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Mpumalanga Birding Sites

sub-route:
Greater Panorama | Lowveld | Highlands & Wetlands
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The Mpumalanga Birding Route is made up of 3 components:

The Greater Panorama Birding Route, which includes the Lydenburg, Sabie, Graskop, Pilgrims Rest and Kaapsehoop areas.
The Lowveld Birding Route, which includes the Hazyview, Barberton, Nelspruit and Malelane areas as well as the southern Kruger National Park.
The Highlands & Wetlands Birding Route, which includes Wakkerstroom, Chrissiesmeer and Dullstroom.

The Greater Panorama Birding Route

	Kaapsehoop
	Kaapsehoop, situated within the Mpumalanga Escarpment, is a picturesque village surrounded by many marked walks and trails. Habitats range from montane grassland and rocky outcrops to montane forest patches.

	The Blyde River Canyon
	The Blyde River Canyon is the world's third largest canyon and offers spectacular scenery with viewsites and rock formations overlooking the Lowveld with dramatic towering cliffs, plateau grasslands, broadleaved woodland, riverine thicket and Afromontane forest.

	God's Window
	God's Window is known for its amazing views from the top of the Drakensberg escarpment over the Lowveld. On a clear day it is possible to see the Kruger National Park onto the Lebombo mountains on the border with Mozambique.

	Mount Sheba Nature Reserve
	Mount Sheba is situated in the mountains above Pilgrim's Rest amongst tall, dense afromontane forest, with the upper slopes and plateau predominantly open grassland. The area offers a good selection of typical escarpment species and a number of highly localized specials.

Misty Mountain

Misty Mountains is a 280 ha South African Natural Heritage Site perched at an altitude of 1650m ASL in a malaria-free area. This high-altitude site lies within the mistbelt and consists of undulating grassland slopes, mountain thornveld, kloofs and rocky outcrops. Misty Mountain is uniquely set in mountainous countryside with fantastic, broad panoramic vistas offering sighting of Bush Blackcap, Knysna Turaco, Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk, Drakensberg Prinia, Wailing Cisticola and Barratt's Warbler.

	Lone Creek Falls
	A short (200m) walk through an indigenous forest patch takes you to the bottom of the 68m waterfall which is a declared National Monument.

	Gustav Klingbiel Nature Reserve
	This 2200ha reserve offers a diverse combination of habitats including thornveld and bushveld on the low-lying areas, and montane grassland on hillsides and plateaus with protea woodland at higher altitudes. Small isolated pockets of montane forest are present in the ravines.

The Lowveld Birding Route

	Nelspruit Nature Reserve
	The Nelspruit Nature Reserve offers riverine bush, woodland and reedbeds in a natural setting within Nelspruit. There are three walking trails available where you can find species such as Gorgeous Bush-shrike, Southern Boubou, Pruple-crested Turaco, Thick-billed Weaver, Golden Weaver and Olive Bush-shrike. Red-backed Mannikin and Green Twinspot are resident, but oten hard to locate.

	Lowveld Botanical Gardens
	Located in Nelspruit with rugged, rocky river scenery, the 159ha gardens lie in Sour Lowveld Bushveld with typical riverine forest along the river of the Crocodile and Nels Rivers.

	Hazyview
	Situated on the banks of the picturesque Sabie River, Hazyview is just a short hop to the Phabeni, Numbi and Kruger gates into the Kruger National Park.

	Barberton Mountainlands Nature Reserve
	This 18,000ha private reserve offers excellent birding in a variety of habitats, from grassland to montane forest to bushveld with specials such as Buff-streaked Chat, Long-billed Pipit and Drakensberg Prinia at higher altitudes, Narina Trogon, Eastern Nicator and Gorgeous Bush-shrike in forested ravinces, and Half-collared Kingfisher in fast-flowing streams.

Songimvelo Game Reserve

The reserve consists of 49,000ha of bushveld and grassland on the Barberton Mountain slopes near the Swaziland border. This spectacular landscape is a diverse tapestry of rolling hillsides, forest ravines and open plains and specials include African Black Duck, African Finfoot, Shelley's Francolin, Red-winged Francolin, Barrow's Korhaan, Broad-tailed Warbler, Drakensberg Prinia and Southern Tchagra. Birds of prey are well represented with African Crowned Eagle, African Hawk-eagle, Brown Snake-eagle and Secretarybird among the larger raptors

	Schoemanskloof Valley
	Shoemanskloof is a somewhat undiscovered location, tucked away in Mpumalanga. It is the ideal location to unwind and relax amidst the peace and tranquility of stunning scenery and picturesque mountains.

Kruger National Park

The Kruger National Park covers 19,685km and is the tenth largest game reserve in the world. It has 3000km of road, 23 rest camps and a host of excellent picnic sites, walking trails, 4x4 routes, hides and massive dams.

View more information.

Park Camps:

	Berg-en-Dal
	Berg-en-Dal is situated on the Matjulu watercourse with a view of undulating hills and sightings of Brown Snake-eagle and African Hawk-eagle. Special care has been taken to preserve the natural vegetation in the camp, with the wheelchair-friendly Rhino Walking Trail following the perimeter of the camp.

	Crocodile Bridge Rest Camp
	Look out for African Black Duck from the bridge over the Crocodile River and Black-throated Wattle-eye in the evergreen riverine trees. In the open savannah, look out for Burnt-necked Eremomela and Burchell's Starling, with Great Spotted Cuckoo and Dusky Lark often present during the summer.

	Lower Sabie Rest Camp
	Lower Sabie graces the banks of the Sabie River, one of the few perennial rivers to flow through the Kruger National Park.

Pretoriuskop Rest Camp

Some 3,500 million years ago, molten rock forced its way through the earth's crust and solidified to form the spectacular granite outcrops where Pretoriuskop Rest Camp is now nestled in the south-western corner of the Kruger National Park. The impressive granite dome known as "Shabeni Hill" is not far from the camp where one may spot a Lizard Buzzard. The dense thickets at the base of the dome are good for Southern Boubou, Brown-crowned Tchagra and Mocking Cliff-chat, as well as the more easily heard than seen Gorgeous Bush-shrike and Grey-headed Bush-shrike. The grasslands areas attract species such as Flappet Lark, Neddicky, Red-billed Firefinch and Streaky-headed Seedeater.

	Skukuza Rest Camp
	Skukuza is the Kruger National Park's largest rest camp and administrative headquarters. It is situated on the southern banks of the Sabie River. The Sycamore Figs along the river provide excellent birding, attracting African Green-pigeon, Purple-crested Turaco and Brown-headed Parrot when in fruit.

	Chrissiesmeer
	This area contains extensive interconnected and interdependent wetlands and peat lands. All birding is done from the roadside and specials include Blue Crane, Red-winged Francolin, Chestnut-banded Plover, Hottentot Teal, Cape Shoveler and Greater and Lesser Flamingo.

	Wakkerstroom
	The Wakkerstroom area is famous among birders as it is the easiest place to find three endemic species restricted to South Africa's high altitude grasslands – Rudd's Lark, Botha's Lark and Yellow-breasted Pipit.

	Verloren Valei Nature Reserve
	With a range of wetland types including permanent and seasonal marshes and streams, peatlands and springs situated in an area of high altitude grassland close to Dullstroom, the reserve contains more than thirty wetlands in near-pristine state.