Where to look

These are the four zones the log is sorted around. They are habitat bands, not itineraries — the point is to know what you can reasonably expect where, so you spend your listening time well.

Soda lakes on the valley floor. The alkaline lakes hold the region's most famous spectacle, the flamingo flocks, but the edges are where the variety sits: waders, pelicans, herons and raptors working the same shallows.

The acacia savanna belt. Open country birding, best early. Rollers and bee-eaters for colour, hornbills and the secretary bird for character. Heat haze ends the good light by mid-morning.

Highland forest. Cool and slow. Turacos and sunbirds reward patience; the skulkers reward silence. Bring a raincoat and low expectations for driving — this is on-foot, ears-open work.

Wetland margins. Papyrus and reedbeds hold specialists found in no other habitat. Work the colony edges and the open lily water, and let the birds come to the gap rather than chasing them into the reeds.