30 Jun 2026 - 12 Jul 2026 (13 days)
ZAR89,950 - 4 Spaces Available
Tour Leader: David Hoddinott
Tour price (Per person): ZAR89,950 * USD4,757 * GBP3,657 * EUR4,383 * AUD7,553
Single Supplement: ZAR7,500 * USD397 * GBP305 * EUR365 * AUD630
Can be linked with: South Africa - Western Bird Photography Tour (Small Group) 2026
02 Jun 2027 - 14 Jun 2027 (13 days)
ZAR95,000 - Spaces Available
Tour Leader: Quinton Paul Josop
Pricing notes : *Prices are estimated, and dates may change*
Tour price (Per person): ZAR95,000 * USD5,024 * GBP3,862 * EUR4,629 * AUD7,977
Can be linked with: South Africa - Western Bird Photography Tour (Small Group) 2027
The provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga on South Africa’s eastern seaboard offer up some of the finest photographic opportunities on the continent and boast some of the country’s best birding as well as exceptional mammal viewing. The regions incredible natural diversity, coupled with a modern infrastructure well suited to the needs of the modern traveller, makes travelling here an absolute delight. Focusing on a variety of the country’s very best sites including the endemic-rich mist-belt forests of the Natal Midlands, the lofty peaks of the magnificent Drakensberg and the classic African savanna of the world-renowned Kruger National Park this unique bird photo tour of eastern South Africa offers the very best of southern African photography, birding, and game viewing!
Highlights
Please note: these prices are subject to foreign exchange fluctuations.
Cape Parrot; Yellow-breasted Pipit; Bush Blackcap; Southern Bald Ibis; Blue Korhaan; Drakensberg Rockjumper; Gurney’s Sugarbird.
Lion; Leopard; Cheetah; African Wild Dog; African Elephant; African Buffalo; White Rhinoceros; Southern Giraffe.
Mist-belt forest, acacia savanna, high elevation grasslands, mountains, wetlands
Subtropical and dry, warm to hot. Can be cold to very cold in the early mornings and evenings
5 with 1 Rockjumper leader
UNDEMANDING: This tour is ideal for birders and wildlife enthusiasts of all experience levels. It’s suitable for most mobility levels and offers a relaxed pace, ensuring an enjoyable experience for everyone.
Moderate. Suitable for all photography / birding / wildlife interest levels and most mobility capabilities. Can be a little tiring due to travel distances. Our Bird Photo Tours are a hybrid between our Classic birding tours and dedicated photographic tours. You don’t have to be a professional photographer or have the biggest lens; this is for everyone with an interest in photography and birding. Whether you’re using a bridge camera or the latest body and prime lens, our aims are the same. • These tours are not aimed at seeing the most species possible on the route, rather taking time to photograph key targets and any other interesting species we may find. Naturally, the overall species list will be lower than a comparable birding focused tour. • Whilst we may use blinds, feeders and hide setups on some of these tours, we will not be spending an entire day nor even several hours fixed in one spot. • These tours are suitable for photographers who prefer opportunistic photography over entire days in a hide. • Our leaders will assist in helping everyone secure good photographic opportunities and advise as much as they can on camera setup. However, they are not professional photographic tour leaders.
Good to comfortable.
Undemanding, most species provide good visuals. A small number of scarce/rare species.
Good to very good. Some hides will be visited.
We are writing to say thank you for all you did for us on our recent Birds and Wine tour with you and Alvaro. We really enjoyed meeting you and spending two weeks touring with you around South Africa. The itinerary that you put together with Alvaro was great and all the arrangements worked out to give us a wonderful tour. Your knowledge of the birds and patience spent helping us find and see all the birds really helped us to enjoy our experience and increase our knowledge. We spent much of our time in the Manyoni Reserve in the vehicle with you and it was always exciting finding the wildlife and hearing your analysis of the situation. We also truly appreciated your selection of wineries to visit, the wines we tasted, and the wines you selected to take with us to Zebra Hills Lodge. Your knowledge of the wine and wineries greatly added to our pleasure on the tour. We live in the Northern California wine region and the opportunity to compare South Africa’s wine with the product we know was very enlightening for us. Both the wineries we visited and the wines we tasted convinced us that we were in an excellent wine producing region of the world.
Greg was a fantastic guide, and I hope that I can take another tour/bird with him again in the future. I greatly enjoyed birding and spending time with him, he was very personable and I'm glad that we were able to become friends. Greg knew where to search for the birds and was extremely knowledgeable about birds and other wildlife and natural history. I also greatly appreciated how Greg dealt with issues that arose with other guests, and how quickly he tried to step in and prevent problems from escalating further. Guiding can be a difficult job, and Greg did a terrific job.
David Hoddinott was a superior guide with extensive knowledge (of course) about the avifauna, but also provided good knowledge about other nature matters as well as SA culture and geography apart from being an overall nice person. Would highly recommend.
It was a great pleasure to meet David Hoddinott, and a privilege really to spend time with such a great birder. Mine was a focussed trip around several species not seen in South Africa, and we saw all the birds, including a wonderful view of a male Buff-spotted Flufftail. David also found a few species where I had only had single sightings previously. We had to reschedule my trip at short notice and the Tailormade team at RJ were really helpful to ensure this section of our trip went ahead. Many thanks.
The lynchpin for our entire experience was the guide - and Greg de Klerk was simply brilliant. He was extremely skilled in knowing where the birds might be, and finding them once we got there. He carefully made sure that we all saw the bird. He was very knowledgeable about bird and mammal behaviour, and shared a lot of information with the tour members. He smoothly handled logistics, is a good driver, and patient with non-nationals who are unfamiliar with South African customs. He has a wonderful sense of humour; and a very warm and outgoing personality, which stimulated good relations between tour members. We would be very excited to go on another Rockjumper trip with him!
South Africa - Flock to Marion - Sani Pass post-tour extension 2025 - January 2025
South Africa - Flock to Marion - Sani Pass pre-tour extension 2025 - January 2025
South Africa - (F2M ext) Andersson 2025 - January 2025
South Africa - Flock to Marion - Eastern pre-tour extension I 2025 - January 2025
South Africa - Mega Birding Tour II 2024 - November 2024
South Africa - Kruger Extension I 2024 - November 2024
South Africa - Bates 2024 - November 2024
South Africa - Joseph & friends (ESA) 2024 - November 2024
South Africa - Wilkens & Lenssen 2024 - November 2024
South Africa - Mega Birding Tour I 2024 - November 2024
South Africa - Cape Extension V 2024 - October 2024
South Africa - Ann 2024 - October 2024
South Africa - Eastern V 2024 - October 2024
South Africa - Cape Extension IV 2024 - October 2024
South Africa - Eastern IV 2024 - September 2024
South Africa - West 2024 - September 2024
South Africa - Allen (Cisticola Ref) 2024 - August 2024
South Africa (Cape & Kruger) - Kidwell - June 2024