Botswana's Best Birding with Ken Newman
" best guides = best safaris ~ a bad guide in the best camp will ruin your safari."
This 5-night safari to the Okavango Delta Botswanaat a time of the year when all the intra-African and European migrants are in residence and breeding is at its peak. We travel with Ken Newman, one of the region's foremost bird painters and authors. We travel to two Okavango camps offering contrasting habitats and birding experiences within the Okavango Delta.
Most of the region's rarities and endemics should be seen - from Pel's Fishing Owl to the diminutive Brown Firefinch. Within the waterways, savannahs and lagoons, countless herons, ducks, jacanas, eagles, vultures, ibis, storks, plovers and all the 'LBJ's should be found. Some of the rare species include Slaty Egrets, Wattled Cranes, Coppery-tailed Coucals, Black Coucals, Thick-Billed Cuckoo, Chirping Cisticola and Lesser Jacana.
Recommended time of year to travel - early to mid November.
About Ken Newman
Ken was born in England at an early age and stayed there for another 24 years. He scraped through school mainly through good marks for his early artwork and writing abilities, his main interests outside of school being: birds eggs, butterflies and similar creepy crawlies. Adolf Hitler interrupted his wildlife studies so Ken contributed to the dictator's downfall by teaching aeroplane recognition to carefree aircraft gunners, at the time not appreciating the value of this fully-paid-for bird identification training.
Post war Britain saw Ken in the art department of a London advertising agency that he enjoyed for four years, but eventually began to feel the need for more space and opportunity.
He arrived in South Africa in 1948 with a pioneering spirit and soon had one foot on the ladder to progress drawing soap bubbles for Lever Brothers in Durban. That bubble soon burst with the monotony of the situation and Ken moved to Johannesburg in 1950 where his graphic art career continued in between breakaway safaris until 1968 when birds took over his life.
Ken's introduction to bush life was an early trip to the Kruger National Park where he discovered that no one had much interest in, or knowledge of South Africa's birds. He was to learn that Ground Hornbills were Turkey Buzzards, Lilac-breasted Rollers were Blue Jays and that Grey Herons were Blue Cranes.
In 1955, having married his late wife Elisabeth (also an artist), they set off on a seven month round Africa safari, just camping and seeking wildlife. Two years later they did it again, this time taking pictures, especially of birds, for photojournalism.
Ken decided there was a real need for a beginner's guide to the birds of South Africa, and so he started on Garden Birds of South Africa. Faced with the problem of illustrations he decided to try painting. His first picture, a portrait of a Bateleur, was shown with pride to Elisabeth with the question "Do you think I could paint birds?" Her answer, short and to the point, was "No! Not a damn!" So he started.
GARDEN BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA was launched in 1967 and stayed on the bookshop shelves for another 30 years. Others followed in quick succession. Ken's paintings and books sell both locally and overseas, and he is much involved in matters ornithological.
Ken has been with Wilderness Safaris/vacationtechnician as a specialist guide, on a casual basis, since the company's early days. His prime interest is in the birds of southern Africa, an interest shared by his wife Ursula and their three children.
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