Capturing the Wild: Insights from trail cameras in Zambia

Shinganda Wildlife Wilderness is a not-for-profit wildlife restoration project in Zambia, caring for wildlife on an unfenced 20,000ha conservancy since 2001.

Camera traps help the project to understand the presence and movements of a diverse mix of mammals such as elephants, lions, leopards, African wild dogs, antelopes and baboons. Read on to learn about recent updates from Shinganda and see some fantastic night-time footage...

With 51 different mammal species being monitored at Shinganda (and that excludes shrews, small rodents and bats), there's always something going on in front of the camera traps.

Shinganda's camera traps have recently proven useful for confirming localised movements of wide-ranging species like African wild dogs and lions within the greater Kafue ecosystem. In one case, a lioness fitted with a satellite tracking collar moved 80km from the Kafue National Park and was photographed on Shinganda, while camera trap photos of two African wild dogs confirmed that these individuals, identified by the Zambian Carnivore Programme from their coat patterning, had travelled 101km from the national park.

Since receiving camera traps from NatureSpy in 2019, the Shinganda project has notched up four new mammal records on the conservancy. Video footage of a young sitatunga bull was a real surprise, with this species being rare, elusive and somewhat unexpected in the area, due to the limited swampy vegetation available to this habitat specialist on Shinganda. The other three new records were of nocturnal species, these being the large-spotted genet, large grey mongoose and Meller’s mongoose.

Shinganda Wildlife Wilderness also believes that the NatureSpy camera traps largely serve as a deterrent to wildlife poaching in the area, with most poachers avoiding the area due to the risk of being detected. The NatureSpy cameras therefore complement anti-poaching patrols conducted by Shinganda Conservancy Scouts, thereby elevating wildlife security on Shinganda. However, in some instances, there is also a downside, where the more emboldened poachers steal cameras, once they realise they have been recorded on camera.

Learn more about Shinganda Wildlife Wilderness on our project page.