I have had the opportunity recently to connect with some folks at a mushroom festival who run a small charity in Uganda (https://www.ecoagricuganda.org/); this was actually at a local mushroom festival here in the states, a current project they have is working on ways to help locals grow mushrooms with the tech and resources that they have available locally.
I happened to put on a few talks during the weekend on iNaturalist, and their current director was wondering if I knew if there is an active community in or close to Uganda that she possibly might be able to get in touch with via iNat. She’s mostly hoping to connect with local naturalists and foragers who may help her source local ecotypes of mushrooms that would grow more easily on locally available materials - most of the commercial strains available for mushroom growing at the moment just aren’t going to work with the temperatures and substrates that they have available to them.
Beyond that though I think she hopes to just grow the mushroom community in her area and iNat would be a great way to help. I know there is a pretty thriving iNat community in South Africa but beyond that, I confess I’m ignorant of much of the community outside of my neck of the woods - if anyone knows someone I could refer her to for networking, that would be lovely!
Hello Jessica,
I can give a partial reply. My wife (leithallb) and I had a birding trip to Uganda in July this year. We had an excellent trip: lovely friendly locals; great landscapes; and huge diversity.
As good naturalists, together we’ve put up nearly 2000 observations (just a few more to add) only 45% of them birds. Most of the supporting ids have been for birds/mammals/reptiles and butterflies. There have been few ids on plants or other inverts. I’ve put up about 10 obs on fungi, only one has had an id to genus (from Denis in Brazil). So, I guess in answer to your query, there is not much iNat activity in Uganda apart from tourists and very little/none on fungi.
We spoke to the local guides about eBird/Merlin and iNat. Probably a biased sample because it was a “birding” tour but more had heard of eBird than iNat and we know of at least one who posted on eBird during our trip. We tried to promote the iNat app and some said they would download it.
Mobile phones are widespread but I think that for people in the country, away from the cities, most are concerned with day-to-day living and iNat (with the internet connection) would be a luxury, and this, I think, would apply for much of Africa apart from South Africa.
Regards,
Pete (nyoni-pete)
Thank you so much for your input! The charity is for sure working with folks that don’t really have the luxury of internet, but she may get lucky and find some folks who can source local mushrooms that will grow on accessible substrates.
@DianaStuder I was hoping you’d respond, I figured you might know what the project situation is! I’m going to link her to this entire thread so she can reach out to the people that you recommended. Thank you so much!
I just gave a talk via Zoom to a group of naturalists and scientist in Nigeria. Would be happy to do the same for a group in Uganada if that’s something they want.
Or maybe reach out to the neighbouring countries - which are all more or less active on iNat and CNC
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park - has a lot of obs, but I don’t know a local observer / identifier to offer you. https://www.inaturalist.org/places/bwindi-impenetrable
But there is a list of people to consider.
elliotgreiner
nyoni-pete
bartwursten
Are the few I recognise as good iNatters - active and helpful. Not sure off-hand where they are based.