What is 'Atlasing in Namibia'?

Atlasing in Namibia is a public-participation Citizen Science project

It builds on previous atlasing projects such as the Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP) and the Tree Atlas Project (TAP). Data sets collected through public participation are a valuable way to learn more about the distribution of species. You can submit data from live sightings, road kills, photographs, camera traps, telemetry, spoor and any other records. Learn more on the individual atlas pages:

It is also an important data repository

By bringing Namibia's biodiversity data together, we can enhance their value and usefulness. Comparisons become possible across space and time, between and across species. To this end, several substantial datasets have been incorporated into the Atlasing in Namibia system. These include:

Previous Atlases and data sets

  • Carnivore Atlas (1995 - 2005)
  • Records from the Moewe Bay wardens (1979 - 2009)
  • Bird nest records including those in Avifaunal Database

Museum specimen data

  • Mammal specimen records, compiled by Mike Griffin (1899 - 1989). A total of 8,465 records (comprising 107 carnivores, 904 bats, 7,454 other mammals) from:
    • American Museum of Natural History
    • Cleveland or Carnegie Museum of Natural History
    • Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (formerly Transvaal Museum)
    • Field Museum of Natural History
    • Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
    • Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley
  • Bird specimen records, compiled by Chris Brown (1777 - 1999). A total of 18,648 records.

Game Counts in conservancies and concessions

  • Northwest Game Count (2001 - 2022)
  • South Game Count (2005 - 2022)
  • Zambezi Game Count (1992 - 2022)
  • North Central Game Count (2003 - 2022)
  • Kavango Game Count (2013 - 2022)
  • Northwest Waterhole Counts (2015-2022)
  • Nyae Nyae Waterhole Counts (2022)

Conservancy game guard patrol data

  • Mashi and Salambala SMART fixed route and random patrols (2022)
  • Nyae Nyae SMART fixed route and random patrols (2022)

Game Counts in private reserves

  • Greater Sossusvlei-Namib landscape (2007 - 2015)
  • Greater Fish River landscape (2003 - 2015)

Other monitoring systems

  • Conservancy Event Book Human-Wildlife conflict records
    • Carnivores: 1,478 records; ≠Khoadi //Hoas 2007 - 2011 (n=393); Doro !Nawas 2007-2010 (n=678); Sorris Sorris 2009-2010 (n=135); Torra 2007-2010 (n=238); Uibasen 2007-2010 (n=34).
    • Carnivores: 29 conservancies 2004-2017 (n=8,899)
  • Carnivore Tracker App records (May 2016 - November 2017)
  • Satellite tracking data of four individual flamingos (2013 - 2014)

