Specialized Birding

On a daytrip to Inhambane we travel to the coastal mangroves and lagoas of the local wetlands.
This trip offers 3 habitat types, coastal, coastal mangroves as well as inland bush. Across the vast mud-flats we have the chance of encountering numerous species of waders including:

Tibetan and Greater Sandplover
Steppe Whimbrel
Great Knot
The coastal mangroves includes species such as:

Mangrove Kingfisher (seasonal)
Purple Sunbird
Black-Throated Wattle-Eye
When we travel inland to the beautiful wetlands (lagoas), we encounter many species en-route to our target species:

Lesser Jacana
Great Bittern
Rufous Bellied Heron
Pigmy Goose
This is a highly diverse area and offers some great birding. This is why the Inhambane Coastal Wetland trip is a standard across all our packages.

A short drive south will take you to the most magnificent coastal dune forest boasting species like:

Livingstons Flycatcher
African Hobby
Dickenson’s Kestrel
Green Malkoha
Woodwards Batis
Black-Headed Apalis
Plain-backed Sunbird
Livingstons Turaco

We’ll stop on the way back for a light lunch at a local establishment and enjoy a delicious South African “Vetkoek”. From there we take a slow-drive back to Villa Castellos and, as always, bird en-route

An early morning trip to the forest holds the exciting prospect of ticking the Olive Headed Weaver and some other specials which include:

Southern Hyliota
Neergaard’s Sunbird
Pale Batis
White-Breasted Cuckoo Shrike
Madagascar Cuckoo (seasonal) 
As always you will be served a snack lunch with cold-drinks, coffee, and water in the beautiful Panda Forest.

Panda is an unprotected Miombo (Brachystegia) Forest and is slowly decreasing in size and diversity due to human settlement and logging. The only known habitat for the Olive-headed Weaver in the Southern African birding region is, therefore, in danger.
This is an exclusive trip not only because of the destination, but also because, of the limited time we have to see the extraordinary birds the Panda Forest holds.

A 4-hour drive from Villa Castellos will take us to our overnight accommodation in the breathtaking nature of Inhassorro. Birding en-route we will pass magnificent baobab trees. We may encounter the Mottled and Bohm’s Spinetails as well as the Brown-Necked Parrot.

From Inhassorro we will make an early morning trip to visit the untouched wilderness of the Save River Woodlands where our target species is the Green Tinkerbird. We have the chance to see a number of other species including the Chestnut-fronted Helmet Shrike. After a full morning of birding we will drive to Vilankulos - where we will overnight. Vilankulos is renowned for its stunning white sands and pristine turquoise waters.

A great meal and a good night’s rest will prepare us for a once-in-a-lifetime boat trip to various sandbanks including Bird Island. This extraordinary ride will take us across crystal clear waters to the sandbanks and islands housing special species like the Crab Plover, and a number of Terns including the Saunders, Damara, Roseate, Little, Lesser Crested, Swift, Common, and Gull-billed Terns. The chances of seeing numerous other waders and shore-birds are good and you are almost certain to gain a few additional ticks!

All meals and drinks are provided for this excursion.

This trip offers a wonderful opportunity to improve your Southern-African life-list in a way that few other birding adventures do.