Where to see the African Cuckoo Hawk in South Africa

Hosts on Spekboom have recorded the African Cuckoo Hawk at stays in or beside Kruger National Park and iSimangaliso Wetland Park. A record means a host has seen it on the property or nearby, which makes these the places to base yourself; it is never a guarantee of a sighting on any given day.

The African Cuckoo Hawk is most recorded in KwaZulu-Natal (60% of records), Western Cape (13% of records), Mpumalanga (8% of records), based on 243 iNaturalist observations. 9 places to stay on Spekboom in South Africa have recorded the African Cuckoo Hawk on site or nearby.

The African Cuckoo Hawk is recorded throughout the year, so no month is the wrong month to look for it. For the parks where hosts record it most, these are the best seasons they give. Kruger National Park: Apr-Sep; iSimangaliso Wetland Park: year-round, dry season May-Sep. In the dry months animals concentrate at water and the grass is short.

The African cuckoo-hawk, or African baza, (Aviceda cuculoides) is a medium-sized raptor in the family Accipitridae so named because it resembles the common cuckoo, which is found in sub-Saharan Africa and along the eastern parts of Southern Africa. It prefers dense woodland and forest of either indigenous or exotic trees.