Birding Kruger National Park – Pretoriuskop

I visited the Kruger National Park on average twice a year with my family in the eleven years that I lived in South Africa, giving us ample opportunity to explore most areas of this faboulous place. In this and several following posts, I will share some impressions of the birding in and around some of the camps we stayed at in the park. First up is Pretoriuskop camp, one of the southernmost camps in the park, located in a scenic lanscape with scattered koppies (small rocky hills).

Pretoriuskop camp itself is truly excellent for birds and, like most camps in the park, a place that I enjoyed exploring during the heat of the day, between our morning and afternoon game drives. Apart from the ever-present starlings, Brown-headed Parrot (featured image), Spectacled Weaver and Grey-headed Bushshrike were easily seen. The highlight however was Pearl-spotted Owlet, of which there seemed to be a pair present in the camp. The easiest way to locate them was to stroll around and listen to the alarm calls of passerines, indicating the presence of an owlet in a nearby tree.

We did not find the woodlands surrounding the camp as productive for big mammals as other regions of the park (although we did see a leopard, which is anything but expected). However, this was compensated by the beautiful scenery, and by abundant birdlife. In a riverine area, we came across African Black Ducks and a group of Retz’s Helmetshrikes, very attractive birds that I always love watching.

We were also lucky to come across an eruption of termite alates after a thunderstorm, which can be a feast for birders as much as it is for birds, as anybody will know who has come across one. Alates are the winged reproductive individuals that start a new colony – if they are not eaten before, that is, because these erruptions draw in lots of birds looking for an easy meal. Apart from the range of hornbill and starling species, we were entertained by various passerines and cuckoos, including both morphs of the Jacobin Cuckoo, right next to our car.

A classic bird of the Kruger National Park is the Bateleur, and we enjoyed a close view of this bird as it was perched in a tree, quite less common than the standard sighting of them up in the skies. These are truly remarkable birds and it was fantastic to take in its impressive plumage up-close.

This area of the Kruger National Park is very different to all of the areas further north, and while I did not see anything that cannot be seen in other spots of the park, the beautiful rocky landscape produces a fantastic setting for game-watching and viewing some many of southern Africa’s interesting woodland species.