Moletzie Bird Sanctuary

Polokwane means:'place of safety' and is quite appropriate as it protects the Cape Vulture! Endemic to Southern Africa, but a few individuals have been recorded from Zambia. They are now mostly found in two regions: North West/ Limpopo Provinces and Lesotho/Western KwaZulu-Natal/Northeastern Cape. There are small remnant breeding populations in the Western Cape and Western Swaziland and non-breeding groups in Namibia and Southern Zimbabwe.

One of the largest southern African vultures with a total length of about 106 cm and is the lightest in colour being mostly whitish grey above flecked with brown. The outer black primary feathers of the wing, the 12 tail feathers (in other species of this genus there are 14) and the inner dark brown secondary feathers contrast sharply with the lighter colour of the rest of the body, both above and below. The brownish crop section is surrounded by white down while the rest of the ventral parts range from brown to cream to stone becoming lighter on the wings.

The blue grey head and neck are sparsely covered with white down but at the base of the neck there are a few rows of long feathers forming a grey- buff collar. The bare face is bluish grey, the eyes yellowish brown and the feet grey. Apart from a slight size difference (female larger) there is little difference between the sexes making it difficult to differentiate between males and females.