Back in May/June 2017, I lived the dream and visited South Africa. I spent a week in Cape Town and then did a two week Rockjumper Birding tour in the east. It was an awesome experience, such a spectacular country and so much wildlife! I kept a journal everyday, and I thought I might post it here for anyone who is thinking of visiting, anyone who thinks they might never get the opportunity to visit for themselves, and maybe for people looking to escape for a little while considering that we now live in a world where travel is restricted, at least for the foreseeable future. I originally emailed these home to my family and friends, that's why they are colloquial at times, but I think they give a pretty good idea of what the trip was like, and how the itinerary worked.
Day One- Africa via Antarctica? 27/05/2017 Up at 6:30am, then a short drive to the airport. Checked in and then grabbed some breakfast. Bid farewell to family, then off through security. Boarded with no hassles and then settled in for our fourteen-hour flight to Johannesburg. Now you, like me, probably assumed we'd head due west, over mainland Australia, maybe Madagascar and approach Jo'burg from the east, but this wasn't the case. We headed straight over the middle of Tassie and then skirted along the edge of Antarctica. Apparently this was to avoid a strong head wind further north. Filled the flight with a few movies, ones I'd been meaning to watch for a while. The Conjuring, which was good but not really scary. Passengers, which wasn't too bad but a ridiculous movie to watch on a long-haul flight. 3.10 to Yuma, which was actually really good and one that anyone who is a fan of westerns should see. We got a couple of meals, I had beef brisket for lunch and peri peri chicken for dinner. Got my first glimpse of Africa as we descended for landing, green and gold paddocks. Arriving in Africa at sunset felt fitting, African sunsets are so iconic of the continent, but it did mean we are yet to glimpse our first South African birds. Landed in Johannesburg at 5pm local time (1am for us). We did 11,770km in fourteen hours. Getting through immigration was as simple as showing our passports, no forms to fill in. No customs either. Only one questionable African guy pretending to be airport staff tried to lure us in the wrong direction claiming he knew where the gate was but we politely declined and just kept walking so it was fine. Boarded our flight for Cape Town at 7pm local time (3am for us). Got to see the Johannesburg city lights from the air and then two hours later made it to Cape Town. Even from the air at night time you can tell it's a special place, dark islands of wilderness rise mysteriously up out of the sea of orange city lights. We disembarked our South African Airways flight onto the tarmac, and the crisp Cape Town air was very welcome after the stuffiness of the plane. Grabbing our bags took no time at all and then we headed out to arrivals where a driver was waiting with a sign that had my name on it, which was cool because I always wanted to be one of those people who had someone waiting with a sign. This was a shuttle I had organised with the hotel, and our driver was very nice, giving us a city tour on the way into town. We got our first view of Table Mountain silhouetted against the glow of downtown Cape Town. Checked into our motel, a former prison, and got a free upgrade. So finally after twenty-four hours awake we have made it! Well I don't know how everyone else feels, but personally I am astounded that I'm actually in Africa! It's one of those things you think about and talk about and dream about but never actually think you'll do. Until you do.
Day Two- V & A Waterfront 28/05/2017 Well, we may not have seen any birds yesterday but we certainly heard some. Our hotel is by the waterfront and all night long the gulls were squawking, but it only annoyed me because I didn't know exactly what species they were. Upon further investigation in the morning from our hotel room window, they turned out to be Hartlaub's Gull. Our first ever African birds. Now, anyone whose prone to fainting better sit down. Today was a pretty cruisey day. Yeah that's right, I didn't try to see everything Cape Town has to offer in one day. A big buffet breakfast to start the day then we went and booked our Cape Explorer bus tickets for Tuesday. Spent the morning wandering around the V & A Waterfront, (named after Queen Victoria and Alfred her son, not Albert her hubby, because Alfred attended the ceremony when they began construction of the harbour), checking out the markets and sights like the swing bridge and the clock tower. Went for a spin or four on the Cape Wheel to get a view of the city from above, including Table Mountain, Signal Hill and Lion's Head. This morning was a bit foggy so the top of Table Mountain was shrouded in mist, but we hear that is a pretty common occurrence. We wandered around the shops at the Victoria Mall for a bit and then had lunch at a waterfront restaurant. In the afternoon we did a short City Sightseeing harbour cruise, which cost only 40 rand (about $4). We saw plenty of nesting Cape Cormorants and sighted our first African mammals; Cape Fur Seal. Our boat was only a small one so the skipper took us very close to a group of six seals which were lolling around quite lazily in the water, we got within a couple of metres of them. Cape Cormorant by akasha posted 3 Sep 2020 at 2:41 PM After having a look at the old wooden Portuguese fishing boats, which are still used by tuna fishermen today, and the huge Antarctic research ship, we spotted some 'seals on wheels'. Big old tyres hang from the edge of the docks to buffer incoming boats, and the seals like to haul up in these to sleep. We got very close to these seals too which was pretty cool. After our cruise, we headed to Pick n Pay which is the grocery store. It's always fun to check out foreign grocery stores, and in this particular chain you can buy everything. As well as groceries, it has clothing and a café. We stocked up on a few essentials, stuff like muesli bars and Tim Tams (genuine Aussie made ones, yay!). Headed back to our hotel around 4.30pm because jet lag is seriously kicking in for me. On the way back the clouds had finally cleared and we had a perfect view of Table Mountain.
