The Best of South Africa Birding Safari

Home , African oystercatcher, Blue korhaan, Cape clapper lark, Cape rockjumper, Karoo korhaan, Karoo scrub robin

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BIRDING SAFARI Beautiful Birds, Bountiful Beasts

October 10 - 26, 2021 $5550* per person based on double occupancy Guides: Josh Engel and 2nd guide $680* single supplement Maximum 10 participants Maximum 10 participants

**Updated itinerary for 2021, including an extra night on safari in Kruger National Park where we are now using open-sided safari vehicles!!**

*Please note that the U.S. Dollar tour price is based on an exchange rate of about 13.5 Rand to $1. We may have to alter the final U.S. Dollar price if the exchange rate changes. See more in the “Price” section below.

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Thanks to its stability, safety, natural beauty, friendly people, and incredible wildlife, South Africa has become the continent’s top tourist destination. The Western Cape, where the trip begins, is known for its gorgeous coastline, rugged mountains, delicious food and wine, and its endemic birds. From there, the trip heads to the high-altitude grasslands of the eastern part of the country. The rolling hills are home to several endangered species of grassland birds that are found nowhere else in the world. Off the beaten tourist path, this beautiful region has incredible birdlife in a traditional rural environment. We finish the trip with a bang, in South Africa’s flagship national park, Kruger. Kruger is home to some of Africa’s healthiest populations of elephants, lions, leopards, wild dogs, rhinoceros, and other large animals. It is also home to an extraordinarily diverse birdlife, including many large birds that are rarely found outside of protected areas, including five species of vultures and an incredible array of hawks, eagles, bustards, storks, and hornbills. South Africa has world class infrastructure, with excellent roads, wonderful hotels, and delicious food, not to mention some of the world’s best birding and animal-viewing. **We have updated our itinerary for this tour to include one additional night in Kruger (four nights now!) and doing the whole Kruger part of the trip in open sided safari vehicles to make sure we have the best safari experience possible. We also updated the itinerary to reduce the amount of driving time, including now flying back to Johannesburg from Kruger instead of the 7 hour drive.**

Birds: 350-400 species Mammals: 40-45 species Photographic opportunities: Excellent Physical difficulty: Easy Pace: Moderate Accommodations: Good to excellent. Kruger National Park has simple accommodations, but with hot water, en suite bathrooms, and air conditioning. Bird highlights: Cape endemics such as Cape Sugarbird, Orange-breasted Sunbird, and Cape Rockjumper; Karoo endemics such as Karoo Korhaan, Rufous-eared Warbler, and Karoo Eremomela; Benguela current endemics such as three cormorants and African Penguin; South African forest endemics such as Swee Waxbill, Knysna Turaco, and Knysna Warbler; High-elevation grassland endemics such as Botha’s and Rudd’s Larks and Blue Korhaan; Kruger specialties such as five species of endangered vultures, Brown-headed Parrot, and Southern Ground Hornbill. Mammal highlights: An excellent chance at the Big Five: Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhinoceros, and Cape Buffalo; Southern African endemics such as Meerkat, Cape Gray Mongoose, and Bontebok; small mammals like Dwarf and Banded Mongoose and Klipspringer; Hippo, giraffe, a wide variety of antelope, and endless possibilities, including Cheetah and Wild Dog, in Kruger and other national parks. About your guide: Josh Engel has been leading birding trips and safaris in Africa since 2006, including when he lived in South Africa from 2006-2010. He is the owner and founder of Red Hill Birding. A second guide will be added if the group is 6 or more participants (maximum group size is 10).

