air or road) in their natural habitats. Such surveys need to be repeated over time to detect long-term trends and inform conservation managers. The Namibian government, non-governmental organisations and private reserves all conduct regular surveys covering different parts of Namibia and targeting different species. This archive will thus serve as a repository of our collective knowledge of the trends and status of a variety of species occurring throughout Namibia.

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Displaying results 1 - 18 of 18
Craig GC, Gibson DSC, Uiseb KH 2021. Namibia's elephants - population, distribution and trends. Pachyderm 62 35-52

Namibia's elephants extend across the north of the country. They occur in six main areas of the known Namibian range - the north-west, Etosha National Park (NP), Mangetti National Park, northern Kavango, Khaudum National Park/Nyae Nyae Conservancy and Zambezi Region. Seasonal changes in distribution are related to water availability. There are movements of elephants between Namibia and its neighbours, particularly Botswana, and mainly from Zambezi Region. The largest populations are found in the north-east of the country, in Khaudum/Nyae Nyae and Zambezi Region.

Loonam K, Ausband DE, Mitchell MS, Robinson HS 2020. Estimating abundance of an unmarked, low‐density species using cameras. The Journal of Wildlife Management

Estimating abundance of wildlife populations can be challenging and costly, especially for species that are difficult to detect and that live at low densities, such as cougars (Puma concolor). Remote, motion‐sensitive cameras are a relatively efficient monitoring tool, but most abundance estimation techniques using remote cameras rely on some or all of the population being uniquely identifiable. Recently developed methods estimate abundance from encounter rates with remote cameras and do not require identifiable individuals.

Craig GC, Gibson DSC 2019. Aerial survey of north-east Namibia - Elephants and other wildlife in Zambezi Region, September/October 2019.

An aerial survey of wildlife and domestic livestock took place in Zambezi Region from 25 th September to 4 th October 2019 as part of a wider survey including Khaudum National Park and its neighbouring conservancies. A total area of 17 380km2 was sampled at intensities between 10 and 40%. The estimates of numbers of each species are tabulated below. The estimated number of elephants is lower than that from the 2015 survey, but the change is not statistically significant. There were considerably fewer elephant carcasses seen in 2019.

Craig GC, Gibson DSC 2019. Aerial survey of north-east Namibia - Elephants and other wildlife in Khaudum National Park and neighbouring areas, September 2019.

An aerial survey of wildlife and domestic livestock took place in the Khaudum National Park and its neighbouring areas from 18th to 23th September 2019 as part of a wider survey including Zambezi Region. A total area of 14029 km2 was sampled at intensities from 5% to 20%. The estimated numbers of numbers of each species are given in the table below. The increase in estimated numbers of elephants since 2013 has been greater than expected from natural reproduction, but the overall trend from 1998 shows an average rate of increase of 4.4% per annum.

Craig GC, Gibson DSC 2019. Aerial survey of north-eastern Namibia: Elephant and other wildlife in Zambezi Region, September/October 2019. An aerial survey of wildlife and domestic livestock took place in Zambezi Region from 25th September to 4th October 2019 as part of a wider survey including Khaudum National Park and its neighbouring conservancies. A total area of 17 380km2 was sampled at intensities between 10 and 40%. The estimates of numbers of each species are tabulated below. The estimated number of elephants is lower than that from the 2015 survey, but the change is not statistically significant.  There were considerably fewer elephant carcasses seen in 2019. However as a result of the policy of MET to remove carcasses from the field, mortality can no longer be estimated from the aerial survey results. Illegal hunting of elephants continues to take place in the area.
Craig GC, Gibson DSC 2019. Aerial survey of north-eastern Namibia - Elephants and other wildlife in Khaudum National Park and neighbouring areas, September 2019.

The 2019 aerial survey of wildlife in Khaudum National Park and Neighbouring Areas, Namibia, was commissioned by KfW on behalf of the Directorate of Scientific Services, Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), Government of Namibia as part of the survey of elephants in north-eastern Namibia.

Craig GC, Gibson DSC 2016. Aerial survey of elephants and other animals in north western Namibia, September/October 2016.

