Southern Africa October 2007

Birds, wildlife and tourism in South Africa, Botswana and Zambia

October 11^th – 28^th 2007

Authors:	Chris Cameron
	Julie Dawson

Introduction

Sometime during 2006, after numerous chats about how marvellous our 2005 trip to South Africa had been during the Sunday night quiz at the Beacon, Shrewsbury we decided to return as a foursome in October 2007. We worked out a budget and agreed to try to get to at least one other African country during our stay and saved up all the odd pounds from our winnings in a Scratch Card fund that Steve maintained on his mobile ‘phone.

After months of planning and scrapping the “Namibia option” (too many wasted nights to get from Cape Town to Namibia then to the Kruger) we met up on a chilly October morning armed with our scratch card money (about 70 £1 cards converted into about £100 cash – who says you cant win on them?) and all kinds of itinerary printouts, e-mails, e-tickets and booking records and set off for Birmingham International. About 15 hours later, having changed at Amsterdam, we arrived at Johannesburg airport where we were staying for the first night before carrying on to Cape Town the following day.

Logistics

We flew with KLM return to Johannesburg, then with Mango to Cape Town and Kulula back to Johannesburg. The main flights (not including the side trip to Zambia) came to about £600 pp. We decided that we wanted to stay in reasonable accommodation and managed to get a few good deals on the internet at various locations. After looking at visiting Livingstone in Zambia using our normal DIY methods we opted to use a local travel agent because it looked as though we would probably spend about the same amount booking direct but would lose the possible benefit of airport transfers etc. This turned out to be the worst decision that we made during the entire break.

We had hire cars for the two South African legs of the holiday, both booked through Auto Europe. As there were four of us with luggage we wanted vehicles with plenty of room and we also wanted a bigger car for the Kruger section because of the advantage of a higher vantage point. In the event the car supplied at Cape Town was far superior to the more expensive one from Johannesburg. At the time of writing we have not had a response to our query of how a 1.5 litre Mazda fits in the “VW Sharan” or equivalent bracket, but we live in hope.

Itinerary

11/10/2007

On arrival at the airport our first challenge was to call our first night hotel and arrange for a pick-up. This turned out to be more difficult than expected an a couple of mobiles that had worked fine in Spain less than three weeks were no help at all. Eventually we were approached by a man hanging around the airport information desk who asked if he could help. We told him what our problem was and he produced a ‘phone and told us to wait there. He then turned up with another couple who were apparently also going to our hotel. We were a little suspicious about this, possibly in part due to fatigue after a long journey but our suspicions were completely unfounded and 15 minutes later a driver from the Johannesburg Airport Game Lodge turned up for us. Annoyingly we couldn’t even find the chap who’d assisted us to give him a tip for his troubles.

The Airport Game lodge was our second choice for an overnight stop, selected on the basis of its appealing and slightly twee website. It was perhaps a 15 minute drive at this time of night and when we got there we realised that our half-baked plans for going out to a restaurant for a quick meal were not going to happen. There is nowhere obvious to eat nearby and the hassle of sorting taxis out didn’t seem worth it. We weren’t that hungry and we had an early start again the next day, so we chose to get to our rooms for a shower and an early-ish night.

The rooms were very pleasing and comfortable with adequate facilities and the staff were very friendly. I feel unable to do the place justice, probably because we were too travel-weary to take in much detail, but we had a bit of a wonder round to listen to the sounds of the night (crickets, Egyptian Geese and Helmet Guinea fowl, mostly) and to spot a few of the small antelope that wander around the grounds. We found a kitchen and JD and CC were delighted to find a well stocked freezer and a small wine rack along with an honesty sheet for ticking off your selections. We had a tasty microwaved lasagne and a slightly less tasty cottage pie with an excellent for the price bottle of red before showering and retiring for the night.

12/10/2007

Almost inevitably, no alarm was needed to wake us up before sunrise. This was sorted out for us by the calls of the first Hadeda Ibises of the day. This bird is very common throughout the areas we visited and will soon become familiar to any visiting birdwatchers but they had CC groping for his binoculars and JD wasn’t far behind. Steve and Pippa aren’t birders so they were exempt from the early morning, pre-breakfast ramble but we’d seen a dozen or so species before the sun was properly up, and better still identified most of them. Highlights included Crowned Lapwings (the only ones of the trip), Black-headed Heron, Southern Boubou, Red-faced Mousebird and Long-tailed Widow. 

We didn’t have much time and not long after sunrise we were off in the lodge’s transport to the airport again. It seemed highly probable that any birder staying at the lodge for a few hours during daylight could rack up a list of 25-30 species quite easily. There might not be any great rarities about but not a bad quick introduction to South African birding.

The Johannesburg Airport Game Lodge definitely gets our thumbs up for all the best reasons. The rooms are fine, the staff friendly and the honesty bar is an appealing feature – it’s nice to feel trusted. A definite recommendation for people stopping over in the area between flights and probably fine for a longer stay as well.

Breakfast was from one of the take-away places in the domestic airport and was fine. There was a good selection of eateries and we also picked up some decent maps for the Cape Town area. Our Mango flight was on time and the trip was almost cloudless all the way so we got some decent views of Table Mountain on the descent into Cape Town.

With all of our bags in our spacious 2 litre Toyota we set off on the easy hour or so drive to Boulders Beach and the Boulders Beach Lodge, ticking a Black-shouldered Kite and a Marsh Mongoose on the way. The Lodge was a place that CC and JD became very fond of on our last visit and we were pleased to see that Pippa and Steve liked the look of their room and the beautiful location. We were given the same room as last time – number 5 – which made us smile.

There was no time to waste and the weather was stunning with clear blue skies in the late morning. A visit to the African Penguins was the first item on the agenda and we added plenty more common birds to our list with Cape Wagtail, Cape Bulbul and Cape Robin-chat all combining to make sure that we knew where we were. Then Pippa said that she thought she’d seen a whale and after a short while we had to agree that she was correct. We counted at least 5 Southern Right Whales about a kilometre off-shore, including two breaching.

Next we drove down to Cape Point, stopping from time to time for photos on this very scenic route. Within the reserve itself and just past the turn off for Cape of Good Hope we got our first good look at Orange-breasted Sunbirds, a pair of which posed rather nicely for photographs. At the point itself we bought sandwiches and biltong and we were joined by a Cape Bunting and a pretty Four-striped Grass Mouse as we tucked into our lunch before taking the funicular up to the top.  It was quite breezy here but nothing like as bad as in 2005 and we put in a call to Cape Town Pelagics to be told that the trip tomorrow was definitely on. Not getting out to search for  albatrosses and other oceanic birds had been one of the big disappointments of the 2005 trip, along with missing out on Secretary Bird, so this was am opportunity that had been a long time coming.

We wandered back down the hill and agreed to walk the path across the fynbos to the Cape of Good Hope. This short walk has tremendous scenery and, at this time of year at least, a huge variety of flowers. There were lots of lizards about in sheltered spots and a Cape Grassbird came almost too close to the camera for it to focus.

Back in the car, we chose to head up the west side of the Cape Peninsular, perhaps as far as Kommetije but a couple of small birds flying in to tall trees near the Visitor Centre caused us to stop and we were pleased that we did because these were Cape Siskins – a new species for CC and JD. We stopped at a few places along the coast before finding a couple of Right Whales just offshore at Misty Cliffs village and we settled down to watch these for quite a while before realising that it would soon be dark and that  we had a dinner booking at the Boulders Beach restaurant, so we grabbed a few sunset photos before driving back to shower and change.

It’s safe to say that we had some superb food throughout our trip, to the extent that it seems unfair to pick the best, but it probably was the meal at Boulders Beach. We managed starters, mains and pudding and some beer and cider and a couple of bottles of decent wine (the Bouchard Finlayson red was particularly good) and the bill came to about £100 for the four of us. It was the most expensive meal we had in the whole period that we were in Southern Africa but a real bargain by British standards. All of the ingredients were fresh and tasty and they were prepared and served with panache and good humour. Best of all we got a photograph of Steve that looks rather like what a waxwork model of him might look like, if it had been made by someone who’d never met him! We have a laugh at it every time we see it.

13/10/2007

Pelagic day. Steve kindly got up early and drove us the 10 minutes or so to the harbour in Simon’s Town where the only other people were clearly birdwatchers. We said our good mornings and listened to the safety and ‘life on board’ information and within 30 minutes we were underway.

The boats used by the companies that offer pelagic trips are mostly small and fast and we were soon speeding into False Bay, stopping only to get a close look at a few whales that we saw in several places on the way to Cape Point. At speed the boat trip can be quite rough and some people opted to remain in the sheltered area but we had full waterproofs on and stayed outside, not wanting to miss anything.

There was a short stop just past Cape Point to allow people to get photographs as it was a beautiful day and the wind that we’d experienced the day before seemed to have died down completely, then it was full speed to the edge of the continental shelf in search of sea birds. On the way we picked up a White-chinned Petrel, the species that turned out to be most numerous off-shore and then a small group of much more familiar birds, Cory’s Shearwaters. A few other birds were noted, mostly at some distance from the boat – too far to be worth slowing down for – but the skipper told us that he’d found a trawler and that was where he was heading.

