November 17, 2009 | Africa,Birds,Botswana,Mashatu,Victoria Falls,Zambia

Followers of my personal blog know how much I enjoy watching birds. Not in a compulsive “must complete the list” way. I just like birds. I also enjoy knowing what I’ve seen, so one of my investments prior to the African trip was a bird book. Funnily enough, it was probably the guidebook we referred to the most on the trip. Mum had a really good handle on all the animals and most of the birds we saw due to her time spent at Pete’s Pond online, but there were some birds that she’d never seen before.

So we’d try to get a good picture and then check out  Birds of Southern Africa (affiliate link) when we got back to our room.

Here are some of my favorites from the first few days of the trip:

African Pied Wagtail, Zambia

Dark Capped Bulbul, Victoria Falls, Zambia

Blue Waxbill, Zambia

Grey Headed Bush Shrike, Mashatu, Botswana

Burchell's Coucal, Mashatu, Botswana

Tawny Eagle, Mashatu

September 7, 2009 | Africa,Botswana,Mala Mala,Mashatu,Safari,South Africa,Victoria Falls

In less than a week, we will be boarding a plane for a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. I hope to be able to post at least every other day.

Here’s our itinerary:

Friday Sept 11: Boston to NY JFK. Staying overnight at airport Holiday Inn.

Saturday Sept. 12: NY to Johannesburg

Sunday Sept. 13: Arrive Johannesburg in am. Plan to visit Apartheid Museum in afternoon.

Monday Sept. 14: Depart for Livingstone, Zambia – Victoria Falls. We haven’t made any specific plans for the time in Livingstone as yet. We plan to get the lay of the land and take it easy for the nearly two days we’ll be there.

Wednesday Sept. 16: Depart for Johannesburg. This is basically a layover night at an airport hotel.

Thursday Sept. 17: Flight to Polokwane, South Africa, followed by a 2+ hour drive to the Pont Drift Border Post on the Botswana border, and then to Mashatu Main Camp.

Sunday Sept. 20: Flight to MalaMala Game Reserve in South Africa via light aircraft.

Tuesday Sept. 22: Depart for Johannesburg, and then in the evening, Johannesburg to NY

Wednesday Sept. 23: Arrive JFK NY in the morning. Once we’re through customs, we’ll catch a shuttle back to Boston.