Vultures don't have the best reputation and belong to the so-called "Ugly Five" of the African bush. “We don’t see the vultures very often on safari, so they are still a highlight,” says Captain Redbeard Ranger Alasdair. Today he's talking about a very special species of vulture he has seen a few days ago that brought him into ecstasy.

“There were actually two of them and they were massive … massive!” says Alasdair.

He speaks of a so called “Lapped-faced Vulture” and points his hand up to the level of his hip to show how huge this species of vulture is. It is a very large species, ranking as the longest and largest winged vulture in its range, measuring up to 115 cm in body length, with a wingspan of almost 3 meters.

"We saw the two birds near a waterhole, quite far to the east, as we were heading towards Molatedi Dam," says Alasdair. A typical habitat to stay for this species of vulture. It prefers to live in dry savannah, thornbush, arid plains, deserts with scattered trees in wadis, open mountain slopes.

This species is patchily distributed through much of Africa, however, Alasdair says: "We almost never see it. We are more used to finding other species of vultures, such as Cape vulture, White-backed Vulture or Hooded vulture, but not this one. It almost makes me go crazy when I see it!"

The lappet-faced vulture's world population is believed to have decreased perceptibly, and as of October 2015 their status was updated to “Endangered”. 

Alasdair: "We lingered at the dam for a moment. The vultures didn't do much, they basically just sat on the ground. But this sighting was still epic!"

A thank you to Alasdair and Timo for the photos.