Buffalo Gorge hiking trail Dec 2011

Links

• List of birds

We got up just before 5am, had some quick coffee and rusks and then drove out towards Buffalo Gorge. Nicola reminded me that we were supposed to pack tents and sleeping pads, something I’d obviously forgotten completely, and we had to turn back just outside Middelburg to go and fetch it quickly. Despite this short delay, we got Buffalo Gorge just before 06:30 and soon met up with George, Shirley and Eddie. After filling the water bottles and putting on sunscreen, we were on our way. A short uphill in the undergrowth of a small gully saw us topping out on a small plateau. From here the walking was easy and a light breeze made it very pleasant. After almost 2 hours of easy walking, following blobs of paint and white-tipped droppers, we came to gated fence that had no obvious way to cross it. There were what seemed to be markers on the other side, but without an obvious path or way to cross, our direction seemed doubtful. The map was consulted under some shady trees and Eddie convinced us that the path crosses the fence. So then we went under the fence at a weak point and carried on. Soon we arrived on a cliff edge and we could hear Diderick, Red-chested and Black cuckoos calling in the forest below. We walked until we reached the top of the 50m abseil point where we had a short tea break and then headed down into the valley towards the west. It was now late morning and the sun started getting hot. The trail split at one point into a 12 and 15km trip and we opted for the longer one. But half an hour later we got to a signpost pointing to the camp in the direction we came from and we were unable to find our location on the map. Out came the GPS which showed us just over 3km from the camp. Deciding that we had enough of the hot morning sun, we headed back on the GPS direction. We came upon a couple of paths and followed some until we reached a small donga where White-fronted bee-eaters nested in the mud banks. Two Jacobin cuckoos flew past as we decided how we were going to cross the small ridge. Then Shirley and Nicola found some markers and we followed these across the ridge. From the top we had less than 2km to go and George and I decided to walk straight to the camp on the GPS heading. Soon we had the camp in sight and by now we were very hot and the swimming pool at the camp looked very inviting. We arrived back just after 12pm and 5 minutes later were all sitting in the pool. After lunch we chatted the afternoon away, listening to the abundant bird-life in the trees. Around 4.30pm, the owner came around and took Nicola and Shirley off on a horse ride. I made fire and by 6pm George, Eddie and I were having a braai. Shirley and Nicola only returned shortly before 7pm and after some tea around the dying fire, we headed for bed.

We were up at 5am and recorded a number of birds before catching a quick breakfast and then dumping all our climbing gear into Eddie’s Citroen and heading up the hill to the abseil spot we passed yesterday. Before 7am we parked and took the short walk to the abseil spot. It took me about 10 minutes to set up the 40m abseil and then Shirley took the first steps across the edge. Then George had a go while Nicola took photos over the edge. I went down third and stopped halfway down to pull the end of the rope out the top of a small tree. The walk back to the top was interesting and got the adrenalin going and I was glad that Shirley wanted to go down again after Nicola to make sure she found her way back to the top. After Shirley went down a third time we packed up, drove back to the hut and left 15 minutes later for bacon and eggs at our place in Middelburg.

Despite the trail lacking some serious maintenance and the facilities not being the best, we had a fun weekend out and were happy to hear so many cuckoos out (6 species in total).

Home Nov 2011

With a weekend at home, it was all work and no play as we cleaned our peach tree and harvested our berries. Nicola worked hard at preserving all our peaches and now we have dessert for the next few months! All the berries (except the gooseberries) went into a dark purple smoothy we had with dinner. Hopefully our berry bushes can deliver some more fruit over the next few weeks before the season ends!

