As the seasons in the Kalahari change, the diversity and abundance of various life forms change at the same time. In particular, we look forward to visits from bird species as many migrate north at this time into the African tropics or even fly further to Europe and a summer in the northern hemisphere. As these bird dynamics change, species which may indeed be common elsewhere, sometimes emerge as rarities here on Tswalu. And this happened just a few days ago when we were thrilled to see a small covey of six Orange River Partridge.

This small “grouse-like” bird is an extremely rare sighting here (although it is seen more frequently further east in southern Africa). It likes undisturbed grasslands with some grass density and height. In Afrikaans, its name is “Kalaharipatrys” (Kalahari Partridge) which obviously suggests that it is directly associated with the Kalahari) but in reality, it only occurs marginally in the desert. Of special interest is that the Orange River Partridge numbers were shown to be declining during the 20th Century (as a direct consequence of habitat erosion in the dry central grasslands of South Africa) but as the Tswalu grassland habitat restores itself, this bird appears to be making a come-back.