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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Africa - year list record (1 Viewer)

Interested to see what route they will actually take and Angola, is it even slightly safe?

We were on the border with Angola at Kunene in 2010 and were given the impression that it's really not a good idea to visit for many reasons, including corrupt immigation staff.
 
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andyadcock said:
Interested to see what route they will actually take and Angola, is it even slightly safe?

We were on the border with Angola at Kunene in 2010 and were given the impression that it's really not a good idea to visit for many reasons, including corrupt immigation staff.
Click to expand...
I have no personal experience, but it appears that plenty of birders cross from Namibia and there are no horror stories. Sure there are plenty of comments of language issues and bureaucracy at borders, including over Yellow fever vaccination, driving on the 'other side of the road' and paperwork. Most of these comments are from South Africans - maybe the passport you are carrying changes the welcome!
 
I just did a very brief google, I thought this is article a bit OTT.....................

https://www.worldnomads.com/travel-safety/africa/angola/crime-in-angola

until I read the FCO page

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/angola/safety-and-security

'If you travel outside Luanda and the provincial capitals, do so in the company of persons or organisations experienced in local conditions, as conditions can be difficult. You may be asked to show your passport and Angolan visa to the local authorities. There is widespread poverty, social exclusion and disease, a shattered infrastructure and mines and items of unexploded ordnance throughout many parts of the country. Transport and accommodation are extremely limited outside Luanda, so make arrangements in advance.'

We took our vehicle over a few land borders in Southern Africa and a few were extremely long, tedious and overly beuracratic , Zambia was the worst.
 
The Blog has now been updated with three reports of their start in South Africa (Flufftail hunts) and the process of crossing the Zimbabwe Border.

Ian
 
Very similar to the crossing in to Zambia from Namibia, this is pretty standard for this part of Africa I think. When we were travelling in Southern Africa, there were also random stops for an outbreak of foot and mouth which meant getting out of the car and stepping in to sterilising baths, car wheels were also sprayed. Also due to this, all nice cars with cooler boxes were targetted and lost pretty much all food that was in them due to their movement being 'forbiden'.

Because our vehicle was hired not bought, we also had to pay a fee to the hire company for every seperate country we enetered and that wasn't cheap, add to that a local road tax and insurance which is levied on entry, it all adds up. As far as I remember (10 years ago) we were not allowed to take a South African hire car in to Zimbabwe at all.
 
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Selsey Birder said:
African Pitta in the bag (have missed it twice myself!)

https://budgetbirders.com/2020/01/27/the-race-for-african-pitta-masoka-camp/#more-6529
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They have hit 400, so a good number of species in the bag.

Agreed this is a high profile species, but some of the the others targeted are more rarely seen by visiting birders. Dapple-throat, Cholo Alethe, Namuli Apalis to name but three.

Updates are a bit hit and miss, no doubt due to lack of availability of Internet.
 
Selsey Birder said:
After a near two week hiatus (not surprising with internet issues in Africa) the latest update is on their Blog after completing their tour of Zimbabwe.

Ian
Click to expand...

The write up is running a couple of weeks late compared to the ebird lists. At 500 species now and in Northern Zambia about to cross into Tanzania. They appear to have got most of the scarce Malawi species as well, even got Striped Flufftail and Striped Crake despite their earlier misses.
 
Muppit17 said:
The write up is running a couple of weeks late compared to the ebird lists. At 500 species now and in Northern Zambia about to cross into Tanzania. They appear to have got most of the scarce Malawi species as well, even got Striped Flufftail and Striped Crake despite their earlier misses.
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Top target in Zambia is Chaplin's Barbet, the country's only endemic and pretty easy at 'Bruce Miller Farm' or it was when we did it.

There are a lot of road improvemnts here now meaning tarmac rather than gravelled roads so driving is safer.
 
andyadcock said:
Top target in Zambia is Chaplin's Barbet, the country's only endemic and pretty easy at 'Bruce Miller Farm' or it was when we did it.

There are a lot of road improvemnts here now meaning tarmac rather than gravelled roads so driving is safer.
Click to expand...

It looks as though they have 'only' done Zambia as part of the route through Malawi to Tanzania. Looking at the route they have published they will only get to the Chaplin's Barbet range when they head back later in the year. No idea when.
 
Muppit17 said:
It looks as though they have 'only' done Zambia as part of the route through Malawi to Tanzania. Looking at the route they have published they will only get to the Chaplin's Barbet range when they head back later in the year. No idea when.
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Hi All,

Sorry just seeing this thread now! Anyways, yes Melissa and I are in the midst of a 10ish month trip around Africa. We started Jan 4th so it'll all be within 2020. I'm not technically going for the year list record (targeting endemics and as well as a number of endemic ssp that'll be split eventually), but I do think I'll probably break the record.

At the moment, the spreadsheets show that I have about 1230 "targets/lifers" for the trip. Since I already had 560ish species for South Africa prior to starting and add in some common WP migrants etc, and it looks like that I could probably get around 1700 species if things go well.

That being said, I think things have been off to a slow start aggregate species wise, but that's because we are target birding. Target wise, things are going very well with no absolute dips yet (although missing Blue Quail in Zambia hurts, we walked over a dozen fields, no luck).

Otherwise, plenty of great birds so far Namuli Apalis, all the flufftails (including both antonii and antorii Striped) except White-winged (and white-spotted, but that will come soon), "eastern" Oustalet's Sunbird, Reichenow's Batis, Katenga & Tanzania Masked Weavers, Zambian Papyrus Yellow Warbler, and so on!

If you're enjoying the blog, please also follow along on instagram @budgetbirders as that's where a lot of pics and instagram stories will be (there's a long one on ticking the birds at Mt Namuli i'm sure you'll enjoy).

We are trying to keep things updated as possible (most blog posts are written to date), but wifi/data make it hard to add pics and get them posted!

Off to Ghana now for 3 weeks before heading back to spend about 40 days "cleaning up" Tanzania!

Good birding,

Ross
 
I wouldn’t do any of there routes personally, especially crossing into CAR and S Sudan, ifonly for road conditions. But I do wonder if this kind of crossing is possible...
 
temmie said:
I wouldn’t do any of there routes personally, especially crossing into CAR and S Sudan, ifonly for road conditions. But I do wonder if this kind of crossing is possible...
Click to expand...

I think they must be flying to Ghana and back to wherever they leave their vehicle?

The logistics and safety of crossing that route, twice, are best avoided IMO.
 
Congratulations to Ross for achieving over 6500 life birds (even under Clements). He and Melissa look to have had a good first week in Ghana
 
2 months in and Ross and Melissa are currently in Ghana and seem to be adding species on a daily basis.

Their Africa year list appears to be 765 by Clements and about 10 more on IOC. The pictures of White-necked Rockfowl on instagram are worth a look.

Not sure when they head back to Tanzania
 
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