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Africa – Birding down Memory Lane

10,000 Birds

Gaborone, Botswana; June 1999. Marvellous orange-pink sunrise high over the Indian Ocean… Then, landing on a small airport at Gaborone, Botswana. The next one I can remember, going chronologically, was my first sunbird ever – the White-bellied Sunbird in the bush in front of our lodge, opposite the Botswana University.

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15 expat-friendly countries for a birder to move to

10,000 Birds

And it raises a question: if all the birds are having a party over there, am I in the wrong spot? I used to live in Botswana, where there are about 450 bird species in an area a few dozen miles from the capital; then somewhat naively moved back to Serbia with mere 250 species around the capital. Botswana (529 / 577).

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“Peacocks and Picathartes: Reflections on Africa’s Birdlife”

10,000 Birds

DNA analysis now shows Chapin’s conviction to have been fully vindicated, while at the same time raising a host of questions about the peacocks’ common ancestors and their distribution at a time when both the map and climate of our planet were very different from those of today.” Most definitely so.

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Is my Rhino Still Alive?

10,000 Birds

The sky was becoming orange-pink; its reflections were colouring the water, while the rhino raised its head, water sipping through his half-open snout, itself shining from the last sun rays of the day. One Springbok gazelle came to drink, but kept a respectful distance staying by the smaller puddle.

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A morning in a Kalahari Leopard’s life

10,000 Birds

This 15,000 sq mi Kalahari desert reserve straddles the South African and Botswana border regions and was created when two national parks were merged – these being South Africa’s Kalahari Gemsbok National Park and Botswana’s Gemsbok National Park. Along the way she picked up two thorns in her back left footpad.

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Big Cat Week!

4 The Love Of Animals

Big Cat Odyssey chronicles their meticulous work over three decades of filming, photographing and documenting the behavior of big cat species in Botswana. Award-winning filmmakers and National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert set out 30 years ago on a quest to get close to big cats.

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Introducing the African Birding Beat

10,000 Birds

I was fortunate to have been born and raised in Africa, and although I have traveled extensively around the world, it remains my home and in my blood. I have thoroughly explored vast parts of the continent as well as neighboring Madagascar, in the process seeing over 2,000 birds on the continent and all but one Malagasy endemic.