After a restful night in air-conditioned comfort we woke to the piping crescendos of African Grey Hornbills reminding us that we were on the threshold of an adventure. Emerging into the heat of the early morning we enjoyed a generous breakfast before exploring the bird photography opportunities in the grounds of the hotel.

One of the delights of Southern Africa for me is the sheer number of individual birds and the range of species present. There is constantly something happening to watch and try and record. The grey heron rookery hosted regular arrivals and departures.

Arrow-marked babblers foraging just beyond the fence made great subjects between the palings.

The opportunity presented for an Arrow-marked babbler on white.

Another subject foraging in the undergrowth just beyond the fence was a Tawny-flanked prinia which despite being an obvious prinia, was a new LBJ for me.

A little further away was an obvious coucal which my Sasol guide app indicated as a Senegal coucal, another new species for me.

A Meve’s starling foraging on the lawn was another new subject for me.

African Green pigeons feasting on figs were another new species to photograph. In this location they were the damarensis subspecies.

Less flamboyant relative, the Red-eyed dove was also present in the trees.

A syringa tree seemed especially popular, hosting a Green wood hoopoe and a Black-headed oriole.

A final subject was Red-billed Buffalo weaver which were foraging on the ground and flying up into an acacia.

Despite being a short session we had a surfeit of subjects and it was great to get some practice at identification and photography so that we could hit the ground running later in the day.

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 180-600mm f5.6-6.3