MS Touring

MS Touring Private Wildlife and Birding Guide Johannesburg and Surrounding Provinces

Johannesburg — and the greater Gauteng region — is not typically regarded as a birding destination in the same way as th...
06/04/2026

Johannesburg — and the greater Gauteng region — is not typically regarded as a birding destination in the same way as the Kruger National Park, the Western Cape, or the KZN coastline.
That perception, however, is largely a function of expectation rather than reality.
Positioned on the interior plateau at roughly 1,500–1,800 metres above sea level, the region sits at the intersection of several key biomes — predominantly Highveld Grassland, but with significant patches of bushveld, wetland systems, riparian corridors, and scattered rocky outcrops. Within a relatively small geographic area, this creates a surprisingly diverse mosaic of habitats.
From seasonal pans and permanent wetlands supporting waders and waterfowl, to open grasslands hosting more cryptic, ground-dwelling species, and wooded areas where more specialised or elusive birds occur, the region offers a level of diversity that is often underestimated.
For visiting birders, a number of South Africa’s endemic and near-endemic species are regularly targeted within this region — many of which can be accessed within a relatively short distance of Johannesburg itself. For local observers, these same species are often overlooked, either due to familiarity, habitat preference, or simply not knowing where — and how — to look.
On a recent series of outings across the broader Gauteng area, we encountered a representative selection of these species, each associated with a particular habitat or behavioural niche.
Even within a relatively small area, the variation in habitat, season, and timing can produce markedly different results, and this is only a small cross-section of what the region offers.
There is considerable depth to birding in and around Johannesburg — particularly when one begins to focus more deliberately on specific habitats and the species associated with them.

Should Johannesburg be considered as part of your South African itinerary?Most people planning a trip to South Africa te...
30/03/2026

Should Johannesburg be considered as part of your South African itinerary?

Most people planning a trip to South Africa tend to focus on one, or a combination of either Cape Town and/or the Kruger National Park. Both are exceptional in their own right, but each offers only a small portion of what the country has to offer.
Understandably, time is often limited, and itineraries are built to maximise well-known highlights. But if the purpose of your trip is to experience South Africa more fully, Johannesburg should not be seen simply as a point of arrival or departure. It is a destination worth engaging with in its own right, even if only for a few days.
Johannesburg isn’t trying to be Cape Town, and it isn’t trying to be Kruger… and that is precisely the point.
Positioned centrally, with access into multiple surrounding provinces, it functions less as a single destination and more as a convergence point; a place from which a wide range of landscapes, histories, and experiences become accessible within a relatively compact geographic area.
Approached this way, it doesn’t just add another stop to an itinerary, it changes how the journey itself unfolds.