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DAILY ITINERARY

Day 1: Arrival Your guide will meet you at Cape Town International Airport and transfer you to the hotel, where we will be based for a three-night stay. We will bird around the hotel grounds or at nearby sites as time permits. Day 2-3: Cape Town One of our full days in Cape Town will be devoted to a pelagic trip onto the Atlantic Ocean (the trip is optional). The nutrient-rich waters of the Benguela Current bring a wonderful diversity of seabirds with it, including several species of albatross (Yellow-nosed, Shy, and Black-browed are seen on most trips), as well as shearwaters, petrels, and storm-petrels. It’s possible to see marine mammals as well, including Southern Right Whale. When the boat returns to land in the afternoon, we will visit the nearby African Penguin colony, one of three mainland colonies on the continent, located, amazingly, in the Cape Town suburbs. Please note that because not everybody chooses to go on the pelagic trip, the cost is not included in the tour price. We will let you know the cost if you choose to sign up for it. For those who choose not to go on the pelagic trip, we will spend the day birding on the Cape Peninsula, visiting the gorgeous Cape Point as well as the Kommetjie Lighthouse. We will be looking for the three species of cormorants (Bank, Cape, and Crowned) that are endemic to the west coast of Southern Africa, as well as local endemic songbirds like Cape Sugarbird, Cape Grassbird, and Orange-breasted Sunbird.

Our other full day in the Western Cape will be spent visiting West Coast National Park and nearby spots, north of Cape Town. This region of coastal scrub known as renosterveld is home to many unique birds, including Black Harrier, Southern Black Korhaan, and Blue Crane. Songbirds are common, too, including Southern Double-collared and Malachite Sunbirds, Karoo Scrub-Robin, and Bokmakierie. The wetlands contained in West Coast National Park offer us out best chance of the trip to see shorebirds. A few will be familiar to North American observers—Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstone, for example—but many will be very different, including African Oystercatcher, Chestnut-banded Plover, and Little Stint. There’s a strong possibility to find flocks of both Lesser and Greater Flamingoes among the 100+ species that we will likely see today. Day 4: Cape Town to Betty’s Bay We will leave our hotel in the morning and start our eastward journey along the coast. It is just a short drive, but the birding is tremendous. We will start at the world-famous Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, where the protea flowers in the shadow of Table Mountain are full of Cape Sugarbirds, several species of sunbirds, and where Cape Francolins scurry about the lawns.

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We will then make our way along the coast, with a stop at the Strandfontein Wetlands, one of South Africa’s premier waterbird hangouts. Here we will scan through the abundant Yellow- billed Ducks, Cape Teal, and Cape Shoveler for Maccoa Duck and Southern Pochard. We will search the reed edges for African Swamphen and the reedbeds themselves for Levaillant’s Cisticola, Little Rush-Warbler, African Reed-Warbler, and Lesser Swamp-Warbler. We will continue east along one of the world’s great scenic drives, before ending up at our lovely hotel in a small coastal town.

Day 5: Betty’s Bay to Bontebok National Park via the Agulhas Plain Our morning will begin with a search of the nearby coastal mountains at Rooi Els for Cape Rockjumper, one of the Cape’s most charismatic and sought-after endemic birds. We should also find Cape Rock Thrush here, along with Karoo Prinia, Gray-backed Cisticola, and possibly Cape Siskin. We will then continue east, slowly birding our way across the wheat fields of the Agulhas Plain. Birds have adapted well to the agricultural landscape here, and we should find flocks of Blue Cranes, pairs of Karoo Korhaans and other bustards, Jackal Buzzard, several species of larks, and Cape Longclaw. Ponds in the landscape attract ducks, geese, and herons and egrets, while raptors stalk the fields, including Cape Vulture (whose only remaining colony in the province is nearby). Day 6: Bontebok National Park to Wilderness Near our hotel lies Bontebok National Park, where its namesake animal was saved from extinction. Now common here, we should see Bontebok and several other species of antelope. We are also likely to see two locally endemic larks, Agulhas Long-billed Lark and the Agulhas subspecies of Cape Clapper Lark, which is likely to be split in the future. We may come across the huge Denham’s Bustard and the beautiful, endangered Black Harrier. While looking up for harriers we could see the flight display of the well-named Cloud Cisticola. After a morning in the park, we will continue east to another great national park that shares its name with the adjacent town, Wilderness. In Wilderness we will be situated in the subtropical coastal forest, with its huge trees and rainforest birds. Among the highlights here is the verdant Knysna Turaco, whose raucous calls fill the forest. We will enjoy an afternoon and a full day around the forests and wetlands of Garden Route National Park (formerly called Wilderness National Park). Day 7: Garden Route National Park You don’t have to go far here to be in the forest. Typical of forest, the birding isn’t necessarily easy, but the birds themselves are wonderful. We hope to find Swee Waxbill, Forest Canary, Narina Trogon, Cape Batis, Green Woodhoopoe, Gray Cuckooshrike, Blue-mantled Flycatcher, Olive Bush-Shrike, Red-necked Francolin, and several species of sunbirds. Overhead we will keep an eye out for the endemic Forest Buzzard and we will check the coastal scrub for some of the more difficult-to-find endemics in this area: Southern Tchagra, Knysna Warbler, and

