Sasol Bird and Birding Fair

A Report of the Event - By Angie Wilken

What a delightful surprise to be invited and sponsored by Birdlife to
attend this event.
I was so excited, so much to prepare and organize and sooner than expected it was time to catch a plane and go.
A smooth flight on a plane with a total weight mass of 64 tons, just under an hour and touch down at Lanseria Airport to be greeted by a slightly chilly JHB.

Early on Saturday morning we arrived at the zoo at 6am, still dark and frost patches whitened the grass, the weather quite different from our Mount Moreland, KZN home ground.

Time to set up and display, I was allocated a gazebo with a table and chairs. The most unusual thing about this event held in the zoo is that you have animals all around you and some of the most strangest sounds and calls could be heard throughout the day.

Before long all stand holders were set up and the public slowly started to arrive.
Most visitors that stopped at the Mount Moreland stand had already heard of or knew about our Barn Swallows and lots of them have it as an event they want to see and experience.
It was lovely to share our knowledge and destination of Barn Swallows with so many visitors.

These are some of the creatures that were close to my stand.
         
African Elephant, Lemur, Famous gorilla Statue, Yellow Cheeked Gibbon with baby

There were lots of interesting things to see and talks to attend - much more than listed on the programme.

There were some really interesting exhibitors....wildlife, birding clubs and organisations, magazines, binoculars, books, bird seed and feeders, bird art,  here are some of them 

All too soon the show was over and I am truly grateful and thankful for having this wonderful opportunity
and experience presented to us to showcase and promote our Barn Swallows of Mount Moreland.
Thank you Birdlife - Sasol and ACSA (Airports Company South Africa)

It really was awesome