On the 15^th of April, Jackson Hamutenya supervised by Professor Morgan Hauptfleisch (BRC, NUST), Dr Vera De Cauwer (NUST) and Dr Julian Fennessy (GCF) has successfully accomplished his master’s thesis entitled “Assessment of the feasibility to reintroduce Angolan giraffe (Giraffa giraffa angolensis) into Iona National Park, Angola focusing on habitat and social suitability”. His study demonstrated that it would be feasible to reintroduce Angolan giraffe back to its former range due to the suitability of the area; presence of sufficient amounts and diversity of preferred

A third new plant species was described for the SCIONA study area: Osteospermum namibense this new species, is known only from the northern part of the Namib Desert in the Kaokoveld Centre of Endemism, northwestern Namibia. Within a broad generic concept for Osteospermum (tribe Calenduleae), the new species is a member of subgen. Tripteris. These dwarf shrubs grow on rocky outcrops under harsh desert conditions.

Despite the massive economic loss of Epupa conservancy communities, due to carnivores. Many still want to cohabit with the same carnivores that cause damage to their livestock and crop fields. The purpose of the trip was to understand the interactions between carnivores and the local community at the household level, the general knowledge of carnivores, ability to tolerate those carnivores by conducting household surveys.

As part of technology exploration and co-design, researchers led by Professor Heike Winschiers-Theophilus travelled to Epupa and Okanguati between the 20th - 26th of July. The primary objective of the trip was to co-design technology with local paraecologists, as well as explore some of the tools developed by the SCIONA researchers. Additionally, we wanted to gain an understanding of the local knowledge preservation and data collection, both for plants and wildlife.