SAPOA

Joint issue SAPOA - from left to right :

K1.100 : Peregrine Falcon (擬游隼) ; K1.700, K500 : African Fish Eagle (吼海鵰)
K2.200 : Blue Crane (藍鶴) ; K750 : Western Cattle Egret (黃頭鷺)
K1.500 : Bar-tailed Trogon (斑尾咬鵑) ; K1.800 : Violet-crested Turaco (紫冠蕉鵑)
Zambia (2004)
Definitive - from top to bottom :
B : African Sacred Ibis (埃及聖鷺) ; C : Purple Swamphen (紫水雞)
Zambia (2001)
9th June, 2010. Lusaka Airport
10th June, 2010. Lusaka

Thanks to Yoram again, he sent me nice bird covers from Zambia and Zimbabwe when he spent a safari trip during mid-June, they are wonderful and amazing. This time, is the first SAPOA (Southern Africa Postal Operators Association) joint issue released on 2004, featuring the 7 membership's national birds, they are Peregrine Falcon of Angola ; African Fish Eagle of Namibia and Zimbabwe ; Blue Crane of South Africa ; Western Cattle Egret of Botswana and Zambia and last one, Violet-crested Turaco of Swaziland. However some birds has already shown here as below :

• Peregrine Falcon - Canada, Italy, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates ;
• African Fish Eagle - Kenya ;
• Blue Crane - South Africa ;
• Violet-crested Turaco - South Africa.

Actually, those birds are quite common to be found in southern Africa, or say some birds are endemic to some areas or countries.

As the postage rate, two more bird definitive stamps be used on the mail, these two old stamps (still selling in there and no surprising) issued on 2001 are seem more attractive than the SAPOA stamps ! African Sacred Ibis and Purple Swamphen are common in sub-Sahara area, and also the swamphen to be found in Indian Peninsula, South-east Asia to eastern part of Australia and Oceania islands.