Research Projects and farm data sets

  • Ongava Research Centre
    • Herpetological Survey (2007)
    • Lion GPS collar data from 21 lions, summarised to one record per pentad per lion per month (n=1293; June 2006-November 2016)
    • Carnivore records: camera trap and sightings of 18 species (n=1178; August 2006 - October 2011) 
  • Kwandu Carnivore Project
    • Mudumu South Complex Mammals camera trap records, September - October 2015 (209 records)
    • Camera trap records, 2014-2015 (86 records of serval, roan, sable)
    • Large Carnivore Survey, Bwabwata National Park, August 2017 (311 records of prey mammals: buffalo, eland, elephant, giraffe, kudu, roan, sable, wildebeest and zebra)
    • State Forest camera trap survey, May 2014 (154 records)
    • State Forest camera trap survey, May 2014 (additional 200 records with photos)
    • Mudumu camera trap records (n=230; June - September 2017)
    • Khaudum camera trap records (n=33; October - December 2017)
    • Mashi camera trap records (n=77; October - November 2014)
  • Serval records compiled for: Stratford K., Weise F., Melzheimer J. & de Woronin-Britz N. 2016. Observations of servals in the highlands of central Namibia. Cat News 64, 14-17
  • Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF)
    • Camera trap records (2946 records of 16 species of carnivores between July 2008 and June 2017)
    • 19,757 records: 18,936 cheetah; 95 caracal; 44 brown hyaena; 682 leopard. These are from a larger dataset (105,877 records) of collar and other data. Records were converted to pentads and one record per animal per pentad per day was imported.
    • Camera trap records of 12 species of carnivores from Otjituuo Conservancy grid 1 (n=157; January-April 2018)
    • Camera trap records of 13 species of carnivores from Otjituuo Conservancy grid 2 (n-152; March-April 2018)
    • Conflict questionnaire data for leopard in eastern communal conservancies of north-central Namibia (n=15; 2015, 2017 & 2018)
    • Older records compiled from various sources by Matti Nghikembua (n=725, 1991-2013)
    • Hereroland questionnaire data on 15 species (n=517; August - October 2015)
    • Other questionnaire data on 8 species of carnivores (n=147; date estimated as July 2015)
    • CCF/B2Gold camera trap records of mammals from B2Gold land (n=52; April-June 2015)
  • Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW)
    • 1075 records of 44 species of mammals recorded by camera traps between July 2016 and January 2017
    • records of brown hyaena (2016-2018; n=44) and leopard collar data (May 2014 - February 2018; n=346), summarised from a spreadsheet of 4920 records: one record per species per pentad per day was imported.
    • Cheetah collar data: records of presence in pentads derived from approximately 200 collared animals (n=790; 2008-2018)
    • Camera trap records from central area (n=771; April - September 2017)
    • 3,565 records of lion, cheetah and leopard sightings in Etosha by tourists between 2009 and 2016
  • Sara Rapson - black and slender mongoose records (71 records, comprising 62 trapping records and 9 incidental records from other observers)
  • Brown Hyena Research Project - Carnivore records compiled by the project: (7,704 records including project records, MET HWC data, camera trap data, atlas data, questionnaire responses). Plus 25 camera trap records and photos.
  • Gondwana data
    • Gondwana Namib Park brown hyaena records from 2014-2017 (88 records)
    • Gondwana Canyon Park carnivore records from 2017 (21 records)
    • Gondwana Canyon Park carnivore records from 2008 and 2010-2011 (365 records)
    • Gondwana Namib Park & Canyon park carnivore records from January 2009 - April 2018 (excluding GCP 2010&11; n=1262; 18 species)
  • Na'ankuse data
    • Camera trap records: small-spotted genet (n=36), African wild cat (n=18), honey badger (n=4), aardwolf (n=5), striped polecat (n=2); February 2017 - March 2018)
    • Camera trap records: Leopard records (n=510) from Neuras, Mangetti and Kanaan; November 2013 - February 2018
    • Camera trap records: Cheetah records from Mangetti (n=8; October 2015-October 2016)
    • Camera trap records: Non-cheetah records from Mangetti (n=975; January 2017-June 2018)
    • Camera trap records: 10 species of carnivores, plus aardvark from square 2217 (n=133; April-June 2018)
    • Camera trap records: Carnivores from farms Ondekaremba and Frauenstein (n=211; May-July 2018)
    • Camera trap records: Carnivores from Mangetti (n=116; May-August 2018)
    • Camera trap records: Carnivores from Mangetti (n=260; August-November 2018)
    • Camera trap records: Carnivores from 22S 17E (n=472; May-September 2018)
    • Camera trap and HWC data: 348 records: African wild dog (n=4; February-August 2017); brown hyaena (n=19; July 2011-November 2017); caracal (n=3; June 2016-January 2018); cheetah (n=197; July 2008-February 2018); leopard (n=121; July 2008-February 2018); spotted hyaena (n=4; September 2016-June 2017)
    • Cheetah HWC records - summarised by pentad, (n=106; 2008-2018)
    • Cheetah GPS collar records - summarised by pentad, (n=332; 2008-2018)
  • NamibRand Nature Reserve
    • Bat-eared fox sightings (n=12; 2002 and 2009)
    • Camera trap and HWC data: 348 records: African wild dog (n=4; February-August  2017); brown hyaena (n=19; July 2011-November 2017); caracal (n=3; June 2016-January 2018); cheetah (n=197; July 2008-February 2018); leopard (n=121; July 2008-February 2018); spotted hyaena (n=4; September 2016-June 2017)
    • Camera trap records (January 2013 - February 2018): leopard (n=72); cheetah (n=34); spotted hyaena (n=74); brown hyaena (n=57)
    • Historical records of 9 species of carnivores compiled by Stéphanie Périquet from records from Murray. Only those with actual GPS location (n=76; March 2000 - March 2004)
  • Windpoort farm - 60 camera trap photos, mostly of carnivores (May 2016 - March 2018)
  • AfriCat North (594 records of collared lions, summarised to one pentad per lion per month; February 2016 - March 2017)
  • AfriCat: records of 37 leopards in and around Okonjima (2017-2018)
  • Florian Weise
    • Historic cheetah data compiled from Gaerdes 1973 and Shortridge 1934 (n=173; 1913 - 1973)
    • Brown hyaena and aardwolf data - presence, based on at least three confirmed records (camera trap records or reports with photo evidence, GPS-tagged animals, sightings, or captures by land owners)  summarised by QDS for the period 2010-2014 (n=35).
    • Brown hyaena and aardwolf data - telemetry data, summarised by QDS (n=352; Feburary 2012-October 2014)
  • Navachab farm - camera trap photos (n=75; January 2012 - July 2017)
  • Kelsey Prediger - carnivore records from night drives in Solitaire area (n=77, April 2018; n=17, May 2018)
  • Chavoux Luyt - farm survey data from 2013: black-backed jackal records (n=70); caracal records (n=68)
  • Gobabab Research and Training Centre: records of carnivores from the Centre's "Nature book" (n=27)
  • Leopard Census Project/Louisa Richmond-Coggan:
    • data from questionnaires completed by farmers regarding presence of 17 species of carnivores on their land in the last 12 months (n=371; March-November 2018)
  • Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST):
    • Etosha Heights Project mammal sightings (n=3435; June - November 2018)
    • Mammal and important plant monitoring project (n=221 mammal records; May - November 2018)
    • Greater Sossusvlei Landscape fences and roads project (n=158 mammal records; January - August 2018) 
  • Francois Theart:
    • 2015-2018 Windhoek snake records

Atlasing in Namibia app data

  • All app records submitted (sychronised) up until 26th September 2023

Wild Landscapes conservancy app data

  • All biodiversity data collected up until 11th September 2023