Overview

The African Bird of Prey Sanctuary is dedicated to the conservation of indigenous raptors and is base to ongoing research, breeding and rehabilitation projects for birds of prey. The majority of these projects run ‘behind the scenes’ to ensure that the integrity of the wild birds is not compromised and that a high release success rate is achieved. The sanctuary is, however, also home to a wide selection of captive-bred or ‘non-releasable rehabilitation’ birds. These raptors can be viewed in their ‘micro-environment’ enclosures by anyone who wishes to visit and learn about South Africa’s magnificent aerial predators.

Education and public awareness is paramount to the effective conservation of our environment and its creatures. To facilitate this, a specially trained group of raptors are flown in daily flight displays. These demonstrations allow the raptors themselves to become both teachers and ambassadors for their wild counterparts, so that members of the audience can experience these normally rare and elusive birds first hand.

The African Bird of Prey Sanctuary opened quietly in June 2006, but is an amalgamation of various projects that have been ongoing in KZN for the previous five years. The sanctuary is headed up by husband and wife team, Ben and Shannon Hoffman and cares for over 180 different birds of prey of 50 different species.  Although the sanctuary is situated on 60 hectares of scenic valley bushveld, it is within easy reach of both Pietermaritzburg and Durban. Partnering this project is the Mayibuye community, who own the land on which the sanctuary is built and share a percentage of all gate takings. The centre is also base to the African Raptor Trust (No. IT 1467/2005), of which the specialist rehabilitation facility ‘Raptor Rescue’ is currently the primary working group.