Day Three- Table Mountain 29/05/2017 They say that the only predictable thing about the weather in Cape Town is that it's unpredictable, and that if you wake up and the sky is clear, get your butt up Table Mountain before it changes. So that's what we did. Took the hop-on hop-off bus through downtown to the cableway station at the base of the mountain. Passed some really nice real estate on the way, some of the most desirable properties in the city. There are two factors that dictate property values in Cape Town, views and wind. If you are in a wind-free zone with mountain views you're on the money. We lined up for fifty minutes to ride the cable car up the mountain, but let me tell you there are far worse places you could stand in line. From our vantage point here we had a birds-eye view of the city below us, Lion's Head and Signal Hill to the west, Devil's Peak to the east, in the distance one way there's the Atlantic Ocean and in the other direction seemingly endless mountain ranges, and to top it off towering 700m above us, Table Mountain herself. And if all that wasn't enough, we also spotted a couple of endemic Cape Sugarbirds feeding on the proteas. Nice. Now the bottom cableway station is at an altitude of 363m and the top one is at 1067m, and that ol' cable goes pretty much straight up. Standing at the bottom gazing up, it is more than a little daunting, but once you're standing inside the cable car (with about sixty other people) and she starts up the mountain, it feels surreal rather than scary. It's hard to really grasp where exactly you are. The floor of the car rotates on the way up which means everyone get a look at every angle on the way. At the top we disembarked and what can I say about the view? Well I guess it kind of feels like you are on top of Africa. From the waterfront, when you look up you see Signal Hill which looks huge, but from Table Mountain, you look down on Lion's Head, which is twice the height of Signal Hill, so yeah, Table Mountain is high. We wandered around on the summit for a couple of hours, enjoying breathtaking views in every direction, looking at the interesting vegetation (of the six floristic kingdoms which cover the globe, the Cape fynbos covers the smallest area and has the highest diversity, about 8500 species, 6000 of which are found nowhere else on Earth). We also spotted a couple more new birds, Orange-breasted Sunbird (a Cape endemic) and some soaring White-necked Ravens, one of my most wanted birds for Africa. When we turned south the view was completely different again, with the Atlantic Ocean in the distance and the craggy peaks of the Twelve Apostles stretching off down the peninsula. It is impossible to get a photo that anywhere near does the place justice because of the sheer scale of it all. Now, further along the track I spotted our second African mammal species. A critter I first read about as a six-year-old in one of many animal fact books and the fact that they are the nearest living relative of the elephant absolutely fascinated me. Of course I am talking about the adorable Rock Hyrax! For those who are unaware I guess the best way to describe their appearance is like an overgrown guinea pig, though taxonomically they are nothing alike. Guinea pigs are rodents, hyraxes belong to an order of their own. Anyway, what it all amounts to is that they have poor thermoregulation which means they need to sun themselves to get warm, they have stumpy little toes with nails rather than claws, and they have two tusk-like fangs at the front of their mouth. One man did get a little close and I definitely saw a lip curl happen before the hyrax ran off, and I have to say those fangs are intimidating. All up we spotted about a dozen of them, some feeding and some sunning themselves, and yeah, it was pretty awesome. Rock Hyrax by akasha posted 3 Sep 2020 at 2:52 PM We grabbed a late lunch at the café and then it was time to head back down the mountain. Once again I was a little nervous but as soon as the car started to move it wasn't scary anymore. Down at the base station we jumped back on the bus and as we were leaving I spotted a couple of Pied Crows from the upper deck, another African bird I was keen to see. The tour now took us south to Camp's Bay, a trendy seaside suburb, and then back up along the coast past white sand beaches and kelp forests. They say that Cape Town is the perfect place to live. According to its Feng shui it is a safe and protected city, because it is located on the seat of an arm chair. Table Mountain is the back, Lion's Head and Devil's Peak are the arms. Good chi flows in from the water and is retained by these mountains. Robben Island slows the chi down for a calming effect and all in all you have a pretty comfy place to live. And a pretty nice place to visit too.
Day Four- Cape of Good Hope 30/05/2017 This morning we boarded the Cape Point Explorer City Sightseeing bus for a day of touring the Cape Peninsula. We headed south out of Cape Town, through the upmarket suburbs of Newlands and Wynberg. Our first stop was Boulders Beach, home to a colony of African Penguins! We spent half an hour or so wandering along the boardwalks, watching the penguins waddle around on the dunes and swimming in the bay. A lot of the penguins had chicks and all up I reckon there were about 300 of them. Very cute. African Penguins by akasha posted 3 Sep 2020 at 3:05 PM Back on the bus we wound our way along the mountainside by False Bay until we came to Cape Point Nature Reserve. The fynbos ('fine bush') vegetation which is mainly made up of small shrubs, in vivid shades of green, gold and silver, covered the hillsides and is very pretty. Cape Point is home to an array of African wildlife, so we were told to keep our eyes peeled. First sighting was of a female ostrich, followed shortly after by a lone Helmeted Guineafowl. Not an unfamiliar sight for me, as we have a flock of them at home, but it was cool to see a wild one in its natural habitat. As we pulled into the car park for our two hour stop at Cape Point we were warned to be careful of the baboons. Running into one was a pretty scary prospect, they are fast, agile, fearless and have a wicked set of fangs. Luckily the scariest thing that attacked during lunch was a horrid little Red-winged Starling which pounced on my delicious chicken sandwich. Having to throw almost half of that awesome sandwich out really sucked. After lunch we hiked up the steep hill to the Cape Point lighthouse. The lighthouse itself isn't very exciting but the location is, with stunning views of False Bay, the Cape of Good Hope and the wild Atlantic Ocean. I should pause here and say that Cape Town has recently been declared a disaster zone. They are in the grip of a very severe drought and water is rapidly running out. Technically it is the beginning of winter but we did our hike today under a bright sun and in temperatures in the mid-twenties. Western Cape is also famous for its strong winds, nor-westers in the winter which bring rain, but today the air was totally still, an unusual and worrying occurrence for this part of the world. Along our hike up the hill we had our first mammal sighting for the day, an adorable little Four-striped Grass Mouse, feeding in a flowering shrub. We also spotted a few Black Girdled Lizards, whose thick scaled hides give them a crocodilian appearance. Black Girdled Lizard (Cordylus niger) by akasha posted 27 Aug 2019 at 4:01 PM Back at the bus the tour group all met up to do the hike across to the Cape of Good Hope. Whilst we were waiting for everyone to gather an adult male Chacma Baboon sprang into view and he was certainly the proverbial cat among the pigeons, the scatter he caused was quite funny, a few people took off at a gallop and I have to say if he'd come too much closer I'd have been one of them. He ran along the low stone wall surrounding the car park and ended up making his way onto the roof of the shop. At this time our group was all but ready to go and the guide said if anyone had any food on them they should leave it on the bus. There was a sudden rush of people, myself included, scrambling to get back on the bus to dump our packs because no one wanted to be a target for the crafty, thieving baboons. We headed off along the hiking trail to the Cape of Good Hope, which is the most south-westerly point of Africa. The hike was about forty minutes, taking us through the fynbos and the along the rugged clifftop, with spectacular views down to the beach and out across the wild Atlantic Ocean. Along the way, we saw a couple of Rock Hyrax, before climbing to the top of the Cape. From here we had awesome views back up the peninsula of the sea mist rolling up over the beach towards the mountains. After descending to the beach we climbed back aboard the bus, and drove along the western side of the peninsula. We spotted eight more ostriches, including two males, and then we were lucky enough to get a third new mammal sighting. This time it came in the form of the world's largest antelope, a lone Eland grazing on the hillside. I was very happy with this one, though I have seen plenty of Eland at Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, they are one of my favourites, and seeing a wild one was pretty special. We continued along out of the nature reserve, but the road still ran adjacent to it, and we were treated to a fourth new mammal sighting, turning our day into a mini safari. This time we saw five Bontebok, red antelope with a big white blaze down their face. Very cool. The bus ride back took us along the western side of the peninsula, via the Misty Cliffs and then through the Constantia Valley wine region. Our tour finished around 5:30pm at the waterfront, so we grabbed some dinner at a restaurant with views of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak which took on a beautiful glow as the sun set.