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Knysna Woodpecker. The wetlands are rich here, too. Well-situated hides will give us a chance to get close views of ducks, herons, Purple Swamphen, African Darter, and more. We will also take advantage of the town’s excellent restaurants for our dinner here.

Day 8: Wilderness to Tankwa Karoo We will depart from Wilderness after breakfast, cross the Little Karoo, and--if we still need to find certain birds-- head up the historic, rugged Swartberg Pass. The pass is home to some of the more difficult-to-find Cape endemics, like Protea Canary, Cape Rockjumper, and Victorin’s Warbler. The Swartberg Mountains, which the pass crosses, separates the coastal habitats from the arid Karoo, and as we descend the pass we will enter that environment. The Karoo, a vast semi-desert that occupies a swath of western South Africa, is home to a unique avifauna. We stand a good chance to find most of its special birds with a two-night stay in the southwest corner of the Karoo, known as the Tankwa Karoo. Day 9: Tankwa Karoo The Cederberg Mountains provide a stunning backdrop to our day’s birding in the rugged, dry Karoo. The list of birds only found in the Karoo is long. We will have a good chance to find a large number of them, including Layard’s Tit-babbler, Southern Gray Tit, Fairy Flycatcher, Namaqua Prinia, Karoo Long-billed Lark, Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, and many more. We will also be looking for bigger birds like Namaqua Sandgrouse, Karoo Korhaan, Double-banded Courser, and Pale Chanting-Goshawk, along with the rarer Burchell’s Courser and Ludwig’s Bustard. For those who are keen, we will set out again after dinner to see if we can find birds like Rufous-cheeked Nightjar and perhaps nocturnal mammals like Scrub Hare or even Aardwolf. Day 10: Tankwa Karoo to Johannesburg, via Cape Town Today is mostly a travel day. We will have time for some final birding around the hotel before breakfast, then we will drive back to Cape Town and hop on a plane to Johannesburg, where we will spend the night. If we arrive in time, we may visit a small wetlands or park near our hotel. Day 11-12: Johannesburg to Wakkerstroom An early start from Johannesburg will get us to Wakkerstroom at a reasonable hour so that we can enjoy an afternoon of birding to get a head start on the local specialties before our full day there the following day. The grasslands of Wakkerstroom, at about 1700m (5200 ft.) elevation, contain some of South Africa’s most endangered birds. These birds inhabit the unique grassland habitat around the small town, which is imperiled by overgrazing. But the grasslands are still full of birds, including those rare endemics—Botha’s Lark, Rudd’s Lark, Yellow-breasted Pipit, and Blue Korhaan— and the birding in these areas is truly enjoyable. Flocks of Long-tailed and other widowbirds

224.213.2280 [email protected] 5 www.redhillbirding.com THE BEST OF SOUTH AFRICA OCT 10-26, 2021 and Spike-heeled and other larks fly up from the roadsides. Anteating Chats display around their termite mound homes as Cape Longclaws peer out of the grass. Meerkats stand sentinel over their colonies. Cranes are also common here, including the wonderful (but endangered) Gray Crowned-Crane, and there’s always a chance to find Secretarybirds stalking the grasslands. This is an area where the abundance and diversity of larks and cisticolas—the classic “little brown jobs”—will make your head spin, but your guide will be there to help sort them all out.

