We asked our staff for their top ten facts about crane migration to create this list – we hope you are inspired to learn more about the mystery of bird migration!

Aug. 13, 2024 (South Africa) – As part of the long-term commitment to protect threatened grassland and wetland crane habitat in the Drakensberg region of South Africa, the International Crane Foundation – in partnership with Endangered Wildlife Trust – announces registration in one of only six registered carbon offsetting projects in the world using Voluntary Carbon Market Methodology – and covering the widest geographical footprint in the country.

The International Crane Foundation recently signed a 20-year collaborative partnership agreement to help restore and manage Blue Lagoon and Lochinvar National Parks of the Kafue Flats in Zambia, home to the largest population of Endangered Wattled Cranes and Kafue Lechwe antelope.

On a recent visit to the flats: To get an idea of where the birds were, we visited a fishing camp. The fisherfolk said, there and there and there! The Ranger helped us get there. And there and there. And behold. Congregations of water birds of global significance. In the Kafue Flats. The vision of the Kafue Flats Restoration Partnership is “A Thriving Wetland For All.” — Mwape Sichilongo The Kafue Flats in Zambia is the most important floodplain in Africa for Wattled Cranes. More than 3,000 of these majestic birds (a third of the total population) depend on the Kafue Flats for their breeding, feeding, and roosting needs. Local communities who share this floodplain with Wattled Cranes call them, Nakaala, meaning “the one who lays only one or two precious eggs.” They are the most wetland-dependent of Africa’s cranes and important indicators of the health and ecological functioning of this enormous floodplain.