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Birding and Safari-ing South Africa with the ABA

10,000 Birds

And so, I went on the American Birding Association Safari to South Africa. That was easily fixed by adding a post-Safari trip to Eastern South Africa, led by dashing Rockjumper guide Clayton Burne, to my itinerary. The small group was a good counterpart to the large, convivial ABA Safari group of 98 birders.

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I Remember Elephants

10,000 Birds

Nevertheless, only the most important news I did follow, those about the decision-making process on future sales of elephants and their ivory at a global wildlife summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, the first such meeting since 2013. In Africa, one elephant is being killed every 15 minutes. Literally.

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Africa’s Big Five and Little Five

10,000 Birds

They are not necessarily the biggest African animals, but represented those that were considered a real hunter’s worthy prey or “game” – the African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Black Rhinoceros, Leopard and king of the jungle, the Lion (which of course doesn’t inhabit jungle but savanna!).

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KwaZulu-Natal

10,000 Birds

mi (almost exactly the same size as Indiana), it is one of the smaller provinces of South Africa, but is the second most densely populated with over 10 million inhabitants. They discovered Gurney’s Sugarbird during their time in South Africa. I live in a city called Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal province.

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Can we talk about Cecil the Lion?

10,000 Birds

The killing of Cecil was equated with murder, a moral crime rather than a symptom of a ecological problem. Take an example, Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa. But the story wasn’t really one about conservation. We can’t afford just to let nature be nature any more.

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Birding the Kruger Park (5): Pafuri area part 1

10,000 Birds

Pafuri lies in the northernmost part of the Kruger National Park and is described as “some of the most potentially productive birding territory in South Africa” on the SANParks website. A slightly more surprising threat for the vultures comes from elephants. Elephants destroy the trees the vultures live and nest in.

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Shadows of Africa

10,000 Birds

A dusty-red road leads me through Marico bushveld deeper into the 750 square kilometers large wilderness of the Madikwe Game Reserve – the 4th largest reserve in South Africa, home to 350 bird and 66 mammal species, some 4 hours’ drive from Johannesburg. Two young bull elephants slowly walk along the road in front of us.

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