Camera trapping and community engagement in Damaraland

We have recently been awarded a grant under the prestigious Darwin Initiative program. This is a 3-year project which enables us to monitor biodiversity and find solutions for human-wildlife coexistence within shared landscapes of Namibia. We have identified two clusters in the western and eastern part of Namibia and have selected eight communal conservancies across Damaraland and the Omaheke regions. The major partners for this project are the Namibian Nature Foundation (NNF), Elephant-Human Relations Aid (EHRA), Namibian Association of CBNRM Support Organisations (NACSO), Ministry of Environment, Forestry & Tourism (MEFT), University of Namibia (UNAM), Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the local community leaderships. The 1st phase of this project is based on understanding carnivore and elephant distribution and map areas of conservation importance. As a part of this component, we started with our planning and field work in September 2024. We consulted the local leadership and communities across six conservancies in the western cluster:

• Doro !nawas
• Sorris Sorris
• Otjimboyo
• Ohongu
• Twyfelfontein
• Khoro !goreb

We also planned for deployment of camera traps. The western cluster is an extremely arid region with the Namib desert and the red rock mountains (see photos below). Once we finalized the sampling design, we worked tirelessly driving across the harsh and remote Damaraland setting up cameras and collecting scats. The game guards from each individual conservancy accompanied us on these trips and provided us interesting knowledge on wildlife movements in the area. We camped at night and enjoyed the sounds of the Namibian bush. We were excited to see desert adapted elephants and other endangered mammals inhabiting this region. We learned about the local cultures and met the indigenous communities. We interacted with the community members and understood the problems with wildlife, frequent droughts, and low productivity to sustain livestock.

We plan to keep our cameras in the field for the next few months (until April 2025) to allow us to record data on seasonal variation in distribution of wildlife. Southern Africa will receive some precipitation (rain) from November onwards and this will affect movement and distribution of wildlife within these arid regions. We have also collected more than 100 potential carnivore scats from the region. Our genetics lab will confirm the identity of the species which deposited these scats. Once the scats are identified, they will be analysed using genetic tools to understand carnivore diets in the region. This will also help us to get accurate information on livestock contribution to carnivore diets and the potential extent of human-carnivore conflicts.

We visited this area again at the end of November 2024 and met the local leadership for all the six conservancies. We started with! Khoro !goreb conservancy in Khorixas and proceeded to meet members from Doro !nawas and Uibasen Twyfelfontein on the 1st day. For the 2nd and 3rd day we met members from Sorris Sorris, Otjimboyo and Ohungu conservancies. We explained to conservancy leaders the systematic study design for our cameras, a brief timeline of our upcoming activities, and committed to share updates on camera trap pictures and employment opportunities for the local community members as facilitated through the project.

The leadership were interested in the direct benefits that the project can provide, such as recruitment of game guards, female community members, and application of a human-wildlife coexistence toolkit. We briefed them about the major project partners such as NNF and EHRA and how they would be crucial in providing training and employment for the game guards in the coming months. We also provided them with a brief report on the camera traps, a brochure for the project, a map with the location of the camera traps for each conservancy, a map with the overall placement of the camera traps across the 6 study areas and a generic letter discussing the project activities. They assured us that this information will be shared with the larger community during their AGM and other outreach meetings planned in Dec 2024.

Overall, the communities expressed interest and positive intent in collaboration with our team and finding solutions for human-wildlife coexistence within their conservancies. As we continue to engage further, I am hopeful that these interactions will lead to a positive outcome and reduce the problems of coexistence with wildlife but also provide benefits to local communities and conservation of biodiversity.