Miombo woodland at the first rains: cuckoos, barbets and frogs
African, red-chested and black cuckoos, Klaas's and emerald cuckoos, miombo barbets and tinkerbirds, Anchieta's barbet, Angola batis; reed frogs and bullfrogs at the pans; Cangandala's giant sable nearby (not visitable without permission). Malanje, Bié and Huambo plateau miombo (Cangandala, Bicuar, the Kalandula road), Angola.
Best time: 15 Oct – 30 Nov (October to November). Where: Kalandula falls road – miombo and gallery forest, Malanje, Cangandala National Park – edge, Malanje, Bicuar National Park – Huíla (Angola). Time of day: From first light to about 09:00 for the woodland chorus.
- You can go on your own
- Free
- Binoculars helpful
- Sound 4/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 15 Oct – 30 Nov. Mid October to November: the miombo flush and the first storms trigger the cuckoo and barbet chorus and the first frog nights
Active from 1 Oct to 31 Dec (October to December) in a typical year.
Time of day
From first light to about 09:00 for the woodland chorus; frogs from dusk on the nights after a storm
- Miombo dawn: first light → 09:00
- Frogs after rain: last light → 00:00
What will you hear?
The full southern-African miombo dawn — cuckoos calling in every direction, barbets duetting, tinkerbirds' endless popping, orioles and the red flush of new leaves — and after the first storms the pans erupt with reed frogs and bullfrogs at night.
Binoculars?
Binoculars helpful. Cuckoos and barbets call from open woodland at close range; binoculars help find them in the new leaves.
Where to go
- Kalandula falls road – miombo and gallery forest, Malanje — Public road with woodland either side; the falls themselves are a broadband bed but the woodland a few km away is open. Map
- Cangandala National Park – edge, Malanje — Giant sable sanctuary; the park's fenced core is closed to casual visits, but the miombo along the access road is the same woodland. Map
- Bicuar National Park – Huíla — Recovering miombo park south-east of Lubango with basic camps; elephants and the dry-season waterholes. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Any miombo roadside on the plateau: the Malanje–Kalandula road and the Cangandala access road are public; stop, walk in a few hundred metres at first light. Bicuar needs park entry at the gate.
Cost: Free on public roads; Bicuar park entry, check current prices.
Field-recording notes
Miombo is mostly unprotected, open land along the roads: no permits, just courtesy with villages and charcoal burners (their axes and trucks are the noise). Cangandala's giant sable are handled by the Kissama Foundation and the park; do not try to enter the sable sanctuary. Storms are violent and sudden in the afternoons; the still window is dawn. Bicuar has park entry and rangers.
Sources
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More: all spectacles in Angola · dawn choruses · Angola in October · Angola in November