KwaZulu-Natal’s beautiful South Coast is one of Southern Africa's best-known holiday destinations and reserves some of the best bird watching spots to be experienced in the country.

This contrasting coastal district comprises of a variety of habitats from coastal and wetland environments, to forest, woodland and grassland. It is here that the two distinct forest avifaunas of Southern Africa, (the Afromontane forests and the rich tropical forest community) overlap, giving reason for the rich and diverse birdlife. You can see coastal forest birds such as Burchell's Coucal, Golden Rumped Tinkerbarbet in the same forest as Alfromontane species such as Knysna Loerie, Olive Bush Shrike and Forest Canary.

There are 14 nature reserves / dams / estuaries, situated on the South Coast, which boast a combined bird list of 386 species. This is over one third of the total number of birds recorded in the southern African sub-region.

A QUICK BIRD-LOCATE GUIDE
• Cape Vulture, Knysna Woodpecker - Oribi Gorge and Umtamvuna Nature Reserve
• Black-rumped Buttonquail, Grass Owl, Broad-tailed Warbler, Pale-crowned
  Cisticola, Short-tailed Pipit - Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve
• Cape Parrots, Orange Thrushes, Bush Blackcaps, Forest Buzzard - Weza Ngele Forest
• Blue Swallow - the grasslands near the Weza-Ngele forest
• Spotted Thrush (endangered species) - in forests in winter months
• Burchell's Coucal, Narina Trogon, Green Twinspot, Grey Waxbill - common forest   residents

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