Citizen Science and Game Counts

What is “Citizen Science”?

Citizen science (also called “participatory science”) is increasingly important in today’s scientific world.  It refers to the involvement of members of the public in scientific research, usually through collaboration with professional scientists. Participants collect, report, or analyse data, helping to expand scientific knowledge. In environmental fields, this often includes the collection and analysis of data about the natural world, such as species sightings, weather patterns, or game counts, which is what we will focus on. The world’s biggest citizen science initiative is eBird.

There are huge advantages to using the public to collect data:

1. Expands the range of scientific data collection

• Mobilises large numbers of volunteers, allowing data to be collected over wide areas and long time periods.
• Provides datasets that would otherwise be too expensive or time-consuming for professional scientists alone.

2. Enhances Scientific Research

• Helps track abundance, distribution, and trends – crucial for wildlife management, conservation planning, and climate research.

3. Supports Conservation and Decision-Making

• In wildlife conservation (e.g., game counts in Zimbabwe), citizen-collected data can help to inform:
  • habitat management
  • anti-poaching strategies
  • hunting quotas
  • population monitoring

4. Builds Public Engagement, Community–Scientist Collaboration and Environmental Awareness

• Participants gain skills and scientific understanding.
• Encourages stewardship, community involvement, and stronger support for conservation initiatives.
• Encourages trust, shared ownership of scientific outcomes, and the integration of local knowledge with formal research.

What Are Game Counts?

“Game counts” refers to systematic surveys carried out to determine the number and types of wild animals present in a defined area. They can be conducted in various ways, depending on the habitat type, the size of the area, the species of interest, and available resources.

The main methods of game counting include:

• Aerial surveys – conducted from planes or helicopters, ideal for large, open landscapes such as savannas and grasslands.
• Ground counts – performed by observers on foot or in vehicles along pre-determined transects.
• Camera trap surveys – using motion-activated cameras to monitor and record animals, especially useful for elusive or nocturnal species.
• Dung or spoor counts – where animal tracks or droppings are counted and used to estimate population densities.
• Call-up surveys – commonly used for certain species (e.g., carnivores) by broadcasting calls and recording responses.

Why Are Game Counts Important?

1. Population Monitoring
   Game counts provide critical data on population size and structure. This allows scientists and wildlife managers to detect population increases or declines over time, which could indicate ecological changes, human pressures, or the success of conservation measures.
2. Habitat Management
   Knowing the density and distribution of herbivores, for example, helps in assessing the grazing pressure on vegetation. This can inform decisions on habitat restoration, fire regimes, and water provision.
3. Conservation and Policy
   Accurate animal counts support the development of informed conservation policies, such as identifying species at risk or prioritizing areas for protection.
4. Setting Quotas
   In areas where regulated hunting or harvesting occurs, game counts help set sustainable quotas to avoid overexploitation and ensure long-term population viability.
5. Anti-Poaching and Law Enforcement
   Sudden drops in animal numbers detected during game counts may indicate increased poaching activity, prompting investigation and enforcement action.
6. Scientific Research
   Counts contribute to ecological studies on species behavior, interactions, migration patterns, and responses to climate change.

Challenges and Considerations

Despite their value, game counts come with limitations. Visibility bias, observer error, terrain difficulty, and the elusive nature of some species can affect accuracy. Therefore, combining methods and repeating counts regularly helps improve reliability. Technological advances like drones, machine learning, and satellite imagery are increasingly being integrated to enhance data quality.

Game Counts in Zimbabwe

Annual Game Counts are held at several of Zimbabwe’s National Parks – Hwange, Gonarezhou and Mana Pools and are increasingly conducted in private Conservancies such as Save Valley and Cawston Block.

In 2023 Mufurudzi held their inaugural game count, which revealed the devastating effects of poaching in that area.

The first Nyanga National Park Game Count took place in 2024.

The counts are conducted in the driest part of the year (September-October) when rain is unlikely to impede the process, vegetation is sparse and game is easiest to see and, furthermore, constrained by shortage of water to come to a relatively limited number of water sources.

Observers sit by a waterhole, spring, or stretch of river for 24 hours, recording every mammal that comes to drink. The counts take place under a full moon to facilitate nighttime observations.

