In August and September of this year, Herta Kolberg and her team from the Namibian Chamber of Environment (NCE) traveled to southern areas of Namibia to conduct their fifth field survey.  We are pleased to share the continuing first person accounts of the surveys from team member Sofia Amakali.

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The fifth field trip for the project was conducted in the southern part of Namibia from 27 August to 10 September 2025. The first week of the trip was spent in the south-eastern Warmbad area, specifically within the Orange River-Karoo Conservation Area (ORKCA), a private conservation initiative between farmers. During this period, we assisted colleagues from the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) in conducting a succulent species survey for ORKCA, as well as for the JRS-funded NNF project. Both are aimed to support the management and conservation of succulent species in the region. This week also included training on some of the best approaches for conducting such surveys as well as species identification, and this proved highly beneficial for both the NBRI staff and the project intern. The negative impact of an eleven-year drought on succulent populations was clearly visible.

Following the first week, we travelled south-west from Warmbad to Rosh Pinah, passing through Noordoewer and Aussenkehr. En route, we were fortunate enough to encounter a few of our target species, just on the side of the road. In the southwestern region, fieldwork was conducted around Rosh Pinah, Lorelei, Sendelingsdrift Border Post, Aus and surrounding areas. One of the challenges we encountered this year was that some areas had not received good rain, and thus we could not find certain target species that have previously been recorded in those areas.

Overall, however, we were pleased with the outcomes of this field trip. Photographs and/or specimens were taken of 156 species, including 75 near-endemic and 73 endemic species. Photos of 11 near-endemic species were contributed by Leevi Nanyeni, a senior forester at NBRI. Although this was our third trip to the south-west, we still managed to get photos of 6 targeted species from this area. We are also happy about the great opportunity we got to work in ORKCA’s conservation area and the good contacts made to facilitate future work.

For more details of the Namibian Chamber of Environment’s Better Information for Better Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use of Namibian Near-endemic Plants project with JRS, Read Here.