What makes Johannesburg different is not one standalone attraction, but the density of contrast within reach.
Within a few hours of the city, the landscape shifts dramatically. You can move from open highveld grasslands to bushveld savannah, from quiet wetlands to rugged mountains, from urban energy to complete stillness — often at a relaxed pace that allows you to properly savour each experience.
This lends itself to a style of travel that is both varied and efficient. Rather than committing to a single environment for an extended period, you are able to experience multiple facets of the country, each with its own character and rhythm.
For those drawn to wildlife, particularly travelers planning to spend the bulk of their time in Cape Town, a few days in Johannesburg provides access to Big-5 reserves within easy reach. This allows you to experience these animals in their natural environment without the logistical demands of more remote destinations. Using an accredited operator makes the process seamless, allowing you to focus on the experience while gaining a deeper understanding of the ecology, the landscape, and the animals themselves.
Beyond wildlife, the region holds something often overlooked: one of the richest and most layered human stories anywhere in the world. Just outside the city lies the Cradle of Humankind (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) where the greatest concentration of early hominid fossils has been discovered. It is one thing to read about early human development; it is another to stand in the landscape where that history unfolded.
Move forward in time, and Johannesburg tells a very different story; shaped by gold, migration, conflict, and transformation. The city is not static; it is alive with history, visible in its architecture, its suburbs, and its cultural spaces. For travelers interested in context; in understanding why a place is the way it is, this adds a depth few destinations can match.
Geologically, the region adds yet another dimension. This is a landscape shaped by immense forces, both ancient and more recent. Within a few hours’ drive are some of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth, the largest meteorite impact structure on the planet, and the remains of an alkaline ring complex volcano within Pilanesberg. Further afield, the eastern escarpment and the Drakensberg Amphitheatre rise dramatically, with extensive San rock art embedded in the landscape. The mineral wealth of the region tells its own story; one that continues to shape the country today.
You do not need to be a specialist to appreciate this; simply spending time in these environments imparts a sense of scale and age that is difficult to ignore once you begin to notice it.
Then there is the practical side of travel which is often underestimated, yet critical to the overall experience, namely high-quality accommodation, excellent dining, and well-developed infrastructure make it easy to move between experiences and to unwind at the end of the day without unnecessary friction.
Johannesburg also holds a significant geographic advantage. Positioned near the centre-north of the country, it provides access in almost every direction. Within a relatively short travel time, you can reach regions that feel entirely distinct - whether that is the Waterberg, the tropical Lowveld, or the arid Kalahari.
This creates opportunities for itineraries that are layered and dynamic, where each day offers something meaningfully different from the last, the difference between sampling variations of the same environment, and experiencing the full range on offer.
Johannesburg cannot replace South Africa’s iconic destinations, but it can significantly enhance them. A few days spent here, planned with intention, adds breadth and balance to any itinerary, allowing you to experience the contrasts that make the country one of the most diverse on Earth.

South Africa rewards those who explore it this way. There is a similar case to be made for birding in greater Gauteng, which I will cover in my next post.

19/02/2026

Crake Road, Zaagkuilsdrift, crossing the flooded Pienaar's River floodplain, in a northerly direction, 3 days after the last rains.

Tuesday 17 February saw us heading out of Johannesburg at 04H45 for Zaagkuilsdrift. Although we dipped on the specials k...
19/02/2026

Tuesday 17 February saw us heading out of Johannesburg at 04H45 for Zaagkuilsdrift.
Although we dipped on the specials known in the area, we did a respectable 108 species for the day.
Starting off from Pienaar’s River, we already put a good 20 species in the bag, with plenty to see all the way to Zaagkuildrift Bird Sanctuary (crossing Crake Road after the storms they experienced in the region 3 days before was a bit nerve wracking, with the water a little deeper than expected – see the video upload in another post, and knowing we had to return the same way… all in a day’s fun though).
Unfortunately we were not able to get through to Kgomo-Kgomo from Zaagkuilsdrift, as just before the crossing of the Platrivier, there was a huge mud bowl in the road, with a truck properly stuck in it, you could see how the cattle had sunk up to around 15cm as they cross through the black clay, and as we didn’t envision ourselves getting nowhere and filthy at the same time, we had to do a 65km detour all the way back to Pienaar’s River, down to Maubane and back up to Kgomo-Kgomo. It was worth the drive, as we did get to tick off another dozen or so species.
Some of what we saw for the day included 2 each of Babblers, Barbets, Bee-Eaters, Bishops, Geese, Egrets and Flycatchers, Mousebirds, Prinias, Starlings, Sunbirds, and Whydahs. 3 Each of Doves, Ducks, Eagles, Spurfowl and Francolin, Hornbills, Ibises, Lapwings, Swallows and Swifts. 4 Each of Kingfishers, and Waxbills, 5 of Shrikes, and 6 of Herons, amongst a whole lot more, including Nile Monitor, Bush squirrel, warthog, Vervet Monkey, Black-backed Jackal and Slender Mongoose. We did not encounter a huge variety of insects about, oddly, but a lot of monarch butterflies in places. Only 3 species were heard and not seen. Rattling Cisticola, Burchell’s Coucal and Black-winged Kite were the predominant species, seen across the whole route.