Day Five- Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens 31/05/2017 First up I have to say I kind of feel like Tippi Hedron. The gulls are incessant. They squawk all night long, they flock around the hotel for no apparent reason, and periodically they can be heard stalking across the rooftop. Thankfully none have dive-bombed through the windows and pecked our eyes out. Yet. This morning when we woke the city was shrouded in sea mist. The effect was quite pretty as we wandered around the waterfront and if you hadn't seen Cape Town on a clear day you'd have no idea that Table Mountain was looming just overhead. We grabbed some tickets for tomorrow's excursion and then stumbled upon a group of four Cape Fur Seals, including a massive bull, lazing in the sun. Wonderful to see them so close. Once again, we boarded the City Sightseeing bus, this time for the mini peninsula tour loop. Along the way on the slopes of Devil's Peak, I spotted an animal I was super keen to see and was sure I wouldn't. Wait for it... Quaggas! Now, this is the part where you all think I've gone bonkers, but hear me out. Yes, the quagga, an almost stripeless subspecies of Plains Zebra was hunted to extinction in the 1880's with the last known individual dying in an Amsterdam zoo in 1883. Back in 2011, I visited Tring Natural History Museum where we saw several taxidermed specimens of these extinct animals, so seeing live quaggas was quite a thrill. The animals we saw today are part of the Quagga Project. A selective breeding program that was founded 1987, using the least stripy plains zebras to recreate the quagga. The quaggas we saw today had stripes on the front half of their bodies with stripeless rumps and hind legs. The project animals are kept on various farms and game reserves throughout Western Cape, and I knew I had no chance of getting to any of these places, so coming across them in the middle of Cape Town was a real treat. Check out quaggaproject.org if you want to see some pictures. We disembarked the bus at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and for the next three hours we wandered around the world-renowned gardens, which are nestled at base of the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, checking out the native plants and spotting native animals. We saw plenty of Hadeda Ibis, Helmeted Guineafowl and Cape White-eyes. Amongst the proteas we saw some beautiful Southern Double-collared Sunbirds. They are stunning little nectar-feeders, iridescent green, with vivid red and blue stripes, and possibly my favourite African bird so far. Another bird I was really hoping to see were some Cape Spurfowl and we were lucky enough to find six. Our new mammal sighting for the day was Small Grey Mongoose. It wandered out of one garden across the lawn and disappeared into another. A cute little addition to the mammal list. Not only are the gardens themselves beautiful, but the location is stunning too. Every time you look up, it hits you again, just how magical a place this is, especially on a winter's day like today when the sun is shining and spilling over the mountain slopes in golden streams. Back on the bus we continued to admire the scenery, passing the Constantia Valley wine region again, and heading down to Hout Bay. We also passed the Imizamo Yethu township, a mass of tin shanties strewn up the hillside. Townships are remnants of the apartheid era. When black and coloured people were moved away from their land they were rehoused in rural areas where there was no work. They gradually drifted back towards the city to find jobs, setting up these slum towns. One thing about South Africa that it's hard to get your head around is the contrast. This township is situated right next to some of the most luxurious homes in Cape Town. Large houses with room to keep horses and the stables are better equipped and more comfortable than family homes in the townships. Even eating out at the restaurants, getting served huge portions of gourmet food when you know only a couple of kilometres away people are living in such poor conditions is an unsettling feeling. Considering this contrast though, the people seem to co-exist in relative harmony. We then headed over the peninsula to the western side, revisiting some places we saw on Monday, though this time we got off the bus at Camp's Bay for a quick look at the white sand beach. Completed the loop back to the waterfront and finished the day with room service dinner. Well, just one more day in Cape Town before we head east.
Day Six- Robben Island 01/06/2017 This morning we made our way down to the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the waterfront for our trip across to Robben Island. Whilst we were waiting to board the ferry we got to see the swing bridge in action, and also saw a big Cape Fur Seal bull haul up into the viewing area. Robben Island is a world heritage site. It is famous for the prison, mainly for political prisoners during apartheid, and is where Nelson Mandela was held for eighteen of the twenty-seven years he spent in prison. The ferry ride across was twelves kilometres and took about twenty minutes. Along the way we saw hundreds of Cape Cormorants flying by and we arrived at the island to see thousands of them perched on the break wall. I've never seen so many birds in one place, it was an awesome spectacle to see, but not so awesome to smell. On the island we boarded a bus for a tour of the prison. The tour guide was a native African lady who spoke Khoisan, the language with the pops and clicks. I don't know how they do it, the pops and clicks sound simultaneously with the words, pretty cool and fun to hear in real life. We visited the little village, where the wardens used to live and now the museum employees do. We stopped here for a quick break and spotted the only new bird for the day, Crowned Cormorant, as well as some more African Penguins. Back on the bus we headed to the maximum-security section of the prison. Here we were taken on a walking tour by a former political prisoner who spent six and a half years incarcerated at Robben Island in the eighties. On the trip back to the mainland we sat out the back of the boat, enjoying the fresh air, the rolling Atlantic Ocean and stunning views of the city and the mountains. Back in Cape Town we headed to the café at the fish market because we couldn't leave town without trying some famous fresh Cape seafood. We got some grilled fish and some calamari and I can't really recall any better that I've tasted. Spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the waterfront and soaking up our last views of Table Mountain. Off to Jo'berg tomorrow to meet up with our tour group. Soon we will be on safari!
