In January we took a "Walking Safari" with Exodus. Despite being more of a hiking holiday than a birding one, we managed to clock up over 180 species without trying too hard. We walked and went on game drives in Kruger National Park, Swaziland, the Drakensberg, around the Blythe River Canyon area and down on the Indian Ocean Coast at St Lucia. Many of the birds we saw were bagged by getting up at dawn and wandering around the campsites and accomodation. Here's one or two pics.
Brown Snake Eagle
Dark Chanting Goshawk
Wahlbergs Eagle
European Roller
Goliath Heron
Dusky Flycatcher (any closer and I'd have had to use the macro setting)
Hoopoe
Greater Striped Swallow
Lesser Striped Swallow
Grey Go-Away-Bird
Lazy Cisticola
Yellow-Billed Hornbill
Red-Billed Hornbill
Southern White-faced Owl (video still)
White-Fronted Bee Eater
The poseur of the bird world - Lilac-Breasted Roller
Hooded Vulture
Rattling Cisticola (possibly)
Striped Kingfisher
We took many more pics, but I don't want to bore you. We also saw plenty of other life forms - possibly the highlight of the trip was stalking cheetah on foot and getting within about 10 meters of them.
"Let loose the Kraken!"
Ok - here's some more - not too many big beasts as I used video for them and am still trying to edit it (too much, bad zooming technique and shaky hands).
Baboon
Blasbok
Blue Waxbill
Bushbuck
Cattle Egrets
Chameleon
Isn't he beautiful - 10m from a Cheetah on foot. (We were also a fair way from the vehicle, then we heard a Lion cough - fastest casual 300m stroll in history).
Cape Buffalo - mean and scary
Giraffe
Greater Flamingos
Hammerkop
I think it's a grasshopper, either that or the aliens have landed...
Hippos sleep during the day, but...
Impala
Jacobin Cuckoo
A very pretty grasshopper
Leopard Tortoise
Great White Pelicans, Yellow-Billed Stork and others
Pin-Tailed Wydah
Red-Winged Starling (not sure who's sandwich it got)
Rock Hyrax
Speckled Mousebirds
Swift Terns
Vervet Monkey
Warthog
Water Thick-Knee - very odd bird, mostly nocturnal, this was taken at dusk with a video camera
Yellow Bishop
It really is a great place to go, we went in the southern summer, hence we got to see loads of migrants before they headed back north. You wouldn't believe the number of Amur Falcons, commoner than sparrows they were.
Amur Falcon
I missed this post the first time round, Stuart. What a fabulous trip. Amazing collection of birds and other wildlife you saw. I've only been to Africa once (Gambia) and was blown away by all the colourful birds though very few mammals.
Fabulous photos. What a stunner that Lilac-breasted Roller is and how wonderful to get so close to a Cheetah.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Love em Stuart, we didn't see a cheeth and that is one thing I really wanted to see. but got the leopard cubs and saw quite a few lions.
Shelley
Great additions Stuart, love them all.
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Regards, Hazel
Hi Stuart
Photos absolutely stunning.What camera and lens did you use
Regards
John Hancock
Just a Canon Compact, the SX 260 HS - it does have a 20x optical zoom though. My partner uses a Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ30, with the same amount of zoom. I've just added a Sony HX300 bridge camera to my collection, the 50x zoom was irresistible :-) We don't carry SLRs and lenses, because we do a lot of hiking, scrambling and general rough stuff and the weight, bulk and inconvenience outweighs the gain in good photos for us.
Thanks Stuart for the info.photos are brill!!!
John