Participating in biodiversity research does not require a scientific education or birdwatching experience. In November of this year, anyone located in the Southern Hemisphere with a smartphone can contribute to the Great Southern Bioblitz 2026 project by documenting plants, animals, fungi, and other living organisms.
The annual citizen science event will take place from November 27 to 30, 2026, bringing together people across the Southern Hemisphere to record the natural world using the free iNaturalist application.
For the Garden Route region, the 2026 campaign is led by the Wild Rescue wildlife reserve. It calls on residents, visitors, educational institutions, conservation organizations, and anyone interested in nature to go outside and start recording what they see.
The Great Southern Bioblitz is an international biodiversity survey that uses observations from the general public to create a detailed species registry across the Southern Hemisphere. Participants simply need to photograph encountered living organisms and upload their observations to iNaturalist. Each photo becomes a record of what was seen, where, and when.
Other members of the iNaturalist community can then help identify these species. You can photograph anything: a bird in the garden, a mushroom after the rain, a wildflower on a hiking trail, or an insect during a weekend trip. You do not need to know what you are photographing before uploading.
This data helps to supplement the growing body of information used for biodiversity research and conservation. South Africa is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, but species and habitats are constantly changing. Documenting findings in different locations helps researchers gain a clearer picture of species distribution and how these patterns change over time.
The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) recognizes the value of citizen-generated data and actively collaborates with iNaturalist in South Africa. Information collected through this platform is used in work such as Red List assessments and land-use planning decisions.
Citizen observations have also led to significant discoveries. According to the SANBI report for 2024/25, prepared by Wild Rescue, three new plant species were discovered for science within the 'Guardians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers' program, and four previously thought extinct plant species were newly found in the wild.
Examples related to the Garden Route area also exist. The geometric moth Drepanogynis insciata, thought to be extinct 147 years ago, was rediscovered in the Western Cape between 2020 and 2023 thanks to photos uploaded to iNaturalist. This observation was subsequently confirmed and published in scientific literature.
South Africans have already made a substantial contribution to the Great Southern Bioblitz. In 2025, South African participants registered 103,380 observations across 12,434 species, according to Wild Rescue. This exceeded the number of observations in any other country that year and accounted for more than a third of the global total.
The Western Cape recorded over 26,000 observations of more than 3,000 species, while the Overstrand district registered over 15,000 observations, making it the leading individual region globally that year. The Garden Route area has also actively participated in previous bioblitzes; in 2022, this region was among the world leaders in the number of recorded observations and species.
Globally, the Great Southern Bioblitz has grown significantly since its inception in 2020. The 2025 event gathered 282,261 observations of 37,550 unique taxa from 9,993 observers.
Participation is free and open to everyone in the Southern Hemisphere, requiring no special knowledge. Platform users can assist in identifying observations using AI-supported tools. If you are in the Garden Route and want assistance getting started, Wild Rescue will hold practical workshops on iNaturalist at its reserve on Saturday, November 28, and Sunday, November 29. Participants will learn how to use the platform before heading out on the reserve's walking trails to photograph and record biodiversity. The Wild Rescue team will also assist with uploading observations and identifying species. All you need is a smartphone with the iNaturalist app installed. Details regarding workshop times, booking, and participation organization will be announced on Wild Rescue's social media closer to the event date.
Whether you are hiking, spending time in the garden, or simply stopping to photograph something unusual during a walk, the Great Southern Bioblitz offers an opportunity to look closely at the surrounding natural world. And that photograph of an insect, bird, flower, or mushroom can become part of a much larger picture of South Africa's biodiversity.
