Birdlife on Limpopo-Lipadi

Limpopo-Lipadi is a fantastic place for bird watching with nearly 400 species calling the reserve home, especially in the summer months. Dozens of different raptors ride the thermals whilst the bush provides a home to a myriad of species, varying from brilliantly coloured sunbirds and bee-eaters to the stately secretary bird. The life-giving Limpopo River attracts many water birds too. A full list of all species expected on the reserve can be found here.

Birds of prey

With four types of vulture, nine owls and an amazing 44 different raptors (including buzzards, falcons, eagles, harriers, kites and goshawks), the skies above Limpopo-Lipadi are rarely without a bird of prey. In the cool mornings pale chanting goshawks can be seen trying to stay warm in the tops of trees while later, as the sun heats up the earth, cape and white-backed vultures rise up on the thermals, soaring above with barely a wingbeat and gathering into stacks of 30 or 40 birds circling above kills. Lipadi Hill and Black Rock provide great nesting sites for a variety of eagles - incuding Verreaux's eagle, locally known as black eagles - while rock kestrels hover above the plains to the North.

If you are lucky you might notice a pearl spotted owlet hiding away in the branches of a marula tree or your spotlight could pick up a spotted eagle owl flying above in the darkness at night. From the striking gymnogene to the huge tawny eagle, or the distinctive trailing feet of a bateleur there is always something going on in the bush - or above it! The riverfront is no different either: vultures nest in the tallest trees along the banks and the call of a fish eagle is never far away. Pel's fishing owls also inhabit stretches of the Limpopo River - and our 21km is pristine habitat.

Along the Limpopo

Adding to the fish eagle cries are the noisy calls of Egyptian geese and hadeda ibises as they make their way from pool to pool. Numerous kinds of kingfisher add to the mix of calls as they pass by - woodland kingfishers "fishing" for insects in the leaf-litter along the banks, pied and giant kingfishes hovering above the slow-moving waters of the Limpopo, and brown-hooded and malachite kingfishers watching carefully from a strategic perch. The knobthorns around some of the units attract cardinal and bearded woodpeckers whose drumming for insects in the bark adds a new tempo to the orchestra of waxbills, bulbuls, and sunbirds announcing their arrival in a tree with flowers rich in nectar. 

Cormorants and darters fish alongside herons and storks, jacanas, coots and rails patrol the reeds and lily-pads, and a host of different ducks dabble in the pools. Birdwatching from your boma or deck provides a relaxing way to pass the hottest hours of the day: the coolness of the riverside providing the perfect antidote to the heat of the bush. Alternatively you may decide to visit Harry's Camp or the dam, or any one of a number of other spots along the river that provide great viewpoints for birdlife.

Into the bush

Almost anywhere you choose to stop in the bush will reveal a wealth of birdlife, especially in the summer months when the number of species reaches its peak. Helmeted guineafowl run like crazed chickens in front of the landcruisers (their clucking and squawking can alert all the nearby wildlife to your presence, so proceed slowly!). Waterholes attract birds as well as animals, in fact the birds are the first things to return to the area once you have stopped and are sitting quietly. Only when the birdsong returns to the normal background noise of the bush will the animals feel it is safe to show themselves again. This is just one of the stories of the bush you will learn as a shareholder in Limpopo-Lipadi and you will come to know this soundtrack well. You will pit your wits against crowned plovers who delight in shrieking news of your presence to anything that will listen if they detect you moving about too much... but if you have remained still perhaps their alarm calls tell of an approaching leopard instead?

During spring the gathering flocks of red-billed queleas can number in the tens of thousands as they flock ready for breeding, while brighly coloured rollers and bee-eaters seem to appear at every corner. Apart from the obvious ostrich Limpopo-Lipadi also plays home to kory bustards (the heaviest flying birds), as well as secretary birds and rare ground hornbills. Returning to your lodge in the dark will reveal dikkops strutting in the open while nightjars rest on the warm tracks, flying up, wings whirring, at the last moment. Before long even those least knowledgeable about birds will be able to identify dozens of species by their calls alone and easily a hundred by sight.