As we got nearer the fishing boat it became obvious why the birding trips target them. There were lots of birds all of a sudden, all making for the boat at speed. We arrived at the Freesia to find that it was getting ready to take in its nets – an encouraging sign and before very long we picked up one of the trip’s target species, Black-bellied Storm Petrel, when one of these delicate little ocean-dwellers flew past the boat quickly but giving everyone a chance to get a brief glimpse. Another one followed close behind. The next exciting bird was an adult Shy Albatross which flew right over the boat, only a few metres above our heads. Albatrosses were not particularly numerous on the trip but we did manage good views of four different species, with Black-browed, Atlantic Yellow-nosed and a single Indian Yellow-nosed all being recorded.

The Freesia was attended by three ski-boats crewed by sports fishermen. Apparently sports fish often attend nets hoping to get spillage. Our skipper had already tried to call one of the boats on the radio to warn them that they were getting too close to the nets, but the were too busy fishing to answer and then he called The Freesia but they were of the view that it was too late and that the nets were already fouled. Sure enough a few minutes later the small ski-boat was in trouble with a huge ball of tangled nets stuck to their propeller. The men on the trawler did not look pleased and within a very short time the surface of the ocean was covered with thousands of dead hake that were spilling from the nets. Somehow the small boat managed to free itself (it had been in grave danger of being dragged under) and it was about this time that we realised that we were having two personal disasters. Julie was feeling quite seasick, for the 3^rd time in four sea trips, despite never having suffered previously, and even worse, the camera had packed in.

This was particularly galling because the drama with the burst net meant that instead of making do with scraps and escapes the birds had a huge amount of food to exploit and were settling on the sea, often within metres of the boat to take advantage. They were joined by a large group of Cape Fur Seals who were gorging themselves on the biggest fish as quickly as possible.

Black-bellied Storm Petrels arrived in numbers, skipping on the surface of the sea, and with them smaller numbers of Wilson’s Storm Petrels. We’d seen our first ever Great Shearwaters in the Bay of Biscay about 8 weeks earlier but they were common out here, more numerous even than the Sooty Shearwaters. A Northern Great Petrel was a bonus but a bigger surprise and definitely the bird of the trip was a Spectacled Petrel that drifted along the side of the boat and gave exceptional views from the stern. Apparently there were two of this critically endangered and rarely seen species but we were content with the one we saw.

Another highlight, especially for CC were the Pintado Petrels. Many years ago he had noticed this species as a rare vagrant in a European field guide and thought what a wonderful bird it would be to see. Although not as numerous as they can be we probably saw a hundred or so Pintado Petrels and they weren’t a disappointment.

We were in amongst these superb sea birds for about three hours, although it felt like much less and then it was time to turn back. A flock of Arctic Terns were the last new birds on the open ocean and we picked up a couple of Arctic Skuas not far from Cape Point. CC’s attempt to turn a speed boat on the horizon into a Humpbacked Whale was doomed to failure. A quick visit to the Bank Cormorant colony followed and we were back in Simon’s Town by 3 p.m.

CC’s waterproof trousers had proved to be inadequate for the task of keeping the sea out but the afternoon was hot and sunny so after saying our goodbyes we sat down at Bertha’s on the harbour side and ordered some burgers and pop. CC had dried out within 10 minutes and shortly afterwards Steve and Pippa arrived having had a pleasant day walking from Boulders to Simon’s Town and then exploring locally.

We had one important thing to arrange – somewhere suitable to watch the television that night, so we walked up to the Seaforth Hotel because we’d been told they had a big screen. The pleasant staff there told us that we would be welcome but there was live music on, so the sound would be switched off. They suggested a pub in town, the “Two and Six” so we decided that we’d need to be there by 9 p.m.

Walking back to the hotel we stopped for a while to admire a Dassie in the undergrowth above Boulders beach, then we drove across the peninsular to have a quick look at Kommetije where we found plenty of terns and a few waders knocking about and also took the opportunity to read the strange (to us at least) sign in the car park that forbids the pumping of prawns.

Time was marching on as they say, so we decided to get an early meal and were strangely drawn to the chip shop on Simon’s Town harbour The previous night’s meal was to be our most expensive and this turned out to be our cheapest evening meal. Both were excellent in their own way but only the chippy sold mushy peas.

Getting a taxi back from the hotel into Simon’s Town looked tricky – apparently they’re not very reliable – but one of the hotel staff kindly offered to give us a lift, so at bang on 9 o’clock and suitably attired in white jerseys with the red rose logo we arrived at the “Two and Six” at the very moment that the national anthem started, because this was the night of the France vs. England semi-final of the Rugby Union World Cup.

It’s fair to say that we made a bit of an entrance and heads turned as we made our way to the bar (after God Save the Queen had finished, of course) and got our first round in just in time for kick off. The place was packed and the atmosphere was excellent and to be fair most of the locals seemed to be supporting England who after a couple of lacklustre years and some woeful performances at the start of the tournament were definitely the underdogs, but we were determined to make some noise and make our presence felt. It’s not often that we get to watch our national side in a major semi-final in a country where they really understand the sport. Anyway, England won and we’d beaten Australia and then France in consecutive, important matches. All this and one of the world’s rarest birds. The rest of the night is still a bit of a blur but we probably made a few friends.  

14/10/2007

A Marsh Mongoose in the car park and 5 Southern Right Whales were the only mammals we saw during breakfast at Boulders Beach so we decided it was time to move on towards our next destination, Hermanus. Steve and Pippa kindly indulged our obsession and agreed to have a “quick look” at Strandfontein Sewage Works as we made our way back to the motorway. By the time that we got there the sky had become very grey and rain looked to be quite close, so we only got as far as the first main pools. As with our previous trip we found quite a few birds at this site that we didn’t see anywhere else, including Greater Flamingos, Red-necked Grebes, Glossy Ibis, Avocet and Levaillant’s Cisticola but the onset of heavy rain chased us away. Making your friends wander round sewage works in a downpour is probably stretching friendship a little too far!

Petrol and pies were purchased at the first service station on the motorway and we noticed that the little patch of reeds at the side of the slip road had loads of displaying Southern Red Bishops and Yellow Bishops. The rain prevented us from investigating further, though.

Our route to Hermanus took us along the N2 and through the small town of Caledon before a cross-country hop to the seaside town. Caledon seemed to have little in the way of signage for people heading for Hermanus so we took an educated guess and turned right in what seemed to be the town centre (there were no people about) and after passing an industrial area with a couple of large factories eventually decided that we were on the right road.

The first section of this route, still on metalled roads passes through an upland agricultural area with most of the fields seeming to be pasture. There are birds here and on our two crossings we picked up several species, some common and some less so, that CC and JD had not seen in 2005. We identified most of these by simply pulling over whenever we saw anything that looked interesting, U-turning and driving back. We must have done half a dozen u-turns on the southbound trip and several on the way back north the next day.  

Birds of note on the southbound drive included a pair of Blue Cranes right next to the road, lots of Pied Starlings, Cape Shelduck, Red-capped Lark, Capped Wheatear and a Yellow-fronted Canary a little out of the range given in field guides. The best of the birding was in the first 4 or 5 kilometres south of Caledon before the road drops steeply into the grape growing region further south. There are a couple of small but fairly noticeable hilltops either side of the road where we were to get a couple of pretty good ‘ticks’ on the way back. Anywhere north of here seemed to have good numbers of birds from a range of species.

The Hermanus Guest House had been called Misty Beach Chateau when Julie and Chris last stayed there and we were pleased to note that the change of name and ownership had not resulted in a drop in standards. This place is top notch and all the better for losing the rather cheesy “chateau” (it is definitely not a castle, French or otherwise) title and one or two of the more extravagant decorative flourishes. The rain was becoming sporadic when we are arrived and we were delighted with our rooms. Pippa and Steve got the Honeymoon Suite whilst Chris and Julie had to make do with the Presidential Suite on the ground floor. Both rooms were immaculate with gorgeous 4-poster beds and large bathrooms with spa bath and shower. We enjoyed our complimentary bottles of wine whilst the sun made a few fitful efforts to come through and then set off for a walk into town, along the coastal path.

Whales were easy to find, often close in to the shore and we saw several Dassies on the cliffs before heading back to the hotel to change for dinner. The South Africa-Argentina semi-final was due to start at 9 p.m. so we wanted to have finished eating by then but we were astonished to discover that it was rather difficult to find a restaurant that could seat us. Presumably half of South Africa had decided to eat out before the match too. We eventually got a table outside at a place called Rossi’s, where we had to keep our jackets on because the day’s rain had lowered the temperatures. The place was packed so we had to wait quite a long time for our meals, which were all pretty good. We asked our waitron (the preferred South African term for waiting staff in bars and restaurants) where we could watch the match and she offered Barney’s next door as one option, with the caveat that “It’s a bit Afrikaans”. Emboldened by our SA jerseys we wandered in just after the first half had finished with South Africa ahead. The second half was quite entertaining but the atmosphere was not as good as the previous night in Simon’s Town. South Africa deserved to win and we were pleased that we would be able to watch an England-South Africa final whilst in the homeland of our opponents but we slunk out a short while after the end of the game when the nationalist songs came on the juke box, prompting some enthusiastic stomping by some rather large gentlemen.