Hong Kong Nov 2011

Links

• List of birds

13 Nov 2011
After 13 sleepless hours, our plane banked over a hazy Hong Kong and landed softly at Hong Kong International Airport. The queue at Immigration was even worse than I’ve experienced in Johannesburg but when I finally passed this obstacle, my bag was already on the belt. A quick walk to the bus terminal and I got a ticket to Kowloon and waited for less than 2 minutes for the bus. Just after 2pm I got off in central Kowloon (Tsim Sha Tsui) and walked to where I was hoping my guesthouse would be. I struggled a little to find the entrance to New Lucky House but when I finally did, it was not difficult locating my guesthouse among the 30 or so in the building. The owner had my reservation in hand and checking in and finding my room went quickly. But wow, it must be said that space is at a serious premium in Hong Kong. I’ve slept in bigger and better places in India. This place measured 2x3m – a double bed literally fills half the room. A stand contains a flat screen TV (with Chinese channels only) and another smaller one a kettle. A 1x2m cubicle contains a basin, toilet and hand shower – there’s no shower stall, you just shower over the toilet (holding the shower head with one hand, washing with the other) and then have to dry off everything (including the toilet) after your shower. But there’s aircon and its clean, and for R300 a night its not too bad. I later found cheaper hotels going for about R150 a night but these tended to specialize in hourly rates…
I first caught up on some sleep, then by about 4pm went out and explored Temple street market, bought an Octopus card (transport card), walked through Kowloon City Park and took the Star Ferry across Victoria harbor to gawk at all the skyscrapers lining Central Hong Kong. I walked back along Nathan road, dodging thousands of people on the sidewalk and finally managed to squeeze into a McDonalds for a cheap dinner (Big Mac, chips and coke for R20) before heading back to the hotel.

14 Nov 2011
The main goal for the day was getting a bird field guide for Hong Kong. I managed to find the building the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society is housed in yesterday, but only on my third attempt (after 10pm) did I find the place open. I was welcomed with heart-warming friendliness and immediately got the book I was looking for. Then I took the MTR (tube/underground) and tram to reach Hong Kong Wetland Park, a much advertised 60 ha artificial wetland with education and entertainment facilities. Since it was now a week day there were not as many people around but still about as many as you would find in South Africa’s large botanical gardens over weekends. Although only about 25 degrees C, humidity hovered around 100% and bird watching was a sweaty affair. However, the hides were well designed (with fixed telescopes, first aid kits and fans) and offered cooler places from where to watch birds. I picked up my first two lifers, Japanese white-eye and Masked laughing-thrush in some scrub next to the paths. At the mudflat hide I got Black-faced spoonbill and Northern shoveler as well as a few other common birds I’ve seen elsewhere. On my way back to the exit I also managed to ID Yellow-bellied prinia and Long-tailed shrike. I made my way back to the hotel with sore feet and took a nap until around 6pm. After a quick dinner I explored the Ladies Market in Mong Kok before taking the MTR to the Avenue of Stars at 8pm where I stood watching the Symphony of Lights show from the promenade. With the Central Hong Kong skyscrapers all lit up and spotlights and lasers piercing the night sky, it’s something to behold. Then it was time for bed.

15 Nov 2011
The niggle I had in my throat since the flight has turned into a sore throat, runny nose and blocked sinuses. Very annoying. Even so, around 8am I took the MTR to Central station on Hong Kong Island and then caught a bus to Stanley at the southern tip of the island, hoping to catch a ferry from here to Po Toi island. Unfortunately, Lonely Planet let me down and not only was there no ferry leaving for Po Toi on Tuesdays, I couldn’t even find the ferry pier. But I got to stroll the Stanley market which was much much tamer than Temple street in Kowloon. The shopkeepers were not pushy at all and it was much more pleasant to browse. However, prices were not brilliant so my cash remained safely tucked away. I did spend a bit on fish and chips, basically to give my feet a bit of a rest, and then headed back to the guesthouse. I was feeling quite lousy at this point but after some Myprodol, Drixine and a 2-hour doze, I felt much better. In the afternoon I browsed the sparkly world of haute couture in Harbour City and Ocean Terminal and also hunted for bargains in Granville street. Unfortunately I still could not find anything that was better priced that what I’ve seen in Temple street and the Ladies’ Market so decided that when I do spend some money it will be at these two markets. It was getting late so I stopped off at a convenience store and stocked up on some water, fruit and instant noodles before heading for my much cooler guesthouse bedroom.

