Before you start a career as a safari guide, you usually picture the big stuff. Elephants in the road, lions stalking through tall grass, real dramatic movie-poster moments. Then you step out into the bush on day one, and someone hands you a pair of binoculars and points at a small, nondescript brown creature sitting on an acacia branch. Welcome to birding! What is birding, really? To the uninitiated, birding looks like a very quiet, slow-moving hobby. In reality, it’s a live

This blog was written by Benjamin Loon, a Bushwise Professional Safari Guide student . Each student takes a turn as camp manager, and writing a blog is part of the experience. All images accompanying this blog were captured by Benjamin. Cuckoo wasps are small, mostly solitary wasps best known for their bright metallic, iridescent body colours, which have earned many species the common name “jewel wasps”. However, the more widespread name “cuckoo wasp” comes from their unique