Great Southern Bioblitz 2026 comes to the Garden Route

A smartphone and a little curiosity could be all it takes to help build a record of the plants, animals and other living things found across the Garden Route.

From 27 to 30 November, people across the Southern Hemisphere will take part in the Great Southern Bioblitz 2026, an annual citizen-science event that uses photographs and the free iNaturalist platform to document biodiversity.

In the** Garden Route**, Wild Rescue nature reserve is leading the campaign, encouraging residents, schools, community groups, conservation organisations and anyone interested in nature to take part.

Turning everyday sightings into useful data

The idea behind the bioblitz is straightforward: participants photograph living organisms they encounter and upload their observations to iNaturalist.

Each observation records what was seen, as well as where and when it was found. Other members of the iNaturalist community can then help identify the species, turning individual photographs into information that can contribute to a wider biodiversity dataset.

Picture: Supplied

That means a bird spotted in a garden, a mushroom appearing after rain or an insect found beneath a stone can all become part of a much bigger picture.

For a country as biologically diverse as South Africa, those observations can help fill gaps in what is known about where species occur.

Species populations and distributions can change, habitats can be transformed and invasive species can spread, while species that were previously overlooked may still be discovered.

Why citizen observations matter

The information gathered through iNaturalist has applications beyond the four-day event.

The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) recognises the value of citizen-generated information and is involved in iNaturalist in South Africa. Its Threatened Species Programme includes citizen-science work and management of iNaturalist as part of biodiversity monitoring.

According to the source material, iNaturalist observations contribute to Red List assessments, land-use decision-making and the monitoring of species of conservation concern.

Citizen science has also contributed to discoveries in South Africa. During the 2024/25 reporting period, SANBI’s Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers programme recorded three plant species new to science and rediscovered four plant species previously thought to be extinct in the wild.

Another example comes from the Western Cape, where the geometrid moth Drepanogynis insciata, thought to have been extinct for 147 years, was rediscovered through photographs uploaded to iNaturalist between 2020 and 2023. The discovery was later confirmed and published in scientific literature.

South Africa has already made its mark

The Great Southern Bioblitz began in 2020 when a small group of Australian citizen scientists launched the initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic and following devastating bushfires.

It has since expanded into a Southern Hemisphere-wide event.

In its first year, around 3 000 people across 12 countries recorded more than 91 000 observations covering over 12 400 species. By 2023, participation had grown to 7 238 people across 203 regions on three continents, producing 231 040 observations of 26 062 species.

South Africa has been a particularly active contributor.

In 2025, South African participants recorded 103 380 observations of 12 434 species, accounting for more than a third of the observations made worldwide that year. The Western Cape recorded more than 26 000 observations of over 3 000 species, while the Overstrand district recorded more than 15,000 observations.

South Africa had already reached an important iNaturalist milestone in September 2020, becoming the fifth country in the world to pass one million observations.

The Garden Route has also featured strongly in previous events. During the 2022 Southern African bioblitz, the region ranked among the leading areas internationally for observations and species recorded.

Wild Rescue opens the door for Garden Route participants

Wild Rescue’s 2026 campaign is aimed at making the event accessible to people regardless of their experience with nature or species identification.

The reserve will host practical iNaturalist workshops on Saturday, 28 November, and Sunday, 29 November. Participants will be shown how to use the platform before heading onto the reserve’s walking trails to photograph and record the biodiversity they encounter.

The Wild Rescue team will also assist with uploading observations and identifying what participants find.

Further details about workshop times, bookings and participation arrangements will be shared through the reserve’s social media channels closer to the event.

How to take part

Participation in the Great Southern Bioblitz is free and open to anyone in the Southern Hemisphere.

To participate:

1. Download the free iNaturalist app and create an account.
2. From 27 to 30 November, photograph wild plants, animals, fungi and other living organisms you encounter.
3. Upload the observations to iNaturalist.
4. Continue uploading observations during the following 14 days and help with identifying what has been recorded.

Participants can connect their observations to the Great Southern Bioblitz 2026 – Garden Route project or the wider Great Southern Bioblitz 2026 – Southern Africa project on iNaturalist.

No prior identification expertise is required, with the platform’s community and AI-assisted tools helping participants identify their observations.

For Wild Rescue, the event is ultimately about encouraging people to pay closer attention to the biodiversity around them.

As founder and director Gill Simpson explains, even an ordinary-looking plant, insect, bird, mushroom or reptile can form part of the Garden Route’s biodiversity record.

For residents taking part this November, it could be as simple as stepping outside, looking a little closer and recording what they find.

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**Picture: **Supplied

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