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Where to see

Where to see the Ant-eating Chat in South Africa

Hosts have recorded the Ant-eating Chat at stays in or beside Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and Kwandwe Private Game Reserve.

Myrmecocichla formicivora

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Ant-eating Chat
Photo: (c) Derek Keats, some rights reserved (CC BY)

Planning a trip

When and where to find the Ant-eating Chat

Hosts have recorded the Ant-eating Chat at stays in or beside Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and Kwandwe Private Game Reserve.

Best hours of the day

  • The first hours after sunrise, and late afternoon. Birds call and feed most in the cool.
  • Midday. Quieter, especially in summer heat.

Where to base yourself

  • Northern Cape

    Northern Cape

    Kgalagadi

    Self-driveMalaria-free
    Stays in Northern Cape
    Northern Cape
  • Eastern Cape

    Eastern Cape

    Kwandwe

    Guided drivesMalaria-free
    Stays in Eastern Cape
    Eastern Cape

Ways to look

Drive yourself

Your own vehicle and pace, on the park's roads.

Where hosts record it

Kgalagadi

Guided drives from a lodge

A guide who knows where to look, with off-road and night drives in the private reserves.

Where hosts record it

Kwandwe

Species

Myrmecocichla formicivora

Records

1,334

iNaturalist observations

Every booking on Spekboom supports conservation.

Questions travellers ask

A record means a host has seen the Ant-eating Chat on the property or nearby. It is never a guarantee of a sighting.

Which parks and reserves are best for the Ant-eating Chat in South Africa?

Hosts on Spekboom have recorded the Ant-eating Chat at stays in or beside Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and Kwandwe Private Game Reserve. 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.

Where can you see the Ant-eating Chat in South Africa?

The Ant-eating Chat is most recorded in Eastern Cape (27% of records), Northern Cape (20% of records), Gauteng (14% of records), based on 1,334 iNaturalist observations. 18 places to stay on Spekboom in South Africa have recorded the Ant-eating Chat on site or nearby.

When is the best time to see the Ant-eating Chat?

The Ant-eating Chat 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. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park: Aug-Oct, flowers, Mar-May; Kwandwe Private Game Reserve: year-round, best Mar-May, Sep-Nov. In the dry months animals concentrate at water and the grass is short.

What is the Ant-eating Chat?

The ant-eating chat or southern anteater-chat (Myrmecocichla formicivora) is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland.

Stays that give back

Where to stay for a chance to see the Ant-eating Chat

Every stay on the Ant-eating Chat page lists the species its host has recorded on or near the property. A record is a sighting, never a promise.

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