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Lookout!

In the picture below you will see some of the things that you might find in open Miombo woodland. This is Zambia's most common woodland habitat and once used to cover a large part of the country. Since then though the clearing of trees for farms and chopping them down for charcoal has reduced its extent.

Miombo woodland is known as a two-storeyed woodland. This means that it has two different levels of plants. The first are the trees which grow to a height of between 15-20 metres. Of these trees Muputu (1) and Mpasa (2) are the more common. The second level consists of shrubs and grasses. These are able to grow because the trees don't have that many leaves, meaning that light can reach the ground below allowing other plants to grow. Read on to find out what to look out for.

Parties of birds amongst the trees often include the Fork-tailed Drongo (3), the White Helmet Shrike (4) and the Cardinal Woodpecker (5). These are all insect-eaters although the shrike sometime hunts on the ground. The woodpecker climbs trees looking for beetles in the bark, and the drongo catches most of its prey whilst flying.

The butterflies in the picture (6) suck the nectar of flowers growing in damp places whilst the squirrel (7) spends most of its time in the high branches eating seeds, fruits and perhaps a few eggs and insects. The Common Duiker (8) browses the leaves and fruits it can reach from the ground.

Hidden Animals

Think you've got an eagle's eye for animals. If you do then why not try and find all of the animals hidden in the picture below. There are twelve animals in all ranging from insects and reptiles to birds and mammals. If you can find all of them then you can consider yourself a safari guide of the highest order.