However researchers from Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth were able to obtain permits to visit Samara during lockdown in order to conduct essential, time-bound research.

The team, led by Professor Graham Kerley, serviced a large array of camera traps that have been collecting data on the use of grasslands by the populations of black wildebeest (see photo), Cape mountain zebra and blesbuck that frequent the area.

This research forms part of a PhD study by Steve McGregor (itself part of a larger project “Wilder rangelands for a climate-smarter future” in association with the University of Utrecht, Netherlands and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) aimed at understanding how grasslands such as those on Samara may contribute to mitigating climate change, this through the influences of these grazers on carbon sequestration, fire and albedo (the reflection of solar radiation).

Samara is pleased to be able to serve as a valuable research site to address one of the global challenges facing society.