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Tours & Safaris We offer unforgetable Tours & Safaris in:   Birdwatching in South Africa (13 days) Enquire now   On this tour you will explore, accompanied by expert guide and ornithologist, some of the best bird watching territories in Southern Africa. The areas we’ll cover are Mpumalanga, Kruger National Park, The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park*, the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park*, KwaZulu Natal and Wakkerstroom. *These are World Heritage Sites! We expect to see at least 300 species of birds on this tour but we will also explore areas populated by the ‘Big 5’ and the quantity of animal life will leave you breathless. During the tour you will be accommodated extremely comfortably in double rooms, en suite with air-conditioning in most. You’ll enjoy the excellent South African cuisine accompanied by the great local and world-renowned wines. DAY 1 Mpumalanga At your arrival at Johannesburg International Airport you will be welcomed by your guide. Depart immediately your journey through the grasslands of the ‘highveld’, to reach then the escarpment and go down into the ‘lowveld’. You’ll see the scenery change dramatically and you’ll know that we are in bird territory! We should arrive at our guest house in the mid-afternoon and, after finding our rooms, we should have time to stroll the property that evening. It’ll be a good time to start our bird count with garden species. DAY 2 Kruger National Park After some early morning garden birding, we’ll have breakfast and make our way through Hazyview and on to the Kruger National Park. This is one of Africa’s special places where some 550 bird species have been recorded in a wide range of different habitat types. It is also one of the best places to see migratory species and raptors. Wild animals are in abundance and you’ll surely see many, many different types as well as all or most of the ‘Big 5’. After a light lunch at our overnight ‘camp’ inside the park, we’ll book into our rooms and then set out for an evening game and birding drive where we’ll start our spotting in earnest. It’s not easy to isolate the ‘special’ bird species of Kruger because there so many, but you’ll see Bateleur, African Goshawk, Black Sparrow hawk, Martial Eagle, Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Grey Cuckooshrike, Red-capped, White-browed Robin Chats and Gorgeous Bush Shrike just to name some. DAY 3 & 4 Kruger National Park We explore the Park over these days seeking different habitats and species. On one of the days we’ll take an early morning walk in the bush with a ranger where we’ll really experience the sights, sounds and aromas of Africa. We’ll be up early each day, leaving the camp as the gates open, for bird watching and game viewing and we’ll return around mid-morning for breakfast. We’ll usually have a rest for a couple of hours and, after lunch, we’ll go out into the park again. Birding in the camps is excellent for those who can’t rest! A night drive with the camp rangers is a possible option here to see nocturnal species – owls, nightjars, thicknees, hyena, porcupine, leopard and many others. DAY 5 Kruger National Park After breakfast on day 5, we move to the south of the Park. The drive through the park will take several hours and we’ll have lots of new species recorded by the time we arrive at our next camp. We move through mixed acacia woodland and wooded grassland and we’ll expect to see a wide variety of birds including raptors and savannah species such as the grassland birds, the shrikes, the rollers and some of the smaller bird species such as the seed-eaters and leaf-gleaners. DAY 6 St. Lucia Wetland Park We move on today to KwaZulu-Natal, the Kingdom of the Zulu. We have quite a long journey to our next destination so we’ll be departing immediately after an early walk and breakfast. Our destination is St Lucia, the site of the famed Lake St Lucia, the largest estuarine system in Africa and a World Heritage Site. The birding areas around the lake are wonderfully diverse in habitat – we have wetland, both estuarine and inland fresh water, sea shore, coastal and dune forest, grassland and savannah. It has a bird list in excess of 400 species. Here we’ll be staying in an extremely comfortable and homely guest house in the village and adjacent to the dune forest. DAY 7 St. Lucia Wetland Park We’ll rise early for a walk in the coastal forest and see birds like Livingstone’s Turaco, Trumpeter Hornbill, Green Malkoha, Eastern Nicator, Brown Scrub-Robin, Red-capped Robin Chat, Southern Boubou, Rudd’s Apalis and Woodward’s Batis. After breakfast, we’ll take a drive to Cape Vidal and explore the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park. On the way we’ll look out for Southern Banded Snake Eagle – this is one of the best places in the country to see these rare species. We’ll also look out for some of the grassland species such as the cisticolas – 12 of them have been recorded here! At Cape Vidal, there is a wonderful swimming beach and some may wish to test the warm and