Day 13: Wakkerstroom to Kruger National Park We will get an early start from Wakkerstroom and head to Kruger National Park for the tour’s grand finale. We will drop our vans off and meet our safari vehicles and safari guides, which will provide us with a perfect experience for the park—everyone will have an excellent view and these vehicles are superb for photography. There’s no need for windows because the vehicles have open sides! We will arrive in time to get a great start to our birding and wildlife viewing in the park, where we will be situated for the next four nights. Days 14-16: Kruger National Park Kruger is one place that deserves its outsized reputation. Our open-sided safari vehicle (the best possible vehicle for the park) will allow everyone to have excellent views of birds and animals and will provide us with outstanding photo ops—no glass or anything else in the way! The list of megafauna that we are likely to see in our three full days of exploring the park is long: Elephant, Lion, Giraffe, Burchell’s Zebra, Blue Wildebeest, White Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Impala, Cape Buffalo, Spotted Hyena, and on and on. With luck, we might spot a Leopard, a Cheetah, or even a pack of Africa Wild Dogs, Africa’s most endangered large predator. We won’t ignore the minifauna either, and we have a chance of seeing Dwarf Mongoose, Slender Mongoose, Steenbok, and Greater Bushbaby. Optional night drives in the official park vehicles can get us out into the park at night, when a whole different suite of animals becomes active: genets, civets, nightjars and owls, Leopard, Serval, Wild Cat, and much more. Of course birds don’t take a backseat. Kruger is renowned for its bird diversity, and seeing more than 100 species in a day is possible. Many species that have become endangered or are nearly so because of loss of habitat, poisoning, or other factors are still common in the park. This includes five species of vultures, Bateleur, Kori Bustard, Southern Ground Hornbill, Saddle- billed Stork, and Martial Eagle. Brown-headed Parrot is a specialty of the park. Common birds that are easily seen there include Lilac-breasted Roller, Magpie Shrike, Red-billed, Yellow- billed, and African Gray Hornbills, and Tawny Eagle. Waterholes and rivers hold their own suite of birds, including African Jacana, Malachite and Giant Kingfishers, White-fronted Bee-eater, Three-banded Plover and other shorebirds, and the hulking Goliath Heron. The camps themselves, with their lush vegetation and watered lawns, provide excellent birding, especially if there are fruiting trees. In camps we will look for Red-faced Mousebird, African Mourning

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Dove, Brown-headed Parrot, White-throated Robin-Chat, African Green-Pigeon, and a variety of hornbills, barbets, thrushes, and warblers. Our safari vehicle will make is easy to see the abundant smaller birds, too, which include Rattling Cisticola, Black-crowned and Brown- crowned Tchagras, Blue Waxbill, Burnt-necked Eremomela, and many others. Day 17: Departure from Kruger and onward to international flights. We will have a final morning in the park before making our way to the exit and embarking on an afternoon flight back to O.R. Tambo airport in Johannesburg, where you can meet your international flight in the evening. Most international flights leave in the evening or at night. If you would like additional time in Johannesburg or your flight doesn’t align with our schedule, we are happy to help book you into the hotel near the airport that we use for our tours.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Contact information