The walk back to the hotel was made interesting because from time to time it was possible to here whales very close to the cliffs blowing. The sound was surprisingly loud and we had heard it several times before we worked out what we were hearing. 

15/10/2007

After a leisurely breakfast in the guest house we spent some time watching the whales and then headed off to the nearby Fernkloof Reserve, picking up some snacks and drinks on the way to avoid a repeat of CC & JD’s mistake the last time. The weather had picked up and the sun was shining brightly from a perfect blue sky and our first excitement of the morning was provided by a Cape Grey Mongoose that trotted across the road as we drove up to the Fernkloof car park. The visitor’s centre is unmanned but there is an honesty box so you can pay for a map of the reserve paths. However there was only one and that looked as if it had been used before so we put our few Rands into the slot and remembered to return it when we got back.

The walk to the waterfall sounded good so we located the start of the path (they are reasonably well signposted) and set off. Fernkloof is quite a steep, hilly reserve with a rich population of fynbos plants. The paths are pretty good and it didn’t take us long to get to the small cascade in a wooded valley so we agreed to try to get a bit higher, perhaps reaching one of the tops. Once out of the woods the views down to the coast and Walker Bay were superb. One thing that was immediately apparent was the huge concentration of whales. Although we were probably three kilometres from the sea it was easy to pick out the foamy water caused by whales breaching. Focussing binoculars on one of these patches was often rewarded by seeing the whale breach again.

There were carpets of flowers in the reserve and we located several odd-looking parasitic Snail Flowers and some Sprawling Sundews amongst the spectacular Proteas. There weren’t many birds about, but a great close up of an iridescent male Lesser Double-collared Sunbird, several Cape Sugarbirds, a male Cape Rock Thrush and a juvenile Martial Eagle vied with the marvellous views for our attention.

When we reached the top of the steep section and sat down for a drink we decided that the slog up to the main summit didn’t look worth the extra effort so we retraced our steps and paused for a while on the way out of the reserve at the area where there are picnic tables. This is worth a brief stop and a look around. Common Waxbills and Olive Thrush are quite numerous as are several species of sunbirds. A Fiscal Flycatcher was very confiding and a pair of Malachite Sunbirds flew over. This is probably one of the few species of sunbird that we would be confident of identifying on the wing. There were a couple of Angulate Tortoises lunging around in the undergrowth. There is clearly an active ringing group in the reserve because several of the birds we saw sported leg rings and JD remembered seeing ringed birds on our previous visit.

Lunch was taken in the lovely setting of Bientang’s cave and was very nice indeed but it was time to bid farewell to Hermanus, a little reluctantly, perhaps. One day wasn’t really enough to enjoy the place fully but we had a busy schedule to fulfil and a few nights in Cape Town were next on the agenda.

We headed back on the Caledon road because this looked like the fastest way into the city centre and we didn’t much fancy a long drive after dark. All went well until the aforementioned hills a few kilometres short of Caledon when JD suddenly shouted “Big bird! Bustard!”. CC was driving to fast to stop safely so he carried on until he found a safe place to turn around a few hundred metres further on. As we pulled over a large bird flew across the road in front of us and off down the slope, remaining in view for sufficient time for us to identify it as Southern Black Korhaan – another lifer for us on this stretch of road. This bird looked to have originated from near to where Julie had first seen something interesting but we went back anyway, “just in case” and were overjoyed to find that the first bird was still there, a couple of hundred metres from the road and was a Secretary Bird, a species that we had really wanted to see. We didn’t see how we were going to beat this and resolved to make haste for our Cape Town hotel. From the N2 we saw at least 20 Blue Cranes and the last birds of note for the day were a couple of Black-crowned Night Herons flying over the motorway near to the Ultracity service station.

When JD and CC first visited South Africa they’d had little time to appreciate Cape Town so we had booked ourselves into the St. George’s Hotel in the city centre, which we had found for a particularly good rate on the internet. Our arrival in Cape Town just after sunset was not too bad and the traffic was fairly quiet but we fell foul of the one-way system a few times and ended up parking near the hotel and walking to it. The concierge told us which roads to take and we were soon pulling up outside where our luggage was picked up by porters and our car keys left with the concierge. After a short break to freshen up, the hotel called a taxi for us and we were off down to the V&A Waterfront, one of Cape Town’s major tourist attractions.

A bit of a walk around helped us work up an appetite and we ended up in the lively Mitchell’s pub/brewery where our appetites were fully satisfied with decent food in enormous proportions at value-for-money. The brewery’s beers were pretty good, too.

16/10/2007

CC has been subscribed to the CapeBirdNet mail list since 2005 and just before setting off to SA he noticed a trip report from Brian Vanderwalt. He had visited the Tanqua Karoo, a semi-desert area within a longish drive from Cape Town and had seen some excellent birds. We contacted Brian to see if he had any space in his calendar and JD & CC decided on the drive from Hermanus to Cape Town that the weather forecast for the following day merited  giving him a try, so we called him and made some arrangements.

It was decidedly chilly outside the St. George’s Hotel just before 5 a.m. but we had quite a few miles to cover before daylight if we were to get the most out of the day and Brian was waiting for us in the foyer when we stepped out of the lift. The first stop of the day was at a motorway service station where Brian persuaded a staff member to knock us up some bacon sandwiches with our coffees, even though they weren’t strictly open for food at that time. After that it was full speed north and into some great birding areas.

First new bird for us was Grey-backed Cisticola, seen at the side of the R46 about 60 kms from Ceres. A few minutes later, alongside the Aquila reserve we started seeing plenty of common birds including a dark-phase Booted Eagle and somewhere along this stretch we also picked up our first lifer of the day, appropriately Brian’s logo bird, Rufous-eared Warbler. A short while later another new bird was found with a brief view of the nondescript Lark-like Bunting. The

The R355 is covered in some detail in the excellent SASOL Southern African Birdfinder guide. If you can only take two birding books to South Africa, make this your 2^nd choice after a good field guide (we probably prefer Newman to the SASOL field guide, but it’s good to have the option of different publications). You would be doing very well to find every bird mentioned in SA Birdfinder without the aid of a guide but there are some useful clues.

Once on the R355, new species started to arrive surprisingly quickly. More Lark-like Buntings were seen and a Black-headed Canary was picked out high up a rocky slope. Nearby both African Marsh Warbler and Namaqua were quite well seen in the vegetation along a watercourse and a Pale-Chanting Goshawk was observed perched on an electricity pylon, from where flew, showing of its striking wing pattern.

Along the road at Karoopoort there were lots of common and less common birds. Pale-winged Starling and Karoo Thrush were present in small numbers. A short distance further and the tarmac section of the road ended to be replaced by dirt. Another Pale Chanting Goshawk was seen along with the first of many Mountain Chats. At the picnic site beyond Karoopoort Brian picked out a pair of Klipspringers. We were particularly pleased to see these attractive small antelopes because we’d looked hard for them in 2005 without success. Dusky Sunbird was also located at this site.

Our next stop was at the next picnic site, an area with large boulders where Brian was hoping to find the elusive Cinnamon-breasted Warbler. The Warbler didn’t appear but Fairy Flycatcher and Layard’s Tit-babbler did, as well as another new species, White-throated Canary. Next we came across a few attractive Namaqua Doves and had brief flight views of Chestnut-vented Tit-babbler and at Kareekloof we found the first Karoo Chat. By this time we were well into the semi-desert of the Tanqua Karoo, which is an attractive area, bounded by hills to the east and west but with flat plains punctuated by small hills stretching off into the distant north.  

Continuing northwards we saw a second dark-phase Booted Eagle was found and a large vlei held an assortment of common duck and waders. Back into drier habitat a short walk yielded two new larks, Karoo and Spike-heeled, as well as a tortoise. Karoo Eremomela was also present along with several White-throated Canaries. A Springbok was spotted at some distance from the road but much easier to photograph was a large Girdled Lizard that was sunning itself on a boulder.

At the turn-off for Skitterykloof there were a number of European Bee-eaters and a Long-billed Crombec kept us company whilst we had a brief stop at the Skitterykloof picnic site for a drink and a snack. We then went for a walk to have another try at Cinnamon-breasted Warbler. A mongoose that was glimpsed briefly was probably Yellow Mongoose but the Elephant Shrew was visible for only fractions of a second before disappearing under a shrub. Also of interest were the Clanwilliam Aloes, an aloe species that is only found in this valley.

The warbler was found, along with Layard’s Tit Babbler some distance along the dry watercourse where we were joined in our search by a visiting birder from Dorset. A pair of the warblers kept their distance but sat out from time to time at the top of the slope, making it reasonably easy to locate them.

Brian’s next target species was Pririt Batis. He found this quite easily for us at a regular site but by now it was time to start the long trip back to Cape Town, fortunately punctuated with several stops for birding, during which we added such species as Spur-winged Goose, White-throated Swallow, Greater Flamingo, Whiskered Tern, African Paradise Flycatcher, White-backed Duck and Pearl-breasted Swallow to the day list but we missed out on African Black Duck at Ceres.

All in all, a pretty good day even though we missed out on the bustards and sandgrouse that can often be found in the Tanqua Karoo. The drive back was slightly impaired because of some pretty awful road works that we encountered south of Ceres that probably added 30 minutes on to the trip.

