EasyJet Holidays

Birds in Africa for Photo Friday

May 6th, 2011
Amie from Ciao Bambino

Of all the animals we saw on our family safari in Africa … guess what interested our 8-year-old the most? Believe it or not, it wasn’t the lions — even when we were lucky enough to see a kill in action.

Birds!

Surprise, surprise. Birds are extraordinary in Africa and come in all colors, shapes, and sizes.  This is part of what captured our son’s interest, but the other factor was the challenge of identifying birds in bird watching guide provided by AndBeyond.

Some school age kids do much better sightseeing (or animal-seeing in this case) with a bit of structure that engages them in the act of observing. This is true for museums and city tours too.

Sadly, I can’t remember the names of each of these birds … any ornithologists out there?

For more fabulous Photo Friday posts, head over to Delicious Baby.

Relevant Links:

Africa with kids, family safari basics

Africa with kids, planning a family safari

AndBeyond Africa lodges, review of Bateleur Camp for families

Luxury family safari at Sanctuary Retreats Olonana Tented Camp

Family safaris in Africa, lion hunt for photo friday

Ngorongoro Crater with kids

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6 Comments to Birds in Africa for Photo Friday:

  1. jackie wrote: May 6th, 2011 at 11:55 am

    That’s so interesting! We’ve been lucky enough to visit a few African game parks but pre-kid. It’s always been on my list of places to take him one day, because we loved it so much. Come to think of it, although we saw a lion chase and we ticked the big 5 among others, we spent a lot of our days gazing at birds. They really do have a lot of wonderful ones. I wish I could find our African bird book right now, I’d try to look this one up for you!

  2. Wanderluster wrote: May 6th, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    Birds are sometimes the unsung heroes of the animal world!

  3. Brooke wrote: May 6th, 2011 at 6:44 pm

    Great shots, Amie. Might I suggest you guys plan a trip to NZ? The birding there is amazing — nocturnal parrots, alpine parrots, kiwis, Albatrosses, entertaining song birds…. You name it. Oh, and did I mention at least two species of penguins? A number of the species, including kiwis, are threatened due to the introduction of the possums, rats and domestics such as dogs and acts. There are a handful of island sanctuaries that you can visit to see the rarer birds in person.

    We visited both islands in April, May and June 2010. Our homeschooled kids (then 10 and 11) loved “bagging” species for their birds lists, taking pictures and traveling to off the beaten path locales to see rare species. Our ten year old son especially loved the hobby, which we incorporated into our homeschool curriculum in a number of ways. (Africa is HIGH on his list as a next location, mostly “for the birds.”)

    Thanks for writing!

  4. Camels & Chocolate wrote: May 6th, 2011 at 7:51 pm

    Your 8 year old and I would do well on safari together! While I LOVED all the big game, I was equally fascinated by all the colorful birds. Beyond buzzards and maybe flamingos in parts, you don’t really think of the bush as being so rife in avian diversity.

  5. Dominique wrote: May 7th, 2011 at 7:39 am

    Birds seem to appeal to folks of all ages, too. One of my mom’s favorite things to do is sit by her picture windows in the sunroom at my parents’ house and watch the birds come to the feeders they have out there….bird ID book ready at hand :)

  6. Jon wrote: June 14th, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    Great story and some amazing photos! Last year my family and I went to Namibia with Austin-Lehman Adventures and got to see ton’s of wildlife: elephants, cheetahs, leopards, spotted hyenas and giraffe. It was an amazing trip and I would suggest checking it out of your interested in going to Africa
    http://bit.ly/iUMgbw

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