South Africa Birding and Photo Tour – Cape to Kruger National Park

South Africa’s Western Cape Province is stunningly beautiful and hugely varied – from rocky sea cliffs and impressive mountains rising from the sea, to moist temperate forests, semi-desert, peaceful lakes, and a great deal more. On this tour we will introduce you to the diverse habitats (and hence bird species) of the Western Cape Province and spend a few days in the world-renowned Kruger National Park which is bustling with tropical bird species and other charismatic wildlife.

The stunning Southern Double-collared Sunbird will be a highlight in the Cape area.

Our photography tours are essentially run as slower-paced birding tours that allow more time for photographing birds and animals, rather than heading off to tick the next species. Once we have found our target birds/animals, the idea is to then spend more time ensuring we get the perfect angle and light on our subjects until you are satisfied with your shots. We are unlikely to spend hours and hours waiting to photograph a particular species but will rather ensure we have adequate time to photograph each new species that we find.

We begin our South Africa birding and photo tour in the Garden Route – an idyllic area of green forests and beautiful lakes that you truly will not want to leave. Here, we’ll probably find the jewel-like Half-collared Kingfisher, the gorgeous (there is no better word for it) Knysna Turaco with its green body and scarlet wings, and a rich diversity of other birds – plus some nice mammals, as always. You could spend two weeks just here, photographing birds and other wildlife and of course the stunning scenery.

Getting good photos of Knysna Turaco will be one of our major objectives in the Garden Route.

Moving from the Garden Route into the Agulhas Plains, we have a great chance at finding the fine-looking (Cape) Mountain Zebra, the striking Bontebok, and many wondrous birds such as Secretarybird, White Stork, Denham’s Bustard, loads of Blue Cranes (South Africa’s stunning national bird), some localized endemics such as Agulhas Long-billed Lark, Cape Clapper Lark, Southern Tchagra, Knysna Woodpecker and, as always, loads more.

After crossing the imposing Cape Fold Mountains, we then head inland to the Karoo semi-desert. This area has many endemics and we will look for and try to photograph various larks, Black-headed Canary and other canaries, Karoo Korhaan, Ludwig’s Bustard, and many of the others. There is also a chance of encountering some great mammals, which could even include something rare like a Caracal or Aardvark (both these require a huge dose of luck).

Eventually we head back to the coast – but this time the west coast. In the West Coast National Park and other great sites, we hope to encounter Common Ostrich, Black Harrier, Southern Black Korhaan, Cape Penduline Tit, Grey-winged Francolin, and other stunning (and often very localized) birds. We will also look for new mammals, such as the west coast endemic Heaviside’s Dolphin, the strange Rock Hyrax (which looks like a large rodent but is more closely related to elephants), and others.

Cape Rockjumper is one of the most prized birds on this tour!

We then end the Cape leg of the tour in one of the world’s most scenically spectacular cities, Cape Town. The growth of this city is constrained by imposing geographical features – Table Mountain, the Cape of Good Hope, and of course the sea – the whole of Cape Town is on a stunning-looking peninsula that was once an island. The Cape Peninsula is full of localized endemics restricted to the world’s most plant-diverse floral kingdom, the fynbos biome (which has more plant species per unit area than even the Amazon). Some of these endemic birds restricted to the fynbos biome are dazzling; they include the likes of Orange-breasted Sunbird, Southern Double-collared Sunbird, Cape Sugarbird with its incredibly long tail, and many others. The nearby False Bay coast hosts one of the Cape’s most sought-after birds, the charismatic Cape Rockjumper – along with Cape Rock Thrush, Sentinel Rock Thrush, Ground Woodpecker, and many others. We’ll also look for seabirds, such as African Penguin, Cape Gannet, and more.

From Cape Town, we fly to the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, and begin the second part of this exciting photo trip. Here we spend five days at one of Africa’s greatest game parks, the Kruger National Park. We have a good chance of photographing the “Big Five” as well as a host of other, smaller mammals. Kruger is one of the richest national parks for mammals on the entire African continent. What’s more, it also has over 500 bird species, most of which are extremely easy to see in the dry woodlands and savanna – you will see multiple species of brightly colored and spectacular rollers, bee-eaters, storks, eagles, vultures, hornbills, and more.

Charismatic African Penguins are always a tour highlight!