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Nature On The Hill
Wake up to the sound of bird song and sunlight filtering through the msasa and acacia trees, open the door to your deck and sit outside with a cup of coffee or tea enjoying a 180-degree view over the Monavale Vlei and watch passing troupes of babblers, wood hoopoes, purple crested Turacos, coucals or guinea fowl and, in the rainy season, listen for the stiped crake and streaky breasted flufftail. In the evening, relax on the deck with a drink and watch the sun go down over the Vlei to the evening sounds of cicadas, frogs, owls, and night jars. If you are lucky you will see the bright-eyed bush babies springing from tree to tree!
Monavale Vlei is a wetland recognized under the United Nations Convention on Wetlands, the RAMSAR Convention, and has been identified as one of the 2,200 unique wetlands worldwide, ranking alongside the Victoria Falls and Mana Pools (in Zimbabwe) and the Okavango Delta (in Botswana). It has enormous biodiversity with 240 bird species (http://www.monavalevlei.com/Fauna.html ), over 36 species of grass, and 80 species of other plants (http://www.monavalevlei.com/Flora.html ). The best months for birding are December through to April. Special bird sightings on the Vlei have included:
- Madagascar Cuckoo - January 2021 - https://birdingzimbabwe.com/tag/madagascar-cuckoo/
- Buff spotted flufftail - December 2014.
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