Day Seven- Rockjumper 02/06/2017 Today was a travelling day. We bid farewell to the beautiful city of Cape Town and it's not hard to see why so many people who visit the Mother City decide to make her their home. Breakfast at Mugg & Bean at the airport then we checked in for our flight. Bussed it across the tarmac to our plane, and the flight was only about half full so that was a nice change. This time we got to see Cape Town from the air in the daylight, the view extending all the way down to Cape Point. As we headed northeast we crossed over the cape fold mountains and the country is not unlike South Australia with its red soil and folded hills which extend into vast arid plains. The western side of South Africa is in drought at the moment and you can tell, everything looks so dry. We flew over the karoo, desert landscape with yellower soil, and the whole country is flat to Johannesburg. Lunch on the plane was chicken and rice with vegies, which was pretty nice. Arrived in Jo'burg around 2:30pm, bussed it from the plane to the terminal and picked up our bags. Then we headed out into the arrivals hall where we found another sign with our names on it. This was the most nerve-wracking step of the whole trip for us. We knew if we could find this driver and make it to our accommodation in Jo'burg where our tour commences we would be okay. Turns out it was all fine and the drive through Jo'burg went smoothly but it certainly is a different city to Cape Town. Our accommodation is at the Sunrock Guesthouse in Kempton Park, and is surrounded by a high concrete wall which is electrified around the top. Scary? Comforting? A bit of both? Yep, we'll go with that, a bit of both. After we settled into our room, we went for a wander around the garden and stumbled upon a likely looking crew. Khaki pants, pocketed vests, bucket hats and all manner of optical equipment pointing towards a bird feeder. Yep, this was our tour group for sure. We met our tour guide, a South African guy who informed us we are by far the youngest guests he's taken on tour. I mentioned to him that I followed Noah's blog, which is why I chose Rockjumper Birding Tours, (Noah Strycker did a global big year in 2015, becoming the first person to see over 6000 species of bird in one year). Anyway, our guide was like, 'oh yeah, I went with Noah when he visited the Drakensberg on that trip.' Pretty cool, well at least it is if you're a birding tragic like me. We, along with the four others in our tour group, wandered around the garden, spotting a few new birds, managing to add 5 lifers to the list (Red-headed Finch, Karoo Thrush, Speckled Pigeon, Speckled Mousebird and Red-faced Mousebird.) Now, I know the question that's been plaguing you all, is just how many birds do I actually have on my world life list? Well, as of yesterday the answer would be 475. Hopefully by the end of this tour that number will be closer to 800. The group gathered at 6:30pm for a delicious dinner, and to go through our briefing for what the next two weeks will hold. Basically that will be a ton of wildlife; birds, mammals and maybe reptiles because the season is so late and it's still hot. Tomorrow we have a 5:30am departure for a day trip up north of Jo'burg. We've been told the possibilities include giraffe, blesbok, impala and zebra. Can't wait to find out what the day will hold for us!
Day Eight- Zaagkuildrift Road 03/06/2017 Meeting time this morning was 5:30am, my kind of holiday. We hit the road and headed north to Zaagkuildrift Road, where the habitat is arid acacia bushveld. This road is the eastern extent of the ranges for a lot of arid country birds so if we missed them today we wouldn't get another chance to see them. Spent the whole day slowly driving along this dirt road, which is fenced on both sides, lined by cattle farms and game reserves. The birding was incredible, we saw about a hundred species, most of which were new. Some highlights were Crested Barbet, Southern Pied Babbler, Blue Waxbill, African Hoopoe, Burchell's Starling, Lilac-breasted Roller, three species of hornbill, Crimson-breasted Shrike, a Southern White-faced Owl on her nest and it was when we came across a cow with a Red-billed Oxpecker on its back that I think it finally sunk in that this is Africa! We also added a few new mammals; Vervet Monkey, Impala, Kudu, Slender Mongoose, Blesbok and Yellow Mongoose. Tomorrow we head for Kruger National Park. Can't wait!
Day Nine- Orpen to Satara 04/06/2017 SAFARI!!! Right, now that's out there, we'll start from the start. An early breakfast so we could head off at 6:30am to head east to Kruger National Park. On the way we stopped at hands down the best service centre I have ever been to. In the ladies room there were floor to ceiling windows overlooking a single, large paddock stocked with Gemsbok, Springbok, Waterbuck, Buffalo, Zebra, White Rhino, Ostrich and randomly one Emu. After everyone had used the loo we headed outside to the fence to do a spot of birding, picking up Cape Sparrow and Capped Wheatear. Whilst the tour guide and us five birders were busy scanning the paddock, Travel Buddy informed us that a serious looking man with a very big automatic rifle was approaching. A nervous and tense couple of moments followed before the guide explained what we were doing and the guard asked us to move on. No one is supposed to be near the fence because eight rhinos were poached off this farm, situated on the side of the motorway, last year. Brazen to say the least. We continued on, driving from the highveld down to the lowveld, through citrus and banana plantations. We also drove through a couple of the urban areas where the houses are very hotchpotch and cows freely roam the streets. We stopped for a picnic lunch, picking up a couple of new birds, the endemic White-browed Robin-Chat and Kurrichane Thrush, and a new reptile, Tree Agama. Hit the road again for our final leg to Kruger! I managed to score the front seat, anyone who has toured knows that's the best place to be. We drove along the western edge of the park, passing the private game reserves, managing to spot a few baboons and a Nile Crocodile. We arrived at Orpen Gate around 2:30pm, giving us three hours before we had to be in camp. Our first ever animal sighting for Kruger was Brown Snake Eagle, quickly followed a herd of Impala camped up getting out of the hot sun. A couple of kilometres down the road, we came to another gate, and through here was where the real show began. Within 200 metres we were stopped watching a herd of Plains Zebra, including foals. On the other side of the road were some Blue Wildebeest, our first ever, having never seen them in zoos either. This was one of the highlights for me, I know that's weird but I've been dying to see one since I was a kid. Then another 100 metres down the road we had giraffe with calves and warthog with piglets. The giraffe were browsing right by the roadside, a group of six, all this within five minutes, so cool! The animals come thick and fast at Kruger, and it's almost overwhelming at times, trying to figure out just which way you should be looking. Our next sighting was the first of the Big 5 for us. This came in the form of two male lions sleeping by a buffalo they had killed earlier in the day. Some Hooded Vulture were gathering nearby and this prompted one of the lions to sit up and take notice, showing off his impressive mane. Not too far away sat a couple of wildebeest, quite content to be in this close proximity of lions with full bellies. An inconspicuous Black-backed Jackal also skulked nearby. As we drove on we birded too, stopping to check out a few species such as White-backed Vulture, Golden-breasted Bunting, Green Wood Hoopoe and Purple Roller. Our next Big 5 encounter was with a herd of about 50 buffalo. They were right by the roadside, massive bulls as well as cows with calves. It was pretty awesome to be so close to such big, powerful wild animals. African Buffalo by akasha posted 3 Sep 2020 at 5:58 PM Further on down the road we spotted a Long-tailed Paradise Whydah. As the name suggests he had an extremely long streamer-like tail. He perched up near some females and began to display, tipping his head back and calling, and generally strutting his stuff. A great sighting. Our third and final Big 5 sighting for the day was elephant. We watched a herd of about 30 emerge from the scrub, females with calves. The adults were huge, lots of them had big tusks. A few stopped off so their calves could suckle, and the rest slowly wandered on by us. It was a magic scene with the golden afternoon light softly falling over the bushveld and turning the sky mauve. On the other side of the road were a few zebra and a huge herd of buffalo, and as far as moments go, they don't get much better than this one. As the sun was setting we ventured on to Satara rest camp in the heart of Kruger, finding plenty of impala and wildebeest right by the fence. The wildebeest were quite active, chasing one another, battling it out for dominance. Once we arrived at camp, our guide went to check in and I headed straight for the fence to get another look at the impala and wildebeest. As I was walking by a tree, Vervet Monkeys started dropping out of it, and ran across the grass. I made it to the fence and not only could I watch the impala and wildebeest, but I could hear their calls as they battled it out. Our accommodation is a little round safari hut with a thatched roof, pretty cute. Before dinner we had a sighting of an African Wild Cat wandering through camp, and then an elephant just outside the fence as we walked to the restaurant. After dinner as we were walking back to our hut by torchlight a strange baying sounded out in the darkness. Our guide stopped and said one word 'hyena'. Today we literally saw hundreds, maybe thousands, of birds and mammals. Is safari as good as I thought it would be? No, I think it's better. No documentary can prepare you for the scale of the place or sheer abundance of animals here, and we've only just arrived. Incredible.
