It is now the 20th of January. For most, the initial burst of New Year’s energy has started to wane, replaced by the mundane reality of the working year. But for a specific group of current Londolozi staff and alumni, the intensity is only just beginning to ramp up. Today marks the third week of a year-long descent into a very particular kind of madness: The 2026 Birding Big Year.
The rules are as simple as they are unforgiving. We have until midnight on December 31st to see as many different bird species as possible within the borders of South Africa. There are no prizes, other than the internal satisfaction of beating your friends and the right to be insufferable at the dinner table. For this group, that is more than enough.
Just kidding, there is one tactile prize, over and above the bragging rights, the most incredible birding book is on the line; All the Birds of the World by Josep del Hoyo.
All the Birds of the World by Josep del Hoyo
The Integrity of the ‘Tick’
We’ve moved past the era of “trust me, I heard it.” In this challenge, hearing a call—no matter how distinct—counts for exactly zero. If you didn’t see the feathers, it didn’t happen. To keep us honest (or as honest as a competitive birder can be), we are once again using the Bindo app.
Bindo is the ultimate equaliser. It doesn’t just record the species; it logs your exact GPS coordinates at the moment of the entry. This effectively kills the “armchair birder” strategy. You can’t sit on your deck in the Sabi Sands and claim a Pel’s Fishing Owl if your GPS shows you haven’t moved from the bar. If you want the tick, you have to go to the habitat.
Ranger/accountant Kevin Power taking a moment to get a closer look at something in the distance.
Diversity is Strategy
Success in a Big Year isn’t about how long you spend staring at a single bush; it’s about how many biomes you can physically get your body into. South Africa is a massive, ecologically diverse playground, and the winner will likely be the person with the highest fuel bill.
While the Sabi Sands offers an incredible baseline of bushveld specialists where we could tick off more than 300 birds, the leaderboard will eventually be decided by those who venture into the fynbos of the Cape, the mist-belt forests of KwaZulu-Natal, or the arid stretches of the Karoo. With there being a rough total of 870 different birds being recorded in South Africa, it’s a game of logistics as much as it is of optics.
A Flying Start
We are only twenty days in, but the pace is already frantic. We’ve seen a “flying start” in the truest sense, with several competitors already breezing past the 170-species mark. It seems some of the alumni have been spending more time in the car than in the office lately.
The camaraderie is real, but the competitive streak is wider. I will be providing monthly updates on our progress, keeping a close eye on the leaderboard, the mega-ticks, and the inevitable GPS-verified proof of someone’s desperate 400km dash for a single lifer.
The binoculars are clean, the Bindo app is refreshed, and the hunt is on. Stay tuned for a full update next week at the end of January, where we will reveal the official standings and see who is actually walking the walk.
Congratulations and good luck to all in their birding hunt. Living in the USA, I use ebird for the same purpose. However I am even more stringent on recording birds, I must have a photo (which is uploaded to ebird) in order to record a species. Just my personal requirement, not a requirement of any competitive birding exercise. Hopefully you will not only report statistics but images of as many as possible. Exciting times
Yes that would be great, however, photographing birds is a while different ball game and I think would only be for a handful of people. However, I will certainly try and include as many images, especially of any unique/unusual birds when we have a sighting of any.
Good luck to all the dedicated birders at Londolozi.
How many birds are theoretically to be found there?
We can see about 300 in the Sabi Sand, 500 in the Kruger region and 870 in South Africa.
Excited to follow along! Good luck to all!
Thanks so much, Chelsea.
Hi Sean, this challenge among the Rangers and Trackers is wonderful. May everyone be true to their, seeing the bird and documenting it down. Here on the reserve we have 200 different species. Just last week I took a photo of a juvenile Marshall Eagle. First for Kranspoort and I was thrilled to hear that. I don’t go to the bird meetings and discuss how many birds each one has seen. I have 96 on my list and everytime I go out to photograph the big animals on the reserve, I try to photograph at least one bird everytime if possible. Well there is a new challenge for Londolozi’s Trackers and Rangers. May they all, and you Sean see many new birds and document them.
That is so exciting that you also enjoy birding. It is going to be a fun year for all of us involved in the Birding Big Year.
This is exciting, I’m so much looking forward to your report! Wishing you all the best of luck!
It is going to be a fun year of birding.
I always love it when you begin the year with the annual birding competition. There are some intrepid birders amongst the staff and I know that an exciting year is ahead. I hadn’t realized the competition extended through all of South Africa so there will definitely be some major traveling done over the next 12 months – may the best and most diligent birder win! I’ll look forward to monthly reports.
Yes, there are a few intrepid birders in the mix. In the past, any bird in Southern Africa could be ticked but this year, we decided to keep the limits to only South Africa.