An aerial survey of elephants and other animals was conducted in North West Namibia from 16th September to 8 th October 2016. A total area of 63431km2 was sampled at an average intensity of 8.19% using both transects (at an average of 6.7% sample intensity) and block counts (9.88% sample intensity). Total counts were conducted additionally by flying 921.5km along six rivers.

Gibson DSC, Craig GC 2015. Aerial survey of elephants and other wildlife in Khaudum National Park and neighbouring conservancies, October 2015.

An aerial survey of wildlife and domestic livestock took place in the Khaudum National Park and its neighbouring conservancies from 6 th to 14 th October 2015. A total area of 12851km2 was sampled at an average intensity of 9%. The focus of the survey was on obtaining good estimates of elephant numbers. Other species were recorded although it is likely that their numbers would be underestimated (Craig and Gibson, 2013a).

Gibson DSC, Craig GC 2015. Aerial survey of elephants and other wildlife in Zambezi Region, September/October 2015.

An aerial survey of wildlife and domestic livestock took place in Zambezi Region from 25 th September to 4 th October 2015. A total area of 17474km2 was sampled at an average intensity of 13%. The estimates of numbers of each species are tabulated below. The number of elephants estimated has decreased since the 2014 survey, although the change is notstatistically significant. However there has been a very highly significant increase in the estimated number of elephant carcasses since 2014. Other observations suggest that illegal hunting of elephants continues to take place in the…

Craig GC, Gibson DSC 2014. Aerial survey of elephants and other wildlife in Zambezi Region September/October 2014.

The 2014 aerial survey of wildlife in Zambezi Region (formerly Caprivi Region) was conducted between 25 September and 4 October 2014. While the main emphasis was on numbers and distributions of elephants and elephant carcasses, sightings of other species were recorded as well as sightings of illegal activities and human settlements. The survey was conducted according to standard practices using stratified systematic transect sampling (Norton Griffiths, 1978) in a light aircraft (a Cessna 182) flying at a nominal height of 300 feet above the ground.

Craig GC, Gibson DSC 2014. Aerial survey of elephants and other wildlife in Zambezi Region, September/October 2014.

An aerial survey of wildlife and domestic livestock took place in Zambezi Region from 25th September to 4th October 2014. A total area of 11713 km2 was sampled at an average intensity of 14%.

Craig GC, Gibson DSC 2013. Aerial survey of elephants and other wildlife in the Caprivi May/June 2013.

An aerial survey of wildlife and domestic livestock took place in the Caprivi from 29 May to 8 June 2013. A total area of 16733 km2 was sampled at an average intensity of 12.7%. The estimates of numbers of each species (with their 95% confidence range) are given in the table below. The population of elephants has increased at an average rate of between 1.4% and 8.3%.per annum. However, the ratio of carcasses to live elephants indicates a possibly unsustainable number of animals being killed in much of the Caprivi.

Craig GC, Gibson DSC 2013. Aerial survey of elephants and other wildlife in Khaudum National Park and Nyae Nyae, September 2013.

An aerial survey of wildlife and domestic livestock took place in the Khaudum National Park and surrounding conservancies from 17th to the 22nd September 2013. A total area of 15200 km2 was sampled at an average intensity of 7.1%.

Brown C, Chase M, Nkala T, Landen K, Aust P 2007. Status of Wattled Cranes on the floodplains of north-east Namibia: Results from an aerial survey during September 2007 .

The Okavango River in Namibia, from the Angolan border just northwest of the bridge on the Trans-Caprivi highway south to the Botswana border; the entire length of the Kwandu-Linyanti-Lake Liambezi-Chobe system, including the whole Mamili National Park; and the Zambezi River for its entire length on Namibia's border, including parts of the adjacent East Caprivi floodplains, were survey from the air in September 2007.

Williams AJ 1987. Coastal bird counts along the Namib coast, Cape Cross to Lüderitz, November and December 1985 . Lanioturdus 23 (1) 3-8
Attachment Size
Coastal bird counts_1987.pdf 385.44 KB
Williams AJ, Brown CJ 1984. Preliminary report on Walvis Bay bird count, March 1984.
Brown CJ, Williams AJ 1983. Bird census at Walvis Bay, November 1983.
Williams AJ, Simmons RE, Wearne K Birds of the Walvis Bay wetlands, Namibia: 12 Years of counts as an aid to conservation .

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