The African Wattled Lapwing is a large brown plover with yellow legs and yellow facial wattles beside the bill.
The forehead is white, with yellow skin around the eye and at the base of the bill. The legs are yellow, and the body is mainly brown.
It often uses damp lowland grasslands near lakes and rivers, but also visits dry grassland and fields, where it takes insects and other invertebrates from the ground.
In southern Africa the male makes several ground scrapes and the female selects one. It is lined with grass stems, roots, pebbles and dried dung. Both parents incubate 2–4 eggs for about 28–32 days.
In southern Africa chicks leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching and remain attended by at least one adult.
The head and neck have fine dark streaks, and the bill has a black tip. Juveniles have smaller facial wattles and forehead patches, with a whitish throat marked by dark streaks.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.