Not the best of illustrative images, but perhaps they show enough to make the point...I know I have previously had to th...
13/02/2026

Not the best of illustrative images, but perhaps they show enough to make the point...
I know I have previously had to think hard when differentiating between images of the Greater and Lesser Striped Swallows, especially when you cannot see the rufous markings on the head clearly and need to look at other features, more so when I was a new birder. Two of the most often pointed out features to look at are that the Lesser Striped has much heavier streaking on the under parts (difficult without a reference point as to what is heavy and what is light), as well as the Lesser having a much more boldly rufous rump. Important to remember the nomenclature isn't Lesser-striped or Greater-striped - which would be a reference to the striping - it is Lesser, and Greater Striped respectively, as the Lesser is a smaller bird, at around 10-15cm, whilst the Greater is larger at 19-20cm.
These images I took this week at least clearly show the difference between heavy and light streaking, and in the image of the Lesser Striped Swallow, you can see how not only how the rufous is much more apparent on the rump, but also how it comes down a bit onto the flanks, whereas this doesn't occur on the Greater Striped.

Wandering Glider, Pantala flavescens, Randburg.
11/02/2026

Wandering Glider, Pantala flavescens, Randburg.

Lets take another Star Safari…The constellation of Gemini is quite prominent in the night sky at the moment, and if you ...
10/02/2026

Lets take another Star Safari…
The constellation of Gemini is quite prominent in the night sky at the moment, and if you can find Orion, it is easy to direct yourself to this small asterism, by finding its two brightest stars Castor and Pollux (which I will show you in the images below).
Like the recently-discussed Aries, Gemini is one of the constellations of the Zodiac, one of the 48 constellations described by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD, and is still one of the 88 recognised modern constellations. The name “Gemini” comes from the Latin word for “twins”, the names of whom are given to the two main stars, after the characters in Greek mythology.
Gemini is surrounded by other constellations, some of which I have already discussed. Viewed from the southern hemisphere, Ta**us is to the west, Orion to the southwest (so it will appear above and to the west a little of Gemini in our sky), Cancer to the east, and Canis Minor to the south (directly above Gemini).

Refer to the images below (best viewed on a large screen like a computer for clarity)

Fun Science
Gemini is the source of the annual Geminid meteor shower. It is visible annually through mid-December, with a maximum rate of 160 meteors/hour, and is one of our richest visible meteor showers. These are one of two meteor showers originating from an asteroid, the rest all originate from comets. Another meteor shower, the Epsilon Geminids were newly discovered and peak in the latter half of October, but they overlap with the Orionid meteor shower and are difficult to discern.

In Greek mythology Castor and Pollux were twins, born to Leda, although they had different fathers. Pollux was the son of Zeus, and Castor the son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta. When Castor died, Pollux, who was immortal, begged Zeus to give Castor immortality, which he did by uniting them in the heavens. (Ancient mythology is weird stuff sometimes, but why ruin a good story?)

In Chinese astronomy, the constellation is split, with stars belonging to two different asterisms, the White Tiger of the West, and the Vermillion Bird of the South.

Quick stop at Norscott Koppies Nature Reserve yesterday morning. It never disappoints, no matter what your goals for the...
09/02/2026

Quick stop at Norscott Koppies Nature Reserve yesterday morning. It never disappoints, no matter what your goals for the walk are.

Continuing with Star Safaris, the visible constellations in the early evening night sky are now a bit different to those...
07/02/2026

