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ZAMBIA, NAMIBIA, & BOTSWANA:
THE MIOMBO, MAVUNDA, AND MWINILUNGA
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Forthcoming Departures:
None at
the moment, but we can run this as a custom
tour.
Tour
reports
October
2003
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CALL
TOLL FREE FROM THE US AND CANADA:
1-800-348-5941
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 This tour combines
the best of the Namibia & Botswana
itinerary with a healthy dose of exciting
moist broad-leaved and forest birding
in Zambia. In combination with Namibia
and Botswana, Zambia offers an incredible
and overwhelming diversity of birds
and mammals. Amongst the attractions
for birders are pulse-quickening miombo
bird parties and the most southerly
tracts of the great Congolese equatorial
forests. We visit the central miombo
north of Lusaka where we seek out the
country’s only endemic, the fig-loving
Chaplin’s Barbet and a host of
Miombo specialities such as Souza’s
Shrike, Red-capped Crombec, Spotted
Creeper, Miombo Pied Barbet and many
others. Bar-winged Weaver is inconspicuous
and scarce, but we will watch for birds
feeding along branches festooned with
Usnea ('old-man’s beard') lichen.
Reaching up between Angola and the Democratic
Republic of Congo, the far north-western
corner of Zambia provides some of the
best birding in the country. The remainder
of the tour concentrates on this area,
specifically
around Mwinilunga, and its awesome combination
of congo-forest, miombo and
moist-grassland wetlands. As
we cross the dambos we will search for
species such as Fülleborn’s
Longclaw, Stout Cisticola, Marsh Whydah,
Fawn-breasted Waxbill, and Locust Finch.
The Chitunta Plain may yield the local
Grimwood's and Pink-throated Longclaws.
We will base ourselves at Hillwood,
a private farm near Ikelenge. Hillwood
itself is flanked by mushitu (riparian
forest) on one side, miombo on another
and overlooks a beautiful plain. Out
in the open grassland we may find Natal
Nightjar, Blue-breasted Bee-eater, Angola
Lark, and Black-chinned Quail Finch.
The mushitu beside the camp is one of
the richest in Zambia, holding Afep
Pigeon, Ross's Turaco, Olive Long-tailed
Cuckoo, Green Coucal, Cabanis's
Greenbul,
Honeyguide Greenbul, Bristlebill, Rufous
Ant-Thrush, African Thrush, Grey-winged
Robin, Laura's Warbler, Buff-throated
Apalis, Bates's and Bannerman's Sunbirds.
The highly enigmatic prize bird at Hillwood
is the Black-collared Bulbul-Shrike,
a bizarre monotypic genus and it is
still hotly debated whether the bird
is a bulbul or a shrike.
A complete itinerary
is available upon request. Please email
us at tropicalbirding@telkomsa.net
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