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Zambia
Shoebill Tour - Detailed Itinerary
(Photo by Ken Harris)
Please note that we can never guarantee an exact itinerary as stated, and sometimes we make (usually minor) changes due to weather, road conditions, availability of accommodation and various other factors.
Pre-Tour – Johannesburg through Botswana to Livingstone, Zambia:
Day 1: You will be fetched from your hotel early in the morning, a last minute check to ensure that all travel documents are in order and we are ready to hit the road. After leaving the hustle and bustle of the city behind we head for the Botswana border. Our first stop is for breakfast in the town of Thabazimbi; from here we will continue our northward journey, stopping a few times to stretch legs and of course for any significant birds that we might encounter on the road. We should pick up quite a few interesting birds on the way; Pearl-spotted Owlets are sometimes seen perching boldly on the telephone lines next to the road. Lilac-breasted and Purple Rollers will become more common as we head further north. Black-shouldered Kite is probably the most common raptor in South Africa as you will soon realise. Our first overnight stop in Francistown, Botswana (Botswana is a landlocked country with a bird list of over 560 species) will allow us some birding in typical Acacia woodland, here at the western edge of the Kalahari biome. We should find Grey-headed Bush-Shrike (more often heard than seen though), Great Spotted Cuckoo, White-throated Robin-Chat, Southern Pied Babbler and a variety of raptors as well as waterbirds at the nearby Shashe dam.
O/N Woodlands Stop Over.
Day 2: After breakfast we head for the village of Nata and more specifically the Nata Sanctuary, which protects a small portion of the famous Makgadikgadi pans. On the way we might see some Southern Ground-Hornbill, Ant-eating Chat, Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver, Southern White-crowned Shrike and you will soon realise why Botswana is renowned as raptor country; mixed flocks of vultures are often encountered as well as many of the bigger eagles. A short stop at the known stakeout for Boulder Chat, our first special for this trip, is also on the cards and we should hopefully find it without too much trouble. We arrive at Nata Lodge in the afternoon and do some birding in and around the lodge grounds before we enjoy a hearty dinner. Possibilities here include a resident pair of Red-necked Falcon. O/N Nata Lodge.
Day 3: We head for the Nata Bird Sanctuary first thing in the morning; here we find thousands of Greater and Lesser Flamingos, covering the pans in an absolute sea of pink. Secretarybird and Kori Bustard are almost certain to be found, strutting their stuff in the open veld; this is probably also the last place where we will record African Red-eyed Bulbul with relative ease. Other specials that we might encounter here include Martial Eagle, Tawny Eagle, Grey Crowned Crane, Collared Pratincole, Black-winged Pratincole, Great White Pelican, Burchell's Sandgrouse and Yellow-throated Sandgrouse. After a quick breakfast we head for the town of Kasane and the Chobe National Park; in this area we will be staying at the Toro Safari Lodge on the banks of the Chobe River. This is a truly magnificent place in birding terms, with no less than 450 species on record; we will be spending two nights here. White-Browed Robin-Chat and African Yellow White-Eye abound in the gardens around the lodge, where, after settling in, we will enjoy dinner before heading off for a well-deserved rest. O/N Toro Safari Lodge.