Continuing with Star Safaris, the visible constellations in the early evening night sky are now a bit different to those I posted towards the end of last year, before having a look at some of the Lunar features, I showed you how to find Ta**us from Orion (both visible very early in our night skies currently).
Today we will have a look at Aries, The Ram, as it is visible once true dark sets in, but disappears over the northwestern horizon by around 22h30, currently sitting fairly low towards the northern horizon, but easy to spot if you have unobstructed views.
Aries is well-known as one of the constellations of the Zodiac, and is one of the 48 constellations described by Ptolemy in the 2nd century. It is also one of the recognised 88 modern constellations. Aries is a small constellation, 39th in size ranking and covering 1.1% of the celestial sphere.
I’ve not mentioned the Ecliptic previously (I don’t think), however the feet of the Ram appear to be almost standing on this imaginary line drawn across the sky. Basically speaking, it is the line that the sun appears to follow as we orbit it, against the background of the constellations, and not the same as the celestial equator. The ecliptic is offset from the celestial equator by around 23.4 degrees (as viewed from earth, as this is the tilt of the earth’s axis). Every year at the same date and time, the sun will be in the same position along this line.

Refer to the images below before continuing (best viewed on a large screen like a computer for clarity)

Fun Science

Different cultures incorporate the stars of Aries into their own constellations; In China they form part of the Twin Inspectors, and in the Marshall Islands they contribute to a porpoise.
There are a few deep-sky objects within the area covered by the constellation, although they are faint and only visible through enhanced optical equipment. There are several pairs of interacting galaxies amongst them.

There are several meteor showers associated with Aries, the Epsilon Arietids and the Daytime Arietids. The Arietid meteor showers are some of the most intense daylight meteor showers, and run from late May to the beginning of July each year. They are thought to originate as debris from the asteroid 1566 Icarus, and produce on average 60 shooting stars an hour, striking earth’s atmosphere at around 39km/second. The Delta Arietids are visible from early December to mid-January, peaking in the first week of their appearance, and can produce some large fireballs, although their rate is quite slow. These also originate from a near-earth asteroid. There are at least another 8 meteor showers originating from different places within the constellation.

Several of the stars within Aries contain extra-solar planets, one of them is orbited by at least three giant planets (with a mass more than 10x that of earth). Another star has two known orbiting planets, one of which is 2.3x heavier than Jupiter, our own largest planet. Another star has two earth-sized planets orbiting within its habitable zone. This is a term I have also not discussed yet, and it refers to the orbital zone around a star (sun), where a planet would be able to support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure. Closer than this to the star, the planet is too hot and likely would have no water on it, and further than this away from the star, it would be too cold and any water would be frozen. It is sometimes referred to as the “Goldilocks Zone” where everything “is just right”.

Aries has been associated with a Ram for many centuries. Prior to this it was a farmhand, or hired worker. Due to its proximity to Pleiades, which in the Middle Bronze Age was the mark of the vernal equinox (the start of spring) in the northern hemisphere, it developed a link to agriculture. In ancient Egyptian astronomy, the constellation was strongly associated to the Egyptian god Amun-Ra, depicted as a man with a ram’s head, representing fertility and creativity.

Yesterday’s visit to Marievale Bird Sanctuary was successful, despite relatively high water levels, and the massive over...
04/02/2026

Yesterday’s visit to Marievale Bird Sanctuary was successful, despite relatively high water levels, and the massive overgrowth of aquatic vegetation. It is good to see the facilities being well-maintained, and activities like grass-cutting taking place.
I think due to the widespread, heavy rains we have had, waterfowl are pretty widely dispersed currently, and the usual concentrations and variety of ducks and waders at Marievale aren’t what would normally be found.
Despite this, we saw 4 raptors, and a healthy variety of everything else, giving a total bird count for the day of 73 species seen and heard, including sightings of African Rail and Little Bittern (only one of each).

Another visit to Suikerbosrand Game Reserve on 27 January 2026. After the continuing good rains in southern Gauteng, the...
28/01/2026

Another visit to Suikerbosrand Game Reserve on 27 January 2026.
After the continuing good rains in southern Gauteng, the reserve is green and the grass and bush quite thick, however it is still easy to view game, birds, insects and plants. As usual during the week, we pretty much had the place to ourselves and the stillness in places was incredibly relaxing, though the heat and humidity didn't quite let you get all the way there.
We managed a decent 62 bird species for the day, including several raptors, along with some interesting other sightings.

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