One of Kruger National Park's top birds, these are a pleasure to watch as the walk around hunting in family groups. Photo by Josh Engel.

Wakkerstroom is full of rare endemics and grassland birds. Here a local guide is helping the group see White-bellied Korhaan. Photo by Josh Engel.

Pelagic birding off of Cape Town is some of the best in the world. Most trips see both species of giant-petrels. Photo by Josh Engel.

Weavers are omnipresent in South Africa, occupying nearly every habitat from urban centers to deep forest. Photo by Josh Engel.

It's always a joy to watch herds of elephants in South Africa, where their populations are thriving. Photo by Josh Engel.

The only place in the world to see this species is the southern Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa and Lesotho. It's a stuningly beautiful environment with great birds.

South Africans know this species as Knob-billed Duck. The reason is obvious when you look at this photo! Photo by Josh Engel.

South Africa's smallest antelope paid our group no heed as it foraged for just the right leaves on the forest floor. Photo by  Jean Halford. 

One of Africa's rarest and most endangered birds, Botha's Lark is only found in a small area of high-elevatino grassland in eastern South Africa.

A common bird in coastal and montane areas in South Africa, they can be very tame in places like Cape Town's Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, where this photo was taken. Photo by Josh Engel.

One of South Africa's iconic geological features is Table Mountain, seen here looking across Table Bay, which looms over Cape Town. Photo by Josh Engel.

The mist-belt forests of eastern South Africa are home to the endangered Cape Parrot and many other sought-after forest birds. Photo by Josh Engel.

Oxpeckers are a characteristic site in South Africa's wildlife parks. These ones were not only picking parasites off the warthog, they were hitching a ride to a waterhole to quench their thirst. Photo by Josh Engel.

South Africa is a great eating destination. Although we eat some breakfasts in the field, spreads like this sometimes entice us back to the lodge for breakfast. Photo by Josh Engel.

South Africa has extraordinarily varied habitats, each with its own unique set of birds. Here a group is searching for Karoo endemics in the arid Tanqua Karoo of western South Africa. 

More often heard that seen, puffbacks are common birds of a variety of wooded habitats. 

A Red-billed Oxpecker (or snotpecker, rather) forages on a Cape Buffalo, one of Africa's famed "Big 5." Photo by Josh Engel.

Once a taxonomic enigma, the endemic Bush Blackcap is now known to be a Sylviid warbler. Photo by Josh Engel.

South Africa is full of endemic birds and animals, such as this beautiful zebra that is found in rugged areas in the western part of the country. Photo by Josh Engel.

We see a variety of lizards on our Africa tours; if we're lucky we'll see a chameleon or two. Photo by Josh Engel.

One of the iconic animals of the African bush, they are common in Kruger National Park, where our typical tours spend three days. We see a variety of lizards on our Africa tours; if we're lucky we'll see a chameleon or two. Photo by Josh Engel.

This may be Africa's most beautiful cat, and it's the one everybody wants to see on an African safari. South Africa is a great place to see it. Photo by Josh Engel. 

It's always fun to see wild parrots. Fortunately this one is fairly common in South Africa. Photo by Josh Engel. 

Africa's rarest predator, it takes some luck to see this beautiful canid. We see them on only some of our tours--but we certainly look on all of them! Photo by Josh Engel. 

A common grassland bird, most of our tours go during the southern summer when these birds are wearing their breeding finery. Photo by Josh Engel. 

Photo by Josh Engel.

Two of a pride of 13 lions around a waterhole in Kruger, including many small cubs. Photo by Josh Engel.

Photo by Josh Engel.

Photo by Josh Engel.

Photo by Josh Engel.