Travel Info
Bird viewing – October to March
The summer season in Botswana welcomes a large variety of migrant birds from the northern hemisphere which use Botswana, and more specifically the Okavango Delta, as preferred areas for breeding and feeding.
The first migrants arrive from the Northern Hemisphere during September. By December all the migrants will have arrived which means there are 20% more birds in Botswana during the summer months compared to the winter months. The period from December to March is very active and the colours, more specifically the birds in breeding plumage, are spectacular.
The Okavango Delta is a birders paradise which entertains both the experienced ornithologist as well as the eager amateur. One of the highlights of the birding calendar takes place during September/October when the carmine bee-eaters arrive from Central Africa and are often seen in their hundreds on the Savuti Marsh. Of particular interest, they make use of the large Kori Bustard, by riding on their backs as they move through the grass of the marsh and kick up fleeing insects.
Another highlight is the heronry at Gadikwe Lagoon, which provides nesting sites for hundreds of birds. (The Gadikwe lagoon is situated between Camp Moremi and Camp Okavango and/or Xugana Island lodge, and is a highlight to visit as part of the boat transfer between the lodges.)
Due to the heronry being shared by a variety of species it is active from July to March and is at its busiest from September to December when breeding colonies of herons are joined in the shallows, and among the low trees and swamp-fig thickets, by marabou, yellow and saddle-billed storks, sacred ibis and egrets. Flapping, noisy and colourful breeding displays can be enjoyed at close quarters. (Although we maintain a 50 meter exclusion zone)