Sustain Wildlife and Birding Safaris

25/08/2026

Our UK client recently submitted trip reports on two forums about our very successful 𝟏𝟒-𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐑𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫, conducted in April 2026, which realized 65 mammal species and 234 bird species.

Here are the links to learn more:
* Safari Talk detailed report - https://bit.ly/4y4Wwjl
* MammalWatching.com shortened report - https://bit.ly/4irhB2D

Excerpts from his summary:
Our accommodation and food throughout the trip were of a very high standard, travel between locations was by road and although some journeys were quite long, the 2100 miles covered gave us a very real insight into South Africa. The scenery was generally magnificent. Overall, a very enjoyable and highly successful trip. Most target species were realized including the number one: BLACK-FOOTED CAT, which I believe is becoming a very hard species to observe.
Our guide / driver throughout was Michael Wright, the owner of Sustain Safaris, who were the ground agents for Royle Safaris for this trip, and who developed what proved to be a very successful itinerary. Michael is an outstanding guide for both mammals and birds. He is very well connected and secured for us activities not normally available on itineraries of this nature. He was great fun to be with and worked very hard throughout the trip to secure sightings of our target mammals. This was a very relaxed trip, we had lots of fun, saw lots of South Africa's amazing diverse scenery and met some very interesting people, but above all observed lots of wildlife.

We look forward to their return visit in November 2026, for further explorations.

Hope you enjoy the reads and images.

26/07/2026

Your wildest dreams
Extraordinary expeditions for naturalists

24/07/2026

Sunrise scenes of the Zambezi River from aboard a river cruise boat
08 July 2026
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Shearwater Victoria Falls

24/07/2026

𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙍𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙨 (𝘾𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙪𝙢) 𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙨
30 June 2026
Greater Kruger, South Africa

When Floppy and his friend came to play. Michael Wright really enjoyed the bouncy exuberance of the younger rhinos from the tracker's seat.

22/07/2026

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙪𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙎𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙎𝙖𝙛𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙨?

At Sustain Safaris we fairly regularly receive requests for private tours for clients. Often in our clients' minds they interpret this to mean both a private guide for the duration of the tour, as well as private and exclusive use of the lodge and/or community site guides and vehicles for each activity at the destinations we visit, and even private use of the accommodation establishment itself.

However, we distinguish between all of these, and to avoid confusion and misunderstanding we will request specific clarity on what is meant.

To learn how we differentiate between the three and to ensure all your hopes and expectations are met, learn more here: https://sustainsafaris.com/faq-categories/expectations-and-rules/

We fairly regularly receive requests for private tours from clients. Often in our clients’ minds they interpret this to mean both a private guide for the duration of the tour, as well as private and exclusive use of the lodge and/or community site guides and vehicles (game drive vehicles, boats, e...

22/07/2026

Photo series: Ducks at sunset
09 July 2026
Chobe River, Kasane, Botswana

While savouring the rich and warm sunset over the thriving Chobe River, a flock of White-faced Whistling Ducks through directly through the sunset to their evening roost. It was a special moment worthy of a series of photos.

12/07/2026

𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 (𝙍𝙮𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙨 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙨)
09 July 2026
Chobe River, Chobe National Park, Botswana

Discovering a small population of this awesome bird as it skimmed the river and rested nearby alongside our boat was very special. These images are from our recent 12-day private Sustain Safaris tour across South Africa, Victoria Falls, and the Chobe Riverfront.

28/06/2026

The South Africa regional endemic mammal overlap/richness map

For those interested in mammal watching, one of the biggest drawcards is not only the rare, elusive, cryptic, and/or nocturnal species but even more so, the endemic mammals within a region. Some of these also happen to be rare, elusive, cryptic and/or nocturnal, which make them even more desirable to find.

These maps were created with that purpose in mind. They are not a raw IUCN Red List polygon overlay and not a raw MammalMAP point/QDS map, but the best-available proxy range overlay built from a working list of 81 current/extant Southern African endemic mammal species, then stacked into a gridded richness map of South Africa only.

For the best available data logic, the Mammal Diversity Database as the current taxonomic/country-distribution reference was used, noting that MDD v2.4 was released on 2 January 2026; the EWT/SANBI 2025 Mammal Red List context, which states that 67 taxa assessed for South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini are endemic to that assessment region; and MammalMAP as the main open occurrence-record source for African mammal distributions.

Which areas in South Africa depict the richest mammal regional endemism?

The strongest richness areas are the Karoo interior, Cape Fold Belt / Cape Floristic Region, Namaqualand / Succulent Karoo, and parts of the Highveld–Drakensberg/eastern escarpment.

The high richness is driven mainly by small mammals: golden moles, sengis, mole-rats, vlei rats, bats, shrews and arid-zone rodents.

As leading operators of expedition type mammal tours, and especially what we have termed “Rare Mammal Tours”, this knowledge matters to us at Sustain Safaris, as it helps curate the best tours for our valued mammal watching clients.

What are the 81 remaining mammal taxa of regional endemics in South Africa?

The common names of the 81 taxa used in the filtered South Africa endemic mammal map include:

7 Carnivores: Black-footed Cat, Brown Hyena, Meerkat, Yellow Mongoose, Cape Grey Mongoose, Selous's Mongoose, South African Large-spotted Genet.