We had dinner at the excellent Cape Town Fish Market at the V&A where Steve and Pippa told us about their excursion to Table Mountain. They’d had a superb day for it, with barely a breath of wind and had seen a Verraulx’s (Black) Eagle whilst at the top – a species that still eludes Julie and Chris.

17/10/2007

A full day in Cape Town was in prospect and we had a list of things to do, mostly touristy stuff. Everyone wanted to see the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and Chris and Julie wanted to spend some time at the V&A during daylight (three of our previous four visits had been at night and the day time one had only been to meet someone in a car park). We also thought that if the skies were clear it might be interesting to drive some distance up the west coast to get photographs of Table Mountain.

By the time we’d breakfasted at the hotel (ok) our hire car had been parked outside for us. Steve and Pippa had tried to use the stairs because there was some problem with the lifts (most lift problems seem to be caused by people who don’t know how to use them) and had found to their concern that the doors to the stairs were all locked. This was disconcerting because these doors were also the fire exits.

We set of towards the main roads and were soon at the gates of the botanical gardens. The gardens are world famous and contain many of the plants unique to South Africa within their large boundaries. They are strikingly situated beneath the steep slopes of Table Mountain and when we arrived the weather was quite magnificent, with clear blue skies and warm sunshine.

You can get good close views of several species of sunbirds, prinias and canaries but a nesting Spotted Eagle Owl proved a big draw, attracting lots of people wandering around the gardens. It had one very fluffy chick visible and seemed fairly unconcerned that it had a large audience. CC was sure that he saw it (her, actually) raise an eyebrow when one tourist looked up into the tree where a dozen or so people were standing and exclaimed “It’s a monkey!”.

We had a light lunch (some pies) at Kirstenbosch and then headed back into town to have a look around the V&A. We spent a lot of time watching various Cape Fur Seals cavorting in the harbour and like everybody else enjoying the warm sunshine. After this we headed for Milnerton where we took the obligatory photos of Table Mountain with the pristine white sands in the foreground. Sadly the vagrant King Penguin that has arrived here the previous week was nowhere to be seen, having been taken into care for its own good. What a twitch that would have been.

It wasn’t tempting to hang around for long because the howling wind was using the sand to exfoliate us, so we drove further north along the coast to sea what we might find. We ended up at a rather odd place called Silverstroomstrand which appeared to be a ‘work in progress’. There was nowhere to stop so we turned around and headed back, getting a good view of a pair of Bokmakeries on the road as we left the site.

Our evening meal was at Khaya Nyama on Long Street. The restaurant serves “African” cuisine and is pretty good, though we’d probably have gone to the nearby Mama Africa if they’d had a free table. The atmosphere on Long Street was pretty good but we had an early start the next day because we were off to see Victoria Falls, so we didn’t stay out too late.

18/10/2007

It didn’t take us long to get to the airport in the early hours of the morning for a 6:30 flight but it took a little while to find petrol for the hire car return. Most companies work on the deliver full/return full basis and the surcharge for returning a car with much less than a full tank is quite high. The nearest petrol station to the airport seemed to be on the dual-carriageway heading away from the airport. With no obvious way to cross the central reservation this meant driving past it one, coming all the way around the roundabout, refuelling and then heading off away from the airport until a suitable place to turn around was found. There should be easier ways of doing this. The petrol station just seems to be on the wrong side of the road. Allow yourself an extra 20 minutes to ensure that you don’t get a surcharge.

Two uneventful flights later and we were standing outside Livingstone International Airport in Zambia. The tropical temperatures were immediately noticeable but airport formalities didn’t take too long. However we had quite a long delay after collecting our bags whilst the tour reps rounded everyone up. They managed to lose one couple completely and this meant that when we finally got into the coach we had another 15 minute wait. This is one of the joys of package tourism – hanging around whilst strangers sort themselves out. As we were already feeling a little negative about this part of the trip a wasted 45 minutes at the airport didn’t improve our mood.

When we were scoping this part of the trip we had found a rather pleasant sounding hotel on the river side a few kilometres from Victoria Falls but out travel agent’s incompetence had resulted in us being placed in the Zambezi Sun Hotel, one of a couple of hotels in a complex perched almost on the edge of the falls themselves. As hotels go, the Zambezi Sun was alright in a sort of Spanish Costas sort of a way, and a lot of the tourists there seemed to think that they were there for lying by the pool and drinking cocktails all day – to our minds an odd thing to do in a landlocked tropical African country. The rooms were clean and the bathrooms well appointed with excellent showers but we can’t help thinking that the hotel should never have been built. It’s in a National Park, right on top of one of the worlds most famous natural features. It’s an obscenity that should be bull-dozed and the land left to return to bush. It’s difficult to imagine a hotel complex being built in a location like this in any of the parts of the world that most tourists who come to the area originate from.

With only about 2 hours of daylight to go we took a few minutes to apply some bug cream and sun cream and then set out to see the falls. Access is from the rear of the hotel and hotel guests get free entry into the National Park. Hopefully the price of staying there includes the entrance fee. Otherwise an important source of income is lost in addition to the despoliation of the area.

There were lots of Vervet Monkeys about in the hotel grounds as well as African Grey Hornbills and as we approached the falls via the path to the Eastern Cataract a Trumpeter Hornbill flew below us showing its dramatic wing pattern very well. A footbridge links two rock pillars as you approach the guitar and JD was about to step onto the bridge when she turned round and ran back to us hissing “There’s a baboon coming up the steps!”. Seconds later a large male Chacma Baboon came sauntering up, passing within a couple of feet of us – an exciting introduction to this powerful and unpredictable species for Pippa and Steve.

At the end of the dry season the falls are not at their most spectacular but they represented by far the biggest sheet of falling water that the four of us had ever seen. Columns of spray towered into the air and the sound was almost overwhelming as thousands of tons of water crashed against the rocks at the bottom.

Steve and Pippa decided to try one of the hotel restaurants after what had been a long day but CC & JD took a taxi into Livingstone to see what was on offer. We ended up at the Ngoma Zanga restaurant, a place on the main street offering traditional Zambian food. The staff are dressed in what are presumably traditional ceremonial garments with exotic make-up and there is entertainment provided by drummers and dancers. We don’t normally go for this sort of thing but the setting, under a couple of huge tropical trees with oil lamps and candles for lighting was enough to make us stay.

The food was pretty good, though probably quite a lot better than the average daily meal of many Zambians. A bonus was the constant calling of an owl in the tree in the middle of the restaurant. After eating, CC tried to find it with his rather low strength torch. He caught a quick glimpse of a reflection in its eyes before it got fed up of him and flew into the trees just behind the restaurant, relieving itself on JD as it went! It looked quite large but was almost certainly a White-faced Scops Owl.

19/10/2007

We had an excursion planned for most of today but we had time for a walk around the hotel grounds before breakfast. A small pool to the right of the bar, as looked at from the restaurant/pool area had a couple of Black Crakes and Pied Kingfishers as well as a Common Sandpiper. The previous evening, after sunset we’d seen a probable Wood Sandpiper there as well but that wasn’t around this morning.

After a pretty good breakfast we were picked up outside the hotel and were soon heading west towards Botswana (and Namibia and Angola), where we were due to spend the day in the Chobe National Park.

The short drive was uneventful but the border crossing from Zambia into Botswana was fun and had a feel of “real Africa” although we tourists were herded past the lines of waiting locals to get our papers checked and passports stamped as a priority, which must be quite galling for the people who have already stood around for some time.

After this it was into a small boat and across the river into Botswana where a few more formalities had to be completed before we got into another minibus for another short drive to Chobe. Whilst waiting for documents to be checked we picked up a couple of Southern Carmine Bee-eaters hawking around the river edges.

We passed Vervet Monkeys, baboons, Impala and buffalo on the drive and picked up a soaring Bateleur, so we knew that we were now in tropical Africa. There were lots of small birds around the entrance area to Chobe but we were whisked straight through to the waiting boats for the first part of our visit, a long cruise to see the wildlife. First impressions when we got out onto the river, which was very wide and forms the border between Namibia and Botswana at this point, was that there was a lot of wildlife about. A large island in the distance clearly had plenty of game and there were lots of birds. Species of note included African Openbill, Anhinga, Lilac-breasted Roller, Great White Egret, African Pied Wagtail, Pied Kingfisher, Squacco Heron, Intermediate Egret, Black-winged Pratincole, Long-toad Lapwing, White-faced Duck,  … whilst interesting animals included Red Lechwe (a new antelope species for us), Water Monitors, hippopotamus and Steve and Pippa’s first wild elephants.  Apart from the hippos, that seemed a little stressed because 4 boat loads of tourists were competing for the best views, most of the wildlife was very tolerant of us, allowing close approaches that meant that we could get good views of some of the smaller species.

In the distance, somewhere over Namibia and too distant to stand a chance of identification a flock of perhaps 100+ vultures and kites circled over something that had caught their attention and we soon stopped trying to guess when a dark shape in the riverside grass resolved itself into a Slaty Egret, a species that we’d hoped to see.

