This field guide review was written by Chris Lotz on September 30, 2025.
This second edition of Birding Gauteng is truly a must-have book for any birder (from beginner to experienced) based in (or visiting) Johannesburg or Pretoria, South Africa. It is a remarkably detailed and comprehensive bird-finding guide covering the whole of “Greater Gauteng” (plus some mega-diverse sites within easy reach of Pretoria and Johannesburg during a weekend getaway). The first edition was published 16 years prior, and the second edition has been extensively updated in many ways. The updates include the following:
- 38 new birding sites have been added! (Some “further afield” sites have however been removed, to make space for the new ones).
- The book is absolutely full of beautiful new photos (mainly birds, but also scenery, etc.), 90 % of them by one of the three authors, Dylan Vasapolli.
- A dozen key specials have been clearly listed in a box for each birding site. In my opinion, this is a huge improvement compared to the first edition, which would sometimes list around 75 “key species and endemics” for a single site, rather than more usefully summarizing just the main/key targets. The text of both editions anyway details all the species to look for at each site, making the concise list of top/key species for each site more complementary and useful to the reader (in the second edition).
- The maps for each site have been completely (and painstakingly) redrawn.
- A lot of general information such as accommodation facilities and telephone numbers have been more streamlined (most people rely on Google these days; things have changed!)
- The introduction to the book is of course fully updated, and is packed with great information ranging from practical tips about birding Gauteng including what sorts of venomous snakes to watch out for, to a description of the province’s top birding sites and an annotated list of key avian targets.
This is truly an essential book for anyone birding Gauteng, and my advice is quite honestly to buy it immediately. You can do so (and also read more information about the book) here.
