An African Birding Safari

When it’s nearly impossible to accurately determine the number of countries in Africa, making sense of traveling through Africa is a challenge, and birding Africa somewhere between magical and a nightmare. Currently, there are between 47 and 55 countries on the continent of Africa. The most accurate count for all internationally recognized territories and states on the continent is 54. I hope to twitch in 34 of these countries in the course of the year. The basic plan for the African big year is to travel with my bakkie – South African for a light truck or pickup truck - in sub-Sahara Africa and to fly to countries north of the Sahara.

Travels in Africa are mostly associated with the concept of “going on safari”. Safari comes from the Swahili word for a journey and is closely associated to the notions of hunting and travelling in the wilderness. Going on safari nearly always entails encounters with dangerous and deadly wild things such as snakes, lions, leopards, overweight hippos, hungry crocodiles, elephants with toothache, and solitary buffalo bulls just looking for a scrap. Much more dangerous throughout Africa are the deadly malaria mosquitoes, child soldiers armed with AK47’s, various rebel groups in conflict areas, as well as roadside bandits and thugs in the lucrative business of kidnapping Westerners for ransom.

Going out into the wilderness, on a birding big year safari into Africa, is to move out of one’s comfort zones, to confront and embrace the unknown, and to challenge your own fears, constraints and boundaries. It is the harshest test of character and human weakness ever devised. Ultimately, the decision to complete a big year is a decision to compete with yourself, your beliefs, your honour and integrity, your ability to focus and endure.

A big year is made or ruined from within, just as your reputation and good name as a birder is made or destroyed from within. We are what we are inside of us. This big year battle within might be the fiercest battle that you shall ever face; as it will constantly challenge your honesty and integrity. The toughest battle you’ll ever fight in your life is the battle within yourself. Some of the greatest challenges you will face during a big year will be the battles within those silent chambers of your inner self. An African birding big year will be as much a safari into deepest Africa as it will be a safari into the deepest reaches of one’s soul.