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Determining wildlife numbers and their distribution patterns are an important and relevant factor for increasing scientific knowledge, to provide credible information for managerial decisions to conserve and protect biodiversity. This research was aimed at studying the distribution of wildlife species within the Fish River Canyon using different Geographical Information System (GIS) approaches and methods by analysing distribution patterns, slope and aspect analysis on which the animals were counted in, and favourable vegetation type from which different wildlife species were…

Assessing the numbers and distribution of threatened species is a central challenge in conservation, often made difficult because the species of concern are rare and elusive. For some predators, this may be compounded by their being sparsely distributed over large areas. Such is the case with the cheetah Acinonyx jubatus. The IUCN Red List process solicits comments, is democratic, transparent, widely-used, and has recently assessed the species.

This research project deploys satellite tracking collars on ungulates in the GSNL  and monitors their movements as well as other environmental parameters. Its objective is to document movement corridors and identify impediments to migration routes for springbok, oryx and Hartmann’s mountain zebra. Stefanie Urban successfully completed her Bachelor of Natural Resources Management (Honours) project at NUST at the end of 2016. Her project report is available on request.

Vultures provide essential ecological services, yet are amongst the world's most threatened species with populations having declined by more than 95% within ten years in some places. The biggest factor causing this decline is the use of poison, either intentionally or unintentionally. Other factors causing declines are collision with and electrocution by powerlines, illegal harvesting for traditional medicines, habitat loss and drowning in reservoirs.

Summary of game counts in Hardap Game Park, May 2017.

Summary of 2017 game counts: Kavango east.

Summary of game counts in north-west Namibia: Regional Summary.

Summary of game counts in north-central Namibia, July 2017.

Summary of game counts in north-west Namibia: Conservancies north of the veterinary fence, June 2017.

Summary of game counts in north-west Namibia: Palmwag and Etendeka concessions, June 2017.

Summary of game counts in north-west Namibia: Hobatere concessions area, June 2017.

Summary of game counts in southern Namibia, May 2017.

Summary of game counts in east Zambezi, Dry season - Live sightings, 2017.

Summary of game counts in Bwabwata NP, Dry season - Live sightings, 2017.

Summary of North Central Game Count data up to 2017.

The Iona National Park covers about 15,200 km2 or 1.52 million hectares of Angola's Namibe Province in the south-western part of the country. It is the largest national park in Angola. It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, an escarpment to the east that marks the beginning of the interior plateau, the Curoca River to the north, and the Cunene River to the south. It is about 200 kilometres south of the town of Namibe. Iona was proclaimed as a reserve in 1937 and upgraded to a national park in 1964.

This survey attempt to quantify the incidence of human-crocodile conflicts (as form of humanwildlife conflicts) in the three perennial rivers namely: Kunene River, Okavango River and the four Zambezi River channels. These are the three river systems in Namibia that are most affected by human-wildlife conflicts. The survey further examine the perspective of local people who use these rivers on HWC, by unpacking the root causes of conflicts and identifying methods to mitigate HWC in the future.

Summary of the 2015 Summer Wetland Bird Counts in Namibia.

Poster summarising the results of the 2015 south game count.

Poster summarising the results of the North West Waterhole game count.

Poster summarising the results of the 2015 North West game count - Southern areas.

Poster summarising the results of the 2015 North West game count - Northern areas.

Poster summarising the results of the 2014 North West game count in Concession areas.

Poster summarising the results of the 2015 North West game count.

Poster summarising game count results for the north Central conservancies in 2015.

Game counts in Khaudum North Complex showing numbers seen by conservation area, habitat, compared to previous years, population estimates and trends.

Game counts in East Zambezi (Caprivi); dry season, live sightings. showing Numbers seen by conservation area, habitat, compared to 2014, population estimates and trends.

Game counts in Bwabwata; dry season, live sightings. showing Numbers seen by conservation area, habitat, compared to 2014, population estimates and trends.

Many long-distance migrating shorebird (i.e., sandpipers, plovers, flamingos, oystercatchers) populations are declining. Although regular shorebird monitoring programs exist worldwide, most estimates of shorebird population trends and sizes are poor or nonexistent. We built a state-space model to estimate shorebird population trends. Compared with more commonly used methods of trend estimation, state-space models are more mechanistic, allow for the separation of observation and state process, and can easily accommodate multivariate time series and nonlinear trends.

