RAINY SEASON IN SONGO, ZIMBABWE: Spectacular Birds and More, Guest Post by Karen Minkowski

Elephants at Songo Conservancy site, Zimbabwe

My friend Karen Minkowski, a frequent contributor to The Intrepid Tourist and definitely an intrepid traveler, is currently in Africa, a place that she has visited often. She spent the month of February at the Songo Conservancy site, which is several hundred miles from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. She writes:

I had a great rainy season month in Songo, lots of new birds (among many I'd seen in November). Elephants were present; it's always astonishing to see these great creatures. Poaching levels have dropped in Songo since the International Anti-Poaching Foundation, which manages this conservancy, trained and is now deploying rangers (all young women - strong, motivated and committed) to patrol the huge area. A place worth protecting, for sure.

Here's the Songo landscape. (photo above) The water body is Lake Kariba. Look at those baby elephants!!

Rain falling on the distant floodplains. Songo is especially beautiful when it's green.

African grey hornbill.

Arrow-marked babbler parent feeding its young.

Black-winged kite.

One of my favorite birds, the collared palm thrush - I love the bedroom eyes!

This bull elephant came within 40 meters of the electric fence. Elephants look bigger when you see them on foot rather than from a vehicle.

Green wood-hoopoe, frequently seen poking around in the dead ends of tree limbs.

Jacobin's cuckoo.

Levaillant's cuckoo. Most if not all African cuckoos lay their eggs (very surreptitiously) in the nests of other species, who do the hard work of foraging for food for these cuckoo chicks.

The red and black birds are male southern red bishops. They're gathering with potential mates. Each male will form a harem with several females and build their nests in the reeds and grasses.

Tawny-flanked prinia, a feisty little bird.

This is a male Village Weaver constructing a nest that hopefully his potential mate will find suitable for raising their young. If she rejects it - by not lining the nest's interior -  and other females do the same, he'll build a new nest in hopes of pleasing someone!

The most common, and the noisiest of birds around our camp, the white-browed sparrow weaver. Like the weaver in the previous photo they build nests from grasses, but rather messy ones!

I'm leaving Songo very soon, but hope to return, for the birds and the elephants and for the lovely community of people here.

Click here to read about Karen’s visit to Songo in November 2022:  https://theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com/2023/01/songo-nature-conservancy-victoria-falls.html .