Marakele National Park birding May 2010

Links

• List of birds

On Friday afternoon we drove what must be one of the worst roads in the country, the R511 north of Brits, to get to Thabazimbi. But we arrived safely, got some Steers takeaways and drove to our accommodation for the night at Thaba Nkwe game farm. The bed was a bit saggy in the middle and overall we thought it was a bit overpriced, but we still slept OK and got up early on Saturday morning to start our birding. We picked up a few regulars, including Fierynecked nightjar before we left the game farm and apporaching the National Park, we saw a few other common ones. Upon entering the park itself, we drove around the lower section of the park first, visiting a bird hide overlooking a small dam. Sightings were disappointingly few and far between and although we expected the winter slump, we were a bit disheartened. However, part of our trip was to experience the fantastic drive to the radio towers and masts in the upper section of the park and a new access road leading straight from the lower section got us there quickly.

The road was as spectacular as I remember it and we stopped frequently to take pictures and short videos. At the top we were immediately greeted by Cape rock-thrush, Cape bunting and Mocking cliff-chat where we parked and we thought we were able to identify a female Buff-streaked chat. We walked around a bit and spotted some of the 500-900 Cape vultures that are believed to nest on the cliff faces to the south - the largest Cape vulture colony in the world! We were very happy to also spot Gurney's sugarbird on a protea bush and later got a quick but nice close-up view as well. Another rock-thrush showed up and my immediate ID (without checking the guides) was Sentinel rock-thrush. However, when we checked this later with all the knowledgable people on the birding news group, it turned out to be a female Mocking cliff-chat. Just before we left, a male Buff-streaked chat came and posed very nicely for some pics before taking off. The sugarbird and Buff-streaked chat were definitely our highlights for the day (and trip) so with higher spirits we drove back down. In the lower section the birding didn't really improve and by 4pm we headed for the campsite to start our braai fire. We decided to test the X-trail's ability (and our own!) to act as a sleeping place and folded the back seats down. It turned out to be quite comfortable, even with just hiking mats, and we decided that for quick and easy sleeping arrangements, this was certainly the best.

Muesli and huge mugs of coffee and tea dispelled the morning chill of the next day. Sleeping in the car made our exit from the camp very quick and easy but unfortunately, the birding was no better than the previous day. Soon we decided to give up and drove a bit further south to Pilanesberg. Although Mankwe dam was very full and the rest of the reserve didn't improve much on Marakele in terms of birding, we did get Crimson-breasted shrike, Marico, Fiscal and Pale flycatchers, Kalahari and White-browed scrub-robins and this time definitely Short-toed rock-thrush. Around 1pm we left the park and drove a much better road back home.

Rooikrans hiking trail May 2010

I arrived at Nicola s place on Friday afternoon, picked her up and with Nicola driving the X-trail we arrived shortly after 4pm at the base camp. George, Brian, Shirley and Eddie were waiting for us and had the fire already going. After dinner we showed our video of our Europe trip to them before hitting the sack. Saturday dawned beautifully and it wasn't cold at all. Around 8am we were hiking over flat meadow-like country, climbing a few stiles and making really short work of the 4km or so to the bottom of Job se kloof. The owner s two dogs, Rusty and Spot, caught up with us and begged for attention whenever we dared to take a break. A well-laid trail traversed the small stream as we wound our way to the top of Job se kloof. A pretty view of the western end of Loskop dam greeted us and the flat section of trail on top of the ridge was a pleasure to walk. Not long after, the trail descended slowly to bring us to the bottom of Witpens kloof, another little stream cascading down this one as well. Well-placed ladders, chains and iron steps reminded of Eddie and Shirley s Via Ferrata of a few years back and although the sweat dripped down our noses, we thoroughly enjoyed the climb. Just below the crest of the ridge, we sat down for lunch in the shade of a protea tree. It was now warming up nicely for an early afternoon in May so the breeze greeting us a little later on the ridge was very welcome. We traversed Aloe ridge just below the summit before another easy descent led down to the small ravine that eventually runs past our base camp. A very large conglomerate arch, called Pieter se klip invited a few photographs before the trail cris-crossed the stream for the last 200m back to camp. Nice hot showers awaited the weary and although it was a fairly easy hike, the 16km day was felt by all. With Nicola attending diligently to a struggling fire, and myself to chopping and dicing, we soon invited comments from the rest of the group about our intended dinner a proper potjie! It wasn t very long after dinner before all kinds of excuses crept into the conversation and it was barely 7pm before we were all in bed.

Another sunny morning awaited us as we took to the trail after breakfast on Sunday. But as we approached the ridge to the south of the valley we saw low mist hiding the red cliff faces above. Luckily this was all gone by mid-morning. Heavy overnight dew brushed off the grass until we reached the bottom of Draad kloof where the tree canopy closed overhead and the undergrowth opened up a little. This climb was a bit steeper than the two kloofs we ascended yesterday but the view of low-lying mist over Loskop to the east was worth the sweat. The trail traversed immediately below the cliff-face, climbing up and over and around boulders and fig trees until topping out with a last bit of effort. A short level traverse brought us to another small kloof which we descended back to the valley floor. Another easy 3km walk over level ground saw us back at the base camp at 11am. A quick shower for all before heading off to Wimpy in Witbank for lunch. A very pleasant weekend with decent distance for a change without over-stretching ourselves. Perhaps not the dramatic scenery of the Drakensberg but well worth the short drive to get there.