Have a picture 3: Pel's Fishing Owl, Shakawe

2016 has been a huge year for me already, and the above photo shows one of the reasons for this. This is none other than a Pel's Fishing Owl (Scotopelia peli) - a species that is listed as threatened in Botswana due to large-scale habitat loss caused by large herbivores in some of the areas where they used to be quite common. In Kasane, for example, we had breeding pairs as recently as two or three years ago. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case, and despite repeated attempts and insider information, I have failed again and again to see one of these birds in the wild. Over the Easter long-weekend, though, I was lucky enough to be invited out to Lloyd Wilmot's camp on the Okavango River in a place called Shakawe (Okavango Panhandle). Here there are still some places where the right kind of old-growth riverine forests exist, and here I was fortunate enough to encounter not just one, but three of these magnificent creatures – two of which were at their breeding sight. While I can't tell you exactly where I found them, I can tell you that if you're as desperate to see one as I was, Alistair Wilmot (www.wilmotsafaris.com) might be a good place to start.  

I'm really interested in birds - though I wouldn't quite call myself a twitcher. Birding is great for several reasons when you're out in the bush. First off it adds another level of interest that can help relieve the monotony of hours on the back of game-drive vehicle and the endless herds of elephant and impala that make up, for the most part, the average day's sightings up here. Secondly, if you're birding, you've got your eyes peeled and you're looking very carefully at every bush, every tree, every patch of open ground. You're looking for the tiniest movement and listening for the most imperceptible little sound. If you're birding, in other words, you're also much more likely not to miss out on other things that might be lurking inconspicuously just off the road. Birds are beautiful in their own right too, and interesting besides. Bird photography (particularly when they're in flight) is one of the most technically challenging varieties of the art to be found - you really have to know your gear and think very carefully about what you want to capture and how you want to capture it in order to be even remotely successful. So that's why I love it, and that's also why you'll see more of this kind of thing if you stick around. The top spot on my wish-list has just been freed up! Next one down - the Narina Trogon, that most illusive of birds!