BEST OF THE REST
south africa images : getty
WHAT SPECIES OF BIRDS SHOULD YOU LOOK OUT FOR ?
The great news about South Africa ’ s birdlife is that many species are abundant , brightly coloured and easy to see . Visitors will come across familiar families such as storks and herons , eagles and falcons , kingfishers , woodpeckers and doves , along with gulls , terns , ducks and cranes . Many bird families also found in Europe and Asia have representatives here : think barbets and hornbills , and impossibly colourful bee-eaters , rollers and hoopoes .
September through April , millions of global travellers , such as shorebirds , swallows and swifts , migrate here from the Northern Hemisphere to enjoy a second spring and summer in the south .
Then there are specialized families found only in sub-Saharan Africa : mousebirds and oxpeckers , bushshrikes and turacos . A huge variety of larks , chats and finches are found mostly in drier areas . And no visit would be complete without seeing the African — formerly known as Jackass — penguin , whose numbers have plummeted in the past few years . With just 50,000 pairs remaining — of which fewer than 9,000 are in South Africa — it ’ s now globally endangered .
Hard-core birders come here to see the regional endemics — around 100 species in total . And although some are easier to see in countries farther north , such as Namibia , Botswana and Mozambique , the majority can be found in South Africa . These include several endemic sugarbirds and sunbirds — the latter the African and Asian equivalent of hummingbirds . They can be watched at close range as they probe their long bills into flowering plants for the precious nectar .
In mountainous areas are two curious endemic species from the same family : the Cape and orange-breasted Drakensberg rockjumpers . These long-tailed , starlingsized birds live up to their name by hopping around on rocks . There are also no fewer than 14 endemic species of lark in Southern Africa .
South Africa ’ s national bird , the graceful Blue Crane , can be found on grasslands throughout much of the country . The Southern bald ibis , and four species of bustard — here named Korhaans — are also widespread . Other large endemic birds include the Cape vulture , South African shelduck and Cape parrot .
BEST OF THE REST
1The Big Five Kruger National Park is arguably the best place in the world to get close encounters with the ‘ big five ’: lion , leopard , elephant , buffalo and rhino , the latter both black and white .
2Chacma baboons Troops of these highly social monkeys live all around Cape Town — but be careful as they often steal food and can be dangerous . Cape Point also has Cape Mountain zebra and bontebok and eland , both species of antelope .
3Rock hyrax
These rodent-like creatures — known as dassies , and the elephant ’ s closest living relative — can be found around Table Mountain in Cape Town .
From left : Southern yellow-billed hornbill in Kruger National Park ; KwaZulu-Natal province ; Barbet perching on a branch in Hlabisa
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