Birds of Eden is located in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa and right next door to the other attraction we visited called Monkeyland. If you have any interest in exotic birds we highly recommend this place. It is the largest free flight bird aviary in the world. The entire two hectare area is covered in a dome of fine netting. Inside it is just like a huge natural forest and in most areas of the reserve you would never know the netting is there.
There are over 3000 birds at the sanctuary that are made up of over 220 different species, including 60 different types of parrots. Some of the birds are brought here by owners who could no longer care for them, or from disreputable breeders or zoos. The types of birds include pheasants, toucans, lovebirds, cockatoos, kingfishers and loerie birds, just to name a few.
We had a few experiences of birds trying to land on us. An African Grey Parrot seemed to take a fancy to me. It followed us as we walked along the board walks and kept trying to swoop down and land on me.
The wetland area has Uganda’s beautiful Crowned Crane as well as flamingos and many species of ducks.
The canopy walk through the forest allows you to get views of the birds that are sitting high in the trees.
Not sure what kind of bird this was, he was having a restful moment on a tree branch.
A Channel Billed Toucan, in North America we all know this bird from a well run marketing campaign for the cereal Fruit Loops.
It seemed strange to see a couple of Canadian Geese. At home we see them on a daily basis. We look at them as more of a nuisance than a beautiful bird. Seeing them half way across the world allowed us to appreciate them in a new way. We realized they might look like an exotic bird to someone who has never seen one before.
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