Join Brett Glasby for an Urban Wildlife Walk in the V&A Waterfront on 28 April 2023

The City Nature Challenge is coming up, and we want our fans and local community out and about to support beautiful Cape Town's biodiversity from 28 April to 1 May.

Fans of the Two Oceans Aquarium are invited to join our Foundation's Marine Wildlife Management team for a series of urban wildlife walks along the V&A Waterfront's canals and marinas on Friday, 28 April 2023. This is a fantastic opportunity to snap photos of the plants, animals, and organisms you spot and upload them to iNaturalist, a citizen science project. The walk is free for any active Aquarium members who register in advance. But, very importantly, we ask that everyone who attends please be prepared to install the iNaturalist app on their phones and upload some photos (you can use Aquarium WiFi to upload).

Cormorants, Cape fur seals, ocean sunfish, sea lettuces, butterflies, otters, wild ferns, anemones, rock pigeons, and more - just because the V&A Waterfront is an urban environment doesn't mean it isn't filled to the brim with wildlife (and our team knows where to look).

Wildlife Walk Details:

• Date: Friday 28 April 2023
• Time: 09h00 or 12h00 slot (meet at the Aquarium 15 minutes before the walk)
• What: 90min walk around the V&A Waterfront
• Bring: Please wear weather-appropriate clothing, shoes that are comfortable to walk in, your cellphone with the iNaturalist app installed and registered, and water to drink while walking.
• Note: Cape Town needs participants! We ask that family groups please use the iNaturalist app as individuals, rather than sharing a single phone if possible (the more the merrier).
• RSVP is essential – sign up at the link! (No walk-ins, unfortunately)

The City Nature Challenge is an international "bioblitz" where everyone is encouraged to go out and explore their environments and make observations of as many wild organisms as possible. These photos and recordings are then uploaded to iNaturalist, a citizen science platform, where the international community can identify them and learn from the data collected. The City Nature Challenge adds a competitive element, as cities around the world compete for the titles of the most species identified, the most observations made, and the most participants involved.

Follow Cape Town's progress here.

This year, Cape Town will be competing against about 500 other global cities and regions! Cape Town is currently the reigning champion for the "Most Observations" and "Most Species" categories, but we need YOUR help to win the "Most Participants" category in 2023!

Anyone can take part - simply turn on your phone's GPS, take a few photos of your local plants and animals (yes, even those weeds on the pavement outside your house are wild), and upload them to the iNaturalist app or website. You don't even need to know what the organism is called - the community will help with that!

Sea you there!