The low-lying karroid plains host the endangered Ludwig’s bustard, several Karoo endemics and, in the winter months, flocks of hundreds of blue crane, South Africa’s national bird. In the Acacia riverine thickets you’ll find herons, kingfishers and weavers alongside woodpeckers and African hoopoes. Make your way to the mountain grasslands for a chance to spot the stately Secretarybird, noisy francolins and nesting Verraux’s eagles. The latter can be seen at Samara’s most famous lookout point high on the mountaintop – the eponymous Eagle Rock, from where you can also witness kites and falcons riding the thermals.
Other common residents include Africa’s heaviest flying bird, the kori bustard, and its largest flightless bird, the ostrich, as well as pale chanting goshawks, greater flamingos, steppe buzzards and martial eagles.
Samara has been recognised by BirdLife South Africa as a Birder Friendly Establishment. The criteria for achieving this status include catering to the specific needs of birders, espousing the principles of responsible tourism and supporting BirdLife South Africa’s strategic objective of conserving wild birds and their habitats.
A particularly exciting recent addition to the bird list has been the Cape vulture, also known as the Cape griffon. These birds of prey are classified by the IUCN as Endangered, with fewer than 10,000 individuals remaining worldwide. Confined to Southern Africa, many of them breed in the grassy mountainous regions of South Africa’s Eastern Cape and Lesotho. Much maligned and misunderstood beasts, vultures are in fact critical determinants of healthy ecosystems, and we are delighted that the fruits of conservation efforts, both at Samara and by conservation programmes across Southern Africa, have yielded such results.
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