As we draw the curtains on another year, it’s worth looking back on the past 12 months and reflect on what we have achieved and learned. For us here at Ongava Research Centre (ORC), it’s been an eventful 2024 and a year of growth and transformation. Following a change in leadership last year, with the appointment of executive director Dr Rolf Becker, we entered the new year with fresh impetus.
At the beginning of the year, we once again welcomed Dr Rebecca Dunnock (University of Queensland) to ORC. Rebecca leads our multi-year Bio-indicator Project and pays us an annual visit to help sample selected sites on Ongava Game Reserve (or just Ongava). Notably, the project expanded its reach this year, by including Onkonjima Nature Reserve as an additional field site. This year also saw the continuation of our seminar series, which not only provided a platform for ORC-related work, but also for other relevant research. Our speakers and themes varied considerably, with Dr Giorgio Miescher (University of Basel) sharing his perspectives on Namibia’s Veterinary Cordon Fence (or Red Line), while Prof Kate Parr (University of Liverpool) elaborated on the role of termites in our ecosystems. We also welcomed Prof Selma Lendelvo (University of Namibia) and Prof Sian Sullivan (Bath Spa University) to our institute, who took us through different aspects of their recently published (and co-edited) book “Etosha Pan to the Skeleton Coast: Conservation Histories, Policies and Practices in North-west Namibia”.
As an institution, we pride ourselves on the support we provide postgraduate students, and this year only swelled that sense of pride. As co-supervisor, ORC’s resident researcher Dr Stéphanie Périquet-Pearce welcomed two new Master’s students – Erica Jordan (Nottingham Trent University) and Mburaje Keja (Namibia University of Science and Technology or NUST). Erica took a closer look at the cheetah population on Ongava, using years-long camera trap footage, and completed her degree with distinction. You can check out Erica’s seminar on our YouTube channel. For her Master’s, Keja rolled out a citizen science project, hoping to gain better insights into the cheetah and leopard populations in Etosha National Park. This involves sourcing images from visitors to the Park and analysing them using Artificial Intelligence. It is not too late to participate, and you can find out more about the project and how to get involved, here.
This year wasn’t without goodbyes though. In June, we bade farewell to our Chief Technician, William Versfeld, who decided to take up a new challenge after spending half a decade with us. William was also our resident geneticist and contributed to a range of wildlife-based genetic research in Namibia during his time here. This included examining genetic corridors of elephants and lions in northern Namibia. Before his departure, William had joined the supervisory team for Tara Naeser, a Master’s student at Rhodes University in South Africa. Tara has been busy investigating the calls of the rock hyrax subspecies that occurs in this region and is hoping to connect this to genetic information and produce a better-rounded profile for the subspecies. She is also using Ongava as one of her field sites and has joined our growing student cohort.
We also continue to support a host of students attached to the SECO Project – an international collaboration looking at what is driving and shaping the world’s ‘dry forests’. On Ongava, the SECO Project has established 11 sampling sites (one-hectare plots) that are being used to measure different aspects of our dryland vegetation. Under the tutelage of our executive director, NUST PhD student Leena Naftal, for example, has been focussing on how soil carbon contributes to the total carbon pool in this environment, while Master’s student Hilma Amupolo (also NUST) conducted growth experiments to determine the timber potential of selected native tree species. Next year, we look forward to welcoming back former field technician Gabriel Uusiku. Having just completed his Honour’s degree, Gabriel will now be pursuing a Master’s degree under the SECO umbrella. Alice Jones, a PhD student from the University of Edinburgh is also making use of the SECO sites on Ongava to get a better idea of how native tree species are adapted to survive under dry, hot conditions.
Beyond new arrivals, we had several students returning too. Brennan PetersonWood (Master’s), Jessy Patterson (PhD) and Maddie Melton (PhD; all University of Georgia), co-supervised by Stéphanie, all completed another field season with us. Their work primarily revolves around large carnivores and how they interact with different dimensions of the Greater Etosha Landscape (GEL). Maddie rejoined us, after completing her Master’s this year, with her sights set on a PhD next. Jessy’s work also saw the addition of Victoria Mulyuu as resident field technician. As a result, Victoria will be embarking on her own postgraduate journey next year and we will welcome her back as a Master’s student in 2025. We take particular joy and pride in supporting Namibian students. At the moment, two-thirds of our studentship are Namibian.
ORC’s scientific staff and students were also particularly present at conferencing events this year – most prominently at the conference of the Southern African Wildlife Management Association in Windhoek in October. Stéphanie and her student cohort presented on five separate occasions, with Brennan even taking home a prize for the quality of his presentation. This event also gave Stéphanie a chance to present an overview of the Greater Etosha Carnivore Programme (GECP), which she co-leads, as part of an international collaborative body. Our other resident researcher, Dr Frowin Becker, had the chance to present his work on conservation and land equality at the Political Ecology Network Conference in Dodoma, Tanzania. In September, Frowin also served on a panel at the African Bioacoustics Community Conference in Cape Town. Here, Tara also presented her work on rock hyrax vocalisations. Given our relative isolation, we truly appreciate these opportunities and the chance to share our work with a wider community.
Throughout the year, we also had the opportunity to engage with student groups from the University of Bayreuth (Germany), Colby College and Dartmouth College (both US). The latter two visits were facilitated by ORC associate and friend Dr Jeff Muntifering (Save the Rhino Trust) and we hope to continue cultivating such engagements.
Other considerable milestones included our team (as part of the GECP) coordinating a large-scale carnivore playback survey in the GEL. This involved 122 stations, 6 teams and 5 nights of data collection. In September, we also completed our annual waterhole camera trap survey, which is conducted over 96 hours at all waterholes on Ongava. These were by no means our only research activities though and we invite you to keep an eye on our website or follow our Facebook page to get more detailed information on what our team is up to.
While it’s difficult to look back onto the year without it escalating into an annual report, we are grateful for every collaboration and partnership. We are particularly grateful for our wonderful team on the ground and for the support of our generous sponsors, who all ensure that we remain a functioning institution. We continue to realise that despite our modest capacity (and associated challenges), we are incredibly active and have room to grow. This year has seen ORC embrace the multidimensionality of our drylands and we hope to tighten this embrace next year.
