Today is devoted to birding and game viewing in the Kruger National Park, travelling in your guide's closed air-conditioned vehicle.
As you will have the services of a private birding driver/guide, you will have the flexibility of discussing preferred routings and travelling times with him each day. However we recommend setting off early each morning as the camp gates open (04h30 to 06h00 depending on the season), to take advantage of the best game viewing conditions of the day.
Explore this vast 2-million hectare game sanctuary that is the size of Wales and offers magnificent birding, as it is home to over 500 species – more than half of all those found in South Africa. This includes over 200 migrants that arrive from Europe and North Africa in mid-November after the first summer rains, departing again in early April. This is the best place in South Africa to see birds of prey with almost 80 different species - including 15 different eagles and many vultures, kingfishers and storks. The rest camps, waterholes and dams tend to be the best birding hotspots, as they have a high concentration of trees, shrubs and water
Species you can hope to see include the Saddle-billed stork, African spoonbill, African finfoot, Kori bustard, Pel's fishing owl, Martial eagle, White-headed vulture, Lappet-faced vulture, Southern ground hornbill, Tawny eagle, Goliath heron and Black crake. You can also look out for the Crowned lapwing, Lesser black-winged lapwing, African jacana, Three-banded plover, Green-backed heron, Brown-headed parrot, Greater blue-eared starling, Thrush nightingale, Thick-billed cuckoo, Eastern bearded scrub-robin and Yellow-billed oxpecker.
With the highest concentration of lion in the whole of Africa, you can also hope to see many large mammals, including several of the Big Five - lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino - before returning to your rest camp for breakfast (or buy provisions at camp and cook breakfast at a picnic spot).
The rest of the morning is free to relax at your rest camp, before setting out again at the time of your choice - usually the late afternoon - for another birding drive. With nearly 150 different species of mammals and over 100 species of reptiles in the Kruger National Park, you can also hope to see cheetah, giraffe, hippo, kudu, crocodiles, sable antelope, waterbuck, warthogs, baboons, wild dogs and much more.
After a beautiful African sunset, enjoy the balmy evening and pristine stars of the Milky Way as you have never seen them before – as well as the spectacular Southern Cross.
Note: Vehicles are not allowed to drive off-road in any national park in South Africa.