Birding South Africa 2001
Cape Town - Garden Route - West Coast - Kalahari |
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Introduction:
Although the September and October are said to be the best months November is still a good season to visit the Southern African Wildlife.
We chosed this month also because there is little to miss in European Birdlife at this time of the year, whereas in South Africa summer just started.Travelling to South Africa from Germany is no problem since you easily get non-stop-flights e.g. from Munich to Cape Town. We booked a rental car in advance to an affordable price and although we had a "very normal car" without 4-wheel-drive or anything like that, we had no problems with the roads in the parks. The only luxury was air condition in the car.
The weather was okay besides little rainfall we had to face in nearly every region we visited, on the other hand the temperatures weren't that high, not even in the Kalahari.
For us the prices in South Africa for accomodation, food etc. were relatively low. Nevertheless we often did camping, especially in the nature reserves and parks this turned out to be the best way to stay close to the wildlife. We always felt safe in this country and had no bad experience. All the people were very friendly and it was no problem to travel on our own.
With the help of Suzette and Peter Silbernagl who showed us around on the first day and introduced us to the birds we soon got used to African bird identification. Most of the birds are easy to tell apart although some of them were very skulky. We had special problems with some of the "mountain species" like Cape Rock Jumper which took us some time and Ground Woodpecker on which we tried very hard but without success. Others like the Larks, Pipits and Cisticolas are hard to identify since they look all the same. Nevertheless we are very happy with the species we found, including the mammals with for us impressive species like Brown Hyena and Caracal.
Altogether we had a very wonderful trip and therefor we would like to thank Silbernagls who helped us a lot, especially in the beginning. Many thanks also to Callan Cohen whose knowledge about where to go birding helped us a lot in preparing our tour. Thank you also to our guides Alvin Cope, Jim Enticott and Ian Sinclair on the pelagic. Last not least special thanks to all the gentle people we met while travelling.
Literature and Links
Bücher, CDs, Videos u.a. von unserem Partner Christ-Media-Natur
Books:
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I. Sinclair, P. Hockey, W. Tarboton, SASOL Birds of Southern Africa, Struik Publishers
There are some other comparable fieldguides, we used this one. -
C. Cohen, C. Spottiswoode, Essential Birding, Western South Africa, Struik Publishers
This "where to watch..." offers probably the best information about birding in the region. -
C. & C. Stuart, Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa, Struik Publishers
Photographic guide to the mammals -
B. Branch, Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa, Struik Publishers
Photographic guide to the reptiles
Maps:
- Globetrotter, Road Atlas of South Africa, New Hollwand Publishers
- AA Travel Service, Western and Northern Cape
Links:
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Birding Africa: http://www.birding-africa.com
with informations to mailing lists, guided birding etc., visit also: http://www.capetownpelagics.com and http://www.capebirdingroute.org -
South African Birding: http://www.sabirding.co.za
Site with information to birding spots -
ZEST for Birds: http://www.zestforbirds.co.za
Pelagic trips, bird guiding and bird tours in and around Cape Town, South Africa - Look also for general links in our Trip Reports section.
Comments, Remarks, Questions, Postcards to the Authors:
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Brigitte Andrew Riegerweg 9 D-82024 Taufkirchen Germany tewinkel@gmx.de |
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