Birds and birding in eastern South Africa

There’s no doubt that South Africa is a top birding destination. Of course, there are many ways to quantify what’s meant by a ‘top birding destination’, such as number of endemics and near-endemics, overall number of species, ease of access, quality of infrastructure etc, and in most, if not all of these, South Africa is a top performer. And while, on a continental basis, there are counties with higher overall species numbers, in terms of endemics and near-endemics, South Africa is a leader. In this webinar, Leon Marais, takes a look Eastern South Africa, covering parts of three Provinces – KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo – and more specifically the seasons, hot spots and key species to be seen. These routes are by no means exhaustive, but are rather designed around destinations that offer birders access to key species, habitats and venues, all within easy-to-do, logical circuits. The routes covered are:

Drakensberg & Zululand – from the South Coast to Wakkerstroom.
Escarpment & Kruger – Dullstroom to the Kruger National Park.
Limpopo Valley & Northern Kruger – Polokwane to the vast Mopane belt.


All three routes offer superb birding, easy travelling, good accommodation and dining, and can be done individually or combined in various ways to create a comprehensive eastern South African birding experience.


Leon Marais
Leon is an experienced professional birding and wildlife guide, and a partner in Lawson’s Birding, Wildlife & Custom Safaris. He’s been plying these birding routes mentioned since 2005, with birders from all over the world under his wing. He’s also involved with setting up tours and itineraries for international birders, though of course the global pandemic has put the brakes on this for the time being. And although he’s led tours in many different countries on the continent, eastern South Africa remains a firm favourite, and the Kruger National Park in particular is one of his top birding and wildlife destinations. He’s also written articles on birding and travel in general for a wide range of publications, and has given talks on birding and wildlife at the British Birdfair in the UK.