Eswatini - iNaturalist World Tour
We end Week 13 of the iNaturalist World Tour in Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland). The top observer is @katebraunsd who is developing the Biodiversity Explorer for the Swaziland National Trust Commission. The second top observer is @shauns from neighboring South Africa. @lindaloffler, the author of the Swaziland Tree Atlas, is the third top observer. Other top observers include @hermanberteler, @birdernaturalist, @ctnash, @jacobddowen, @jeanstephenson, @jlparks92 and @rob_palmer.
There seems to be a bit of reverse 'northern-hemisphere-seasonality' happening in Eswatini with observations pealing in around January. January 2015 and 2019 were the years with the most observations.
@tonyrebelo is the top identifier. All of the top five identifiers are from neighboring South Africa: @tonyrebelo, @colin25, @alanhorstmann, @jan-hendrik, & @beetledude. @jan-hendrik leads in plants, @beetledude in insects, and @colin25 in birds.
What can we do to get more people in Eswatini using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.
@katebraunsd @shauns @lindaloffler @hermanberteler @birdernaturalist @tonyrebelo @colin25 @alanhorstmann @jan-hendrik @beetledude
We’ll be back tomorrow in Guam!
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Although Eswatini sells itself as a tourist destination, it competes seriously with Kruger Park to the north of it, and to the Zululand Reserves in the South. It also lacks a marine component to its diversity (and tourism draw card). Although it has savanna in the east and escarpment in the west, the escarpment is nowhere as grand as that of KZN or Mpumalanga.
As evidenced by participation in the Protea Atlas Project, and by the Swaziland Tree Atlas, Swaziland has a small, but dedicated and keen, Citizen Science community.
Special credit must go to Kate - see http://thebdi.org/2019/08/28/swaziland-superwoman-kate-braun/ (here is another link to the Swaziland Biodiversity Explorer: http://www.sntc.org.sz/bioexplore/index.html). Note though that Kate spreads her observations over many platforms, using the ADU VMs for some of her animal records (vertebrates and dragonflies) and iNat for the rest.
I think it deserves a mention that many of Shauns' observations were of aliens done by aerial survey, and that this is significant contributions to the mapping of alien invasions in the country.
It would be nice to see Eswatini better recorded. There are some exciting places that are well worth visiting. Let us hope that recording will pick up soon.
Thanks for pointing out the broken link, tonyrebelo, fixed!
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