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Where to see

Where to see the Crested Barbet in South Africa

Hosts have recorded the Crested Barbet at stays in or beside Kruger National Park, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park and Timbavati Private Nature Reserve.

Trachyphonus vaillantii

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Crested Barbet
Photo: (c) Paul Hoekman, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Paul Hoekman

Planning a trip

When and where to find the Crested Barbet

Hosts have recorded the Crested Barbet at stays in or beside Kruger National Park, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park and Timbavati Private Nature 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

  • Limpopo

    Limpopo

    Kruger · Timbavati

    Self-driveGuided drives
    Stays in Limpopo
    Limpopo
  • KwaZulu-Natal

    KwaZulu-Natal

    Hluhluwe-Imfolozi · iSimangaliso Wetland

    Stays in KwaZulu-Natal
    KwaZulu-Natal

Ways to look

Drive yourself

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

Where hosts record it

Kruger

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

Timbavati

Species

Trachyphonus vaillantii

Records

2,646

iNaturalist observations

Every booking on Spekboom supports conservation.

Questions travellers ask

A record means a host has seen the Crested Barbet on the property or nearby. It is never a guarantee of a sighting.

Which parks and reserves are best for the Crested Barbet in South Africa?

Hosts on Spekboom have recorded the Crested Barbet at stays in or beside Kruger National Park, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, Timbavati Private Nature Reserve 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.

Where can you see the Crested Barbet in South Africa?

The Crested Barbet is most recorded in Mpumalanga (26% of records), KwaZulu-Natal (22% of records), Limpopo (22% of records), based on 2,646 iNaturalist observations. 32 places to stay on Spekboom in South Africa have recorded the Crested Barbet on site or nearby.

When is the best time to see the Crested Barbet?

The Crested Barbet 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; Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park: year-round, dry season May-Sep; Timbavati Private Nature Reserve: May-Sep, dry season; iSimangaliso Wetland Park: year-round, dry season May-Sep. In the dry months animals concentrate at water and the grass is short.

What is the Crested Barbet?

The crested barbet (Trachyphonus vaillantii) ('trachys'=rough, 'phone'=voice, sound') is a sub-Saharan bird in the Lybiidae family. Its specific name commemorates François Levaillant, a famed French naturalist.

Stays that give back

Where to stay for a chance to see the Crested Barbet

Every stay on the Crested Barbet 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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