Drawing close to the Botswanan shore we were able to get good views of both White-fronted and Little Bee-eaters, nesting in a termite mound whist a Broad-billed Roller kept an eye on us from a lofty perch. We then moved back out into the main river, keeping close to the islands where game was in abundance and got great views of one of our definite target species, the unmistakeable African Skimmer. The most numerous small waders were Kittlitz’s Plovers and there were plenty of Ruff present as well. Yellow-billed Storks and African Spoonbills were fairly common and the skipper turned the engine off so that we could get right up next to a large Nile Crocodile that might just have eaten an elephant, so distended was its mid-section.

Most people were interested to see a trio of Southern Ground Hornbills in the middle of an island but they were keeping well away from the boats and then after some more close encounters with elephants, many of which were in the river, it was back to the reserve entrance for a rather decent buffet style lunch.

After lunch we set of in a safari truck to explore part of the park by road. This was probably not the best time of day to look for wildlife as the temperature had climbed considerably but we derived some entertainment by laughing unkindly at one or two of the other trucks we passed that were filled with people wearing white surgical masks. It wasn’t that dusty, to be honest so we assumed that this was an attempt to keep the scary African air away from their sensitive lungs. Oh well.

JD noticed an unusual looking hornbill in a bush next to the track and got a couple of photos that were good enough to confirm that it was Bradfield’s Hornbill – apparently not uncommon but a new species for us. A Cape Vulture flying over was more interesting, even though we had seen one before.

The unusual silhouette of a Bateleur was easy to ID. We always get the impression that these birds are flying backwards. Just as easy was a noisy party of Green Woodhoopoes just next to the truck. Red-billed Francolins, seen several times on the drive were yet another new species on a day that was turning out to be quite good for lifers.

The trip back to Livingstone was uneventful and we went for a sunset stroll around the grounds of the hotel where we heard Natal Nightjar and several other birds that we couldn’t identify.

Pippa & Steve were seduced by our stories from Ngoma Zanga (we didn’t tell them about the owl “attack”) so the four of us went there for dinner. JD had a fearsome looking spiny fish for her main course and Pippa was cajoled up onto the stage by the dancers where she gave an excellent account of herself to richly deserved applause.

20/10/2007

An early morning walk along the edge of the hotel grounds, following the river upstream was quite rewarding. As well as the antics of the monkeys who seem to have worked out that people can be a little off-guard in the early morning, enabling them to take advantage of unguarded sugar sachets or jam portions, the birding was pretty good. More Long-toed Lapwings were seen but we were delighted to find several Rock Pratincoles on the rocks at the rivers edge in front of the Royal Livingstone Hotel. We had thought that we were going to miss this species because we’d been unable to get on one of the sunset cruises.

We decided that we just had time for a quick look at the rocks above the falls before breakfast and found several fairly common species, including our best ever sighting of Namaqa Dove, a bird we’d seen several times before but never particularly satisfactorily.

We had another excursion planned for this morning before our lunchtime flight back to Johannesburg and after breakfast we were whisked off up the road to the departure point for United Air Charters’ helicopter trips to the falls.  There were lots of birds calling in the bush surrounding the well-situated reception area but not much time to find them and few were showing well. White-browed Sparrow Weaver was the only species seen well enough to identify.

The helicopter trip was great fun, speeding down the Zambezi gorge below the falls then circling around to give two passes over the falls before heading upstream above the national park where we were able to see elephants crossing the river.

Our flight was at lunchtime and we didn’t have long to wait before being whisked off to the airport. Oddly, CC bumped into one of his old bosses in the departure lounge. She had been staying with friends in the posher part of the complex, the Royal Livingstone, and was heading back to Johannesburg to catch her flight home.

A few hours later we picked up our hire car in Johannesburg, a rather disappointing step down from the Volkswagen Tauran that we had had in Cape Town, suggesting a mistake by the hire company, because we paid for the bigger, more powerful car for the second leg of the holiday. We had booked in to the Bergwaters Eco Lodge for the night because we knew we had no chance of getting to the Kruger National Park before the gates closed.

The first few hundred kilometres of road east from Johannesburg pass through some pretty dull countryside and the trip was enlivened only by the minor scenes of carnage. We passed several crashed vehicles, including one that appeared to have nose-dived from a bridge crossing the main road and at least one person lying motionless in the road, apparently having been hit by a truck whilst crossing the road. After dark we came across one or two sections of road works that tested our route-finding abilities and sense of humour.

The arrival at Bergwaters was rather pleasant. We’d followed signs into the town of Waterval Boven but should have stayed on the main road passing the town before turning off just after a tunnel. We ‘phoned the lodge for directions. From a fast asphalt road we were suddenly on a rough track and bumping over a railway crossing. Within minutes it felt as though we were in a different country and although the Lodge is less than a couple of miles from the road it feels as though it’s miles from anywhere. We were relieved when we pulled up into the car park, not because it had been a long journey but because this was the night of the Rugby Union World Cup final – and England were up against South Africa, the side that had humiliated them in the opening round of the competition.

Ernie from the lodge was in the car park to greet us and after the usual formalities he showed us to our room. CC and JD had reserved the honeymoon suite and this proved to be worth the extra money. The room was huge and a short corridor led to a large bathroom with a sunken bath. There was a bottle of fizz on ice, comfortable robes, a flower on the bed and a few complementary chocolates dotted around. Details can be found at http://www.bergwaters.co.za/index.html .

With the match fast approaching we pulled on our England shirts went to find Ernie to ask about dinner – and where we could watch the rugby. He said we could sit down as soon as we wanted to and by the time we’d finished picking some bottles of wine and arguing about whether England would score any points the soup had arrived. Starters and the main course was excellent but the national anthems were being played as we finished our delicious lasagne, so we checked that it would be ok to have pudding later and relocated to the bar, where everyone else was supporting South Africa.

The result is history of course. It wasn’t the most attractive match but the tension remained high until the end and if England had been given that try that Cueto almost scored it could have gone the other way, easily. Pudding (apple crumble and custard) was delivered to the bar at half time and we made serious inroads into Bergwaters stock of cider. If we had to watch England lose in South Africa, it was hard to think of a nicer place to do it.

21/10/2007

CC and JD were up around dawn and went for a walk near the lodge, accompanied by a couple of the lodge’s charming dogs. The attractive upland nature of the area was apparent in the daylight, with steep hills dotted with aloes and other exotic plants. Every now and then the barking of baboons could be heard. 

We had breakfast outside in the rapidly warming sun and donated our England shirts to the lodge to commemorate the match. In return they kindly gave us a Springboks flag. Voicing our regret that we only had one night, we set off for the Kruger National Park after a short detour to see the Elands River waterfall. These are situated a few miles back down the road to Johannesburg where there is a car parking area next to a road tunnel entrance. To reach the falls, which are spectacular, it is necessary to walk through the old NZASM tunnel. A torch is necessary for this because there is debris underfoot. In all probability there will be a guide at the entrance ready to take you through for a small fee whilst his colleague minds your car.

For birders, the walk is likely to be worth the effort because there is a small colony of Southern Bald Ibises to the left of the falls, as seen from the view point. They’re easy to find once you’ve located the obvious white-streaked rocks below their favourite ledges. There were Alpine Swifts and other swift species overhead.

From here it straightforward drive to Nelspruit where we stopped for some petrol and then headed north-east towards the KNP Numbi Gate. By mid-afternoon we were getting quite peckish but we were almost at Numbi before we saw anywhere that we wanted to stop. Phumulani Lodge looks rather nice from the road so we pulled in and asked whether they served food to non-residents. They did, so we ordered a batch of steaks and sat in the shade near to a water feature, looking across the lawns. The lodge, details of which can be found at http://www.phumulanilodge.co.za/ is listed under “fair trade” and seems to be a local initiative. The steaks were good and there were plenty of birds about, and a few reptiles too, including a rather nice Green-spotted Bush Snake.

A short time after leaving the lodge we were through the Numbi Gate and into the Kruger National Park. JD and CC were firstly struck by how much greener the park appeared that during their previous visit in October 2005, with fresh shoots of grass in many places.

We had booked into the Pretoriuskop Rest Camp for our first night and decided to take a slow, round about route, taking in the Sayi Loop, aiming to get there just before the gates closed. The first animal of note was a solitary rhinoceros. This seemed quite small and we wondered whether it might have been a Black Rhino but we couldn’t get much more than a rear view most of the time.

Two much smaller interesting animals followed, with a Sharpe’s Grysbok, perhaps one of the prettier small antelopes to be found in the park and a Dwarf Mongoose soon turning up. A Liechtenstein’s Hartebeest crossed in front of us, a welcome change from the large numbers of Kudu and Impala that we’d been seeing within seconds of entering the park. A Klaas’s Cuckoo showed well at the side of the road and a Secretary Bird stalked through the bush. We drove down to a small pool just of the road where an African Fish Eagle was keeping watch. A few common waders were also present and a flock of Wattled Starlings came down to drink.

