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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.
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