Snapshot Camdeboo

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Hundreds of camera traps spread across South Africa are providing a powerful new window into the dynamics of Africa's most elusive wildlife species. We need your help to classify all the different animals caught in millions of camera trap images.

These camera images come from Camdeboo National Park Located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, it is rather unique as it almost completely surrounds the town of Graaff-Reinet. Proclaimed as a National Park in 2005, it currently conserves an area of 19,400 ha in the Nama Karoo biome. This park is renowned for its scenic beauty, most notably the Valley of Desolation. The Valley of Desolation, a group of dolerite pillars overlooking the vast open plains of the Karoo, was declared a national monument of geological and scenic significance as far back as the year 1935. Along with the Addo Elephant, Karoo and Mountain Zebra National parks, it is part of the Frontier cluster of the South African National Parks.

Forty-three mammal species have been documented in the park – eleven of them rodents. Reptiles are also abundant and there are four different fish species that reside in the local water bodies.

The plan for the future is to develop a conservancy consisting of a network of agricultural and game farms between Camdeboo National Park and Mountain Zebra National Park, thereby allowing wildlife migration between these two National Parks. The freedom of movement across the greater landscape will help ensure the persistence of this sensitive ecosystem. Reasons for wanting to ensure the improved protection of this landscape includes it status as an important birding area on a global scale, its location in a transitional area between four biomes and spreading awareness on improved land management practices.

Classified data and bulk image downloads for Season 1 of Snapshot Camdeboo are available through the Labeled Image Library of Alexandria (LILA). Additional ecological metadata available upon request by emailing Sarah Huebner of the University of Minnesota Lion Center at huebn090@umn.edu with details about your research questions.