The highlight of day by miles came as we stopped the car to view a huge herd of buffalo about a kilometre away in an area of rolling hills and grassland. Pippa was the first to spot “something different” and through the binoculars we could see three lionesses prowling around the edge of the herd. After a while we noticed a fourth lioness bounding through the long grass from the valley between us and the herd. The lions kept making feints into the herd and the buffalo responded by bunching very closely together and occasionally lunging forward if the cats got to close. Incredibly only a few buffalo seemed to be keeping an eye on the lions whilst the rest continued to graze. We watched this drama for about half an hour, but the herd was working its way downhill and eventually the lions dropped out of sight. We thought about waiting around because if they all continued to move in the same direction they would have to cross the road, but it was getting late and we didn’t want to miss the camp curfew.

22/10/2007

Monkey mayhem was the order of the day. Many of the Kruger rest camps have plenty of wildlife, with monkeys, squirrels and various smaller antelope being present in large numbers because the fences provide considerable protection from predators and lots of opportunities for supplementing diets. A large group of Green Vervet Monkeys had broken into the food cupboards of the hut next door to us and found a bag of flour. They tore this apart and then looked like cocaine addicts, licking as much of it of the ground as possible. Lots of them ended up with flour on there whiskers and in their fur. There were monkeys everywhere, trying to get into waste bins and checking every hut to see if anything had been left out inadvertently. Some were even up in the trees, behaving the way monkeys are supposed to behave but most of them were acting like naughty teenagers.

Other wildlife around early on included African Green Pigeons, Grey Go-Away Birds, Impala, African Hoopoe, starlings, swifts, swallows, doves, Tree Squirrels and a Grey Headed Bush Shrike that gave superb views. A Greater Honeyguide was calling nearby but we couldn’t locate it.

After breakfast, as we were heading for the exit, CC caused some amusement when dictating into the voice recorder, saying “Dwarf colony at the back of hut number 76 in what look like a couple of anthills.”. He actually meant Dwarf Mongoose colony, and there were half a dozen of these cute little creatures in the area, but the damage was done.

Plenty has been written about the Kruger experience, including several pages in our 2005 trip report, so we’ll stick to highlights and exciting or unusual sightings, with a rough itinerary. Our second night in the park was at Satara Camp so we set off for Skukuza, passing a couple of rhinos on the way, where we stopped for breakfast with the crowds and an accompaniment of weavers, starlings, doves, babblers and a Praying Mantis.

A pull-in at the Leeupan waterhole was worthwhile because we noticed something that looked rather like a European Blackbird and after a little patience we were rewarded by good views of a Retz’s Helmet Shrike, a species that JD & CC had been disappointed to miss in 2005. A squirrel nearby might well have been Smith’s Bush Squirrel but it was missing most of its tail which made ID a little tricky. A couple of kilometres down the road we located a Tawny Eagle in a dead tree. The next pan along the road had several waders in addition to crocodiles and hippos and a few Collared Pratincoles meant that we’d seen three Pratincole species in 4 days. 

We called in at the Tshokwane picnic site where a Yellow-billed Kite made a determined effort to catch one of the hundreds of starlings that swarm around the area, but only succeeded in flying into a tree. It flapped up into one of the branches to recover, hoping that nobody had noticed. A Steppe Buzzard circled low overhead.

One of our favourite places in KNP in 2005 had been the Orpen Dam, so that was our next stop. This is one of the places where it is possible to get out and sit in a shady shelter overlooking the water. There was rather less water than two years previously, but plenty of game about, mostly Waterbuck, Greater Kudu, Impala, Warthog, Bushbuck and Chacma Baboons. A herd of elephants were barely visible, walking through the thick forest a short distance away and every few minutes a lion’s roar quietened everybody down. It seemed to be just below the shelter but was concealed behind dense undergrowth. As in 2005 the shelter was visited by a confiding Yellow-bellied Greenbul, presumably looking for scraps.

A small pond alongside the road about 12 kms north of Tshokwane had both hippos and elephants as well as a variety of water birds including Water Dikkop, African Spoonbill and Saddle-billed Stork. Another 8 kilometres further on, a few Lesser Black-winged Plovers were in the grassy areas at the side of the road and about 5 kms south of Satara camp we found a Black-bellied Bustard.

When we arrived at Satara we booked ourselves on to the night drive and were soon underway, seeing Scrub Hares inside the camp boundary. Night drives in some ways are more exciting than daytime driving in the park, because there’s the possibility of seeing some of the nocturnal predators, as well as owl and nightjars. Half an hour into the drive the truck braked suddenly and all eyes were on a pair of lions that were padding along the road in our direction. Just before they reached us, they turned off into the bush giving superb views. The drive was already worth the money.

Mozambique Nightjars were calling and the next animal seen using the road was a Spotted Hyena – a new species for CC & JD. Several Steenbok were seen at close quarters, vying with the Grysboks for the title of prettiest antelope.

23/10/2007

To complement the night drive we had also booked ourselves on the early morning game walk from the camp. CC & JD didn’t manage to get on one of these in 2005 and really wanted to give it a try, so we waiting by the truck at 05:15 for the short drive to our start point. African Scops Owls were still calling in the camp, as they may well have been throughout the night.

On the drive down we noticed Marabou Storks, Red-billed Oxpeckers, Burchell’s Coucal and best of all a family of Black-backed Jackals with pups. It was at this point that JD realised that she’d left the camera behind. Brown Snake Eagle, Lilac-breasted Roller and Mosque Swallow followed in quick succession and then we were out of the truck and listening to the safety instructions from the rangers. There were two rangers and both of them were armed. The rule in the bush is simple – do what you’re told by the rangers. It seemed like good advice.

The walk was very good indeed. We were able to get close to a herd of White Rhino with young and walked through the middle of a large and vocal troop of baboons. There were surprisingly few birds noticeable during the three or four mile round trip but we did flush a Kurrichane Buttonquail.

Back at the camp we packed up the car and went for what we felt was a well deserved breakfast. There were African Hoopoes on the lawn by the restaurant and more Mourning Doves than any other place we visited. In addition to the usual suspects hopping around and on the tables, there were also Red-billed Buffalo Weavers here.

Shingwedzi Camp in the north was our next destination but we took a short detour along the S90 road on the advice of one of the rangers from the morning walk. His info was good and about 2 kms down the road, shortly after a noticeable tall tree on the right hand side we found a small flock of Grey-headed Sparrow-larks, over 500 kms east of their normal range. A Common Ostrich nearby seemed somehow more realistic than the ones at Cape Point.

Another pair of lions (or perhaps the ones we’d seen last night) were at the side of the road about 20 kms north of Satara and further on a gathering of vultures around an unidentifiable carcass included White-headed, White-backed, Hooded and Lappet-faced as well as a Bateleur and several Yellow-billed Kites.

We paused for lunch at the Letaba Rest Camp. This had been JD & CC’s favourite on our previous visit but had been fully booked when we tried to get in after getting our Zambia excursion sorted out, and after lunch we continued further north. At one point we came upon a large elephant that had apparently fallen asleep in the middle of the road, leaving very little space to get past. We tried reversing and revving the engine a bit because we didn’t want to be right alongside it when we woke it up, but it took quite a while to get it to open its eyes. We resisted the temptation to sound the horn. It didn’t seem fair and the elephant looked considerably bigger than the car.

Our arrival at Shingwedzi was quite late because we’d stopped numerous times on the way for all kinds of game and bird species. As we booked in we noticed lots of Cut-throat Finches around the reception area that seemed to be raiding Weaver nests, perhaps for next material. We didn’t relocate these when we checked the following day. Several nightjars were around the camp during the night/early morning as were Pearl-spotted Owlet and African Scops Owl.

24/10/2007

Sunrise wildlife at Shingwedzi included huge numbers of squirrels, francolins, Grey Go Away Birds, Natal Nightjar and various hornbills and Francolins. The accommodation at Shingwedzi was excellent (as it is throughout the park) and it is surprising how different each rest camp is, even though the same basic ideas (thatched roofs, lots of wood) are found everywhere. More exciting, but unidentified was a small accipiter-type raptor that zoomed overhead making a loud, high-pitched ringing call and being mobbed by several other birds. It didn’t seem much bigger than some of the starlings but we didn’t get anything like a good enough view to nail the species.

The Shingwedzi restaurant area is quite good because it overlooks a row of large trees including some figs that contained a small but noisy flock of Grey-headed Parrots alongside Black-headed Oriole, Southern Black Tit and Red-faced Mousebirds. Saddle-billed Stork and Bateleur passed overhead.

Our drive today took us north towards Punda Maria. We found a group of Southern Ground Hornbills soon after leaving Shingwedzi and beyond Babalala saw both Tsessebe and Roan antelopes. The first of two Kori Bustards was spotted close enough to the road for us to get reasonable photos. At the Magamba drinking pond there was a Fawn-coloured Lark and two Namaqua Doves.

We had lunch at Punda Maria where we also spent some time in the bird hide at the back of the campsite, though this was rather quiet, probably because of the time of the day. Heading back south we came across several Broad-billed Rollers, some Red Billed Queleas, a Bateleur looking rather out of place walking along the road and a pair of Cinnamon Breasted-Buntings.

We made sure that we were back at Shingwedzi early enough because we had booked onto the evening drive there. Shortly after we left, a strong breeze arose and the sky became noticeable cloudy. There was a Marsh Sandpiper, a Yellow-billed Stork and lots of African Spoonbills at the first overlook point by the Kanniedood Dam along with lots of common game, crocodiles and hippos.

