02 Dec 2025 - 18 Dec 2025 (17 days)
ZAR89,950 - 4 Spaces Available
Tour Leader: Julian Parsons
Tour price (Per person): ZAR89,950 * USD4,960 * GBP3,962 * EUR4,767 * AUD7,633
Single Supplement: ZAR7,500 * USD414 * GBP330 * EUR398 * AUD636
Flight costs: ZAR1,800 * USD99 * GBP79 * EUR95 * AUD153
15 Mar 2026 - 31 Mar 2026 (17 days)
ZAR93,500 - Spaces Available
Tour Leader: Quinton Paul Josop
Pricing notes : *Prices are estimated and dates may change*
Tour price (Per person): ZAR93,500 * USD5,156 * GBP4,119 * EUR4,956 * AUD7,935
Another of our new Relaxed tours takes us to the key endemic birding sites of KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and the Western Cape. An impressive 750+ bird species occur within the region, reflecting the incredible natural diversity of the area; and this, coupled with a modern infrastructure well suited to the needs of the modern traveller, makes birding here an absolute delight. Our tour winds its way from the high-altitude grasslands around Wakkerstroom, endemic-rich mist-belt forests of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, lofty peaks of the magnificent Drakensberg, and the remarkably beautiful south-western Cape.
Please note: these prices are subject to foreign exchange fluctuations.
Southern Bald Ibis; Blue Korhaan; Denham’s Bustard; Botha’s, Cape Clapper, Karoo, Agulhas Long-billed & Rudd’s Larks; Ground Woodpecker; Buff-streaked, Tractrac, Sickle-winged & Karoo Chats; Yellow-breasted & Mountain Pipits; Amur Falcon; Gurney’s & Cape Sugarbirds; Drakensberg & Cape Rockjumpers; Drakensberg & Cape Siskins; Cape Parrot; Blue Swallow; Knysna Turaco; Grey Crowned, Blue & Wattled Cranes; Cape Bulbul; African Penguin; Orange-breasted Sunbird; Protea Canary; Karoo Eremomela; Rufous-eared, Namaqua, Victorin’s & Cinnamon-breasted Warblers; Southern Tchagra; Knysna Woodpecker.
Blesbuck; Bontebok; Yellow Mongoose; Meerkat; Black Wildebeest; Oribi; Mountain Zebra; Common Eland; Chacma Baboon;
highveld grassland, montane forest, grasslands, rivers, wetlands, mountains, semi-desert, fynbos
subtropical with occasional rain (mostly late afternoon thundershowers)
6 with 1 Rockjumper leader
our Relaxed series of tours are designed to focus on having an enjoyable holiday with a bird and wildlife focus. Where possible; we have reduced or removed long drives, single night stays and poor/rustic accommodation. We have also sought to reduce or remove difficult hikes, narrow/muddy trails and otherwise oppressive environmental conditions. Early starts and night birding are mostly optional, and we will not spend much time searching for difficult and/or skulking species. These tours are not suitable for hardcore birders and listers, or dedicated photographers.
good to very comfortable
easy to moderate
Sani Pass, Drakensberg Mountains, Lesotho, Table Mountain.
good to very good
This was our first tailor-made tour. It won't be our last. We had a great time. Dan was an excellent guide, working all the angles to get us our target birds while still covering the area specialties, affording us great looks at birds for which we had only fleeting views on our previous South Africa tour with Rockjumper (which was also great!). Dan was very persistent, which paid off in seeing a good number of very difficult specialty birds that many avid South African birders have not seen. We even had two lifer flufftails in a single day, thanks in part to Doug McCulloch, who took the morning off from his new job to help out with the Red-breasted Flufftail. Thanks, Doug! We could have used one more day in the Joburg area, as there were a few birds that were not accessible within the time frame of the tour. This always happens, though, and I am glad we went from a 6-day to a 10-day tour. This is the reason for the overall rating of 9 rather than 10. Overall, the three of us had a great time on the tour. Thanks for putting it together for us!
Daniel Danckwerts was excellent—great hearing and eyesight and was excellent at pointing out exactly where the skulky bird was lurking. He was able to find the group many birds that various members of the group had missed on previous trips to South Africa. And more importantly, he was a store of information about the birds, animals and Kruger. Teamed up with Daniel was our most excellent Kruger driver-guide Dirk who knew where everything was and could find it. We navigated this very complicated trip (flight to Skukuza, travel in south Kruger, flight to Cape Town, testing for covid, boarding the MSC Orchestra and off on our cruise around the Cape of Good Hope only with Daniel’s help and guidance. I am hoping to return to Kruger (for the third time) to bird with Daniel and Dirk on the Kruger Challenge. More than the birds, the trip was fun.
"Daniel was a fantastic guide. Great at handling everything and anything. Superb with all and great at talking to everyone - just a young man beyond his years. And his spotting and guiding skills were amazing. Will book another trio when he is guiding as soon as possible. "
Greg is very knowledgable about everything South Africa and was very good at getting everyone on the birds. He manages the people dynamics very well and kept the mood light and enjoyable.
Great tour with amazing birds to see. Greg and Ward did a terrific job of finding the birds and making sure we saw everything. Kruger National Park was spectacular and we had unbelievable views of the animals. Loved the safari vehicle through the park and would recommend using it on future tours. The van was good as we all had window seats. Unfortunately there were issues with opening a couple of the windows along with electrical issues with the refrigerator and charging units at each seat but the guides adjusted to the situation as needed to make the experience a good one. The trip had a lot of time inside the van and sighting/seeing birds from the van. I would have liked more walking maybe on the roads when possible but I understand we were trying to see as many birds as possible. Overall a remarkable trip lead by professional, experienced guides and a great group of birders made this trip memorable.
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