The project has two main objectives -

1.  to make high accuracy maps of the major parks and reserves in Africa

2.  to publicise those parks an reserves online.

1.  Mapping Protected Areas in 2010

If you have been involved in the project, or following its progress, you will know that we have recently come to the end of Phase 1 of the MAPA Project.  This was where dozens of volunteers mapped the parks and reserves of Southern and East Africa.  They literally drove, in shifts, from the far south to Ethiopia.  That data was added to the excellent data set already compiled by Track4Africa (Africa’s leading  mapmaker for GPS units).  There are a few small gaps in the data  - Malka Mari in northern Kenya, Gambela in western Ethiopia and a few others (but we will get to those!) and this has become the best data set ever compiled for protected  areas.

Now, through 2010, we have to do the same for West, Central  and North Africa, and the island nations.  This is Phase 2 of the MAPA Project.

This will be more difficult for two reasons.  First, we do not start with the wonderfully rich base data that Tracks4Africa had for the southern part of the continent.  Secondly, these regions are far more complex, logistically,  than Southern and East Africa.

We will be working initially in West Africa, almost certainly starting in Nigeria.  Sadly, we  are likely to use far fewer volunteers from outside the ‘target’ countries than we did in Phase 1.  I say  ’sadly because we had a lot of fun with the volunteer programme during 2008 and 2009.  However, as the project has become better known, we are collaborating with ever more local organisations and winning more opportunities to work with local people.  This is better for the project – local knowledge, local language skills – and hopefully better for local conservationists.

We will still be sending some people from the project to train and map and we’ll broadcast those oportunities as they arise.

The mapping will be a little different from that in Phase 1.

Southern and East Africa (Phase1) are full of protected areas with significant toursit and wildlife management infrastructure.  Nearly all the national parks have publicly accessible roads, park gates, campsites, etc. etc.   They have brochures and park fee structures.  Mapping these parks and reserves is usually as simple as turning up and spending a few days carefully planning a way to cover it all as quickly as possible.

Phase 1 MAPA volunteers were able to drive for months on end, mapping in protected areas almost every day.  In each park or reserve, they would hope to get the complete picture within just a few days.

There are few major parks and reserves in West and Central Africa that fit this model.  Consequently, driving from one park to another, getting one grerat data set after another, will not work.  In the DRC for example, we would waste everyone’s time and money if we tried to drive from one park to another – the road network simply will not support it.   And even if we could do that, the infrastructure is often not there to be recorded.

Having said that, these are exactly the protected areas whose existence and importance should be broadcast to the world.  So, we will do whatever we can to map the Phase 2 parks to the best of our ability.  It will be much more ‘intelligence’ led than Phase 1 (where information is realtively easy to come by).  At this time we are working really hard to find collaborators in each and every Phase 2 country.  Those partners will help the MAPA Project  to know more and to identify find partners who will  actually get out and explore the less well known protected areas of West, Central and North Africa.

We will keep you posted as we start working in situ.  Incidentally, loads of people keep asking about Madagascar!  If i had a dollar for every person who wants to volunteer to map that extraordinary island’s protected areas, we could run this project for years to come!

If you think there is anyone we should be talking to in West, Central or North Africa, please let us know.

One last point.  Roads, parks and points of interest change all the time.  Tracks4Africa has taught us how important it is to keep new information coming in if you want to build the best maps.  If you do an overland trip in Africa, please record your GPS  tracks and waypoints and send them in to us.  Elsewhere on the site we have downloadable documents suggesting good ways to do this.  We will acknowledge all data submitters online!

2.  Presenting Africa’s Protected Areas Online in 2010

MAPA is building a Google Earth layer to tell the world about Africa’s protected areas – and to put them in some sort of context.  There are many parks of almost inestimable ecological value which are almost unknown outside their own countries. The Mara-Serengeti migrations are fabulous but did you know that there are probably bigger large and small mammal migrations out there?

The MAPA Google Earth layer is already available for download.  http://earth.google.com/outreach/africa1.html .  We have been very lucky to get  terrific support from Google with this.   It is still new and we are improving it monthly. Play the video below to learn more about the layer!

If you take look at the layer, you’ll see that it has plenty of content for Southern and East Africa, and very little everywhere else.  We have set ourselves the target of having all the national parks of Africa up by the end of June 2010.  That will be done by Alta de Vos, Kath Potgieter and Peter Levey.  They are a very experienced team whose mission is to make sure that what you see on the MAPA layer is accurate and entertaining.

Between them they know wildlife and GIS and they are well travelled.  But there is no substitute for first-hand experience.  If you know just one park really well, or travel widely yourself, please take a look at the layer.  Examine the places you know and if you see any mistakes, or think we have missed anything important, please let us know.  We will really value your input – we can’t get it all right on our own.

As usual, if you have any thoughts of any of this, please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

With kind regards from Cape Town,

March Turnbull

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