Day 4: The morning will be spent enjoying a boat cruise up the Chobe River; this is a truly unforgettable experience. Herds of Elephant and Buffalo will add to the atmosphere, African Fish Eagles soar overhead and Wire-tailed Swallows use the railings on the boat as a welcome resting place. African Openbills and Yellow-billed Storks abound while African Jacana is ever present. Further upstream we will find African Skimmers on the open sand banks and with some luck even Rock Pratincole (seasonal and depending on river levels). This is birding at its best and our skipper will make sure that we get some good opportunities for photography. Other birds we might encounter include Lesser Jacana, Slaty Egret, Rufous-bellied Heron, African Finfoot, Allen’s Gallinule and White-backed Night-Heron. The rest of the morning will be spent birding some very productive spots next to the river; these are easily accessible from the main road and here we will concentrate mainly on some woodland birds. Brown Firefinch, Swamp Boubou, Narina Trogon, Southern Carmine Bee-eater and Copper Sunbird are just some of the birds that we should keep a lookout for. We will enjoy a light lunch at a coffee shop in town, where we will also have the opportunity to purchase or just admire some exquisite artworks by local artists. At this time we might decide to have a well deserved rest and a dip in the pool, before heading for an afternoon drive through the Chobe National Park. Here we will soon find Red-billed Spurfowl, which is endemic to Southern Africa; we will also get the chance to spot the magnificent sable antelope, which is quite common here, as well as puku, which is another antelope which is near endemic to this area. Ground-Hornbills abound here and we are almost guaranteed good sightings, Wahlberg’s and Tawny Eagles are also very common, with the occasional sighting of Bateleur and Martial Eagle a real possibility. Other birds that we might encounter include, Burchell’s Starling and Striped Kingfisher as well as many other arid savannah birds. While enjoying supper we might hear the resident Barn Owls screeching overhead. O/N Toro Safari Lodge.
Main Tour – 2 weeks in Zambia:
Day 1: (for anyone not joining the pre-trip, we will meet you later today in Livingstone, Zambia). We will continue our journey towards Zambia shortly after breakfast, where the route will once again take us through the Chobe National Park. We will stick to the low speed limit as this is a main road passing through a national park, where animals have the right of way. Bird spotting on this route in the early morning can be very productive and we will have another chance on some of the species we might have dipped on the previous day. After about an hour’s drive we will reach the border post where we will cross into Namibia’s famous Caprivi Strip; it takes about another hour to cross the Caprivi Strip, depending on how many good birds we encounter on the way. This is a good area for Meyer’s Parrot, Sharp-tailed Starling as well as Bradfield’s Hornbill. We cross into Zambia at the Katima Mulilo border post, from where we have about a 2.5 hour drive to our destination in Livingstone. Please do take note that we might opt for the shorter route to Zambia by using the ferry at Kazangula, but this decision will only be made once we have some firsthand information from our lodge in the Kasane area. We will encounter birds such as Magpie Shrike, Meve’s Starling, Purple Roller, Lilac-breasted Roller and we might also be lucky enough to find the more elusive Racket-tailed Roller. We arrive at Natural Mystic Lodge just after midday; this lodge has a spectacular setting right on the edge of the Zambezi River. From the deck we quite often see a variety of Storks and we have even seen African Skimmer gliding over the water here. African Goshawk is resident in camp and in the evening we will also try for the resident African Wood-Owl. O/N Natural Mystic Lodge half an hour’s drive west of Livingstone
Day 2: we’ll make an early start birding around the lodge, where Blue Waxbill, Jameson’s Firefinch, and Golden-breasted Bunting abound, after which we will enjoy a delicious breakfast. Our hosts will provide us a picnic lunch that will be enjoyed in the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, where we will be doing our afternoon birding. Birds to be on the lookout for include Bat Hawk, Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove, Broad-tailed Paradise Whydah, Schalow’s Turaco, Grey-headed Parrot and Woodland Kingfisher. After some hectic birding we will enjoy a scenic and relaxing sundowner cruise on the upper Zambezi river, with a chance nonetheless of seeing the elusive African Finfoot, Water Thick-knee, Long-crested Eagle and White-headed Vulture. Dinner will be had at the lodge, which will be the venue for another night’s stay. O/N Natural Mystic Lodge.