clear Indian Ocean. Otherwise, there is an excellent walk up through the dune forest to the whale watching tower. The birding is good here and there is also a chance of seeing whales. We’ll have a picnic lunch at Cape Vidal before returning to St Lucia for an evening boat cruise on the estuary. Here you’ll also see some great birds such as Goliath Heron, Great White and Pink-backed Pelicans, Yellow-billed Stork, Spoonbill, Fish Eagle, Giant Kingfisher and various other egrets, terns, waders, swallows and swifts. A night drive is a possible option here to see some of the nocturnal species such Nightjars and Owls. DAY 8 St. Lucia Wetland Park This morning we’ll take a walk in the grasslands and the adjoining dune forest to see if we can find the Yellow-throated and Cape Longclaw, Red-breasted and Grey-rumped Swallow, Narina Trogon, Green Twinspot, Black and Scarlet-chested Sunbird amongst many others. In the afternoon we’ll take drive down the estuary to the beach to view shore birds and other estuarine species. We should see Caspian, Common and Swift Terns, various herons and egrets, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, waders and possibly an Osprey. Greater Frigate Bird is sometimes seen here slightly out of range. DAY 9 The Drakensberg After an early walk and breakfast we set off again, this time for the mountains. We head south, bypassing Durban and then east to the mighty Drakensberg range of mountains. The uKhahlamba-Drakensberg National Park is a World Heritage Site. We’ll arrive at our guest house destination in the foothills at around tea time and, after settling in, we’ll perhaps have a short walk to stretch our legs. DAY 10 Sani Pass-Lesotho Another early start, this time for the Sani Pass-Lesotho outing. The scenery up the Pass is stunning and the bird life very special – you’ll a good number of new birds again today, mostly the species favoring higher altitudes. We’ll hope to see White-backed Duck, Buff-streaked Chat, Ground Woodpecker, Drakensberg Rockjumper, Drakensberg Siskin, Cape and Bearded Vulture and many others. DAY 11 Wakkerstroom After breakfast we head for the grasslands and wetlands in the interior of the country. Wakkerstroom is one of Mecca’s of southern African birders for it’s abundance of species, especially endemics. It has two distinct habitat types – highland grassland and highland wetland – and a bird list of around 300. We should arrive in time for a light lunch and a short rest before we set out for the vlei (marshy wetland) and some new species. There are some good bird hides and we’ll be looking for species like South African Cliff and White-throated Swallows, Marsh Owl, African Snipe, African Purple Swamphen, Grey Crowned Crane, African Marsh Harrier, many duck species, egrets and herons, a number of Warblers, Weavers, Widows and Cisticolas. DAY 12 Wakkerstroom Packed with a picnic breakfast, we’ll have an early meeting with our local guide and we’ll set off into the grasslands. We’ll be looking for the local endemics, Rudd’s and Botha’s Lark and Yellow-breasted Pipit, all Red Data Book species. We’ll also hope to see Blue Crane (our National bird), Blue Korhaan, Denham’s Bustard, Banded Martin, Montague’s Harrier and possibly Black Harrier, the Red-Footed Kestrel’s (Amur and Western), a number of Larks and Cisticolas and many others. We’ll come back into town for lunch before setting out again in the afternoon. We’ll visit one of the local farm dams as part of our day’s activity and will see an abundance of waterfowl like grebes (all 3 of our species are found here), coots, duck and geese as well as numerous other waterside species. After a long day’s birding, we’ll again overnight again here and enjoy a farewell dinner as tomorrow we head back to Johannesburg. DAY 13 Wakkerstroom - Johannesburg For those with stamina we’ll have one last pre-breakfast outing – either a visit to a hide or a walk in the grasslands. After breakfast and depending on flight times, we’ll start the journey to Johannesburg International Airport where you will catch your flight home. The price, quoted on a base of 4 pax, is € 2.548,00 per person and includes: Transport in Wolkswagen Caravelle. Expert guides during the whole journey Accommodation in lodge and guest house as per program Two meals a day, breakfast and dinner. Lunch is also included on some of the days. All the park fees Excursion as per program The price doesn’t include: Travel and personal insurance which is highly recommended Drinks All the optional activities Laundry, telephone and any other personal extra Tips Intercontinental flight Enquire now Send this page to a friend Back to previous page More about South Africa South Africa is, by common consent, one of the world's most beautiful countries. More about Namibia Namibia, the land of contrasts, renowned for its pristine landscapes and wildlife. More about Botswana Find out more about the beauty of Botswana and its well known wildlife. More about Uganda Uganda is the pearl of Africa, the Queen Elizabeth Park is perfect for birdwatching.
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