The Red Hill Birding tour manager for this trip is Nicholas Minor. If you have any questions, please contact Josh or Nicholas at [email protected]. Your spot on the trip will be reserved upon our receipt booking form and will be confirmed once we receive your deposit. Timing The trip will begin in Cape Town on Sunday, October 10, 2021. This is an arrival day, with no activities planned. The trip will end in Johannesburg on Tuesday, October 26, 2021. Please make sure your flight departs after 6pm that evening; if you’d prefer to leave the following morning or would like to spend some time in Johannesburg after the tour, we are happy to help book you accommodations that night. If you would like help planning activities or hotels before or after the trip, we would be happy to help make those arrangements as well. We cannot book international flights for you; however, we are happy to give advice on routes and timing. Passport and visa information It is always best to check on the latest visa and passport information before you travel. Please contact us if you have any concerns. United States citizens do not need visas to travel to South Africa. You will need two consecutive blank passport pages and your passport must be valid for six months after your scheduled departure from South Africa. There are no arrival or departure fees. Physical difficulty

This trip is physically easy. Most of our walking will be on flat trails or on roads, and while we may be on our feet for extensive periods, we will be walking at a “birding pace.” Much of our

224.213.2280 [email protected] 7 www.redhillbirding.com THE BEST OF SOUTH AFRICA OCT 10-26, 2021 birding will be done along roads, driving and stopping frequently. The roads in South Africa are excellent and there are usually places along the way to stop with clean bathrooms and cold drinks.

Pace The pace of the trip is moderate. A typical day will have us up early to catch the peak early morning bird activity. Some days will have us returning for breakfast at the lodge where we are staying; some breakfasts will be in the field. Lunches will sometimes be picnics and sometimes will be at cafes along the way. Some days we will be in the field all day, other days will afford us the opportunity for an afternoon siesta. We will have optional nighttime excursions in Kruger National Park and elsewhere. We will compile our daily checklist at dinner each evening, which your guide will provide at the beginning of the tour.

Price The price of the trip is 76,300 Rand ($5,550 as of Feb 1, 2019) per person based on sharing a room; the single room supplement is 9,400 Rand ($680). The price in U.S. Dollars may change slightly at the time of the final payment due to exchange rate fluctuations. This price includes all meals (including soft drinks, coffee/tea, and bottled water), from dinner on Day 1 to lunch on Day 17; all transportation and accommodation during that period; a Red Hill Birding guide (two guides if 7 or more people sign up for the trip); an open-sided safari vehicle and safari guide (in addition to the Red Hill Birding guide) in Kruger National Park; two internal flights (Cape Town to Johannesburg and Kruger to Johannesburg); a night drive in an official park vehicle in Kruger; and all entrance fees. It does not include alcoholic beverages; optional activities such as the pelagic trip; snacks; laundry; or other items of a personal nature. We will coordinate with you about the pelagic trip and the price will be determined closer to the time of departure. They generally cost about $200/person. This money will be refunded if the trip is canceled due to weather. A deposit of $1,300 will secure your place on the trip. Final payment is due by June 10, 2021. We accept payment by check, bank transfer, or the apps Venmo or Zelle. Our prices include a cash/check discount; we accept credit cards with a 3.1% service fee. Upon your completion of the booking form, we will be in touch about the deposit. Hotels The hotels we use in South Africa are generally excellent. We aim for small hotels that provide the best value and are near our birding destinations. All have en suite bathrooms, hot showers, electrical outlets for charging electronics, good service, and some have air conditioning. The accommodations in Kruger National Parks are simple but more than adequate and are located in the heart of the parks (these are also the hottest areas we will go, and there is air conditioning). Most hotels, except for in the national parks, have free wireless internet,

224.213.2280 [email protected] 8 www.redhillbirding.com THE BEST OF SOUTH AFRICA OCT 10-26, 2021 although the quality is sometimes unreliable. Electrical outlets are “Type M”, with three large round prongs, which is unique to Southern Africa. Photography The photographic opportunities in South Africa are excellent. That said, this is primarily a birdwatching tour, so while there will be ample opportunities for photography along the way, we will not be making special considerations for photographers. That said, if you are a photographer, you are sure to go home with many great photos.