Day Ten- Satara 05/06/17 SAFARI!!! Right, out the gate at 6:00am as soon as it opened. Today we had an open safari vehicle, driven by a local guide. We headed north from Satara camp in the cold predawn, our first sighting a flock of Helmeted Guineafowl in the middle of the road. We continued on, having great luck with views of a porcupine running of across the savannah, quills bobbing up and down as it went. They are relatively uncommon so this was a very good sighting. Just past the porcupine we came to a massacre of guineafowl on the road. Some idiot had ploughed right through a whole flock, killing eight and injuring a couple more. The local guide wasn't too happy, and took photos to report the incident, he also found the number plate from the vehicle lying on the road, covered in blood and feathers, pretty damning evidence. Throughout the course of the morning we saw steenbok (a small antelope), waterbuck (a large fluffy grey antelope), many impala, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, Southern Ground Hornbill, Harlequin Quail and a small herd of elephant right by the road which we stopped and spent a little time with. African Elephants by akasha posted 3 Sep 2020 at 6:26 PM Further along we stopped at a bird hide, and yes, we got out of the vehicle! We entered the hide and scanned the river, finding a couple of Nile Crocodile lazing on the banks. Out of the hide, we birded around the vehicle for ten minutes or so, picking up a few new species such as Green-backed Camaroptera. Back in the vehicle, about a kilometre down the road we pulled up to scan the same river and this time we spotted three lions! There is absolutely no reason these lions couldn't have eaten us should they have happened to be a bit closer to our previous location. These were adolescent lions, two males and a female. The local guide said they were most likely young males chased off by their parents as is the way with lions, but that when they ran their sister went with them. If she rejoins with the pride in a day or two she will be accepted back, any longer and they will reject her and she won't survive. The wild is a harsh and unforgiving place. A few kilometres further on we stopped at Timbavati Picnic Spot, and again we got out of the vehicle by the same river. A little crazy, but it's the done thing and a bit of a rush too. (Yes, I know you're all now wondering if we saw any white lions, as the Timbavati pride is where that mutation originated, and yes there is currently a sub-adult male white running with the pride but unfortunately we didn't see him. Another pride further south has two white females, fingers crossed for tomorrow). At the picnic spot we ate breakfast and got close-up views of some friendly Southern Yellow-billed Hornbills, Cape Glossy Starling, Greater Blue-eared Starling and also saw a Striped Tree Squirrel. Back on the road we encountered more giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, waterbuck and impala. I gave up counting animals about half an hour into this tour, they are everywhere so it's impossible. Today alone we must have seen over a thousand impala all up. Back to Satara by 11:30am for lunch and a bird walk around the camp. Managed to spot a couple of woodpecker species, Barred and Golden-tailed, and saw a family of Vervet Monkey too. At 3:00pm we headed out into the park again, this time heading south east. Again we saw plenty of giraffe, zebra, impala and wildebeest. A good indication of where to find interesting animals is where all the cars are stopped. A big gathering of vehicles usually indicates cats, mostly lions, and when we stopped at one such group the word was 'cheetah'. Cheetah are rare, even in Kruger. Only 200 individuals in the park compared to about 1000 leopard and maybe 2000 lion. This past summer Kruger had an incredible amount of rain and the grass is high. It makes spotting wildlife a little more difficult, and seeing a snoozing cheetah in this is impossible, so we pressed on and hoped we'd have luck later. We stopped at another bird hide by a river, this time picking up Black Crake for our bird list. We were also very fortunate in that we saw a hippo amble down the river bank and head into the water. Hippo are nocturnal and it's quite rare to see them out of the water in the day. He yawned for us too, a display just to remind us how very big his teeth are. At this spot we also saw a female waterbuck come down to drink which was great. I'm quite taken with the waterbuck, they might even be my favourite animals here, though the impala are pretty cool too. As the sun began to set we headed back towards camp, stopping at the cheetah site again. This time a head popped up out of the grass and we were on. The cheetah sat there for a moment then stood up, walked about twenty metres giving us a brilliant view, then plopped back down in the grass becoming invisible again. A very special sighting and a fantastic end to an exceptional day on safari.
Day Eleven- Satara to Skukuza 06/06/2017 Once again out the gate when it opened at 6:00am. Headed south from Satara camp and got our first new mammal sighting of the day sitting by the roadside. Spotted Hyena. A juvenile sat up nicely only a couple of metres from our vehicle, giving us a great look at it. I find it hard to describe exactly what we are seeing. The sheer abundance of wildlife. As we drive along it's like 'giraffe', 'zebra', 'impala', until people just stop calling it or we would be stopping every minute. Our main targets today were rhino and leopard, the two of the Big 5 that we were yet to see. In the morning it is very cold, everyone rugs up as we drive around in the open-air vehicle. Fog hangs over the bushveld and clouds cover the sky. The animal activity is relatively quiet initially because the temperature is so low, but the animals are there and we saw a decent herd of zebra heading for water. At one point we stopped by the river and found an impressive group of ten or so waterbuck, including a big male and some babies. Breakfast was at Tshokwane Picnic Spot where Vervet Monkeys live. It was law of the jungle and we had to fight for our food, fending off monkeys and starlings as we ate. The mischievous monkeys also raided our vehicle but our tour guides chased them off. Further along we drove up a hill stopping at a lookout at the top. From the lookout we gazed across the endless savannah, spotting a mixed herd of zebra, wildebeest, giraffe and impala. Another picnic area by the water held hippos and a herd of elephant came in to drink. At every stop we checked for birds, picking up new species at all of them. Beauties such as Mocking Cliff Chat, Giant Kingfisher and Grey-headed Bushshrike. Our next mammal sighting was a special one. Two White Rhino, a mother and calf. They were a little way off but with binoculars we got great views. Then we spotted another three, another mother and calf and a male. A little further down the road we got two more. Seven rhino! Incredible! Sadly, rhino are being poached at a rapid rate in Kruger, and at the current rate they will be extinct in the park by 2022. Yes, just 5 years. Last year, 240 poachers were caught, 90 of those shot dead. Around lunchtime we pulled up at a waterhole full of Nile Crocodile and hippo. Impala and waterbuck came in to drink. African Spoonbill, Yellow-billed Stork and Water Thick-knee lined the shores. A Nile Monitor ran by. It was everything and more that you've seen on docos about Africa. Along the river we spotted elephant, crocodile, a Goliath Heron and a flock of vulture resting on a sand bank. At around 2:30pm we arrived at Skukuza camp, the biggest camp in Kruger. We checked in to our huts and prepared for our sunset drive. This was an optional extra which we opted for because seriously, when will we ever be back here? At 4:30pm Travel Buddy and I, along with two others headed back out into the park, this time with a park ranger. Things were quiet at first but then right on sunset we came across two young male white rhino right by the roadside. Yay! We spotted four more along this section of road and later after dark another one tore across the road in front of the truck. We managed to spot Fiery-necked Nightjar sitting up nicely on a stump for us and our final sighting of the night was a puppy pile of hyena on the side of the road, pretty darn cute. Spotted Hyena by akasha posted 3 Sep 2020 at 8:53 PM A steakhouse at Skukuza camp for dinner and then finally to bed after a very long but very rewarding day.
