Search results

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.

Explore your search results using the filter checkboxes, or amend your search or start a new search.

Displaying results 1 - 6 of 6
Heydinger J, Muzuma U 2023. First-ever systematic lion population survey in northwest Namibia. Conservation and the Environment in Namibia 58-61

The lions of Namibia's Kunene Region are sought after by tourists, but they are a local threat to livestock farming, and are still largely unresearched in terms of their ecology and ranging behaviour. Though lions in Kunene have been monitored for more than twenty years, it may come as a surprise that the population has not been systematically counted throughout its range - until now. It is less surprising when one realises that the lion range in Kunene covers more than 51,000 km² of mountainous desert landscape.

Inman VL, Kingsford RT, Chase MJ, Leggett KEA 2019. Drone-based effective counting and ageing of hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. PLoS ONE 14 (12)

Accurately estimating hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) numbers is difficult due to their aggressive nature, amphibious lifestyle, and habit of diving and surfacing. Traditionally, hippos are counted using aerial surveys and land/boat surveys. We compared estimates of numbers of hippos in a lagoon in the Okavango Delta, counted from land to counts from video taken from a DJI Phantom 4TM drone, testing for effectiveness at three heights (40 m, 80 m, and 120 m) and four times of day (early morning, late morning, early afternoon, and late afternoon).

de Rock P, Elwen SH, Roux JP, Leeney RH, James BS, Visser V, Martin MJ, Gridley T 2019. Predicting large-scale habitat suitability for cetaceans off Namibia using MinxEnt. Marine Ecology Progress Series 619 149-167

Knowledge of the occurrence and distribution of cetaceans is particularly important for conservation and management, but is still limited within Namibian waters. We collated 3211 cetacean records from the Namibian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for the period 2008 to 2016 and applied the principle of minimum cross entropy (MinxEnt) to predict habitat suitability. MinxEnt is a generalised form of maximum entropy modelling that allows incorporation of additional information such as sampling bias.

Elwen SH, Leeney RH, Gridley T 2019. Abundance estimates of an isolated population of common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus in Walvis Bay, Namibia, 2008–2012 . African Journal of Marine Science (41) 61-70

The coastal population of common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus found in Namibia is regionally isolated and unique. This population faces several potential anthropogenic threats, especially in Walvis Bay, including boat-based tourism, a commercial harbour undergoing expansion, and aquaculture for oysters and mussels. Between 2008 and 2012, 238 boat-based surveys were conducted, resulting in 170 encounters with bottlenose dolphins. Overall, group sizes varied from 1 to 45 individuals (mean 10.7).

Attachment Size
Tursiops truncatus in Walvis Bay.pdf 2.67 MB
Namibian Association of CBNRM Support Organisations (NACSO) 2019. Game Counts in East Zambezi: Dry season - Live sightings, August 2019.

From 2016 onwards Bamunu (2) was included in counts. In 2018 the two Protected Areas Mudumu (7) and Nkasa Ruparo (8) were not included in counts. It is important to bear this in mind when interpreting tables, charts and a time series of posters.

Attachment Size
Zambezi Game Count_East 2019.pdf 544.93 KB
Richmond-Coggan L 2019. The Namibian leopard: National census and sustainable hunting practices.

The African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) is one of Africa's most distinguishable big cats. As the leopard has such a broad geographical range combined with its cryptic activities there is a limited amount of empirical evidence that exists which in turn can be applied to adaptive management strategies, through practical conservation methods and monitoring across Namibia and Southern Africa.

Not found what you are looking for? Amend your search...