Today is devoted to birding in Majete Wildlife Reserve with a local guide.
Vegetation in Majete is diverse, ranging from undulating miombo woodlands with beautiful grassy glades and granite-topped hills in the west, to mixed acacia, leadwood and dry marula savanna scattered with baobab trees and patches of ilala palm in the east. The Shire River forms part of the eastern boundary, with all watercourses in the picturesque valley having a fringe of lush riverine thicket.
Birding in Majete is superb, with year round residents including Bohms bee-eater, African hoopoe, Green wood hoopoe, Scimitar billed wood hoopoe, Lizard buzzard, Dark chanting goshawk, Pel's fishing owl, Red-throated twinspot, Palmnut vulture, White-headed vulture, Osprey, Cordon bleu, Little bee-eater, Rock pratincole, Spotted eagle owl, Green-backed heron, Black-crowned night heron, Eygptian goose, African darter, Great white egret, Brown-hooded kingfisher, Malachite kingfisher, White faced duck, African jacana, Brown-crowned tchagra, Western banded snake eagle, Pied kingfisher, Brown snake eagle and Martial eagle.
You can also hope to see elephant, black rhino, buffalo, sable antelope, hartebeest, kudu, suni, eland, klipspringer, zebra and elusive leopard, as well as many other smaller species. Lion have also recently been re-introduced to Majete, making it once again a 'Big Five' reserve.
If arranged in advance, it is also possible to include a day trip to the open deciduous forests and dense thickets of Lengwe National Park with a local guide. Lengwe is home to over 330 different bird species, including the Yellow-spotted nicator and many shrikes, rollers and bee-eaters. It is also home to the shy Nyala antelope, giraffe, suni, kudu, reedbuck, impala, Cape Buffalo, spotted hyena, warthog, Samango monkey and elusive leopard.