4 Antelope: Springbok, Black Wildebeest, Bontebok/Blesbok, Cape Grysbok.

1 Equid: Mountain Zebra.

1 Marine mammal: Heaviside's Dolphin.

4 Sengis: Cape Rock Sengi, Karoo Rock Sengi, Western Rock Sengi, Round-eared Sengi.

4 Shrews: Long-tailed Mouse Shrew, Sclater's Mouse Shrew, Thin Mouse Shrew, Forest Mouse Shrew.

5 Lagomorphs: Riverine Rabbit, Natal Red Rock Hare, Jameson's Red Rock Hare, Smith's Red Rock Hare, Hewitt's Red Rock Hare.

29 Rodents: Spectacled African Dormouse, Cape Spiny Mouse, Cape Shaggy Rat, Cape Gerbil, Grant's Rock Mouse, Namaqua Rock Mouse, Verreaux's Meadow Mouse, White-tailed Rat, Southern African Vlei Rat, Fynbos Vlei Rat, KwaZulu-Natal Vlei Rat, Sloggett's Vlei Rat, Karoo Vlei Rat, Willan's Vlei Rat, Brants's Whistling Rat, Littledale's Whistling Rat, Karoo Four-striped Grass Rat, Xeric Four-striped Grass Rat, Free State Pygmy Mouse, Shortridge's Thallomys.

9 Bats: Lesueur’s Wing-gland Bat, Seabra’s Wing-gland Bat, Cape Serotine, De Winton’s Long-eared Bat, Cape Horseshoe Bat, Cohen’s Horseshoe Bat, Darling’s Horseshoe Bat, Swinny’s Horseshoe Bat, Roberts’s Flat-headed Bat.

17 Golden Moles: Fynbos Golden Mole, Hottentot Golden Mole, Marley’s Golden Mole, Robust Golden Mole, Highveld Golden Mole, Yellow Golden Mole, Duthie’s Golden Mole, Sclater’s Golden Mole, Cape Golden Mole, Visagie’s Golden Mole, Giant Golden Mole, Rough-haired Golden Mole, De Winton’s Golden Mole, Van Zyl’s Golden Mole, Grant’s Golden Mole, Gunning’s Golden Mole, Juliana’s Golden.

Book a Tour with Sustain Safaris

So, if you would like to see many of these amazing regionally endemic mammals book a focussed Endemic and Rare Mammal 16-Day Tour with us. If your interest is in broader wildlife, including mammals, birds, and other animal orders, book a Wildlife Tour with us. While, if your interest is specifically birding focused, book a Birding Tour with us. We would love to help you discover the awesome natural world within our treasured Southern African region.

25/06/2026

We were recently asked by overseas birders to devise a 10- to 12-day birding tour for 6 guests to see all the true endemic bird species of South Africa.

We explained that it is unfortunately highly improbable of us being able to see all 17 South African true endemic bird species in this time period, considering their broad distribution and the travel time and distance required. They fortunately listened to my advice and extended the tour duration to 18 days, which gives them a strong chance of seeing all 17 species (except possibly Botha's Lark).

Why is this?

The 17 true endemic bird species restricted to South Africa include the Botha's Lark, Cape Bulbul, Cape Parrot, Cape Rockjumper, Cape Siskin, Cape Sugarbird, Forest Buzzard, Fynbos Buttonquail, Karoo Lark, Knysna Warbler, Knysna Woodpecker, Orange-breasted Sunbird, Protea Canary, Red Lark, Rudd's Lark, Southern Black Korhaan, and Victorin's Warbler. There used to be 18, but Agulhas Long-billed Lark was recently lumped with Cape Long-billed Lark, which also occurs in Namibia.

Furthermore, if we were to form a combined South Africa + Lesotho + Eswatini region as the “endemic area”, the total increases to 37 endemic bird species: the 17 strict South African endemics plus 20 additional regional endemics whose natural global ranges are confined to these 3 countries only. Importantly, neither Lesotho nor Eswatini have a single true endemic bird species.

What is this endemic species distribution and where would one have to travel to discover them?

To best illustrate this, we generated a South African true endemic bird richness using ChatGPT to illustrate this best, as there is no readily available public map using publicly available information about the BirdLife International Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs), the SABAP2 / BirdMap data, and the BirdLife South Africa Red Data Book / species pages. The map is in a 5′ × 5′ pentad-style grid, matching the SABAP2 spatial concept.

The outcome indicates that the highest overlap shows several separate endemic-rich clusters rather than one national centre: these include the Cape Fold Mountains / Fynbos belt, followed by the West Coast and Agulhas lowlands, Karoo and Bushmanland, eastern high-altitude grasslands, and southern/eastern mistbelt forest pockets. The fynbos area is especially important as it supports 5 endemic passerines and another 6 of South Africa’s 17 endemics are frequently encountered there, making the Cape Fold Mountains / Fynbos belt the strongest overlap area.

What time period is required if you want to see all 17?

As experienced bird tour planners, who have been running birding tours for over 8 years, we estimate that to reasonably see all 17 species (except possibly Botha's Lark), plus most of the other 20 regional endemics, it would likely take approximately 20 days: 14 days to explore the Western Cape and Northern Cape sector, starting and ending Cape Town, and then to fly to Durban to explore the KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces for a further 6 days, ending in Johannesburg.

If this interest you, and you would also like us to lead you on this awesome endemic birding adventure of our magnificent South Africa, contact us to make it all happen.