16 Nov 2011
I didn’t sleep well. Blocked sinuses kept me up throughout the night and when my alarm went off at 05:45 I killed it and decided to sleep in. When I finally did wake up I had a bout of upset tummy. I stayed in bed until noon before I finally felt well enough to go for a walk. First I trawled the Ladies’ Market, the photographic shops street and the sports goods street but couldn’t find anything I was looking for. I then went to the shop where I first saw luggage advertised and after a bit of haggling, got a decent price on a 3-piece set of luggage. This I hauled back to the guesthouse before venturing out again, this time to Hong Kong Island. At the Wan Chai Computer Centre I found a nice gift for Nicola (digital photoframe) but neither of the two camping/hiking stores recommended by Lonely Planet seemed to exist anymore. I ended the day at Times Square (yes, Hong Kong’s got one as well) where I wanted to do a bit of shopping in the only proper large supermarket I’ve seen so far. The price tags were a shocker though: milk, R30 a litre, a 125g packet of chips, R21, and so on. So I walked to the fruit section hoping to find some fresh stuff a bit cheaper. But I was in for a bigger shock: a small cardboard tray, the size of a notebook computer with a few different fruit in (apples, pears, peaches) went for R340 and a single small cantaloupe (spanspek), R520!!! I calmly put my basket down and walked out empty handed. Back at the guesthouse I ate some R5 instant noodles, and a R1 banana I bought around the corner for dinner.

17 Nov 2011
I was determined to go to Tai Po Kau today and despite a sleepless night, I got up at 05:45 and felt better than I did yesterday. After a quick breakfast I caught the MTR and two interchanges later, the 74A bus. I got off at the Chuen Wan Yuen stop almost directly opposite Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve and then walked up the steep concrete road to where the Nature trail started. It was overcast and drizzly but still hot and humid and my shirt was quickly soaked. Initially the beautiful forest was very quite, but after I turned off onto the Blue trail, I started hearing birds calling and chirping. They were bloody difficult to see though and the gloom didn’t help at all. I failed to identify a single bird until I was past halfway on the trail. Then suddenly I found a bird party with enough birds for me to catch glimpses of quite a few features. I ID’d Mugimaki flycatcher, Vinous-throated parrotbill, Black-naped oriole and Scarlet minivet. It really is a magnificent forest to walk through despite the regular air and road traffic noises filtering through. I also added Chestnut bulbul, Japanese white-eye, Oriental magpie robin, Yellow-cheeked and Great tits and a group of White-rumped munias before I reached the end of the trail. I then hopped on the first bus that came past with the right route number on it and asked the driver if he went past Tai Po Market. He nodded his head and I sat down. Twenty minutes later it was obvious that we weren’t going anywhere near Tai Po Market when the driver reached the end of his round. But he kindly helped me onto another bus (after quite a few hand signals and slow pronunciation of Tai Po Market) which eventually dropped me off at the Tai Po Market. I didn’t realize there was an actual market as well since I was referring to the MTR railway station by that name. So now I was completely lost. But I took a quick stroll through the market and when I got through to the other side I saw an MTR signpost. I followed the signposts diligently and soon recognized the area and was back on track. Another two interchanges on the MTR later, I was back at the guesthouse. After a lunch and a quick shower I snoozed for a couple of hours before heading into town again. Unfortunately the drizzle I experienced earlier at Tai Po Kau has moved over Kowloon and few of the regulars were out on Temple Street. I did buy one souvenir I liked and then also made a small purchase at the Jade market before getting some dinner and heading back to the guesthouse.

18 Nov 2011
Another early morning start. Just after 7am I caught the Peak Tram towards the top of Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island. It was dark with heavy mist and seemed unlikely I would spot any birds. But I set out on the trail circling Victoria Peak just below 400m amsl. The tarred track stays at the same level in its entirety so it’s a very easy 3.5km stroll with supposedly some of the best views of Hong Kong. I soon learned the track is in fact a single lane car road and gives access to a few mansions built on the hill. About a third of the way I came upon a small deck with open views over the forest. The mist has lifted ever so slightly and I was finally able to take out the binoculars and saw White-rumped munia, Red-whiskered bulbul, Black-winged cuckooshrike and Common tailorbird. Before finishing the trail I also added Black-throated and Greater necklaced laughing-thrushes as lifers. Back at the tram terminus I went for a bite to eat, hoping that the mist will lift. After resting for almost in hour in the cool of the restaurant, the mist did start to lift a little and I did another circuit of the peak. Soon after I got back though it seemed like the mist would lift even further and as I haven’t been able yet to get decent pictures of the Hong Kong skyline from up here, I did a third circuit of the peak, this time getting a few nice pictures through the clearing fog. Back at the bottom I took the rest of the afternoon off before going out again around 5pm, hunting for souvenirs and gifts. By 18:30 my purchases were made and I headed back for some dinner and a decent rest.

