@Kudu21 Very cool! They're one of my favorite lapwings, only saw them for the first time in September at Walsrode (so not quite as unique a viewing experience).
@ThylacineAlive They are very neat little birds! If you ever find yourself in South Africa, they are quite common. I saw them regularly alongside the road while driving through the suburbs of Pretoria when I lived there. I have another not so crisp and clear photo of a wild bird on the grounds of the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg as well.
@ThylacineAlive I quite enjoyed living in South Africa! It is a beautiful country with some amazing people, diverse cultures, and, of course, incredible biodiversity. I made a lot of very good friends during my time there, and I cannot wait until I have the chance to return. That said, there was definitely a lot to get used to… While South Africa is more developed than most African countries, it is still very much a third world country in many regards, although the degree to which this is true depends on where you are in the country, and the chasm that exists between the classes and between the races is truly shocking no matter how many times you witness it. I actually lived at the National Zoo during my time in the country, staying in the old director’s house, which is tucked away in in the back of the zoo. Crime rates are quite high in South Africa, and the neighborhood the zoo is in is one of the worst in Pretoria, so the house actually had 24-7 security, and in most places you go in the country the houses are tucked away behind great walls and gates topped with barbed wire or electric fencing and parking lots are patrolled by car guards to prevent theft… But then you drive a few hours outside of the cities, the towns, and the farms and you are surrounded by the most beautiful landscapes and the most incredible wildlife… To have the beautiful cultural melting pot and growing urban center that is Cape Town, one of my favorite cities, and the sprawling expanses of the Kruger and Kgalagadi parks in one country is a true gift.
As far as a species list goes, this is a list of my confirmed sightings for my time in South Africa. I am still trying to compile scientific names and locations:
MAMMALS:
African bush elephant
African leopard
Banded mongoose
Black wildebeest
Blesbok
Blue wildebeest
Bontebok
Burchell’s zebra
Cape buffalo
Cape eland
Cape fur seal
Cape giraffe
Cape greater kudu
Cape hare
Cape imbabala
Cape mountain zebra
Cape rock hyrax
Chacma baboon
Chapman’s zebra
Common impala
Dwarf mongoose
Ellipsen waterbuck
Four-striped grass mouse
Indian Ocean humpback dolphin
Karoo bushrat
Limpopo bush duiker
Moholi bushbaby
Nile hippopotamus
Peters’s epauletted fruit bat
Red hartebeest
Scrub hare
Side-striped jackal
Slender mongoose
Slender-tailed meerkat
Smith’s bush squirrel
South African large-spotted genet
South African springbok
South African steenbok
Southern bushpig
Southern bush duiker
Southern lion
Southern right whale
Southern sable antelope
Southern warthog
Southern white rhinoceros
Spotted hyena
Transvaal klipspringer
Vervet monkey
Yellow mongoose
Zambezi greater kudu
REPTILES, FISH, & INVERTEBRATES:
Angulate tortoise
Eastern African striped skink
Flap-necked chameleon
Flightless dung beetle
Great white shark
Leopard tortoise
Nile crocodile
Southern rock agama
Toktokkie
I also saw southern roan antelope, lowland nyala, and gemsbok, but the roan were part of a semi-wild population on the National Zoo's game reserve in Limpopo and the nyala and gemsbok were seen on game reserves outside of their native range, so I do not count those species.