The wind seemed to be keeping most of the game out of sight in shelter, but shortly after dark we came across several nightjars in the road. Two of the settled in the headlights and we were able to quickly identify Mozambique but we had to check the field guide for the second, which turned out to be a Pennant-winged Nightjar, albeit without the spectacular pennants. The ranger spotted a quick movement under a bush and with the help of the spotlights everybody eventually got great sightings of an African Wildcat, and we came across another of these shortly before getting back to the rest camp and a typical Kruger meal of Springbok steaks and a couple of bottles of red.

25/10/2007

At 5 a.m. we were back on the ranger’s truck for a morning game drive. Yesterday’s cloud had become a thick grey blanket and the wind was keeping the temperature well down so we wrapped up well before setting off. A few minutes into the drive, the guide found a pair of White-faced Scops Owls sitting in a tree, looking a lot bigger than most Scops Owl species. Shortly after this it began to rain and the hoped for feast of early morning wildlife didn’t materialise. Only the larger animals, elephants, giraffes and buffalo were in evidence and even these were few and far between. A Crowned Hornbill was seen flying across the road and JD said that she could see blue on some of a half dozen parrots occupying a tree top. The ranger said that these were Meyer’s Parrots and we confirmed this through binoculars – something of a bonus as we thought we were rather south of their normal range. The rain brought out numbers of Leopard Tortoises to drink from puddles forming on the road.

Shingwedzi and the surrounding area is one of the few places in South Africa where Collared Palm Thrush can be found. We’d had several attempts to find the member of staff who knows how to locate these birds and finally tracked him down after we’d breakfasted and packed. He explained how to get to the part of the camp site where they are most likely to be found, so we went for a look but with no luck. He turned up just as we were on the point of giving up and setting off for the day, and immediately got a response from a Palm Thrush when he imitated their call. However the bird calling back was obviously 2-300 metres distant in a heavily wooded area. CC was able to imitate the call and get a reply, but the bird seemed to be moving further away. After another 15 minutes of trying, attempting the call from several locations on the perimeter of the camp we realised that the birds were not going to show, so we set of towards our final overnight stop in the Kruger, Mopani Rest Camp.

Our first planned stop was at the large bird hide on the Kanniedood dam but we picked up Martial Eagle and Tawny Eagle on the way their, along with a large flock of European Bee-eaters. A large eagle was noted in a tree and we had a really good look at this because it appeared at first sight to be a juvenile Greater Spotted Eagle. This would have been an exceptional record, possibly a first for South Africa. It showed a lot of white on its rump when I flew away and three rows of white spots on its upper wings. It was presumably a Lesser Spotted Eagle, a much commoner bird locally, but we were certainly intrigued.

Birds at the Kanniedood dam were numerous but poor light conditions meant that they took some work. Marsh , Wood and Common Sandpipers, Kittlitz’s, Three-banded and White-fronted Plovers and Little Stints. Two waders got a little more attention and when we’d had a good look at these we were satisfied that they were Temminck’s Stints. We weren’t particularly surprised at this because we’d looked at Temminck’s in the field guide immediately after getting on to them, mixed in with several Little Stints. However we discovered subsequently that these might have been the only Temminck’s Stints seen in South Africa in 2007. The coincidence of seeing these birds and a possible Greater Spotted Eagle in a period of less than an hour seems unlikely, but we are quite confident of our identification of a species that we’d seen several times before. Another Tawny Eagle just south of the dam was close enough to photograph.

The cold wet weather was definitely having a negative effect on game viewing and we didn’t see a single elephant on the drive from Shingwedzi to Mopani, despite several diversions down loop roads.

Our accommodation at Mopani was perhaps the best in the park – very spacious and clean. We went to the restaurant for a late lunch and noted that a Mocking Cliff Chat seemed to spend a lot of time around the restaurant area. We had seen one here in 2005. The communal buildings at Mopani have a splendid view over a large dam and there’s a trail within the camp grounds that you can take to get down to the level of the lake shore. Despite the persistent drizzle we decided to take a look at this. We found Rufous-winged Cisticola in the papyrus beds along the fence but not much else.

26/10/2007

There was still continuous cloud cover when we woke up but the cloud was much higher and less oppressive looking, the ground was dry and the temperatures had climbed somewhat after a distinctly chilly day on 25^th.

The layout at Mopani is different to most of the other camps we visited, being perched at the top of some low hills with the valley below having been flooded to form the dam. Unlike most camps there is no large open space surrounded by hut and the roads to the huts are mostly spurs from the main camp road. There is quite dense vegetation in places and we found Blue Waxbills, at least 5 Long-billed Crombec and a Puffback on the walk down to the restaurant for breakfast. The area around the Baobab tree seemed best.

Around the dam there were lots of swallows with a single House Martin amongst them, along with a Purple Roller and a Giant Kingfisher, both of which were perched in some of the dead trees that stand in the water.

Following breakfast we set off for the park exit, to head for Graskop and the Panorama Route. The weather remained overcast but there was a hint at least of occasional bursts of sunlight and we were hopeful that there would be more game about. The first sighting of note was a Dark Chanting Goshawk about 8 kms south of the rest camp on the main road, and then there was a Martial Eagle at the junction of the roads between Oliphants and Letaba Rest Camps and the Phalaborwa Gate and a White-backed Vulture about 20 kms down the road to Phalaborwa. A stop at the Letaba River Bridge was good for Hippos and Crocodiles as well as plenty of fairly common bird species with the best being a couple of Great White Egrets and a Black Crake. It was nice to finally see something with four legs though, and after this point the patches of sunlight became more frequent for a while and game started to appear. We passed a large herd of buffalo that was hosting hundreds of Red-billed and at least one Yellow-billed Oxpecker.

We took a detour to have a look at the hide overlooking the Sable Dam. This hide offers a sleepover facility (pre-bookable only) and is quite luxurious for a bird hide. There were elephants about and lots of Water Monitors in the trees as well as plenty of birds. We hadn’t found much out of the ordinary until we chanced upon a lark on a grassy area between the hide and the water. We were starting to get some features on this when a very noisy group of tourists appeared in front of the hide and flushed the lark, along with almost every other bird within half a mile. We weren’t very impressed and shouted at them. They seemed a bit surprised that there was anybody else there – our car in the parking area might have been a clue – and mumbled something about wanting to see the elephants, which they could have done perfectly easily from within the hide. As with the rest of the park, the area they were walking in was outside of the permissive zone, which was largely irrelevant as far as the lark goes, because it had gone and didn’t seem in a hurry to return.

A few kilometres before the gate we saw a Lappet-faced Vulture and just outside the gate was a large flock of Bronze Mannikins, surprisingly our first of the trip. We stopped for petrol and a few snacks and drinks and then set off on the two hour drive towards Graskop. 

Apart from some appealing if rather cloudy Drakensberg scenery, there was not much to stop for on the road but as we got nearer to our destination we started to see signs for Echo Caves. They weren’t far, so we thought we’d have a look.

The area around the caves had a definite most feel to it, with cloud cover in the mountains seeming rather denser. There were lots of aloes on the hillsides and it looked like it had rained quite recently. We were able to get lunch at the caves and it was warm enough to eat outside. There were lots of birds around the buildings and the area looked worthy of a more detailed look. The White-fronted Bee-eaters were probably local, but the two Emus almost certainly weren’t.

To gain access to the caves you first buy your ticket then agree with a guide to be taken on a tour. We’d have to recommend that you use a guide. The cave complex is quite large, it would be possible to get lost and you’d probably miss quite a lot. There’s no set price- it’s a “donate what you think is reasonable” set up.

Getting around the cave is a reasonably physical experience – there are several descents and climbs and at least one low and narrow squeeze where most adults will need to lie down to get through – although this section is optional. CC who is the bulkiest of our party had to remove his jacket and lie down on his back and wriggle through somewhat inelegantly. It’s only a metre or so but might be a little unnerving for people who suffer from claustrophobia. Overall, if you’re in the area and like caves, then it’s probably worth a visit. One of the highlights is the array of large stalagmitic columns that were apparently used as a communications system when the caves were used as a refuge in times of war. Striking these formations with a stick results in a loud drum-like sound, with columns of different sizes making different sounds. Quite impressive in an enclosed environment.

Graskop is a short drive away. This drive should have been quite spectacular as it passes the Blyde River Canyon, Bourke’s Luck Potholes and the Three Rondavels. Unfortunately by the time we reached these attractions a dense fog had descended and for most of the drive visibility was down to less than 20 metres with just occasional brief breaks giving tantalising glimpses of the spectacular landscape.

Our last two nights in South Africa were based in Thaba Tsweni Lodge, a few kms outside the town of Graskop and just next to the spectacular Berlin Falls. Thaba Tsweni was something of a late decision. It had not been our first choice but we couldn’t get into that because of the delay in making the booking because of the problems with the Victoria Falls trip. However, yet again we had had good fortune with our booking. We’d booked a chalet each, for the extra room and the accommodation turned out to be very luxurious, with two large bedrooms and a huge living area, a well stocked kitchen and a clean and spacious bathroom. Each of these chalets is large enough for a group of four to coexist comfortably and even with just two of us it seemed superb value for money.