Day 3: Just in case anybody started wondering, we did not forget the Victoria Falls; after all, what would a visit to Zambia be without going to see the falls? So after an early breakfast we find ourselves heading to the mighty Vic Falls; we have a couple of hours to spend here and there is ample opportunity for some laid-back birding as well. After leaving Livingstone, we head towards the town of Choma; our destination, Masuku Lodge, is about 20km past Choma and is situated in the Nkanga River Conservancy. This area in my opinion is certainly one of the best birding hotspots in Zambia, birding here is fast and furious with a bewildering variety of birds that won’t give you a chance to put your binoculars down for one second. This area is also home to Zambia’s only true endemic, Chaplin’s Barbet, which will be one of our target birds during our stay here. In the grounds around the lodge we will quickly tick off Arnot’s Chat, Spotted Creeper, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Collared Sunbird, Bennett’s Woodpecker, Green-backed Woodpecker and Black-headed Oriole. There is also a very dynamic little dam just a couple of hundred metres from the lodge where we could find Painted Snipe, Black Crake, African Jacana, Greater and Lesser Honeyguides. After dinner we will spend some time reflecting on the day’s birding and updating our bird lists. O/N Masuku Lodge.
The endangered Chaplin’s (Zambian) Barbet stands out like a sore thumb in the fig trees in which it feeds and likes to spend its time. (Photo by Niall Perrins)
Day 4: Our search for Chaplin’s Barbet will start early morning in a patch of fig trees, where they are normally found. Shelley’s Francolin as well as Sooty Chat can also be found here. After breakfast we will spend some more time birding the surrounding area; other specials include African Harrier-Hawk, Cuckoo Hawk, Brown Snake-Eagle, Red-capped Crombec, Collared Flycatcher and Olive-Tree Warbler. After supper we will go for a night drive to look for some owls and nightjars. We might also encounter Bronze-winged and Three-banded Courser, the latter usually a very difficult bird elsewhere in Zambia. O/N Masuku Lodge.
Day 5: We will have another chance to search for Chaplin’s Barbet in the morning, just in case we were unsuccessful the previous day. After breakfast we have a four-hour drive to Pioneer Lodge just outside the capital Lusaka. On the way we will stop for refreshments as well as any special birds, which could include Dickinson’s Kestrel and Bateleur. We will also stop at the bridge crossing the Kafue River and might well see something special here, possibly even Allen’s Gallinule in season. Pioneer Lodge offers some excellent birding, which could include Collared Palm-Trush, Yellow-breasted Apalis and many others. O/N Pioneer Camp.
Day 6: Today we have a fairly relaxed drive to our next destination, Forest Inn, set in a rather well developed patch of miombo woodland. The lodge has produced some rather special birds over the years and regulars include Böhm’s Flycatcher, Purple-throated Cuckooshrike, Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Weaver, both Yellow-bellied and Southern Hyliotas and Rufous-bellied Tit. Time permitting we might also bird some of the surrounding woodlands, which will have a similar suite of miombo specials as well as Black-necked Eremomela. O/N Forest Inn.
Day 7: We have a fairly long drive ahead of us and will leave shortly after breakfast for our next destination, the 420 km² Kasanka National Park. The park contains a large number of different habitats, which makes for good birding, the predominant vegetation being dry miombo woodland through mushitu forests to papyrus swamp. We will stay at the Luwombwa Camp, which overlooks the river of the same name. After unpacking we will just have enough time to undertake a canoe trip down the river. Pel’s Fishing Owl has its favourite haunt in a big tree barely a stone’s throw from the camp and should be an easy tick. Half-collared Kingfisher must rate as one of the most beautiful kingfishers in Southern Africa and we will have ample opportunity to photograph them at will. Other specials along the river include African Finfoot, Böhm's Bee-eater, African Green Pigeon, Ross’s Turaco, Olive Woodpecker and Western Banded Snake-Eagle. After supper we will listen to the bush coming alive with night sounds; we might even be able to lure an African Wood-Owl into view. O/N Luwombwa Camp.