Day Twelve- Skukuza to Wakkerstroom 07/06/2017 Departed Skukuza camp at 6:30am for our last morning in Kruger. Animal activity was pretty quiet this morning because of the low temperature. Our mammal sightings included a lone Spotted Hyena huddled in the grass, looking rather eerie in the mist and bathed in golden morning light. Our new mammal for the day was Dwarf Mongoose, a whole family of them soaking up the sun on top of their den. We got breakfast at Pretorius Kop, the original Kruger camp, getting our meals from Wimpy's, a franchise not unlike Denny's which served us W shaped hash browns. Late morning saw us bidding farewell to Kruger via Numbi Gate. What can I say? Visiting this park was an absolutely incredible and unforgettable experience and anyone who has considered safari should do it. We saw thousands of animals, over 100 species, ranging from massive herds of buffalo and elephant, to cheetah, a pair of Kori Bustard (the world's heaviest bird), and a flock of thousands of Red-billed Quelea, the most prolific bird on earth. We spotted four of the big five (we still have two more chances for leopard). We headed south over the northern extent of the Drakensberg mountains, through developing cities and farmland. For lunch we stopped at a roadside restaurant. We ordered our meals and sat around chatting, but of course birders never really switch off to their surrounds and a Southern Fiscal was spotted. This was a bird I had seen in Cape Town but was new for the tour. Everyone grabbed their binoculars and swung around just as the waiter arrived with our meals. He had literally drawn breath to distribute the meals and was left standing there rather bewildered as the table was suddenly empty. Pretty funny. After lunch we continued on, this was a long travelling day, stopping for a quick look at a wetland where we picked up a few new species like African Swamphen and Yellow-billed Duck. On to Wakkerstroom where we checked into our accommodation. It's super posh, Travel Buddy and I have the manor house all to ourselves. It's a bluestone with high timber ceilings. We have our own rooms with big beds and open fires. A delicious pub feed for dinner and I have to say that South African cooking is good. Tastier than what you get in Australia for sure, they really know how to jazz up veggies and how to grill a steak. Yum!
Day Thirteen- Wakkerstroom 08/06/2017 Today we birded the highland grasslands around Wakkerstroom. We headed out at 7:00am this morning for an hour and a half long session, targeting White-bellied Bustard, an endangered endemic. Today we were joined by local guide Lucky, and he did in fact turn out to be just that. Last night at dinner I asked our guide if we would see Oribi, a small orange antelope found in high altitude grasslands. They are endangered in South Africa, with about 3000 individuals left. He told me that it was highly unlikely, that he had never actually seen one himself. As we were driving Lucky called stop, and there perched high on the hillside was not one but three Oribi. Pretty incredible, and even our tour guide who had worked in game reserves and national parks all his life had scored a mammal lifer. Yay! We ventured on to a small village, where we went off road, and found three White-bellied Bustard. At this site too, we found Southern Bald Ibis, a bird I was really keen to see. Back on the main road we stopped beside a game reserve where huge numbers of ungulates roamed, and added Springbok and Black Wildebeest to our list. A great morning turned out to be even better when we sighted a pair of Secretarybird wandering through a field. Secretarybird are highly sought after, so this was a satisfying find, not to mention how awesome they are. Huge birds of prey that hunt by stomping snakes to death. Pretty wild. Back to our guest house for breakfast and then we set out for a day in the field. We ventured up into the highlands, where the flat top hills and sprawling plains are covered in golden grass. We travelled through villages of mud huts and saw the local people working with their cattle, mustering them on tough little horses which they ride bareback. Along this road I spotted a group of small mammals go scurrying, tails sticking straight up in the air and that can mean only one thing... meerkats! We stopped to watch them for a bit, including their little sentry, posted nearby scanning for danger. Very cute. In terms of birds we found the endemic highland larks, birds you find nowhere else the world. Rudd's Lark is critically endangered, with only five pairs left in the particular area we visited. With our local guide we made it up to Fickland Pan, which is on privately owned land and only allows twenty vehicles a month to visit. Though we are birding, we are seeing many parts of South Africa that most foreigners never will. The cold wind made birding quite difficult but the setting was spectacular so everyone was happy, especially when I spotted another family of meerkat, including babies, much closer to the us this time. We had a packed lunch up at Fickland Pan and then birded our way back to Wakkerstroom, finding a group of five Blue Korhaan. A little further down the road we saw three Blue Crane land by a small farm dam and stopped to get great views of them. They are South Africa's national bird and are a threatened species. They are very beautiful birds, pale blue-grey with black wings that hang like streamers past their tails. Back in town we birded the garden at the guest house, picking up three new birds; Bokmakierie, Red-throated Wryneck and Cape Grassbird. For dinner we headed to Grasslands Cottage where it was just us, enjoying a home-cooked South African meal. We started with cream of white and green vegetables soup, then veggies and Moroccan lamb stew, followed by a traditional South African pudding with dates, apricot jam and custard. Yum! Back to our manor house to warm up by the open fire after another brilliant day.
Day Fourteen- Wakkerstroom to Mkuze 09/06/2017 7:00am start to pop in a quick session of birding before breakfast. We headed up into the hills in subzero temperatures, our guide freaking out because the windscreen iced over and he had never seen that before. Clearly he's never been to Central West NSW. We birded the roadside, picking up one new species, Drakensberg Prinia, and getting much better views of a few species we'd already encountered like Southern Bald Ibis and Cape Longclaw with their brilliant orange throats. We also checked out the wetland where we saw lots of African Snipe and picked up another two species for our list; Hottentot Teal and Little Bittern (a very hard bird to see especially in winter). Another delicious breakfast at Wetlands Guesthouse, including creamed spinach, potato bake and nightshade jam. Yum! At 10:00am we hit the road for Mkuze. Along the way we drove past heaps of eucalyptus and black wattle plantations, the trees are used for building material and firewood. Then as we got closer to the coast the roadside scenery turned into sugar cane fields and pineapple plantations. Amongst these we got caught up in a traffic jam for over an hour because a truck had tipped over on the road. This put us behind schedule and we rolled into Umkhumbi Lodge at about 3:45pm. We checked into our rooms and then did a short walk through the sand forest. This is completely different habitat which means a whole new suite of birds and though the forest was very quiet this afternoon we did manage to find a group of Pink-throated Twinspot, very pretty little birds. Forest birding is completely different to what we've already done on this trip and it's going to take a bit more patience and skill to track them down, but with birds like Turacos and Trogons to look forward to it will be worth it. To finish the day we got a new mammal, the dainty Red Duiker (rhymes with baker, Dutch for 'diver'). Very nice. Dinner was baked cheese, followed by beef stew in a traditional three-legged potjie, and pear poached in red wine for dessert. So good.
Day Fifteen- Mkuze 10/06/2017 6:00am start with an hour long drive up to the game reserve. We passed through a lot of rural villages with simple mud houses and where goats, cows and chickens freely roam. Driving around Mkuze park was similar to Kruger but the bushveld is much thicker and makes the animals harder to spot. Our first good sighting for the day was Eastern Nicator, a notorious skulker, but I spotted him. I have become the spotter for the group, I seem to pick things out quite quickly, mostly I think because I've had lots of practice in similar habitats, the bushveld is not unlike north-western NSW and the grassland is similar enough to home. Our guide was pretty pleased with the views we got of this bird, he said he'd never seen it so low down in the vegetation, about eye-level with us. We stopped at the camp for breakfast, packed for us by the lodge. Once we were fed we continued to Kumasinga hide. We heard a Gorgeous Bushshrike calling and headed off into the scrub to find it. Of course we were all looking up, but Travel Buddy was looking down and spotted some very big paw prints. Our guide had seen them too, he has 14 year’s experience with tracking big game and wasn't concerned, so we kept birding. So far on this trip he has been very persistent with the birds, calling them in with playback and waiting until everyone gets a clear view before moving on. Today he suddenly called it quits on the Bushshrike before anyone had seen it and we headed for the fenced-in hide. Later that afternoon he told us that he initially thought the prints were from the previous night but that lions leave a very distinct scent when they have been quite recently in an area and when the wind changed he caught that scent. Cool. The hide itself was situated over a waterhole and gave us an amazing view of what you imagine Africa to be. From our position we watched a troop of about 25 Chacma Baboon going about their daily business, saw impala and nyala (in-yarl-a) come in to drink. Of course there were plenty of birds too, the highlight a Purple-crested Turaco. It is a place I could've sat all day, watching the comings and goings of creatures great and small. Fascinating. For a couple more hours we drove around, stopping at another hide where we spotted a few hippo, and then headed back to the camp for lunch. The wind was picking up by this stage and the animal activity quietened down to almost nothing but on the way out of the park Travel Buddy spotted one of my most wanted birds for this trip; Crested Guineafowl. They are darker than the Helmeted, with black necks, red eyes and groovy permed hair-dos. Fun. A flock of thirty or so, including a few half-grown chicks, entertained us for a while before tearing across the road and into the scrub. After leaving the park we checked out one more wetland and then headed back to the lodge. By this stage everyone was a bit worn out, birding this intensely for this long is tiring because it requires a lot of focus, and all the lightweights took the afternoon off. This meant that only two of us were left to go on a walk around camp with our guide, finding a couple of new birds like African Yellow White-eye and Yellow-bellied Greenbul. For dinner we had butternut soup, steak and veggies, and chocolate cake with custard. We are eating a ridiculous amount of food on this trip. After dinner we went for a quick spotlight around camp and found a Greater Galago (aka Bush Baby).
Day Sixteen- Mkuze to St Lucia 11/06/2017 Forest walk to start the day, the birding highlight a beautiful male Purple-banded Sunbird in the morning light. If you haven't already been googling these birds, google this one. Stunning. Breakfast at the guesthouse before hitting the road for the coast. A quick stop off at False Bay Park, where we saw our first pelicans and then onto St Lucia, a cool little seaside town, where hippos sometimes happen to wander up the main street. Lunch first up of course, before checking into our accommodation. This lodge is close to the estuary which is home to hundreds of hippos and they do occasionally wander in here. We've been told to keep a lookout and get to our room immediately should we spot one. Spent the afternoon wandering the trails of the Igwalagwala sand forest. Within ten minutes we had spotted our two main targets; Livingstone's Turaco and Trumpeter Hornbill. Spectacular birds. It's nice to be on tour with a group of people who appreciate the value of silence. Making our way slowly and quietly along the trail allowed us to have clear views of things like Red Duiker and Red-capped Robin-chat on the trail ahead, rather than skulking way off the path. Seafood for dinner, as we are by the coast. I don't know if I've talked about checklists yet, but every night at dinner we all bring along our little books with a complete list of every species we might encounter on this tour. While we wait for our meals we run through the list, ticking everything we've seen for the day. So nerdy, I love it. At 8:00pm we set off on a three-hour night drive. Our local guide was very switched on, for example he was able to spotlight a Dwarf Chameleon in a tree while driving along at 60kph. Incredible. We drove through the forests, wetlands and dunes of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a world heritage area. It is planned to become part of a trans frontier park that will incorporate game reserves and parks in four countries and will extend from the Indian to Atlantic Ocean in one piece of continuous habitat. An extremely ambitious project so we'll have to see how that goes. We saw a fair few animals like zebra, buffalo, waterbuck and bushbuck and scored a couple of new mammals for our list; Common Reedbuck and Common Duiker. We saw heaps of nightjars, mostly Fiery-necked like we saw in Kruger but also a Swamp Nightjar which is relatively rare. Most of them were sitting on the road and would then take flight, but we did get to see one waddle off the road on its tiny little legs, very cute. At one point the guide stopped and picked a baby Flap-neck Chameleon out of the grass. It had chosen lime green to colour itself and the guide asked who wanted to hold it. No prizes for guessing whose hand was the first one to shoot out. So I got to hold the little fella, with his tiny little claws gripping tightly to my fingers, pretty cool. About two hours into the drive we stopped and piled out of the vehicle to enjoy a hot chocolate by the roadside. Yes, there are leopard and hyena in the park but the guides didn't seem to worry so I didn't either. Another hour looking about and then we headed back to our lodge. Checked for hippos but it was all clear so back to our rooms we safely went.
Day Seventeen - St Lucia 12/06/2017 6:45am. Yes, another early start. This tour has an intense schedule, birding from dawn till dusk and beyond. I'm not sure how I'm doing with these posts, too much detail or not enough? It feels like maybe I'm just listing stuff, sorry if that's the case, but I'm writing them at the end of very long days. It's hard too, to decide what to put in, we see so many incredible sights every day, it would take me hours to write it all down. For example, this morning we started with a wander through the forest where we saw a Crowned Eagle swoop in hunting monkeys, luckily for the monkeys he missed, but the attack set them off and for the next ten minutes we listened to their alarm calls sounding from up in the trees. We were early enough to enjoy the dawn chorus too, including what sounded like babies crying in the distance, but is actually the call of the Trumpeter Hornbill. Emergency services have responded to a few calls about abandoned children, only to find a hornbill calling instead. We went for a quick look at the jetty, where we saw Pink-backed Pelicans, lazy Nile Crocodiles and excavation happening at the estuary mouth to remove the sand to reopen the inlet. The sand is full of titanium, so it's a working mine as well. Industry and conservation coming together in a way that benefits everyone, pretty neat. Back to the lodge for breakfast and then we set off for Cape Vidal in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. We had a brilliant day of sightings as we drove through all the habitats, grasslands, wetlands and dune forests, which are literally forests covering massive sand dunes, the highest forested ones in the world. We saw three species of Snake Eagle; Brown, Southern Banded and Black-chested. Four white rhino, including a mother and calf. The horns on these wild rhinos are incredible, over a metre long and very sharp, nothing like the sad, trimmed ones you see in the zoo. A Crowned Eagle nest with a fledgling. Hippo by the dozens with little baby calves. Narina Trogons. Around lunch time we made it to the beach, and I walked out onto it to see the Indian Ocean for the first time. The opposite shore I expected to find myself on when I eventually made it to my fourth ocean. The wind was surprisingly warm, and the water lovely sea-green. Every night at dinner when we do our checklists we have the joke 'anyone see a whale today?' Today it wasn't a joke, we saw Humpbacks, and dolphins too. Not to mention Cape Gannett, another new bird for the list. Lunch was in the forest, a spot our guide picked because of two birds we needed that had been evading us. I stepped out of the car, scanned the hillside and within thirty seconds I was like 'there's a Woodward's Batis and some Brown Scrub Robin', he couldn't believe it. Finding our targets so quick meant we could spend plenty of time watching the endangered Blue Monkeys that came to visit while we ate lunch. Before jumping back in the car, we headed to the loo, maybe 300 metres from the car. On the way we spotted some prints, big cat prints, not fresh but a day or two old. Two sizes, means two individuals, these prints belonged to leopard. Driving back out of the park, we got great views of Hamerkop at their nest, and nesting Goliath Herons too. I spotted a Denham's Bustard off in the distance, another good find. Back in town we stopped to watch an African Harrier-hawk persistently picking at a tree, while being mobbed by Dark-backed Weavers, eventually finding his prize, a weaver chick, swallowing it down and flying off. Wildlife is so abundant in South Africa, and in such close proximity to humans that everywhere we go there are Attenborough worthy scenes playing out right in front of us. Seeing the live action versions is such a privilege. Amazing.
Day Eighteen- St Lucia to Hilton 13/06/2017 On the road by 5:30am. Seriously, who pays to do this? Wimpy's for breakfast and then we headed for Dlinza Forest. We climbed a tower up into the canopy with great views over the forest. There were three birds we were targeting, and we found the first of them from up here, the endangered Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeon, now surviving in only three forests. A Crowned Eagle also flew over at close range, carrying a Vervet Monkey in its talons. We descended from the canopy to walk along a trail on the forest floor. The secretive Blue Duiker is found in this forest, a tiny little antelope, the smallest in southern Africa, 30cm high and weighing in at a whopping 4kg. They are supposed to be hard to see. One tore past us, and we got okay views, but then he came back. He cut laps back and forward in front of us, six or seven times, giving us amazing views. Pretty awesome. We also saw two others, quite close to the path and not fussed about us. They are seriously one of the cutest things I've ever seen. In terms of birds we were searching for the Spotted Ground Thrush, a difficult bird to find but within about twenty minutes we'd found two. Our third bird was Chorister Robin-chat, we found one right outside the information centre. Three ticks, yay! Next we headed to Mtunzini, to check the Raphia palms for Palm-nut Vultures. We did manage to spot two, flying way off in the distance, not the views we wanted, but I can hardly complain after all the incredible luck we've had. We also went for a short walk through the mangrove forest, searching for Mangrove Kingfisher, a winter migrant to the area. Unfortunately the birds haven't arrived yet, so we dipped out on this one. Back on the road we headed south through Durban to Hilton for the night. Not too many birds here but this is just a stopover for the next two adventurous days we are about to embark on. So far on this trip we have seen over 300 species of birds, and I am close to having 800 on my world life list.
Day Nineteen- Hilton to Underberg 14/06/2017 This morning we had breakfast at 7:00am like civilised people before heading off to the bird in the Karkloof region, finding quite a few nice birds, but not before doing a spot of sight-seeing at Howick Falls. (Sight-seeing, who am I kidding? We were looking for Peregrine Falcon on the cliffs and there happened to be a waterfall too.) We got Wattled Crane in the maize fields and then visited Benvie Garden, a 170-year-old estate full of trees like cedars, redwoods and even Aussie grass trees that are over a century old. Wandering around the garden through the stunning camellias and azaleas, we found Orange Ground Thrush, Grey Cuckooshrike and Knysna Turaco, and had our best views yet of an African Fish Eagle. Back into town for lunch at a cafe that had views of the falls, where we could see people at the top doing their laundry in the river. It was here that we got a great sighting, a beautiful emerald green Klaas's Cuckoo. A very unexpected bird as he should be in Tanzania at this time of the year. After lunch we continued on to Marutswa Forest, where we were targeting an endangered endemic, Cape Parrot. They are difficult birds to find, with the best chance of getting them as they come in to roost. We heard parrots. We even saw parrots, tiny silhouettes in the distance above the tree line. It was a tick for the list, and the view we expected, but not the view we wanted. We decided to hike through the forest to see if we could get closer. The track was narrow and not often used, and we even encountered a couple of cows that had wandered up from the village. We could still hear the parrots, but after a kilometre of trekking and the fact that the sun was getting low, we turned around and headed back out. We did glimpse two more, flying past much closer, but still silhouetted. Back out of the forest we turned to look back at the trees one last time, the sun setting behind us, and parrots still calling from down in the valley. We'd given it our best shot. Then suddenly a parrot flew over us and landed perfectly in a dead tree right in front of us! This would be close to the sighting of the trip for me, actually having a chance to see the colour on a Cape Parrot, I never thought we'd get so close. Magic!