19 Nov 2011
I slept late this morning (08:00) and then spent 3 hours watching TV, packing up and cleaning up. At 11am I caught the train to Yuen Long and then a short bus ride to the Mai Po Nature Reserve entrance. The 20 minute walk-in was hot but not without merit as I saw three lifers: Siberian stonechat, Crested myna and Blue magpie. At the WWF conservation centre I checked in for my tour and then ate some lunch while I waited for the tour to start. At 13:30 we were about 15 people and ready to go. Our guide led us out on the concrete paths that cris-cross the entire reserve. There was a lot of talking and little walking in the beginning and since it was all in Cantonese, very boring. But I still added some birds as we went: the standard egrets, Common kingfisher, Northern shoveler, Northern pintail, Osprey and Greater spotted eagle. We eventually made it to the floating boardwalk across the mangroves – a rather ingenious construction of heavy wood bars on cross beams on top of 44 gallon drums spaced about 5m apart- the whole walkway actually floats on top of the tide as it ebbs and flows! We reached the mudflat hide which looks out onto the biggest mudflats I’ve ever seen – seemingly stretching all the way to China! Unfortunately the tide was a long way out and the only thing we could really see were millions of mudskippers and some very far-off Eurasian curlews, egrets and pond herons. We made our way back around 16:30 and walked past a fresh water pond with pretty water lilies before finally going back. I shared a taxi with two locals back to Yuen Long MTR station and then it was a quick train ride back to the guesthouse. I took a quick shower and gulped down an ice coffee before packing up and checking out. I walked down to the bus stop where I waited for the bus. And waited. And waited. I started to get a bit worried and wondered if I had enough money left to catch a taxi. Just as I was about to flag a cab, a sales lady at a jewelry store by the bus stop walked over and asked if she could help. She explained that this particular bus only came at midnight and I had to walk three blocks further to another bus stop to catch the right bus. Slightly annoyed by the bus schedule information but very grateful for the unsolicited help, I walked over to the other bus stop and waited about 5 minutes before my bus showed up. Half an hour later I was at the airport and two trains and 15 minutes later, checked in and eating dinner in the United Club lounge. The flight was as awful as any cattle class long-haul flight is but I arrived home in one piece and very happy to see my wife.

A wonderful trip! I truly hate cities as a rule, but wow, Hong Kong is everything (all the good things) I expected. Here’re ten things I learned/decided/confirmed during this trip:

1. There’s a lot of people in China
2. Hiking trails in Hong Kong are brilliant and absolutely worth it. There are some surprisingly long ones (70km plus) that I would love to try out next time.
3. Hong Kong cuisine is fantastic, but expensive to try out in a restaurant. Stick to supermarkets and McDonalds if your budget’s small.
4. No matter what kind of accommodation you’re used to in South Africa, be prepared to spend about 5 times for the same kind of bedroom in HK.
5. Shopping is. Just. Wow. Variety, quantity, pricing (even quality if you’re prepared to spend a bit more). A true paradise for the rich and stingies (like me) alike.
6. Transport infrastructure in HK is cheap, extremely efficient and easy to use. Comparatively, the Gautrain and its supporting infrastructure is truly a joke. I would be embarrassed to explain the Gautrain system to Hong Kongers.
7. Access for people with disabilities is universal. This means there’s a lot of cripples and otherwise disabled people out on the street – it makes for some interesting dodging techniques when running between MTR stations.
8. South Africans don’t have the first idea of service delivery. Or the second or third for that matter.
9. Africa will not be the next super power.
10. Did I mention there’re a lot of people in China?

Mkuze birding Oct 2011

Links

• List of birds

On Friday afternoon I picked Nicola up from work and we drove without incident through to Mkuze. I was dreading all the road works I remember from our Golden pipit twitch in December last year, but they have obviously finished some sections and there were only 5 Stop/Go obstacles. Even so, there was a fair amount of road that's still in very poor condition and the drive took us 5.5 hours. We decided to sleep at Mkuze instead of the B&B we booked outside the reserve - this would give us a head start on Saturday morning.

