Steve Rooke on his recently concluded tour to South Africa

Our tour got off to a cracking start with a sighting of a Pangolin walking along the roadside. We had only just set off when we found this rare creature, a life mammal for everyone present.

The amazing and prehistoric-looking Pangolin

Elsewhere we watched flights of Namaqua and Burchell’s Sandgrouse coming to drink at a Kalahari waterhole, enjoyed the spectacular wildflowers of Namaqualand,

A picnic lunch amidst the flowering Namaqualand

encountered 18 species of lark including the rare Red,

The sought-after Red Lark

went eyeball to eyeball with thousands of Cape Ganets, tracked down Cinnamon-breasted Warbler in the vast Karoo, marvelled at Black Harriers drifting over the fynbos,

The Great Karoo at dawn

and found ourselves surrounded by hordes of Shy and Black-browed Albatrosses, Pintado and White-chinned Petrels, and swarms of Wilson’s Storm Petrels during our pelagic out of Cape Town.

Pelagic birding off Cape Town is usually amazing

And amongst all these wonderful birds we enjoyed some out standing food (including a seafood extravaganza) and superb wine - and we cannot wait to get back there next year.

Wild South Africa in an image; a Malachite Sunbird on a Protea