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…

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).

Aerial stratified sample counts have been conducted since 1995 in Etosha. The 2015 aerial count of Etosha was conducted from 4 September till 21 September. Including the latter survey, a total of eight comparable multi-species counts have been completed since 1995.

Numbers of most species dropped during 2015 due to the effects of the drought & the lack of grazing. Although there were a few mortalities, many animals have moved to areas outside the park where conditions are more favourable. This is to be expected in an open system.

The work of this consultancy continues an overview of elephant populations that were recently surveyed in the Zambezi Region (Caprivi), Khaudum National Park and Nyae Nyae. That survey was a response to the escalating killing of elephants across the African elephant range (CITES 2012)1 including southern Africa. This illegal activity is being driven, both internally within Africa and externally by an illegal wildlife trade. Such trade has become highly criminalized involving corrupt politicians, private sector syndicates and inept &/or corrupt bureaucrats.

As part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) the Mudumu Complexes of the east Zambezi Region of Namibia are important areas for wildlife connectivity and dispersal. The national parks of the east Zambezi Region, i.e. Mudumu and Nkasa Rupara, are too small to maintain viable populations of some wildlife species, which depend on being able to move across a network of landscapes, such as the conservancies and woodland areas to connect to protected areas in neighbouring countries such as Angola, Botswana and Zambia.

This is the third article in a series describing the results of regular wetland bird counts in Namibia and groups together inland sites where water is seasonally present as well as three sewage treatment plants. The article gives details for ten sites for which ten or more counts are available up to the end of 2008.

January 2010 announced its arrival with welcome and wide-spread rain throughout Namibia. The result of this was that we were expecting bumper counts at many of the inland wetlands, although the two coastal heavyweights would be expected to contribute the majority in terms of numbers, as usual. During this count cycle 26 sites were counted, an increase on previous counts, in no small part due to the efforts of the Namibia Bird Club that is now counting many wetlands around Windhoek.

This is the second article in a series describing the results of regular wetland bird counts in Namibia and groups together inland sites where water is present most of the time. The article gives details for two perennial river sites and nine dams for which ten or more counts are available up to the end of 2008.

The following is a summary of waterbird count data for selected species in Namibia, covering the period 1977 to December 2008. For each species the Red Data Book (RDB) status, both global and Namibian, is given, the population trend as per Wetlands International, the number of times the species was counted, the number of times it has passed the 1% population criterion, the maximum count and the sites where it has passed the 1% population criterion.

Data on wetland bird numbers has been collected in Namibia on an ad hoc basis since the early 1960's. Since 1991 regular counts have been conducted at several sites and thus a considerable amount of data has accumulated. This article and the ones to follow is a summary of the available data and an attempt to derive population trends for selected wetland bird populations. To date (July 2009), data from 1703 counts at 172 places has been entered into a database. A total of 177 different species of waterbird have been counted at these sites.

During the month of July 2009 volunteers once again participated in the winter wetland bird counts all over Namibia. A total of 27 wetlands were counted resulting in just over 99,000 birds of 87 species. The number of sites being counted is up thanks to the Namibia Bird Club, which is now conducting regular counts at Avis Dam, the Gammams (Windhoek) Sewage Works and Monte Christo. The Walvis Bay Ramsar site tops the list with over 50,000 birds, followed by Sandwich Harbour and the Mile 4 Saltworks.

In more than 100 countries, millions of waterbirds are counted each year. Wetlands International coordinates the International Waterbird Census (IWC) throughout the world and the data is used to e.g. designate Wetlands of International Importance and Important Bird Areas. Namibia has participated in these counts since 1990 and hence a considerable set of data has accumulated. Data is on hand for 1703 (as at July 2009) waterbird counts at 172 sites in Namibia. The earliest counts are from 1976 and a peak in terms of sites counted was reached in 1995 when 73 wetlands were counted…

Poster summarising the results of the 2010 game count in the South.

Game counts in north-west Namibia, June 2010.