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Birding the Drakensberg, South Africa

10,000 Birds

One in November 2018 included a one-day birding trip in the Drakensberg area, a mountain range in the border area between South Africa and Lesotho. Pretty pointless, I guess, if it wasn’t for the birds – though it seems some tourists take the same tour just to get the Lesotho stamp into their passport.

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Sasol Birds of Southern Africa, 5th edition

10,000 Birds

And so, back to political entities, this field guide covers Namibia , Botswana , Zimbabwe , the southern half of Mozambique (south of the Zambezi River), South Africa , Lesotho and Eswatini ( Swaziland ). Yet, unless you live in the region, you are likely to have a vague idea where the Zambezi flows and no idea where Kunene is.

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Sani Pass – a Drakensberg birding gem

10,000 Birds

Albeit currently a rugged 4×4-only road, Sani Pass is the most accessible route from KwaZulu-Natal into the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. The final southern African stronghold of this species is the high Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho. Image by Adam Riley.

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South Africa’s endemic birds

10,000 Birds

Drakensberg (or Orange-breasted) Rockjumper is a Drakensberg Mountain species whose range is shared with the tiny landlocked kingdom of Lesotho. One of the Drakensberg Rockjumper ’s most reliable stake-outs is Sani Pass, a winding 4×4 track from the village of Himeville into the mountain kingdom of Lesotho.

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Birding Botswana’s Borders

10,000 Birds

But I have visited Guatemala, Lesotho and Zimbabwe to actually visit them and count them, even though I spent less time in them than I did Zurich. I slept in hotel in Zurich but didn’t leave the airport or even clear immigration, so I can’t really say I’ve been to Switzerland either. It’s arbitrary, but there you go.

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Top 10 from Home

10,000 Birds

This was tough because this excluded species that occur in two countries within South Africa’s geographical area, Lesotho and Swaziland. I then decided to reduce it further to South African endemics only.

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Birding and Safari-ing South Africa with the ABA

10,000 Birds

The small group was a good counterpart to the large, convivial ABA Safari group of 98 birders.

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KwaZulu-Natal

10,000 Birds

This image shows Sani Pass, a rough 4×4 track leading into the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Image by Adam Riley. With this quote I have the pleasure of introducing my home province (state) for this month’s 10,000 Bird’s Africa Beat. I live in a city called Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal province.

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