Tailor Made Safaris

  • About Us
  • Destinations
    • South Africa
    • Namibia
    • Botswana
    • Mauritius
  • Travel Information
    • South Africa Info
    • Namibia Info
    • Botswana Info
  • Reviews
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Destinations
    • South Africa
    • Namibia
    • Botswana
    • Mauritius
  • Travel Information
    • South Africa Info
    • Namibia Info
    • Botswana Info
  • Reviews
  • Contact Us

Things Happen for a Reason

16/7/2015

1 Comment

 
As a trainee Ranger at Phinda Forest Lodge some of my time was spent exploring the Sand Forest. The Sand Forest is a very special habitat and although regarded as a “dry forest”, it hosts an incredible amount of species that depend on it for survival. Many of these species include insects, small flowering orchids, lichens, small mammals, reptiles and of course birds that are difficult to spot in the canopy, but easily identified by their call!  
Picture
Sand Forest Environment
Part of being a trainee ranger was to walk to the bird hide in the mornings, to fill up the bird bath, sit and observe what came in to drink. On many occasions the bird hide was very quiet, not a single bird would come in to drink! On returning back to the ranger’s room and walking past all the guest rooms you would find Suni (the smallest antelope species in Northern Zululand), red duiker and nyala feeding very close to you. It is only then that you start hearing the calls of Square-tailed Drongos, Trumpeter Hornbills, Crowned Hornbills, Bearded Scrub-Robins, Eastern Nicators, Dark-backed Weavers, Black-backed Puffbacks and Golden-tailed Woodpeckers to name a few.

Picture
Eastern Nicator
Picture
Bearded Scrub-Robin
On one specific morning I sat at the bird hide whilst waiting for the bird bath to fill up and only a Red Duiker coming in close, but too scared to drink because of my presence. I started slowly making my way back to the lodge, scanning the canopy with the hope of finding something special perching looking at me! Half way back I realised that I had left the tap on and had to go back to turn it off. Approaching the bird hide I found out that suddenly there was a bird party!

Picture
Red Duiker
As I continued, a bird unexpectedly came flying passed my head and landed on a branch about 4 meters away from me. To my disbelief it was an African Broadbill, one of the many extraordinary bird species found in the Sand Forest! Quickly I whipped out my camera and started snapping away. The little fella looked at me for a bit and then took off. It was at this moment that another bird caught my attention! It was a Woodward’s Batis, my first sighting of this species and it had to be caught by my lens! Not too far up the canopy I was lucky to get two photographs. Content with what I had spotted I turned off the tap and made my way back to the ranger’s room.

Picture
African Broadbill
Picture
Woodward's Batis
1 Comment
Shirley link
10/1/2021 02:55:23 pm

Hi nice rreading your blog

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    About Us

    Hi there! My name is Paul and I am the new specialist guide for Tailor Made Safaris! On this blog I will keep you all updated with trip reports and interesting stories about the African Bush! 

    Want to read about something special, please feel free to drop me an email on paul@tailormadesafaris.co.za and let me know what you would like for me to write about.  

    Coming up next

    See below a list of articles which are currently being researched and/or written. Check back soon to see if they are online!

    - Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park
    - Rhino poaching

    Archives

    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    Categories

    All

    Subscriibe

    Leave your email address below to stay up to date and receive an email notification when new posts have been published!

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Or subscribe using RSS:

    RSS Feed

Tailor Made Safaris is an official partner of: 
Picture
Picture

Copyright 
©2018 Tailor Made Safaris
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy
Contact us