Birders

Birding in Addo Elephant National Park

Greater Addo's birding opportunity covers excellent habitat contrast between dense thickets of Spekboom interspersed with open grassy areas and wooded kloofs (particularly in the Zuurberg region).

And now that the park has expanded to include areas of Nama-Karoo, coastal dune-fields, coastal islands and the Alexandria Forest , a variety of other habitats swell the birding potential of the park.

In and around the Addo rest camp Karoo and Cape Robin , Bokmakierie, Southern Boubou, Southern Tchagra and Cape Bunting are prominent, with Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Fiscal Flycatcher, Fork-tailed Drongo, Malachite and Greater Double-collared Sunbird also easily found. A trip into the game viewing area will not produce a plethora of birds, but Bokmakierie will once more be prominent, and Martial Eagle, Southern Black Korhaan and Secretarybird may well be seen.

In the wooded kloofs of the Zuurberg, Crowned Eagles breed. Forest species typical of the Eastern Cape , such as Olive Bush Shrike, Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler and Cape Batis can also be searched for. 

Alexandria Forest has many forest species, such as Knysna Turaco, Black Cuckoo (summer only), Grey Cuckoo-shrike, Chorister Robin and the special of the location, Cape Parrot .

The coastal grasslands south of Alexandria Forest are home to exciting species such as Denham’s Bustard (with impressive displaying during summer) and Black-winged Plover.

The coastal islands have impressive breeding colonies of Cape Gannet and African Penguin.

The Karoo vegetation around Darlington Lake is home to many Karoo endemics such as Pririt Batis, Rufous-eared Warbler and Karoo Chat.

(For more birding information and park bird checklist, go to Information for Birders)