Birding Tour: Kruger Park/Greater Limpopo Birding Tour

The Greater Limpopo Birding Routes has grown into an avian paradise, we leave the big city and head up north into, into the heart of the mountain forests and the grasslands of the Northern Drakensberg Mountains (Dragon’s Mountain) until we reach the town of Haenertsberg and the Magoebaskloof area the we will spend our first afternoon searching the Woodbush Forests, the home range to a number of rare species which include the Black Fronted bush Shrike and the Cape Parrot.

We will join forces with one of the best site guides as we spend the next day searching for the Bat Hawk, Gurney’s Sugarbird and Short-clawed Lark

We will spend two nights at this destination in stilted log cabins in the indigenous forests in an electricity-free Eco lodge, with meals all catered for.

From this magnificent location we will travel to the most northerly point of Kruger Park and we enter at Punda Maria and overnight at a this camp, we travel to Pafuri and the famous picnic site and spend as much time as we can travelling this area .

Our second night in Kruger Park will be at Letaba and we will from this camp slowly make our return out of the park and home.

Basic Tour Itinerary

Day One
• Collection from OR Tambo Airport ( JHB) or any destination within the Greater Johannesburg/Pretoria area.
• We travel northwards on the NI to the capital of Limpopo, Polokwane – from here we go eastwards on the R71 to Tzaneen and then onto Magoebaskloof
• Lunch en route to our first overnight destination at Kurisa Moya Nature Lodge in the Heanertsberg district.
• This family destination on a 422 hectare farm which straddles the Woodbush Forests and the Bushveld habitats on the Northern Drakensberg escarpment.
• Time permitting we will spend the remaining daylight hours birding in the vicinity of the lodge.
• We return to our lodge, which are log cabins on stilts in the indigenous forests. This evening we will have dinner in the main lodge.

Day Two
• Sunrise tea, coffee & biscuits
• Our early morning walk
• Delicious Breakfast.
• We will spend the rest of the day in the company of the site-guides, if possible David Letsoalo or one of his colleagues will accompany us on out excursions.
• We will spend most of the morning in the Woodbush Forests which will also include the Bat-Hawk sightings.
• We will either take a packed lunch or take lunch back at the Lodge.
• The afternoon is spent looking for Gurney’s Sugarbird and Short-clawed Lark. Depending on the time of the year, there are numerous summer visitors to this area.
• We leave Kruger and head for our next overnight stay at Mohlabetsi arriving in time for our afternoon game drive.
• At sunset we return to camp, and prepare for dinner in the Lodge.
• The birding talk is very enjoyable sharing our experiences with our hosts. Another day is over and we are off to bed

Day Three
• Sunrise tea, coffee & biscuits.
• Our last early morning walk.
• Delicious breakfast
• Bid farewell to Kurisa Moya and our guide, David and we head for Kruger Park and en route stop to take in some of the magnificent views of the Limpopo Province.
• We stop for Lunch en route, shortly after which we should be entering Kruger, at the Punda Gate. Our camp is not far from this gate and we will take the remainder of the afternoon to scout this area.
• Our overnight stop is Punda Maria, and this evening we prepare our own BBQ under the African skies.

Day Four
• Sunrise tea, coffee & biscuits.
• Today we set of north and we head for Pafuri and the famous Pafuri Picnic site, we meet up with the local guide and spend as much time walking this area, this is a birding utopia and we tend to spend a lot of time here.
• We return to our camp at Punda Maria for our last dinner together.

Day Five
• Sunrise tea, coffee & biscuits.
• We will more than likely take an early morning drive.
• Return to camp for breakfast.
• Following which we will pack the car, bid our farewells to Punda Maria head out of the Kruger and via Louis Trichardt, we will head back to Johannesburg.