I got an amazing opportunity to help out a friend at Church who needed a guide to accompany a family from the US on a 5 night safari around KZN - spending 3 nights at Bonamanzi near St. Lucia and then 2 nights at Giant's Castle in the Drakensberg. There were so many special sightings along the way plus I got to enjoy 5 star living and game drives and river rides. Here are some photo highlights along the way:

African Goshawk - I have only recently seen this species for the first time - and on the first morning as I walked out of my chalet, this chap was sitting outside watching me - sadly it was facing away from me when I took the shot, but you can see the two distinctive white spots on the tail. A mate was flying overhead making their distinctive clicking sounds.

Goliath Heron - Our boat on the lagoon/river ride at St. Lucia drove up close to this chap and the guide said that it waits for the boat to push the fish towards it and then it makes it move. Great symbiotic relationship!

Purple Heron - I took this sequence of shots in High Speed Continuous mode to capture the effort it takes this bird to get into the air. It was spooked by an African Fish-Eagle (who, according to our guide, is the tax-collector of the wilds - it always swoops in to collect something from other water birds catching fish in it's space).

I was desperate to go and find the Pink-throated Longclaw - only to be told that it costs R460 per person and you have to be a group of at least 4 people before they will do it for you. Sorry, but that is just robbery for one bird added to your life list! So all I came away with is this fuzzy picture of a Yellow-throated Longclaw!

Caspian Tern - we hunted in vain among the terns at the Umfolosi River mouth for a rare Sooty Tern that is still hanging around at that spot. All we got to see was Caspian and Swift Terns!

Red-fronted Tinkerbird - by far this was the highlight of my time at Bonamanzi - I have hunted for over a year for this forest species all over KZN! And it came to me in a tree right next to the restaurant feeding on the fruit of a Ficus tree!!!

Green Twinspot - this is only my second sighting of a Twinspot - and there were 5 of them (all juveniles or females) at the lagoon at St. Lucia. It was a lifer for the guy that I was guiding on the trip so that was special for all of us!!!

Here are a few other shots that I took:

Here are a few scenery shots of the amazing Bonamanzi:

On Day 2 I had an awesome experience. I have searched high and low for a sight of Crested Guineafowl for the past 3 years (in the Kruger and all across KZN). My bogey bird for sure! And this flock of about 30 birds appeared in the camp at Bonamanzi!

Here are some other photo highlights from the day at Bonamanzi: