Help put the Garden Route on Nature's world stage

GEORGE NEWS - George Mayor Leon van Wyk is calling all residents of the George municipal area to participate in the annual City Nature Challenge, an annual worldwide project to document our natural environment.

The challenge consists of an observation period from 28 April to 01 May, and an upload and identification period ending on 8 May.

It is as easy as downloading a free application from your app store and starting to snap within the specified dates.

There is nature all around us, and knowing what species are in our city and where they are, helps us to study and protect them, as a community – scientists, land managers and the public working together to find and document our unique natural environment.

Participating in this event will teach you about your local environment and can also improve the environment for humans and other species that live in this wonderful place.

Photo: Jeff Ayliffe

To date, the Garden Route has joined forces and competed in six international biodiversity events as a district, placing within the top 10 every time. The City Nature Challenge draws over 400 entrants worldwide per year and includes other Western Cape cities such as Cape Town, Hermanus, the Theewaterskloof district and more. With the assistance of the residents of George, we can make an even bigger impact in 2023.

"The benefit of supporting the challenge is that it provides an excellent opportunity for municipalities to gather biodiversity information that can be used in the management of properties for environmental, tourism and rezoning purposes, assisting George Municipality to make informed decisions about these aspects," says Van Wyk.

According to Tourism manager Joan Shaw, that participation will showcase the George area as a tourism destination. "It will develop pride and awareness of the local environment, offering educational opportunities, especially for children, learning to value their natural heritage." she says.

This is the ideal activity to spend time in nature over this long weekend period - and you can involve friends and family to help showcase the beauty and diversity of our home region in this global event.

Whether you capture nature in your own backyard, or the urban sidewalks, visit the Garden Route Botanical Garden or the Garden Route National Park, climb a mountain, or submerge yourself in a local forest, you are bound to find a varied selection of plants, insects and animals.

Prepare for the challenge by downloading and familiarising yourself with the iNaturalist application before the end of the month. To find out more about how you can contribute, contact Tourism manager Joan Shaw on 044 801 9103.

Tips for taking photos for the Challenge:

The photos you take during the City Nature Challenge are there to provide evidence of the organism you saw and to help confirm the identification of that organism. Therefore, taking good photos is key to participating in the CNC!

• Focus on one species in each observation in a close-up that fills the frame.

• Take several photos in one observation, including the leaves, the bark, flowers, or fruits.

• Discard blurry photographs.

• Get close, especially for small organisms - it will aid identification.

• An ideal observation has a picture showing the full organism and close-ups of important features.

• Remember, only one species per observation. The more species, the more observations.