Our tours to the Kalahari are typically combined with longer western
South Africa trips, which start in Cape Town and include the West
Coast, Tanqua Karoo and Bushmanland, but for the more focused a
shorter trip, using Upington airport as your entry / exit, is also
feasible.
The Kalahari Desert is a vast and almost unpopulated area, stretching
from the northern region of South Africa’s Northern Cape Province
into central Botswana. It is not a true desert in the very strictest
sense of the word, but the southern Kalahari’s classic dune
landscapes and broad riverbeds, lined with gnarled acacia trees,
will appeal to anyone with even the remotest weakness for romantic
landscapes.
Our tours to this region will ensure that you experience this vast
wilderness areas alluring combination of abundant game, superb landscapes
and good birding. The park is best known in birding terms for its
remarkable diversity and abundance of raptors. Target raptors on
the tour will include: Bateleur, Red-necked
and Pygmy Falcons and Verreaux’s
Eagle Owl. However, we will also search for a number of
other often underestimated specials, among them Burchell’s
Sandgrouse and Pink-billed Lark.
Birds aside, the area also offers very good mammal-sighting opportunities.
Antelope such as Gemsbok (Oryx gazella) and Springbok (Antidorcas
marsupialis) are common, and the park is also arguably one of the
best places in the world to watch hunting big cats, like Lion (Panthera
leo) and particularly Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). Spotted (Crocuta
crocuta) and Brown Hyenas (Hyaena brunnea) also occur. The latter
is actually the more common, but is rarely seen due to its crepuscular
habits.
Birding Africa is a specialist birding tour
company customising tours for both world listers and more relaxed holiday
birders. We combine interests in mammals, butterflies, dragonflies, botany
and other natural history aspects and will guide you to Africa's and Madagascar's
most diverse birding destinations. Our guides'
knowledge of African birds and birding areas is our greatest strength
and together we have rediscovered species, shared exciting observations
with the birding community and had a fun time exploring our home continent.
We've even written two acclaimed guide
books on where to find Southern Africa's and Madagascar's best birds.
Birding is more than our passion, it's our lifestyle, and we are dedicated
to making professional, best value trips filled with endemic species and
unique wildlife experiences. Since 1997, we've run bird watching tours
in South Africa and further into Africa for individual birders, small
birding groups and top international tour companies. We've run Conservation
Tours in association with the African Bird Club and work with and
consult for a number of other top international tour companies and the
BBC Natural History Unit.
