Twitchy In Zimbabwe
SA4x4|October 2017

A birding safari into the eastern regions of Zimbabwe dials up extraordinary landscapes, lots of bird sightings and some of the best tea on the planet

Stephen Smith
Twitchy In Zimbabwe

A log crumbles. Sparks fly, drifting up in the breeze and disappearing into the sunset. The sun continues its descent into darkness, gently sliding behind the horizon; its colours reflect off the river, with the burnt-oranges merging with the campfire. A pearl-spotted owlet has already started to call, a ‘Tu-tu-tu-tutu. Tu-tu-tseeutseeu-tseeu-tseeu.’ My mate Greg pauses from his fire-stoking. “What’s that? I know it.” He repeats the call and the owl responds. Pretty soon it’s closer, calling frenetically. “It’s a pearl-spotted owl,” he says. Then he tells me a story about why he remembers that particular call. And that strikes a chord with me.

Birds are memories. Seeing them, hearing them – they steal a spot in your mind. I can’t remember who was in my class at school, I forget people’s names all the time, I can’t recall the… I forgot what I was going to say there…. But places and birds are intrinsically linked in my mind. The sight of a bird transports me back to a place, and revisiting a place reminds me of a special bird sighting. If you ask me about my wedding, I’ll probably start by telling you about the secretary bird that circled over us as my wife and I said our vows. The mention of a green twinspot brings my late dad immediately to mind, and the many trips we made as a family in search of this elusive little bugger. He eventually did see one, but I’m still looking.

These days I don’t go birdwatching. I still carry binoculars when I fish or hike, and I still keep an eye open for green twinspots, but I don’t actively pursue ‘ticks’ for my bird list.

But a trip to eastern Zimbabwe reawakened my twitchiness, reminding me of the joy of discovering the unfamiliar, of gathering a few more notches on the birdwatching belt, and learning from masters of the trade.

En route via Kruger

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2017 من SA4x4.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2017 من SA4x4.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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