As the Mother City and being located in one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, Cape Town has put the city squarely on the nature map for the 2019 City Nature Challenge. The competition takes place over the weekend of 26 April to 29 April 2019 and is open to all to participate. Capetonians are encouraged to explore the City’s nature reserves and natural open areas to record everything alive over these four days.

One way of recording Cape Town’s natural beauty is to take photos of whatever is found in our reserves, be it a flower, insect, or animal, and to share this on the iNaturalist.com app.

In order to participate in the challenge, participants need to download the iNaturalist.com app via https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019-cape-town, register and share their observations by uploading all the findings on the app.

The City manages 20 nature reserves and various nature areas and has coordinated activities for this challenge across the metro. All of the reserves will be open to anyone interested in recording their observations of plant and animal life over these four days. Participants can look forward to tours of the reserves with local experts and conservation managers during the course of the challenge.
 
For a list of all the City’s reserves and details about their location, facilities and attractions, please visit /explore-and-enjoy/see-all-city-facilities/our-recreational-facilities/nature-reserves

Participants should keep an eye on the following page for news on all the events they could attend https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019-cape-town/journal/22943 as well as the iNaturalist ZA Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pg/iNatureZA/events/ .

‘Cape Town is incredibly blessed with vast nature reserves and many natural open areas. We have plant and animal life in abundance, right on our doorsteps! When participants go out and look for plant and animal life this weekend I am almost sure that many residents will be astounded with all the beautiful natural spaces located in and around their city,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Marian Nieuwoudt.

‘The City Nature challenge now provides us with an opportunity to showcase this diverse natural environment! So let’s get out, capture and share all our moments spent with nature this weekend,’ said Alderman Nieuwoudt.

Participants may record any plant, animal, fungi, slime mould or any other evidence of life (scat, fur, tracks, shells, carcasses) found in Cape Town and should not forget to record the location of their findings.
 
Schools, universities and social groups are encouraged to use this as an opportunity to facilitate, manage and support student outdoor learning and exploration in schoolyards, nearby parks, or other green spaces.
 
For more information, contact Eleanor Hutchings at Eleanor.Hutchings@capetown.gov.za or Tony Rebelo at t.rebelo@sanbi.org.za.