I read this
Then looked for more. Turned to iNat and found the dedicated project ! 4 observers found 940 sp
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/lisima-biodiversity-survey-2026
That’s wonderful!
And prize for the best common name to "butterfly flutterer dragonfly"…
Thanks for sharing that, Diana. Amazing photos by @nickybay!
“What they found was extraordinary: dozens of species unknown to science, including eight undescribed dragonfly species, three new grasshopper species and about 60 moths and butterflies thought to be new to science.”
As amazing as that is, that quote only covers macro stuff. In tropical places like the Lisima plateau in Angola, you could spend the rest of your life documenting the biodiversity of a single tree, and you would barely scratch the surface.
A tall tree in the tropics contains dozens of microclimates: moisture, temperature, light, and so on vary with every few metres of “altitude” as you move from the roots to the canopy.
Once you consider the micro: countless new species of nematodes, fungi, etc., that tree becomes “a final frontier . . . a strange new world . . . where no man has gone before.” (a quote from the 1966 intro of Star Trek: The Original Series)
We are living in a magical time, when technology becomes cheaper and more accessible every day. iNatters are using DNA barcoding to ID fungi and other things. What a time to be alive!
Not to mention that’s only some animals, and not the many new species of plants that probably will be found there.
I stand corrected. They focused on the animals in the article, but the team did record 300+ species of plants.
I do find it funny that among the plants they found were Megathyrsus maximus and Eleusine indica, two of the most widespread pantropical exotics (although they are native to the area)…so even in this most inaccessible of places, you got grasses you see everywhere else 
2 of the observers are botanists I already know from iNat – so the plants are well covered. And all the obs have at least a broad ID, there are no Unknowns. Given the new sp getting to RG will take a little longer.
4 observers vs 301 identifiers. iNat working as intended.
Angola is a very unexplored place in terms of biodiversity, There are barely any field guides or identification guides centered around the biodiversity of Angola.
Michael Mills, Nik Borrow (nikborrow’s Profile) and Ron Demey are publishing a book soon on the birds of Angola, likely to be published around Feb 2027.
Ah! Michael is my cousin, I knew I’d heard the name Lisima before!