Southern Ground Hornbill

Bromvoël · Bucorvus leadbeateri

A big turkey-sized black bird with a bright red face and throat, walking the bush in small family groups. Its deep booming call at dawn sounds like a lion grunting far away. It marches along snapping up insects, frogs, snakes and small animals, and lives an amazingly long life, raising chicks very slowly.

Log your Southern Ground Hornbill sighting — free →

How to identify it

A large all-black ground bird with bare bright-red (or red-and-yellow in young) facial skin and white wingtips flashing in flight.

Listen for its call

Deep booming 'ooomph-ooomph' duets at dawn - often mistaken for a lion.

Where to see it in Kruger

Walks open woodland and savanna park-wide in family groups, frequently crossing roads in the early morning.

Did you know

Its deep booming dawn call carries for kilometres and is often mistaken for a distant lion.

See it? Log it — free.

MyKrugerHoliday is a free, offline field guide and one-tap sighting log for a Kruger self-drive. No ads, no account, works with no signal.

Open the app → Browse the field guide