Wildlife Safaris, Birding Tours and Pelagic Trips, Cape Town, South Africa & Beyond
- Avian Leisure has been in operation since 1998 as a husband and wife team specializing in tailor-made private wildlife safaris & birding tours of a boutique nature in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Uganda.
- Custom designed tours include wildlife, birding, seasonal wild flower, general nature and photographic safaris, catering for self-drive or fully guided tours and fly-in safaris as a particular speciality.
- Our customized birding and wildlife tours are run at our clients’ desired pace, and our hallmark tailored itineraries fine-tuned to target ‘Big Five’ wildlife and bird sightings, while providing sufficient time and relaxation to enjoy the cultural delights of the areas you are visiting whether wine estates, shopping, fine dining ….
- Flexible and highly personalized approach linked to our low overhead structure enables us to deliver tailored tours that invariably exceed clients’ requirements and ensure optimal value.
- We’re based in Simon’s Town on the scenic outskirts of Cape Town, and as such we are the tour operator of choice for visitors with limited time in Cape Town, to take a tour to see or photograph the endemic birds and nature in the surrounding area or take a pelagic trip off Cape Point, and to complete the experience with a wine tour embracing our hand-picked choice of iconic Cape wine estates!
Birder-friendly accommodation in Simons Town, Cape Town
At our home in Simon’s Town we have spacious self catering apartments on the mountain slope above the Boulders Coastal penguin colony, overlooking False Bay with magnificent, panoramic sea views, and set in an indigenous garden of pristine Cape fynbos – with regular sightings of whales, fur seals, penguins, sunbirds, sugarbirds and a host of other birds from your bedroom deck!
An added delight is the regular night-time opportunity to view porcupines coming to our floodlit pond. All in all the perfect breakaway destination to spend time away from the madding crowds with memories to savour and enjoy!
Covid-19 Safety Commitment
The unexpected advent of the global pandemic and its negative impact on travel has necessitated a complete review as to how we structure our eco-tourism business for the future in the interests of client safety. We believe eco-tourism with its light rural footprint and remote destination offerings is well placed to offer travelers a low risk travel experience. To this end we have refined our safari options to focus on a select number of hand-picked lodges located in wildlife rich areas of Southern Africa all of which are fully Covid-19 compliant to minimise the risk of infection.
In this way we sincerely believe our personalised efforts to ensure client health and safety will translate into a hassle-free safari experience of an outstanding nature in keeping with our ongoing commitment to provide exceptional wildlife experiences under challenging circumstances such as we are facing at present.
We adhere strictly to the Covid-19 Safety Protocols laid out by the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) according to guidelines of the Department of Health. For Covid-19 updates visit the official South African government website https://sacoronavirus.co.za/
OUR TOP DESTINATIONS
SOUTH AFRICA
With a population of 58 million, spread across a broad spectrum of vibrant cultures and traditional languages, South Africa is rightfully and affectionally referred to as the ‘rainbow nation’. Likewise, with close on 200 mammals, including the dangerous ‘Big Five’ – elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard – and over 850 bird species …
BOTSWANA
Botswana, a sparsely populated country of desert and arid-savanna woodland located in the heart of Southern Africa, is home to the world acclaimed Okavango Delta, and the scenically engaging arid-savanna of the Tuli Block enclave at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashi rivers in the south east corner of the country …
NAMIBIA
For some, Namibia is a vast expanse of nothingness, a desolate moonscape holding little of interest. But for most it is a sparsely populated amalgamation of varied and pristine landscapes, richly endowed with a fascinating variety of life forms that have successfully evolved for survival within the desert dunes, gravel plains and semi-arid savanna …
OUR TOP TOURS
SABI SANDS
There is a place in the savanna woodland, in the Greater Kruger, a very special place we affectionately call our safari ‘home from home’ that exudes an air of ‘bonhomie’, like no other bush lodge we know of, supported by the most experienced rangers we have had the pleasure of guiding with, who interpret the ‘secrets’ of the African bushveld for clients as the sights and sounds unfold …
CLASSIC SAFARI
Victoria Falls – awesome is the only word that aptly describes the mile wide vista of cascading cataracts, towering plumes of spray carried heavenwards on the updraft swirling wildly above the cauldron of cross currents and foam flecked eddies far below in the malevolent shadow of the gorge as the mighty Zambezi composes itself for the final rush east to the Indian Ocean …
SIMPLY OKAVANGO
There is no inland delta anywhere in the world that can compare in size and biodiversity with the seasonal splendour of the Okavango as the annual inundation of the Kavango river, rising in the highlands of distant Angola, permeates its way through the meandering channels, quiet lagoons and papyrus fringed islands of this vast wetland of spectacular environmental …
SIMON’S TOWN
It is well over a half century since I first set foot on Boulders beach in Simon’s Town when, as a young man on holiday from Johannesburg, I was exposed to the scenic wonders of the Western Cape for the very first time. It was a transformational experience beckoning a return to engage more fully with so much on offer in Simon’s Town, as and when the future …
‘Let us probe the silent places, let us seek what luck betide us;
Let us journey to a lonely land I know.
There’s a whisper on the night-wind, there’s a star agleam to guide us,
And the Wild is calling, calling . . . let us go.’
Robert Service ‘The call of the wild’
OUR LATEST BLOG POST
Dusky Lark
A large, dark-faced lark superficially resembling a Groundscraper Thrush, arriving as a migrant from Central Africa in the sub-region as a non-breeding species during the ‘wet’ summer months, with a marked bushveld habitat preference. Usually encountered in in areas of short grassland or on the edges of shrubland and mopane woodland, in small groups exhibiting a distinctive ‘wing flicking’ action while walking about restlessly in search of insects and seeds, often...
CONTACT US
Patrick and Marie-Louise Cardwell
PO Box 74, Simons Town 7995 South Africa
Ph/Fax: +27 21 786 1414
Mobile: +27 83 272 2455
Skype: mlcardwell
Email: enquiries@avianleisure.com