Böhm’s Bee-eater (Photo by Hugh Chittenden)
Day 8:
A full day’s exploring of Kasanka lies ahead of us. First we will head for the sitatunga hide where, as the name suggests, we should find the very elusive sitatunga antelope - Kasanka has the highest density of these shy antelope in Africa. This is also a good area for Brown Firefinch, Moustached Grass Warbler, Hartlaub’s Babbler, Variable Sunbird, Red-throated Twinspot, Black-backed Barbet and last but not least a nesting pair of African Crowned Eagles. After this we head for Wasa Lake; on the way there we should see Pale-billed Hornbill and Cabanis’s Bunting. Once at the lake we will hopefully find African Pygmy Goose and a selection of other waterbirds. We will spend the rest of the day birding various other habitats as well as concentrating a lot of our attention on finding bird parties in the miombo woodland; miombo specials include Racket-tailed Roller, Rufous-bellied Tit, Red-capped Crombec, Miombo Pied Barbet, Thick-billed Cuckoo, Böhm's Flycatcher, Spotted Creeper, Anchieta’s and Whyte’s Barbets. Back at the camp we will go for a walk along the river in the hope of finding the spectacular Narina Trogon. After dinner we will reflect on the day’s birding around the fire. O/N Luwombwa Camp.
Day 9: After breakfast we’ll tackle the arduous but interesting drive to Shoebill Island Camp. This should take us at the very least 4 hours to complete; but as things are with birding it could well take quite a bit longer. The Bangweulu swamp is an absolute waterbird mecca, with over 400 species on record, and covers over a million hectares. Fantastic birding can be had in the immediate vicinity of the camp, depending on the time of year we might even see the Shoebill from the camp. We will see herds of black lechwe numbering in the thousands; this antelope is endemic to the Bangweulu swamp and is found only here. Tsessebe and buffalo are also common. From a birding perspective we will see big flocks of the endangered Wattled Crane as well as Saddle-billed Stork. After dinner we will enjoy a wonderful night’s rest at one of Africa’s most important wetlands. O/N Shoebill Island Camp.
Day 10: Our focus today will be on finding the Shoebill; this huge bird is one of Africa’s most sought-after birds and we will do our utmost best to get everybody as close as possible while keeping disturbance to a minimum. At the same time we will also be on the lookout for other specials that might include Eurasian Bittern, Great Snipe, Pallid Harrier, Slaty Egret, Pink-backed Pelican, Great White Pelican and many more. The surrounding floodplains support Denham’s Bustard, Collared Pratincole, Grey Crowned Crane, Swamp Flycatcher, Rosy-breasted Longclaw and Sooty Chat to name but a few. The floodplain periphery advances and retreats by as much as 45km between the peaks of the dry season and the wet season and therefore not one tour to this water-wonderland is ever the same. Once back at the camp there is a nice dining area overlooking the edge of the floodplain, where we will enjoy some refreshments and some snacks while delighting in some of the best wetland birding on offer in Zambia. Around the camp Copper Sunbird as well as Blue-breasted Bee-eater are common and often seen, as is a resident pair of Lizard Buzzards, which seem to have a particular affinity for rats around here. Lots of mosquito repellent is at the order of the day as the sun sets; lots of water means lots of mosquitoes in these parts. O/N Shoebill Island Camp.
What a weird-looking monster the Shoebill is! Some authorities place it in its own order since it is so different from anything else. (Photo by Masa Wang)
Day 11: A quick bit of early morning birding and a hearty breakfast to see us on the road to our next destination, Mutinondo Wilderness: 10 000 hectares of pristine miombo woodland, massive chunks of granite inselbergs intersected by crystal clear rivers. Mutinondo is rated as one of the best places in the world to see Long-toed Flufftail and Bar-winged Weaver. Things get interesting soon after leaving the main road, from where we have a fairly long drive through miombo woodland before we reach the lodge. White-breasted Cuckooshrike is normally one of the first in the welcoming party. We will do some afternoon birding after lunch and should soon notch up the likes of Striped Pipit and Miombo Scrub-Robin, both being quite common around the camp. Sunbird enthusiasts will have a feast here with Amethyst, Miombo Double-collared and the brilliant Anchieta’s Sunbirds all easily seen here. O/N Mutinondo Wilderness Lodge.
