Crowned Cranes with Saudi Expats Karen and Dave, and the E Learning King of the Luangwa Valley, our fellow long term Flat Dogs camper Sasha.
Ok,you say, what is 'Adventure Birding?' Well, for us it was getting out of the vehicle in a game management area where lions and leopards and hippos and such are free to roam. Taking a risk that buffalo might happen up and not like the idea of people being in there space.... For us, that is a real adventure and got our heart beating faster than the normal fo sho.
We were fortunate to be invited on two afternoon game drives with fellow Flat Dog Campers in order to search for the Crowned Cranes at the Kalawani Pan in the Game Management Area across the River from South Luangwa National Park.
The crowned cranes are called kalawani because of the sound they make when they are
calling to one another.
There was a very large group of about 150 crowned cranes moving about on the area. They
have several very distinctive calls they make to each other. We got to sit and enjoy them
for quite some time before they began to fly off to roost in the trees for the evening.
They would leave in groups of 15-30 at a time crying "kalawani,kalawani" according to
Sasha.
We sincerely want to thank Sasha and the British couple for this unique experience!
While there listening to the haunting calls of the large flock of cranes and other sounds we were pleased to see Zebra come into the area.
We also enjoyed sighting a Goliath Heron the day we went with Dave and Karen in their Land Rover, and two Maribou storks during our sundowner with Sasha.
The Crowned Crane is the national bird of Uganda, according to Sasha, but we were quite awed to see it in Zambia. What an amazing bird! What a real rare gift to see a flock and hear their haunting calls..... We are so thankful!
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