What are the opening hours?

Monday 08:00 - 17:00 Tuesday 08:00 - 17:00 Wednesday 08:00 - 17:00 Thursday 08:00 - 17:00 Friday 08:00 - 17:00

Karoo Bird Observatory

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South Africa
Hanover
Karoo Bird Observatory

Khoisan Karoo Conservancy is working closely with the British & Irish Bird Observatories Council developing South Africa's first Bird Observatory.

Utilising standardised recording & monitoring protocols we are progressing excellence in avian science.

03/07/2026

Fabulous news just in that British bird ringing trainer and avian ecologist Tommy Saunders will be delivering fieldwork, monitoring and surveying birds building data for the Karoo bird Observatory accreditation process for 3 months this coming autumn/winter. Tommy has spent much of the last three years ringing across Europe and Africa, most recently training local ringer's and undertaking rare species specific ornithological studies in Liberia. Opportunities to join Tommy and take part in the KBO research at the Kiosan Karoo Conservancy will be posted on this site. Image here of Tommy in Liberia.

10/02/2026

Having all but given up hope on our specialist bird ringing equipment shipped from Poland to South Africa we are delighted (and somewhat relieved) that it has finally arrived. Originally ordered in September, attempts to pay for the goods were repeatedly blocked by local banks who at each turn provided another hoop to jump through, finally, conformation payment was received and soon after the details of shipping obtained, the courier FedEx advised that our package was shipped 19th January and would be delivered BY THE 27TH JAN. Then followed a series of updates from FedEx that simply got increasingly bizarre, 25th Jan, FedEx "unable to deliver as nobody present at delivery address" (we were present all day and had any delivery attempt been made we could not possibly have missed them), 28th Jan FedEx "Unable to deliver as no phone number supplied by recipient" (we checked, we had provided our phone number) and finally 3rd Feb FedEx "Please be advised that the shipment was handed over to a third-party courier. Delivery was scheduled for today however, due to the courier’s truck being hijacked en route to Graaff-Reinet this morning, the delivery could not be completed." You couldn't make it up! However, the package has arrived and the KBO is now fully equipped to accommodate visiting bird ringers Hurrah!!
Huge thanks to WORTHWILD Africa whose generous donation equipped us with an essential part of our accreditation criteria, our ringing equipment.

06/02/2026

An interesting ringing session this morning at New Holme Lodge our HQ. Just two 12m mist nets deployed resulted in 15 species, 102 birds processed, 98 new, 4 re-traps as follows. White-backed Mousebird 7:0, Hoopoe 0:1, Cape Wagtail 13:0, African red-eyed Bulbul 1:0, Cape Robin Chat 0:1, Karoo Thrush 1:0, Common Reed Warbler 9:0, Levaillant's Cisticola 0:1, Cape White-eye 5:0, Fairy Flycatcher 1:0, Cape Sparrow 2:0, Southern Masked Weaver 22:1, Red-billed Quelea 23:0, Southern Red Bishop 13:0, Pin-tailed Wydah 1:0.
The best of the field observations: Squacco Heron and an adult Black-winged Kite. Photos from this morning Fairy Flycatcher and Pin-tailed Wydah (JH).

05/02/2026

An hour catching Swallows and Martins in the lodge gardens this morning produced 4 species, Greater Striped, White -throated and Barn Swallows along with Brown throated Martins, pictured here in the given order. The Barn Swallows processed were all in primary moult, most towards the end of this essential process ahead of embarking north to Europe to breed.

01/02/2026

Our ringing course lamping/thermal imaging session last night ( despite the near full moon) produced a Rufous- Cheeked Nightjar and two recently fledged Double Banded Courser chicks see below.

31/01/2026

Last day of the ringing course tomorrow, here are a couple more of the species we've encountered so far, Acacia Pied Barbet which breeds on site and Crested Barbet, a scarce visitor at the Conservancy which is situated on the outer fringes of the range of this species.

30/01/2026

The Karoo Bird Observatory has four very different ringing sites all situated within the Conservancy, this morning we took the ringing course participants to the 'Little Mountain' site. Species ringed included Chestnut-vented Tit-babbler and the Lark-like Bunting pictured below.

29/01/2026

Hundreds of Swallows and Martins suddenly descend on the lodge gardens to snap up insects as soon as the water sprinkler system is switched off. Mostly Barn Swallows but also, Greater striped Swallows, African Cliff Swallows, White throated Swallows and Brown throated Martins.

Address

Khoisan Karoo Conservancy
Hanover
7005

Opening Hours

Monday	08:00 - 17:00
Tuesday	08:00 - 17:00
Wednesday	08:00 - 17:00
Thursday	08:00 - 17:00
Friday	08:00 - 17:00

Telephone

+27825679211

Website

http://www.khoisankaroo.co.za/

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