|  Considered
one of the most beautiful cities on earth, Cape Town has much
to offer the bird-watcher, naturalist and ecotourist.
The indigenous flora of the area comprises the smallest
of the six floral kingdoms of the world. This wondeful array
of protea, erica, bulbous plants, succulents and spring annuals
supports more than 200 relatively easily seen bird species
of which over 60 are endemic to Southern Africa. These endemics
include 6 species unique to the mountain fynbos vegetation
of the area.
Cape Town is also regarded as a sea bird capital of the world.
A pelagic bird trip to the continental shelf approximately
25 nautical miles south of Cape Point can yield 20+ pelagic
species.
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| Half
Day Tours (approximate duration 4½ hours) |
| HD1
- Cape Flats Wetlands |
| The Cape Flats is an area of extensive
wetland and unique strandveld vegetation both of which are under
extreme urbanisation pressure. |
| Rondevlei Nature Reserve
is South Africa’s oldest Ornithological Field Station.
The Reserve boasts a very easy and comfortable walk and some
excellent bird hides and observation towers. Ideal for photography.
Strandfontein Waste Water Treatment Works
is one of the most important wetlands in South Africa. It
supports more birds for example than the famous St Lucia Estuary
in Kwazulu. |
Greater Flamingo and Pied Avocet
Photograph courtesy Patricia Larkham, UK |
Many common and less common wetland species,
including the endemic South African Shelduck
and Cape Shoveler, may be seen on the trip.
This, together with an interesting variety of bush birds,
helps guarantee a minimum of 40 species for
your morning's endeavors. |
| HD2
- Paarl - |
| Situated in the Cape countryside, with splendid mountain
scenery, the Paarl Mountain Nature Reserve is an excellent
spot for the more common mountain fynbos endemics and also
provides a home for some of our more elusive birds –
including Swee Waxbill, Streaky-headed
Seedeater, Fiscal Flycatcher, Bar-throated
Apalis and the endemic Forest Buzzard.
Paarl Bird Sanctuary, set on the banks of the Berg River,
is the most beautiful of the Western Cape wetlands and is
home to most Western Cape wetland species. |
Orange-breasted Sunbird
Photograph courtesy Patricia Larkham, UK |
| HD3
- Hottentots Holland - |
| A full morning in the Hottentots Holland mountains. This provides
the best opportunity in the Western Cape to see five of our
mountain Fynbos passerine endemics – Cape Rock-jumper,
Victorin’s Warbler, Cape Sugarbird,
Orange-breasted Sunbird and Cape Siskin.
Ground Woodpecker can also put in an appearance.
Included is a visit Rooi Els – where the mountains literally
come down to the sea and a great spot for Cape Rock
Thrush. |
Cape Sugarbird
Photograph courtesy Richard Stone, USA |
| HD4
- Half Day Habitats |
| A shortened version of our popular FD1 Cape Habitats tour for those with a limited amount of time. Visit four of our five main birding habitats (the exclusion being Mountain Fynbos) and see 50+ bird species. |
| Full
Day Tours (approximate duration 10hours) |
| FD1
- Cape Habitats |
| This tour is intended
as a one day snapshot of the five
main bird habitats in the immediate
vicinity of Cape Town - agricultural
lands, sea shore, coastal strandveld,
mountain fynbos and wetland. Whilst
much of our indigenous vegetation
has been lost to wheat and other
grain crops, an additional habitat,
supporting a significant number of Larks,
Pipits, Bishops and Weavers
has been gained. |
These lands are also home to our National bird - the Blue
Crane. The inter-tidal zone of the West Coast supports
four different species of Cormorant –
three of which are near endemic to Southern Africa as is the
African Black Oystercatcher.
There are remnants of strandveld within easy reach of Cape
Town that support birds more often associated with the Karoo
(such as White-backed Mousebird and Karoo
Scrub-robin). |
Wetland Habitat
Photograph Ria Grant |
| We also visit mountain fynbos and wetland habitats.
The tour yields 90+ species on a summer’s
day with 25 commonly seen Southern African endemics and 4 or
5 Western Cape Fynbos specials. |
| FD2
- Mountains of Africa |
| This tour takes us away from
the Peninsula to some of our more
out of the way birding areas. It
provides a good opportunity to
see a number of the more elusive
Cape Mountain Fynbos endemics
such as Cape Rock-jumper.
We start with a walk in the Hottentots
Holland mountains to the east of
Cape Town in search of the Mountain
Fynbos specials. We then spend
a delightful couple of hours in
one of the local Nature Reserves
which should produce a number of
forest birds including Cape
Batis and African
Paradise-flycatcher.
We end the day at one of our local
wetlands. |
Cape Rock-jumper
Photograph courtesy Nicol Mutch, Scotland |
| FD3
- West Coast National Park |
| A day at the West Coast National
Park approximately 80 km north of Cape Town. This park was established
for the preservation of our unique coastal fynbos which supports
some of the Karoo specials including Black Harrier,
Grey-winged Francolin and Southern
Black Korhaan. It is also famous for its massed spring
annuals. The Park encircles the Langebaan Lagoon which in summer
hosts the largest number of migrant shorebirds in South Africa. |
| FD4
- Cape Peninsula |
| Combine your day’s birding
with a visit to a number of the Cape Peninsula's top scenic
and natural history attractions. Our day begins at Kirstenbosch
Botanical Gardens – one of the world’s leading indigenous
gardens on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. We then spend
an hour or so at one of the Cape Flats Wetlands before heading
for Kommetjie on the Atlantic Ocean – a good spot for
all the endemic cormorants plus Antarctic
Tern in winter. Our next stop is the Cape Point Nature
Reserve and Lighthouse (from which we enjoy excellent views
of Cape Gannet and other pelagic species) before
returning home via the African Penguin breeding
colony at Boulders Beach. Apart from the penguins, Boulders
also supports a number of other species including Southern
Boubou. |
| Natural
History Tours - Somerset
West, Hermanus & the Garden Route |
| We have a range of Half Day and Day
Tours that will be of interest to
those on holiday in the Somerset
West/Gordon’s Bay/Betty’s
Bay area, or in Hermanus or in the
George to Plettenberg Bay area along
the Garden Route. Contact us for
more detail. |
