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In 2022, an aerial survey for African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) was conducted over the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) in southern Africa. KAZA is a 520,000-km² network of protected areas in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The aerial survey found that KAZA holds ~228,000 elephants, confirming that this is the world’s largest population of savanna elephants and a critical stronghold for this endangered species.

New research comparing data from the two largest-ever elephant surveys reveals the overall population in the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area is stable, but also uncovers some concerning local trends. Elephant numbers in Botswana, home to more elephants than any other country, are stable overall, but declining numbers in areas where hunting is permitted, and increasing numbers in protected areas, suggest underlying issues for Botswana's elephants.

Wildlife populations in north-west Namibia were severely impacted in the 1980s by a combination of severe drought and poaching. Community conservation, formalised in 1996 through conservancies facilitated an increase in wildlife numbers through controlled utilisation and effective control of poaching. Between 1996 and 2012 most species experienced stable or growing population trends, however, the populations of many species have since shown a steady decline.

Four species of otter (Carnivora: Mustelidae) occur in Africa, of which the African clawless otter (Aonyx capensis) and spotted-necked otter (Hydrictis maculicollis) are known to occur in Namibia, although very little is known about their biology and distribution. Both species are listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species because of a reported decline in their numbers.

The desert-adapted lions (Panthera leo) of northwest Namibia inhabit arid and semi-arid habitats, primarily within communal conservancy lands, which they share with semi-nomadic pastoralists. Though of considerable conservation interest, no systematic population survey of these lions has previously been attempted. From 6 November 2022 to 6 January 2023, 45 trained surveyors covered approximately 40,000 km² of conservancy and government-managed lands, identifying individual lions by vibrissae (whisker-spot) patterns and other demographic indicators.

Waterhole counts were undertaken at selected sites in the escarpment zone of north-west Namibia. In 2018,18 waterholes in 7 conservancies were counted but from 2019 onwards, the number of waterholes was increased to more than 25 covering 11 conservancies. Counts were undertaken over a period of 2, 3 or 4 days during which time all animals seen were counted. Game species differ in the frequency with which they need to visit water resources with some able to acquire much of their hydration needs through foraging.

conservancy and 2 in Muduva Nyangana. Counts were undertaken over a period of 2 days during which time all animals seen were counted. Game species differ in the frequency with which they need to visit water resources with some able to acquire much of their hydration needs through foraging. Waterhole counts are therefore best suited to species (like elephants) which need to make regular trips to water points. Estimates are calculated using the number of count days, and the drinking frequency of the species.

Estimates were calculated using DISTANCE. Most transects were foot counts, although some vehicle transects were also counted (5 in Mahango and 3 each in Buffalo and Kwando). While foot transects conform to an evenly spaced regular grid system, vehicle transects follow park roads and are prone to sampling and habitat bias due to the oversampling of boundary tracks and river sections. Consequently, the estimates presented below were derived from analyses restricted to foot transects only.

Estimates were calculated for 2024 using DISTANCE. Due to low numbers of sightings, in most cases, at least the last 5 years of data were used in analyses to generate detection profiles for each species. Only foot transects were used in analyses for Mudumu N.P. Some contiguous conservancies have been grouped in which case estimates are provided for the combined area. The bottom row of hyphenated numbers = 95% Confidence Intervals.

Game counts in Luengue-Luiana N.P. (proclaimed in 2011) were initiated in 2018. Three road section transect routes were initially established. A further two were added in 2021. The transects are limited to the extreme south-eastern portion of the park and represent an area of approximately 2,030 km² . The vegetation of the park is dominated by broadleafed savannah with several riparian networks crossing the park. In total 29 species have been recorded. For large herd species like buffalo, or floodplain species like red lechwe linear density provides the best measure of animal…

Line transects were initiated in 2017 and represent almost half of the total area of the conservancy and include most of the waterholes. The area not covered by transects has low animal densities due to reduced habitat suitability and people pressure. Transect counts have recorded 27 species including 7 predator species. Based on average spoor sightings and Event Book records, hyaena are the most common predator, followed by wild dog, leopard and jackal. The top 3 species in terms of sightings between 2017 and 2024 included wildebeest, elephant and kudu.

The fundamental purpose of game counts in communal areas is to inform conservancies and MEFT of wildlife trends for the purposes of adaptive management of resources. While estimates of species numbers are provided, these should only be considered as an approximate guide to species abundance. In 2024: populations of the main game species showed positive or stable trends and numbers of gemsbok and kudu were at more typical levels compared with 2023. The only species showing a downward trend was steenbok. Elephant numbers were similar over the past 3 counts.

Boat counts were undertaken along the Kwando River from the Angolan border to the southern boundary of Mudumu National Park (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and along the Okavango River from the northern part of the Buffalo core area to the Botswana border (2023, 2024). Total river length counted is approximately 190 km. Within Namibia, animals on each side of the river were counted while, in the case of hippo, animals in the river were also counted.

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).

We counted waterbirds along a fixed route in the panhandle of the Okavango River in Mahango Game Reserve in the dry season during two seven-year periods (1991–1997 and 2000–2006). Palearctic migrants represented by 11 species in 1991–1997 and nine species in 2000–2006 together composed only a small percentage of all birds recorded in both periods. The two most numerous foraging guilds were birds foraging in shallow water and those foraging in deep water. The former guild was more numerous in 2000–2006, while the latter guild was more numerous in 1991–1997.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The waterhole fool-moon game count survey was conducted during the hottest period of the year (October) for a duration of 72 hours (3 days and 3 nights), which ensured that wildlife in the park is solely dependent on artificial water points. The survey was conducted at all the 13 water points (11 artificial and 2 fountains), with each water point having a team of eight people, working in shifts. The counting commenced on 12 October 2019, a day before the full moon and finished on 15 October 2019, a day after the full moon.

Recently introduced unmarked spatial capture–recapture (SCR), spatial mark–resight (SMR), and 2-flank spatial partial identity models (SPIMs) extend the domain of SCR to populations or observation systems that do not always allow for individual identity to be determined with certainty. For example, some species do not have natural marks that can reliably produce individual identities from photographs, and some methods of observation produce partial identity samples as is the case with remote cameras that sometimes produce single-flank photographs.

1. Spatially explicit capture–recapture methods use data from the detection of marked animals at known points in space to estimate animal population density without bias from edge effects. Detection is by means of stationary devices such as traps, automatic cameras or DNA hair snags. Data collection is often expensive, and it is not obvious how to optimize the frequency of sampling and the spatial layout of detectors.

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.

If you have had the privilege of spending plenty of time watching wildlife in Africa's wilderness areas, it is likely that you have spotted an animal wearing a collar. In the context of a safari in the wilderness the presence of a clunky leather collar around the neck of a majestic lion or elephant may seem out of place and even jarring, as it reminds us that man's impact on the environment extends right into the lives of individual animals. This may leave you wondering: why are collars necessary? What benefit do the animals get from humans catching and collaring them?

Take a close look at the image above. Each black dot is a Cape Cormorant (see below) as seen from a light aircraft. Can you count the cormorants? This aerial view of a colony of Cape Cormorants is a composite of several of the thousands of images taken during a 2017 survey of Ilha dos Tigres, an island off the coast of Angola. The purpose of this survey was to document all visible animals using this island, so every dot counts!

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).

March 1979 aerial census in the Etosha National Park.