Participants meticulously document the arrival, drinking habits, conditions, species, age range, and gender of each animal. They are also asked to record any extra features such as evidence of snare damage or other injuries. BirdLife Zimbabwe supplies a separate list for bird observations for those who are confident in their bird ID skills.

Hwange National Park Annual Static Pan Game Count – Briefing at Start of the 55th Hwange Game Count

The following is the text of a talk on the 15th October 2024 by Pam Birch, the WEZ Matabeleland Coordinator of the Hwange Game count process.

“Tomorrow we will be conducting our 55^th annual static pan count in this Park. The count has grown in popularity over the years, attracting not only Zimbabweans, but Overseas people too. In 1973 there were 25 volunteers. (https://wezmat.org/game-count-1973/#top) This year we have 90 teams with a total of 328 participants, which is a great response considering that times are tough, not only here but worldwide, and we welcome everyone to this exceptional Park, a vast wilderness where extraordinary animals flourish.

Wankie Game Reserve was declared a game reserve in 1928. Ted Davison, a 22 year old, was appointed the first warden of the reserve and was given 500 Pounds to get the park up and running in it’s first year. He arrived at Kennedy Siding in October 1928 and one can only imagine how he felt faced with an area of 5 000 square miles of untouched wilderness!  He set off on exploratory trips into the unknown, mainly on horseback backed up by pack-mules. He was always accompanied by his trustee companion, Bushman Vumandaba, an extraordinary man and importantly one of the best trackers around.  The rest is, as they say, history. Ted and his wife Connie, embodied the pioneering spirit of their time.

Now known as Hwange National Park, the Park lies on the watershed between the Zambezi River in the North and the Makgadikgadi salt pans in central Botswana.  Weatherwise, this year has been exceptionally dry with the El Nino effect causing a devastating drought in this part of the world though usually the rains can be good.  The climate here is generally harsh, with a hot dry season from August through to November: and on the other end of the scale, cold, frosty winters during the months of June and July. The harshness of this climate is accentuated by poor, infertile soils, making this area unsuitable for agriculture but ideal for wildlife.  With an area of about 14,540 sq. km, roughly the size of eSwatini, this Park contains Zimbabwe’s largest concentration and greatest diversity of flora and fauna.

From humble beginnings, Game counts in Hwange National Park began in the 1960s, with the ZPWMA Senior Warden, Basil Williamson, organizing Parks staff, including the cook, the gardener and Uncle Tom Cobley and all to carry out these counts.  The waterholes counted over time grew to 25, effectively the pans along the main road from Main Camp to Nantwich in the Robins area. I have a copy of an old recording sheet, dated 15^th October, 1967, at that time recording 3435 Elephant, 1550 Buffalo, a total number of 10,320 animals (including 2 ostrich) and 29 species – to compare, last year we recorded 29,990 Elephant, 1594 Buffalo, a total number of 47,030 animals and 48 species.  Proving difficult to manage, in 1969 the Hwange Count was officially handed over by ZPWMA to WEZ, with the late Bill Palmer and Tom Sheppard, WEZ members, taking this task on and the rest is history.  In the 1980’s the Gonarezhou and Mana counts began.

Wildlife and Environment’s involvement with National Parks goes back to 1928 and over the decades has been integral to many projects.  The Matabeleland Branch, particularly in Hwange National Park with game water supply, drilling many boreholes over the years and since 2011, replacing the Lister diesel engines at the waterholes with solar units, installed now at most waterholes in this Park.  This outstanding achievement was not accomplished alone. Working alongside Parks, Friends of Hwange Trust (and here we wish our friend Gary Cantle a happy retirement and now welcome Jason Friend to the team), Bhejane Trust and the Concessions within the Park, we got the job done – very costly yes, but the conversion to solar is proving to be the far better and more environmentally friendly option of pumping game water. Just for your interest, based on borehole water measurements, collectively we are pumping up to 3-4 million liters of water per day – indicating just how critical it is to maintain an adequate and constant supply of this resource for the animals of this park.

As mentioned, the phenomenon called EL Nino has hit our Southern Africa region and is wreaking havoc in this part of the world, in one word DROUGHT. Parks and our teams are under tremendous pressure to keep the water flowing into the pans – the elephant were back in the Park in great numbers earlier than usual this year and here a word of warning, with lack of food and pressure for water at the pans, watch out for tetchy elephants and animals and not only this, I am concerned at what sorry sights we might witness when we go out there for the count.