Weather This trip is scheduled to coincide with the South African spring. The weather will generally be mild and comfortable, with nighttime temperatures as low as the 40s in Wakkerstroom and the high temperature possibly as high as 90° in Kruger. Typical early morning temperatures will in the 50s-60s and typical daytime highs will be in the 70s-80s. Rain is possible, especially in the eastern portion of the trip, but rainy weather typically does not last long. Food

The food is generally of a very high standard on this tour. The food has strong European influences, so is generally familiar to Americans. There will be opportunities to sample more distinctly South African foods and drinks, such as boerwors, pap, game meat, Rooibos tea, and South African wine. Vegetarian and other dietary restrictions are easily accommodated; please simply let us know of any when you complete the booking form. Snacks can be easily purchased at gas stations and elsewhere, but if there’s a particular birding snack you like at home, feel free to bring some along. Packing considerations

You will generally want to wear comfortable clothing that you don’t mind getting a little dirty. The dress for the tour is entirely casual. Lightweight clothing, with layers, and long pants and long sleeved shirts are recommended for protection from the sun and to be prepared for various weather conditions. Comfortable walking shoes are a must, but hiking boots or rubber boots are not necessary. An umbrella and/or raincoat as well as a mid-weight jacket or sweater for cold mornings are also important. Some lodges having swimming pools, so a bathing suit is recommended if you think you might take advantage. There will be opportunities to do laundry along the way. In terms of gear, apart from the usual binoculars, hat, field guide, etc., a flashlight or head lamp is very useful. Most people appreciate having a camera along. Sunscreen and bug repellant are useful, although biting insects are rarely a problem on this tour.

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Health considerations Please consult a doctor before making any decisions regarding vaccines, anti-malarial prophylaxis, or other health decisions regarding traveling. Kruger National Park, where we will be for four days, is in a malaria risk area. Malaria is a potentially dangerous disease carried by mosquitoes. We recommend that you take prophylaxis as well as taking precautions to avoid mosquito bites such as wearing long sleeves and insect repellant.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that visitors to South Africa have vaccines against Typhoid and Hepatitis A in addition to “routine vaccines.” Please visit their website for more information. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/south-africa

Resources The best bird field guide for this region is The Birds of Southern Africa by Ian Sinclair and Phil Hockey. Our favorite mammal guide is Stuarts’ Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa by Chris Stuart and Mathilde Stuart. There are also snake, reptile, frog, and bufferfly field guides, among others. There is no general natural history guide for South Africa. There are some books that provide in depth information about safari ecosystems, like we will experience in Kruger, especially Richard Estes’s The Safari Companion. There are also no general “common plant” guides. However, there are some good more specific plant books, such as John Manning’s A Field Guide to Fynbos and Field Guide to Wild Flowers of South Africa, and the van Wyks’ Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa. During our time in Cape Town, we will visit the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, where the gift shop has just about the best natural history bookshop in the country, including many of the books mentioned here. There are many good books about South Africa, many of the books with themes about apartheid and race relations. There are literature classics, such as Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, the books of Nadine Gordimer, and The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom, is also highly recommended. An excellent book about South African history is A History of South Africa by Leonard Thompson. Tipping We aim to provide exceptional service, using guides that are knowledgeable, interesting, personable, and experienced. While tipping is never expected, if you feel that your guides went above and beyond, you are welcome to leave them a gratuity. Tips at restaurants and for our local guides in Kruger are included in the tour price.

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Money The South African currency is the Rand. You can easily change money upon arrival at the airport. Alternatively, ATMs are widely available and accept most American debit cards. Credit cards, especially MasterCard and Visa, are widely accepted. Travel insurance We do not require travel insurance for trips to South Africa. However, we recommend purchasing it to help protect you against the unexpected. For your convenience, we offer travel protection through Travelex Insurance Services. For more information on the available plans or to enroll, go to www.travelexinsurance.com or contact Travelex Insurance Services at 800-228- 9792 and reference location number 13-0441.

Travelex Insurance Services, Inc CA Agency License #0D10209. Travel Insurance is underwritten by, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company, NAIC #22276. 55Y Note that to be eligible for some benefits, travel insurance must be purchased within 1-2 weeks of paying the trip deposit.

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