Ben led us on a wonderful half days birdwatching that ticked all the boxes. Yes we did see some iconic birds but with Ben even the ordinary ones were interesting.

Ben was an excellent guide and helped our group to get many new birds and very friendly, I would highly reccomended Ben to be your guide down at the coast.

We spend a day out with Ben birding around the Sedgefield area. Ben is incredibly knowledgeable and engaging. We bagged 15 lifers between my son and I and located many of the area specials.

We went out in the Wilderness area with only one active birder (me) and 3 family members (spouse and two adult children) who know (very) little about birding. Ben succeeded in providing a very nice birding morning which everyone of us enjoyed thoroughly. Ben is a good guide and good company.

Had a wonderful full day birding with Ben in the Knysna area

Visited many sights and saw plenty of great birds

Stunning scenery too of the area

Ben was great guide and good company too

I’m a UK birder & I had a fantastic day out birding with Ben around the Plettenberg Bay, Nature’s Valley & Tsitsikamma National Park areas. He knew all the good ‘off the beaten track’ areas to search for birds including wetlands, farmland, forest & campsites – his bird call recognition was superb. We saw some great species including the elusive Victorin’s Warbler & Yellow- throated Woodland Warbler & we had great views of African Emerald Cuckoo plus many other species. Would highly recommend.

We spent two days exploring the Garden Route area with Ben.

Ben was very responsive to our requests for the birds we were eager to see. He knew exactly where they were, so we had excellent sightings in this diverse area.

We highly recommend Ben; his knowledge of birdlife is extensive, and everything went smoothly. Thank you very much for the successful 2 days trip.

wanted to do some birding in Knysna but did t plan ahead. Luckily found Ben on internet and even more luckily he was available the next day . Excellent guide, oriented to clients situation, foundmany lifers . Lots of knowledge of the area. I had a great time and excellent photos.I would highly recommend him to birders of all

levels

Had a wondeful experience on my birding trip with Ben Fouche on 27th February 2025. It included 2 walks on trails, the Mole Rat trail near Rondevlei Hide and another through the forest. We also took in the Hide. I saw a lot of new birds I hadn’t seen yet in my 3 weeks in Western Cape. Ben has a wonderful talent firstly knowing all the calls but probably more importantly being able to make those calls too. This means that I saw elusive birds such as the Knysna Warbler. Other new sightings included a Green-backed Camorophera, Forest Canary, Neddicky, Puffback, Pied Kingfisher, Knysna Lourie & Collared sunbird. Taking in the different habitats & locations was lovely, especially the forest which was beautiful with some wetland area & aside from the trees some lovely native plants, beautiful butterflies and dragonflies.

We had a great days birding with Ben. A really pleasant guy with a huge amount of knowledge.

We had a great time birding the Garden Route with Ben, who knows his birds and where to find them in the area. Ben was indefatigable in driving us around in pursuit of all the looked after species. His garden’s turacos and sunbirds were a real treat!

We are 3 friends who recently became more interested in birding. Most of our birding until now had been done in the Bushveld area. I contacted Ben to arrange a one day bird tour to orientate us to the Garden Route area in general, and forest and water birds in particular.

Ben curated a fantastic experience on a mix of public and private land which gave us an excellent introduction to birding in the Sedgefield and Wilderness area.

Ben’s technical knowledge is excellent, he is particularly strong on bird calls, and we wouldn’t have seen half the species we did without him.

Bonus is that we received recommendations for other spots in the area to visit which bagged us a Nerina Trogan amongst others!

Highly recommended.

We had a half day birding trip with Ben. His knowledge of local birds , their songs and habits is excellent. He took us to five locations and we saw a breeding pair of peregrine falcons amongst many other birds.

Fully recommend him. Even if you are not visiting his area he has contacts throughout South Africa that he can put you in touch with.

Trip with Ben was very enjoyable. He is knowledgable.

The brochure did not say Ben would be there promptly at 05h00 (in spite of the light rain) to show a wet Night Heron five minutes later! In the next 8 hours we visited various spots and spotted 93 different species – 5 Lifers for me and 5 more that I only saw for the second time! I appreciated Ben’s knowledge of the bird sounds ( we only heard the African Emerald Cuckoo’s “Pretty Georgie”) and him also using the Afrikaans names: “Boskrapper” & “Watertrapper” had me thinking! His use of the Atlas also inspired me to try. A wonderful morning – Thanks Ben!

Imagine this, walking in the veldt, birds chirping and general nature doing what general nature does. Ben takes the lead and indicates for us to stop, he then starts whistling, bird calling actually and the birds reply in unison. Birds that we had not seen started popping out their nests and other hiding places, almost like old friends, they chat. What an amazing and exciting time we had with Ben from Bird Watcher.

His knowledge of the terrain, climate and history of the region is only surpassed by his birding skills. Birding with Ben will make you see nature in a different light.

Thank you Ben for an amazing time.

Ben was a friendly and extremely knowledgeable guide, who gave us a varied and interesting day in a variety of sites. We saw lots of lovely birds in a relaxed environment. Outstanding!

Paul Spencer (UK)

Ben picked us up, drove us round… initially for four hours, but things were going so well he upped it by another couple. He was wonderfully knowledgeable and approachable. What more can one ask for? It was a truly memorable experience.

Robert Petty (UK)

We were recommended to Ben by the Timeshare establishment we were staying at in Sedgefield.

Despite inclement weather we were lucky to pick a morning trip with Ben on a dry day.

We found him very friendly and knowledgable and he went out of his way to find some beautiful birds.

He took us to different Biomes, Oystercatchers on the beach, a magnificent Honey buzzard right above us, Knysna Lourie in the forest and a trip to the “BIG TREE”.

Riverside we saw Kingfishers,Giant, pied and a gorgeous Malachite. Many other birds too many to mention were seen.

Despite being a morning trip, Ben did not stop his endeavours until early afternoon.

We would wholeheartedly recommend Ben. This was the highlight of our trip through the Garden Route.

Ben loves to entertain tourists on these occasions and we have many memorable times around the camp fires.

His knowledge of the cultural and historical aspects of most areas makes him a very interesting companion and guide. His knowledge of nature which include wildlife, astronomy, birds and reptiles is outstanding and I have spent many hours with Ben in the veld.

Ben is a responsible guide and has a good knowledge of tracking and bush signs. I have accompanied Ben on many birding trips and I am impressed with his knowledge of birds, bird behavior and bird calls.

Ben has opened a new dimension in birding for me.

Since I have started birding with Ben my love for birds has been rekindled and I look forward to the next trip.

Ben,

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us. It was a wonderful experience and we really appreciate all the time you devoted to us.

The list of sightings is nothing short of amazing especially in light of our late start.

We hope to be able to do this again.

With sincere thanks,

Joe and Anne Caruso (USA)