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South Africa - Rallid Quest (Small Group)

© Baillon's Crake by Rob Williams
South Africa - Rallid Quest (Small Group)

ZAR59,000 SPACES AVAILABLE

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Tour Leader: Local Leader

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Tour Price (Per person): ZAR59,000 (USD3,465 * GBP2,661 * EUR3,022 * AUD5,314)

This tour pairs with: South Africa - Rallid Quest (Small Group)

Pricing notes : Estimate based on a minimum group size of 5 guests. Please contact our Tailor-made team on tailormade@rockjumper.com

Our South Africa - Rallid Quest is part of a never before series of tours in birding history. This unique tour is dedicated to finding mythical and ultra-difficult rallids and flufftails as well as a number of other regional endemics along the way. Included in this spectacular list of crakes, rails, quails and flufftails are such mega species as Striped Crake, White-winged and Striped Flufftails, along with a supporting cast of Red-chested and Buff-spotted Flufftails, African, Baillon’s, Spotted and Corn Crakes, African Rail, Allen’s Gallinule, Lesser Moorhen, Lesser Jacana and Black-rumped Buttonquail. As if this once-in-a-lifetime rallid quest wasn’t enough, we’ll also be on the lookout for those species restricted to the montane grasslands of South Africa such as Buff-streaked Chat, Yellow-breasted Pipit, Ground Woodpecker, Southern Bald Ibis, Denham’s Bustard, Secretarybird and Blue Korhaan.

Please note: these prices are subject to foreign exchange fluctuations.

Top Birds

White-winged, Striped, Buff-spotted & Red-chested Flufftails, Spotted, Baillon's, Corn & Black Crakes, African Rail, Harlequin Quail, Allen’s Gallinule, Lesser Moorhen, Lesser Jacana, Black-rumped & Common Buttonquails, Greater Painted-snipe, Wattled, Blue & Grey Crowned Cranes, Buff-streaked Chat, Yellow-breasted Pipit, Ground Woodpecker, Southern Bald Ibis, Sentinel Rock Thrush, Eastern Long-billed Lark, Amur Falcon, Gurney’s Sugarbird, Denham’s Bustard, Malachite Sunbird, Mountain Wheatear, Secretarybird, Blue Korhaan, South African Shelduck, Orange-breasted Waxbill, Red-headed Quelea, Short-tailed Pipit, Cuckoo-finch, Barratt’s Warbler, Bush Blackcap, Bokmakierie, Black Harrier

Top Mammals

Black Wildebeest, Blesbok, Meerkat, Yellow Mongoose

Habitats Covered

high altitude wetlands, marshes, montane grassland, montane forest patches, waste treatment ponds, Acacia woodland, dry scrub

Expected Climate

hot and humid in some areas. Can be cool to cold and windy in the early morning around Ntsikeni

Max Group Size

6 with 1 Rockjumper leader

Tour Pace & Walking

DIFFICULT: This is a high-intensity “mega” tour designed for passionate listers and serious birders who enjoy a fast-paced schedule. Due to its demanding nature, it’s not recommended for avid photographers, inexperienced birders, or anyone with mobility or health limitations.

Difficult. This a Mega style tour designed for the dedicated lister and serious birder. Not suitable for avid photographers, anyone with mobility or health challenges. Our Mega tours are very fast-paced birding adventures designed for the dedicated lister and serious birder. The focus of the tour is to see as many of the endemics and area specials as possible in our given time. In order to cover the necessary route to maximise the species list we tend to spend a single night at most sites and travel large distances. There is very little down time aside from that spent driving from one site to the next. These tours are not suitable for dedicated or avid photographers; inexperienced or new birders; as well as anyone with serious mobility or health challenges.

Accommodation

Good to comfortable.

Ease of Birding

Demanding. Completely targeted at very difficult species.

Photographic Opportunities

Primary aim is a visual of target species, photography options likely to be very limited.

What our clients say about us

Daniel Danckwerts
MW, South Africa 2021

This was our first tailor-made tour. It won't be our last. We had a great time. Dan was an excellent guide, working all the angles to get us our target birds while still covering the area specialties, affording us great looks at birds for which we had only fleeting views on our previous South Africa tour with Rockjumper (which was also great!). Dan was very persistent, which paid off in seeing a good number of very difficult specialty birds that many avid South African birders have not seen. We even had two lifer flufftails in a single day, thanks in part to Doug McCulloch, who took the morning off from his new job to help out with the Red-breasted Flufftail. Thanks, Doug! We could have used one more day in the Joburg area, as there were a few birds that were not accessible within the time frame of the tour. This always happens, though, and I am glad we went from a 6-day to a 10-day tour. This is the reason for the overall rating of 9 rather than 10. Overall, the three of us had a great time on the tour. Thanks for putting it together for us!

Adam Riley
GB, South Africa

What can I say about Adam. As a guide and companion he was first class. Very patient and his enthusiasm is infectious.

Gregory de Klerk
KK, Eastern South Africa X 2016

Greg was a fantastic guide, and I hope that I can take another tour/bird with him again in the future. I greatly enjoyed birding and spending time with him, he was very personable and I'm glad that we were able to become friends. Greg knew where to search for the birds and was extremely knowledgeable about birds and other wildlife and natural history. I also greatly appreciated how Greg dealt with issues that arose with other guests, and how quickly he tried to step in and prevent problems from escalating further. Guiding can be a difficult job, and Greg did a terrific job.

David Hoddinott
MO, South Africa 2021

Always a fantastic experience with Rockjumper from inquiry through to the end. Guides always the best of the best

James Wade Lee
JM - South Africa 2024

Great tour with amazing birds to see. Greg and Ward did a terrific job of finding the birds and making sure we saw everything. Kruger National Park was spectacular and we had unbelievable views of the animals. Loved the safari vehicle through the park and would recommend using it on future tours. The van was good as we all had window seats. Unfortunately there were issues with opening a couple of the windows along with electrical issues with the refrigerator and charging units at each seat but the guides adjusted to the situation as needed to make the experience a good one. The trip had a lot of time inside the van and sighting/seeing birds from the van. I would have liked more walking maybe on the roads when possible but I understand we were trying to see as many birds as possible. Overall a remarkable trip lead by professional, experienced guides and a great group of birders made this trip memorable.

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