Can’t walk past a bug, bird or flower without stopping to admire and snap a pic? Block out a day to take part in something fun and contribute towards valuable ecological data this weekend!
South Africa (23 October 2025) – From Friday, 24 October to Monday, 27 October, South Africans will join thousands of nature lovers for the Great Southern BioBlitz. It’s a global project that takes place over four exciting days of outdoor, nature-based fun.
The whole aim of the event is for everyday people like you and I to help survey and record as many species of flora, fauna, fungi and aquatic life in the world’s Southern Hemisphere, within the four day period. All observations must be uploaded to the iNaturalist app.
From there on, every observation becomes a data point that represents an encounter with a species at a point in space and time. After thousands of observations are identified on the app, the data is piped into databases like the Atlas of Living Australia and the Global Biodiversity Facility where they can be used by scientists, schools and more for research.
Dozens of Southern Hemisphere countries will be recording species at the same time, which creates a real-time snapshot of how ecosystems are doing. South Africans have a big role to play. We live in one of the most biodiverse corners of the planet, and the more we record, the more we can help protect!
Anybody can take part. All you need to do is download the iNaturalist app, create an account and fill out this form to get your official certificate as a participant.
When the event kicks off, head outside and take good photos, videos and audio recordings of any living or dead organism, or evidence of organisms (plants, animals, fungi, seaweed, lichen, shells, tracks, scat, feathers, etc.) that you see in your garden, around your home, in your neighbourhood, park, beach, reserve, etc.
Then, upload your observations to the app. Don’t worry if you can’t identify the organism. Just make sure you get some good clear photos or sounds. The app will also allow you to mark plants or organisms that are cultivated (e.g., in gardens, pots or farms) or captive (e.g., pets, zoo animals) as ‘captive/cultivated’.
There are already loads of local ‘umbrella projects’ in areas across SA. You can join projects for Gauteng’s protected areas, KZN’s South Coast and Zululand reserves, Cape Town’s nature parks, Limpopo’s provincial reserves, and more. National projects cover marine protected areas, Ramsar wetlands, and freshwater systems. Each one is linked on iNaturalist, just find your area and start contributing.
And if your area doesn’t have a listed project, that’s fine too. Your observations still count toward the bigger picture, and you can even set up a project in your community if you want to rally others to join in.
Some reserves, including those in Cape Town, are even opening their gates for free during the BioBlitz weekend, giving you the best excuse to grab your walking shoes and go exploring.
It doesn’t take much. By spending a few minutes outside you can help add to the global record of life. When thousands of people do the same thing, those small contributions turn into information that helps protect the places and species we all love.
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