Having said how fortunate we are to be here and to have this magnificent Park virtually to ourselves for four days, I must also put on record my appreciation of the fact that Parks is allowing us to stay out in the Park for the 24hr count period and I add, unaccompanied. This is a privilege, of course, and a mark of trust that we have built up with our good friends over many years and therefore ask specially that you do not jeopardize this good relationship by breaking the rules and regulations governing this Park.

Without permission from the Concessions operating within and alongside the Park’s boundary, we would have limited access to large areas of this Park.

At this point, I would remind teams allocated pans in the Wilderness and Imvelo Concessions to be at Ngweshla Picnic Site by no later than 9 o’clock tomorrow morning, meeting Innocent Mabika there:  Innocent is the resident ecologist at Wilderness Safaris and will give a short talk and then arrange the convoys going into these concessions:  the teams will then head off, each one being dropped off at their allocated pan.

Please note that the roads in these concessions can be very sandy and tricky in parts – therefore only 4×4 vehicles!  It is important to mention here, that the teams traveling into these areas, should use the “buddy system”, ensuring everyone’s safe return at the end of the count: all too often we hear of vehicles being stuck in sand or with engine problems being left stranded!

Further, the teams counting in the Imvelo Safaris, Camp Hwange, African Bush Camps and Amalinda concessions must please pop in to meet the camp managers at the lodges before proceeding to their pans – this is just as a matter of courtesy.

Counting animals is a challenging task as we all know, simply because animals are constantly on the move and are not always 100% visible, so, when it comes to the recording forms, teams have their work cut out.  Apart from the recording of numbers, male, female, young etc., we ask that you please record the temperature every three hours, and, in the comment’s column, record snare injuries, general injuries to animals, animal condition (look out for mange), collared and tagged animals, tuskless elephant and to add any unusual sightings or behavior. (A couple of years ago we had a cheetah in the Robins area with rabies!)

Some animals drink multiple times when it is hot, whilst others may not drink at all so the probability of double-counting is high so please if you can clearly identify the group as having visited the pan before record it as such with the word “repeat”.  The point we stress is to do the job of identifying the animals and birds (in ink, not pencil) to the very best of your ability. Accuracy is key, and as the saying goes “if in doubt leave it out”. 

An important point too is that all too often the jackals and hyenas are left out of our data – recording just jackal or hyena is not acceptable, we need to know was it a Black-backed jackal (black tip to the tail), Side-striped jackal or (a new find in the Wilderness area) the Cape Fox. With the hyena, was it a Spotted or a Brown hyena (Brown hyena are recorded in this park). Please make an effort with this. 

Black-backed Jackal & Spotted Hyena

Aerial Survey – Talk about down to the wire – we were not at all sure that this important survey would happen because of the South African connection, however, with thanks to Parks, CAAZ, National Defense, Pat Cox, Fred Greyling the pilot and owner of the plane, Hercules Campher and Forster Irrigation who sponsored the survey and WEZ to some extent, and Colin Gillies and Stuart Johnston the magic happened and we were able to thankfully carry this out – and I add that we do this for you – almost assuring that you find water when you arrive at your pan for the count. “

Hwange National Park Annual Static Pan Game Count – sample report of sightings

Below is an example of a Hwange Game Count Report – showing a summary the types of information obtained during a specific count.

Species Recorded and the Highest Number of Animals

 Of a possible 111 mammal species in Hwange National Park (189 species total in Zimbabwe), 48 species were recorded, compared to 44 last year. The most species recorded during this count were 16 at Scotts and Kennedy One in the Main Camp Area. The least number recorded was 2 – (314) Elephant and (2) Spotted Hyena at Mahoboti in the Robins Area. The highest number of animals recorded during the count was 2697 at Masuma Dam.

The total number of animals recorded during the count in all areas was 47,030 (compared to 39,929 / 2022 and 36,152 / 2021). There were 1,903 in the Safari Lodge/Forestry area, 27,495 in the Main Camp area, 9,281 in the Sinamatella area, and 8,351 in the Robins area.

Conclusion

Game counts are essential tools for understanding and managing wildlife populations. In a world of increasing human-wildlife conflict and habitat loss, these surveys offer a scientific foundation for coexistence and sustainability. When done correctly and consistently, game counts not only inform conservation but actively shape the future of biodiversity on our planet.