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Birding krugerpark (2 Viewers)

birdthing

birdthing

Well-known member
As I tried to do a day's birding in krugerpark in 2017 and couldn't find a guide to take me in time I thought I would ask for any ideas for January 2019 any names I could look up I want to keep the price down and maybe get a 2 day tour any help appreciated

Roy=birdthing
 
Unless you want someone to ID birds for you, I have no idea why you'd need a guide in Kruger. There's tons of info and good maps available but nearly all you birding will have to be done from the car.
 
andyadcock said:
Unless you want someone to ID birds for you, I have no idea why you'd need a guide in Kruger. There's tons of info and good maps available but nearly all you birding will have to be done from the car.
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I'm with Andy here plus I suspect any guide you can get, without someone flying in, is going to be more used to showing general tourists mammals.
 
Steve Babbs said:
I'm with Andy here plus I suspect any guide you can get, without someone flying in, is going to be more used to showing general tourists mammals.
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Well to the bit about why I need a guide I will have no car so as was said you have to do it from a car
And there lots of guides that do birding so I have been finding and with a guide they would have a better idea where to find the birds just like me in the uk
 
Car hire is very cheap in SA but whatever you do a couple of tips. Firstly a lot of the best birding can be had around the camps so don't neglect that and getting the SASOL app for your phone gives you the bird songs and calls too.
 
birdthing said:
Well to the bit about why I need a guide I will have no car so as was said you have to do it from a car
And there lots of guides that do birding so I have been finding and with a guide they would have a better idea where to find the birds just like me in the uk
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Most of the camps do actually have guided walks out through the bush, accompanied by an armed guard ....never bee on one, though I understand the guides are usually pretty good and I assume would also be good for general birding.
 
I was lucky enough to visit Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park a few years ago.
I was on an organised tour watching South Africa play England at rugby (that wasn't much fun !!) but the trip included two half day "safari drives". I particularly mentioned my interest in birds to the manager and he put me in a truck with a general guide who had a particular interest in birds. He showed the others the general mammalian wildlife (extremely impressive) but ensured I got to see a decent set of birds.

My recommendation would be to speak to the "manager" and your driver/guide
 
Nutcracker said:
For safety! I'd not want to go walking round there on my own . . . :eek!:
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Not allowed to outside of the campgrounds, only with an armed guard on organised walks.

At one place we stayed at, Pafuri I think it was, a guard had used our room before us and had left a loaded, Elephant gun under our bed! We were totally unaware until he turned up to collect it.
 
The campsites aren't too dangerous. This is my son a long while ago. This was before I realised that ungulates could carry rabies, even if it is very rare.
 

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Jos Stratford said:
And of course the picnic sites and viewpoints, where all sorts of things can, and often do, walk through.
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We arrived at the Stevenson-Hamilton Memorial where it's said that you can get out at your own risk and were ready to alight the vehicle, a steaming pile of Elephant dung put paid to that, it was literally, just over a small rise, out of sight but VERY close and a few hundred meters before that as we drove up, several, very nervous buffaloes were encountered so it's genuinely risky.

Animals do get in to camps too occasionally, I've recounted here before, the tale of an almost fatal buffalo attack inside Pafuri river camp, just outside Kruger and there were Warthogs around, although feeding fairly sedately inside I think it was Skukuza.
 
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There are fences around the parks. There are often smaller animals, such as bushbuck and warthog inside. My son was three in the photo and I never had the slightest worry about his safety in a two week visit to Kruger - part of a six week trip to SA. We've been back as a family since. You worry too much. It's one of the most amazing places in the world and I felt about as worried as I would wandering through Woodbridge. In the words of NIke: just do it.

http://www.stevebabbs.com/home/trip-reports/2016-south-africa

http://www.stevebabbs.com/home/trip-reports/2003-south-africa
 
I'm just wondering how they manage the fencing round the camp sites, must be pretty complex, to be (a) tough enough to divert a herd of Elephants, and (b) solid enough to stop a Leopard climbing through or over? Surely if a Warthog can get through, a Leopard could, too?
 
Nutcracker said:
I'm just wondering how they manage the fencing round the camp sites, must be pretty complex, to be (a) tough enough to divert a herd of Elephants, and (b) solid enough to stop a Leopard climbing through or over? Surely if a Warthog can get through, a Leopard could, too?
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Electric.

But stuff does get in, usually smaller species, but even Leopard on occasion. Not really an issue.

In Mana Pools, Zimbabwe, a couple of reserves in Kwazulu and most in Botswana, there are no fences and then a very nice experience, anything can and does frequently wander through. Numerous times had Elephants ambling past, had one scratching his rump against my vehicle one time in which I was sleeping, Lions sniffing around tent, etc. Just need to use common sense
 
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