Where to see the Greater Crested Tern in South Africa

Hosts on Spekboom have recorded the Greater Crested Tern at stays in or beside Goukamma Nature Reserve, Kogelberg Nature Reserve, Table Mountain National Park, Garden Route National Park, iSimangaliso Wetland Park and Keurbooms River Nature Reserve and other reserves. 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 Greater Crested Tern is most recorded in Western Cape (73% of records), KwaZulu-Natal (18% of records), Eastern Cape (8% of records), based on 2,501 iNaturalist observations. 20 places to stay on Spekboom in South Africa have recorded the Greater Crested Tern on site or nearby.

The Greater Crested Tern 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. Goukamma Nature Reserve: year-round, warm Oct-Apr; Kogelberg Nature Reserve: Sep-Apr, flowers Aug-Oct; Table Mountain National Park: Sep-Apr, flowers Aug-Oct; Garden Route National Park: Sep-Apr, flowers Aug-Oct. In the dry months animals concentrate at water and the grass is short.

The greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii), also called crested tern or swift tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World.