Day 12: We have a lot of habitat to cover today and shortly after breakfast we will tackle the grassy dambos to look for Long-toed Flufftail, Fülleborn's Longclaw, Marsh Widowbird, Blue Quail and Fawn-breasted Waxbill. The dambos and associated birds are seasonal and all will depend on the amount of water at the time of our visit. We will look for Bocage’s Akalat and White-tailed Blue Flycatcher in the mushitu (riverine forest) and Miombo Rock-Trush and Thick-billed Cuckoo in the miombo areas. After lunch we look for more of the specials that occur here, which include Rufous-bellied Tit, Natal Nightjar, Freckled Nightjar, Souza’s Shrike and Reichard’s Seedeater. O/N Mutinondo Wilderness Lodge.
Day 13: We have yet another chance to bird the huge swathes of undisturbed miombo woodland, keeping in mind that miombo birding can be very reminiscent of rainforest birding, where one has to find feeding bird parties and then try to stay with them as they move through the canopy. Once a bird party is found the rewards can be very gratifying and the action fast-paced, but the opposite is also true with long quiet spells between feeding parties. Souza’s Shrike, Pale Wren-Warbler and Hildebrandt’s Spurfowl are all present at Mutinondo, with the latter being very difficult to locate. Another star bird here is Ross’s Turaco, which we should hopefully find without too much trouble. O/N Mutinondo Wilderness Lodge.
Day 14: Today we will drive back to Lusaka, where we will again stay at Pioneer Camp for our last night in Zambia. In the morning we will have the chance of birding around Mutinondo again for any specials that we might have missed during the past three days. Another stop at Forest Inn might also be possible and then onwards to Lusaka, where we will do some relaxed birding around the lodge. A small dam nearby often produces White-backed Duck as well as a few other species that might be new for our Zambia list. O/N Pioneer Camp.
Post-Tour – through Zimbabwe back to Johannesburg:
Day 1: (Those not joining the post-tour will need to fly out of Lusaka any time today). The last leg of our tour starts today as we drive from Zambia and cross the border into Zimbabwe, where we will stay for the night at a lodge near the famous Lake Kariba. Birding in these parts can be very good and we should see a host of more common species. There is lots of mopane woodland and we may have time to bird the beautiful Zambezi Valley and the hills around Kariba. O/N Nzou Lodges.
Day 2: A fairly long drive with some good roadside birding awaits us today as we make our way to the capital of Zimbabwe, Harare. Here we will bird the wetlands at Monavale Vlei, and, although this is not the best time for birding here with most of the rallids being absent, we still have a good chance of locating birds such as Copper Sunbird, Black Coucal, Yellow-mantled Widowbird, Lesser Honeyguide and Yellow-throated Longclaw. Various other possibilities exist with a visit to Christon Banks (time permitting), usually producing Cuckoo Hawk, Miombo Tit, Boulder Chat, Stierling’s Wren-Warbler, Spotted Creeper and a host of more common species. Our last evening in Zimbabwe will be spent dining at one of the fine restaurants near our accommodation. O/N Crake Cottage.
Day 3: We make our way south and soon leave the city of Harare behind us as we head towards South Africa. Today we will pass through one of the busiest and most disorganized border posts in the Southern African region, Beitbridge. Hopefully all will go well and see us into South Africa without too much hassle. Once in South Africa it is only a short drive to our lodge, just outside the town of Musina. Here we will spend some time birding in a new environment and will hopefully be able to add a few more species to our ever growing list. Birds such as White-crested Helmet-Shrike, Southern White-crowned Shrike, Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver, Bateleur, Little Sparrowhawk and many more spring to mind. O/N Matombo Lodge.
Day 4: Officially the last day of the tour, we will basically concentrate on getting back to Johannesburg for those who have flights out on the same day.
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Itinerary:
Duration: 14 days + pretour & posttour
Limit: 4-12
Date: 2-15 June 2012
Depart: Livingstone
Depart: Lusaka
Price: Approximately US$5400 per person sharing, depending on group size and other factors
Price_Includes:
Meals
Accommodation
Entrance fees
Guiding fees & local guide
All transport while on tour
Price_Excludes:
International flights
Personal Insurance
Alcoholic Beverages
Gratuities
Laundry Service
Personal expenses such as gifts
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