OUR WEEKLY CONSERVATION NEWSLETTER
Our photo awards kick off + Lake Logipi’s flamingos
+ magical Cape Town
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From our CEO – Simon Espley
It’s almost time 🙂
Soon, we will be sifting through your Photographer of the Year entries that recharge our awe about this great place we call home. Brace yourselves for a few months of sensational photo galleries and reasons to come on safari!
Later this year, I will host the winners and their partners in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, Africa’s largest protected tract of montane forest. Our base will be Munazi Lodge, the only lodge inside the national park.
Nyungwe hosts 13 primate species, including habituated chimpanzees. I hope to also see oddities such as the golden cat, Lord Derby’s scaly-tailed squirrel, and the rare Central African linsang (related to genets).
And, of course, I will be searching for my nemesis bird species, Shelley’s crimsonwing, which has never been photographed in the wild, other than when accidentally netted during biodiversity surveys.
Life is good!
Simon Espley – CEO, Africa Geographic
From our Editor – Taryn van Jaarsveld
Anyone who’s travelled knows the feeling: you’ve learned the words, but not quite the way they’re said. Same language, different rhythm, and suddenly meaning slips sideways.
In northern Mozambique, honey-hunters have been speaking to birds for generations. Greater honeyguides, chatty and impressively sharp, lead people to wild bees’ nests in exchange for wax and larvae. It’s one of nature’s most enduring partnerships.
What researchers have now shown is that the birds have learnt to recognise local dialects. Village by village, the sounds used by honey hunters to call in the honeyguides for a hunt differ: a whoop here, a trill there, a whistle added or dropped. The honeyguides, which tend to ignore unfamiliar calls, have learnt to associate specific, locally used human calls with cooperation, responding specifically to these. This is one of the rarest examples yet of a wild animal learning and navigating human cultural variation.
This week, we share the news of excellent lesser flamingo numbers recorded in Lake Logipi, Kenya. Plus, we explore the wonders that vibrant, magical Cape Town offers.
Did you know? Your African safari choice makes a difference
We donate a portion of the revenue from every safari sold to carefully selected conservation projects that make a significant difference at ground level. YOUR African safari choice does make a difference – thank you!
Our stories this week
LOGIPI’S FLAMINGOS
Nearly a million lesser flamingos have been counted in the remote Suguta Valley, revealing Lake Logipi as a conservation refuge
CAPE TOWN
Cape Town is a nature lover’s playground, offering cultural diversity, city adventure, and bliss for food and wine aficionados
Travel Desk – 2 African safari ideas
Cape Town | Greater Kruger | Victoria Falls – 11 days
Expect to be romanced, seduced and awed by three prime locations and effortless luxury. This exquisitely crafted 11-day luxury journey through Southern Africa combines the vibrant culture and scenic beauty of Cape Town and its renowned Winelands, with the unparalleled Big Five safari experience of the Greater Kruger, and iconic Victoria Falls: The Smoke That Thunders.
This popular safari romances you with the Mother City’s hip restaurants, sandy white beaches, outdoor adventures, historic wine estates and iconic landmarks, before sweeping you off your feet in the Okavango Delta for a top-drawer safari experience.
Still dreaming of the ultimate African safari escape? Browse our safaris ideas here. Or click here to plan your safari.
Our safari guests say…
AG safari guest James from the USA went on an exceptional African safari:
“2024 Namibia & Botswana & Zimbabwe Adventure. In May/June 2024, I travelled for 25 days through Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe on a structured tour of my own design, scheduled by Christian Boix of Africa Geographic. My tour far exceeded all anticipation. I saw hundreds of elephants, zebras, buffalos and different species of antelope, many lions, hippos and giraffes, as well as hyenas & warthogs. I saw various birds, like secretarybird and kori bustard, one elusive cheetah, AND a rhino pair with a baby! Early on in Namibia, I visited a Himba tribal village and later a Bushman village, and went on a snare patrol and medicinal plant search. I watched the Bushmen make hunting arrows. In Botswana, I boated through the Okavango Delta. In Zimbabwe, I visited the ancient Great Zimbabwe ruins, which were the ultimate focal point of my trip. Most documentaries and writings only depict the Great Enclosure in the valley, which is where the queen and her entourage lived. I hiked the steep, winding stone trail up the mountaintop to the king’s palace. SPECTACULAR! The king’s palace is a must-see! Many thanks to Christian Boix for organising my trip. My different country guides were wonderful young men, extremely familiar with their surroundings and knowledgeable on wildlife. I highly recommend planning an African tour through Africa Geographic, and requesting Christian Boix to assist – if he is not himself out there leading an adventure!”
WATCH
Our Photographer of the Year 2026 is back! Win a primate-filled adventure to Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, with chimpanzee trekking, canopy walks and a stay at Munazi Lodge. Submit your best images – and let Africa take you further. (04:37) Click here to watch
Cover image: On a rainy morning, a single African penguin on Boulders Beach stares into the shallows – a metaphor for the diminishing numbers of this endangered species. Cape Town, South Africa. © Andries Janse van Rensburg (Photographer of the Year 2024 entry)
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