Thaba Tsweni is self-catering but meals can be arranged if needed. We arranged for breakfast to be cooked for us and this turned out to be a good decision.

After checking in we were definitely hungry enough for dinner and so took the short drive down into Graskop. Darkness had fallen and the fog, if anything had got thicker. We found our way into town but could barely even see the buildings from the car. It was only the presence of street lights that told us we were now in a built up area. We noticed a sign for a restaurant and followed this, ending up at the old Station buildings which have been converted into a pub and dining area. We were delighted to find that they had Eisbein on the menu, so CC and Steve chose this whilst Pippa and JD went for something less challenging. Eisbein is apparently popular with the locals and we learned from Dirk who prepared our breakfast for us the following morning that the Eisbein in the old station is one of the best in South Africa. Apparently lots of customers (like us) don’t finish and (unlike us) take the remains away for breakfast the next morning. Anyway, the place is certainly worth a visit if you’re in the area.

27/10/2007

Almost unbelievably we’d reached our last full day in South Africa. A glance out of the window at first light revealed patchy low cloud and some blue sky with yesterday’s fog long gone. There was a common Fiscal and Cape Robin Chat in the garden at Thaba Tsweni and JD & CC set off for a stroll down to the Berlin Falls before breakfast.  There were several species of birds in the scrubby areas either side of the road on the walk to the falls, with a few new ones to add to the list, including Common Swee and Orange-throated Longclaw. The falls were impressive and by the time we’d got a few photos and bought a couple of carved animals from the first lady to set up a stall in the car park (all the local tourist draws have their collections of stalls) we’d worked up an appetite for breakfast, so we headed back to the chalet and were joined by Pippa & Steve just as Dirk knocked at the door. He was happy to serve the four of us together and there was plenty of room at the table so we sat down to what was definitely the best breakfast of the holiday (only to be surpassed by the Sunday morning special with home made scones on the following day).

We’d worked up a rough itinerary the preceding evening because we wanted to see lots of the famous Drakensberg sites and the first place that we headed for after breakfast was God’s Window. This is a spectacular setting where you can look down through a narrow, rocky cleft at the top of the Drakensberg escarpment to the forest and lowveld below. It’s said that on clear days it is possible to see Maputo and the Indian Ocean. Although the day had cleared considerably by the time we got there and the heat was building up, cloud was lingering on the steep slope of the escarpment and had filled the defile, which meant that you could barely see 20 metres, let alone 20 miles! A signpost pointed the way to a rainforest walk, so we decided to have a look. This is more mist-belt forest than rain forest and proved to be an enjoyable diversion and a chance to walk off some of our huge breakfast. The forest is lovely with trees rarely more than 10 metres high covered in moss and lichen and interspersed with tall aloes. There are certainly birds about with Boubous and sunbirds in evidence. There was another British bird watcher in the forest and CC stopped to talk to him only to find out that he was from his birth place, Southport.

Next stop was the Wonderview which is presumably named because you get out of the car, walk to the edge and think “I wonder where the view is” but a few miles further on, at The Pinnacle, it looked as though the cloud on the slope might finally be breaking up.

Lunchtime was approaching so we drove down into Graskop and were astonished to find that there were houses and shops alongside roads that had simply been grey the night before. We were seduced by the sign outside the “Autumn Breath” B&B advertising “Home Made Cakes, Tarts, Pies, Ginger Beer” and as we sat down, the sun started to shine. By the time we’d finished (the ginger beer was of a quality that would have satisfied the Famous 5) it was becoming properly warm and the sky was getting bluer and bluer, so we looked at the map and started on a long loop, passing a variety of waterfalls and other geographical features on the way, ending back in Graskop. We were hopeful that by the time we returned, there might be a wonder view, or a window to look out from.

The Lisbon Falls were pretty but Bourke’s Luck Potholes were worth a longer pause and paths and bridges gave access to a series of interesting pools sculpted from the rock by the fast-flowing river. We noted a pair of Klipspringers on the horizon. By now the temperature had risen by about ten degrees and we found several attractive Agamas sunning themselves on the rocks.

Stops were made at view points for the Blyde River Canyon and Three Rondavels to admire the spectacular scenery and take lots of photos and there was a Peregrine and a Jackal Buzzard at the latter location. Continuing round the loop towards Pilgrim’s Rest we saw an African Goshawk near Robber’s Pass.

We returned to God’s Window just as the car park was closing, but the attendant let us through anyway. The view this time was definitely worth the effort, with the sun setting behind us adding an air of mystery to the seemingly endless escarpment laid out in front.

Our final evening meal was a bit of a disappointment. We tried a fish restaurant that we’d spotted in the town centre earlier in the day and it was probably the least good meal we had during our stay. Dirk told us over breakfast the following morning that if we’d told him we were going there he’d have advised us against.

28/10/2007

JD and CC went off before breakfast to try and track down the Blue Swallows that breed near God’s Window. A couple of Black-backed Jackals kept a watchful eye on us from a distance when we stopped to scan the grasslands and there was an abundance of Stonechats about, but no swallows.

We gave the mist-belt forest at God’s Window another try and had it all to ourselves in the early morning, which allowed us good views of Greater Double-collared Sunbirds and Cape Batises. Near to the car park we could hear a warbler singing in the bushes close to the path. We recorded it and played the song back and within a couple of minutes had some decent photos of the notoriously skulking Barratt’s Warbler. On the way back towards Thaba Tsweni we passed a White-winged Widowbird and a  troop of about 30 baboons foraging in the grass, but no Blue Swallows.

As this was a Sunday, Dirk had a special treat for us in addition to an already excellent breakfast. His mother had sent us some home-made scones that were truly delicious. It was with some reluctance that we said goodbye to Thaba Tsweni, but we were delighted to get a good luck at one of the Dwarf Chameleons that inhabit the walled garden next to the main house before we left.

The drive to Johannesburg was a long one, but we had plenty of time, with our flight being late at night, so we were able to take our time and make several stops. First port of call was a ‘natural rock arch’ signposted from the road just outside Graskop. This looks like the remains of a partially collapsed cave system, where a small fast flowing stream suddenly dips under the rock to come out at the other side. You could walk through with care, if you didn’t mind getting your feet wet and were prepared to risk slippery rocks.

Mac Mac falls were perhaps the prettiest of the free-standing waterfalls that we visited and the gorgeous weather we had whilst we were there probably didn’t hurt, with not a hint of the previous days’ low clouds and fog. Long Tom Cannon, a reminder of the violent times of the 19^th and early 20^th century is worth a short stop, although the cannon itself is a replica. The road passes a shell hole created by the original and this high level route that tops out at 2150 metres is a scenic drive that merits a few stops for photographs, although it seems to be a magnet for bad driving. We were passed by a number of 4x4s going at dangerous speeds, even though we were managing a decent pace ourselves.

The Owl and Oak complex, about 8 kms east of Dullstroom is an odd and incongruous place but we’d developed an appetite so we stopped for a late lunch. The food was pretty good and there’s a small lake and some exotic trees and as a consequence a bit of wildlife. Black-shouldered Kite, Long-crested Eagle, Common Swee, Bar-throated Apalis and Greater Double-collared Sunbird were all present, with the area behind the pool seeming to hold the most species.

Continuing towards Johannesburg we found a Steppe Buzzard about 11 kms east of Belfast, which is apparently South Africa’s coldest town, so we didn’t bother stopping. Shortly afterwards we reached the N4 and did a few miles along the main road, passing possibly the oddest looking human being we’d ever seen, walking along the hard shoulder. Very tall and with feet covered in a thick binding of rags this person (no parts were visible) looked something like a cross between an American Indian tepee, a car boot sale and a walking Christmas tree. Most of the traffic was slowing down to get a better look.

We realised that if we stayed on the motorway we’d end up at Johannesburg with hours to spare so we decided to go across country and pulled off onto a minor road linking to the R104, heading north from the main road. We stopped a few times to check a variety of birds along this quiet road. Nothing dramatic but plenty about and more interesting than the heavy traffic back on the N4. There were Indian Mynahs and Pied Starlings on the outskirts of Middleburg, which was a slow drive, even on a Sunday evening, but we weren’t in a hurry.

Back on the N4 we joined heavy traffic, presumably people returning from weekend breaks or heading back to the cities for work the next day but progress was steady and we didn’t want four hours in the airport so we pulled into a service station for burgers and drinks. Then we drove the last 20 miles or so, refuelled and returned the car and got to Departures with about 3 hours to spare, thinking that we’d check in and get our pick of the seats. JHB was bordering on chaos. We joined a long queue for our KLM flights and went through several stages of being messed about, with luggage being checked and re-checked, queues being diverted and swapped around and other minor irritations. For a while it looked as though we might not get a seat at all, because all of the passengers from a cancelled Air France flight to Paris had been dumped onto our flight. It seemed somewhat unfair that that these people, whose flight had been earlier, were able to take all the best seat whilst many of the passengers who had paid KLM ended up split up from their travelling companions. Particularly annoying was the discovery that most of the extra leg-room seats at the front of cattle class had been taken up by a family with 3 small children.

Surprisingly, the flight was almost on time and the return trip was uneventful, but if this is an indication of how JHB copes with a minor inconvenience we think that we’ll stay away during the 2010 Football World Cup.