The Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe conserves over 25,000 herpetological specimens and this project aims to digitize the collection, as well as to add new specimens to augment its collections. The museum notably holds specimens from two under sampled areas in Beitbridge (Nottingham and Border Ridge Estates). This project will also provide training to a number of students to prepare a future generation of Zimbabwean herpetologists and museum staff.

The digitized data will address the current lack of data on public platforms, and will give open access to herpetologists globally and encourage more collaboration between the museum and other institutions. The checklists, occurrence datasets and maps will enable a future understanding and knowledge about herpetofauna habits and support successful conservation strategies.

Photos: Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe Herpetology Department: Pythons, Cobras, Boomslangs and other snakes from Southern Africa. Additional Photos / Simbarashe Mafodya & Raymond Ntini.

The Insight into Zimbabwe herpetofauna data: Mobilization of data for mapping old and future biodiversity distribution, for effective climate change and conservation strategies project identifies seven core objectives:

1. Digitization of the metadata associated to the Zimbabwe reptiles and amphibians (circa 25 000) of the collections in the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe
2. Mapping the herpetological diversity on two of the least explored areas in Zimbabwe (Nottingham Estate and Border Ridge Estate)
3. Publish an updated checklist of the herpetofauna of
4. Publish a field guide of the herpetofauna of Zimbabwe
5. Publish the occurrence data of Zimbabwe herpetofauna on public platform such as GBIF
6. Train at least 12 local students in herpetology taxonomy and survey methods as well as Natural History Museums curatorial practices and data digitization.
7. Provide Educational opportunities for school age students.

Project Update: A Taxonomy, Data Capture and Data Cleaning Workshop was held July 24-28 2023 at the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe. Project Director Shiela Broadley welcomed twenty-one students from the National University of Science and Technology, four students and a lecturer from Midlands State University, seven Natural History Museum staff and one other participant from Sunway Safaris.

Shiela Broadley has over 30 years of experience with the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe.  She currently curates the Herpetological National Collection as the Assistant Curator of Herpetology and is responsible for the curation of data that are associated with the collections, including photographs, and field notes taken by the late Dr. Donald Broadley who made the collections. She is also presently the project lead for a Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) BID-AF2020-026-INS: Zimbabwe biodiversity data in support of climate action, life on earth and sustainable food and feed: Biodiversity of reptiles, arachnids found in Protected Areas and edible insect fauna in Zimbabwe. She received her Bachelor of Science (Hons) Degree in Forest Resources and Wildlife Management from the National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.