At 04:15 we got up, and in between packing up the tent and having a quick bite to eat, we recorded our first birds for the day: Fiery-necked nightjar, Red-chested cuckoo, Crested francolin, Grey tit-flycatcher, Gorgeous bush-shrike to name but a few. We were not allowed to drive before 6am so with the car packed and ready to go, we slowly birded the entire campsite. Black-bellied and Violet-backed starlings, Grey-headed and Orange-breasted bush-shrikes, Yellow-breasted apalis, Red-fronted tinkerbird, Cardinal woodpecker and Klaas's cuckoo were among the nicer records to add. By the time we left the campsite, we had 33 species on the list. Unfortunately we now only had 30 minutes to drive the 8km to the Mantuma office from where we would leave for the fig forest. Torn between driving 40km/h to get there, and stopping for the birds, it was frustrating to hear all the calls and not being able to look for the source. But we still managed to pick up 2 Senegal lapwings before pushing on! At the office we were a bit disappointed to discover seven other people already waiting for us. Last time we picked up our birding guide, drove ourselves to the fig forest and spent about 90 minutes in the forest. This time we drove in a reserve vehicle and never bothered to stop for all the birds we heard and saw along the way. At the fig forest we did pick up Rudd's apalis, Yellow-rumped tinkerbird, Trumpeter hornbill, Red-capped robin-chat, Purple-crested turaco and Square-tailed drongo, but with less than 30 minutes spent on the walk and our guide clearly not very interested in the bird life, we missed out on Narina trogon, African broadbill, Blue-mantled crested-flycatcher, White-eared barbet and a bunch of other forest birds we were hoping for. Disappointed that we wasted more than 2 hours of the best birding time in the day on the fig forest walk, we arrived back at the office just before 9am. We checked in quickly and then continued our quest for the record by driving to Nsumo pan, the airfield and then stopped for lunch at the Kumasinga hide. Apart from the common birds we also added Yellow-throated petronia, Striped kingfisher, Osprey, Wattled starling, Marico sunbird, Swee waxbill, Yellow-billed stork, White-browed robin-chat, Lesser masked weaver, Greater honeyguide, White-crested helmet-shrike, Red-billed oxpecker and Green-winged pytilia. After lunch we headed south and added Yellow-bellied eremomela, Bateleur, Little bee-eater, Bearded woodpecker, Gabar goshawk, Brown-crowned tchagra, Brown snake eagle and White-winged widowbird on the return loop. We finally stopped back at our booked hut at Mantuma camp at around 17:15 and saw some Little swifts overhead as our 119th bird for the day - we were still 7 short of our record but with a night drive due to start at 19:00, we were still hoping. We had a light dinner watching the deepening dusk outside and then walked over to the office just before 7pm. There were only 2 Britons on the drive with us and we had a very pleasant and cool drive (it was over 35 degrees during the day) and although we only added a Spotted thick-knee to our bird list, a sighting of a White-tailed mongoose was quite special as neither Nicola nor I have ever seen one.

Sunday, although starting with a cool morning, promised to be hot as well. Apart from the early birds heard, we also added a good sighting of Bearded scrub-robin in the parking area outside our hut. With no plans to break a record on this day, we slowly headed back to the Kumasinga hide, then down to Nsumo pan, back up to the airfield and then out of the park. We added many of the same birds as on Saturday but new ones included Yellow-bellied greenbul, Pearl-breasted swallow, Terrestrial brownbul, African harrier-hawk, Eastern nicator, Broad-billed roller, Pink-backed pelican, Green-backed heron, Collared sunbird, Jacobin cuckoo and Crowned hornbill. We were on our way home just after 10am. Before Pongola town we spotted Yellow-billed kite, African palm swift, Cattle egret, Pied crow and Common myna. A quick count of our daily tally showed us to be just short of a hundred birds already and since we knew of a number of road-side pans on the way back, we decided to stop at these and see if we could still have a serious go at our record. In the 20km radius of Ermelo we added Rock martin, Red-winged starling, White-winged tern, Pied starling, Glossy ibis and Cape shoveler plus a few others and then around Piet Retief, Marsh sandpiper, Cape longclaw, Purple heron, Lesser swamp warbler, Maccoa duck and Squacco heron - we now stood at 119 birds. Back in Middelburg around 4pm, we drove around past Athlone dam and around the leafy suburbs, adding Laughing dove, Cape white-eye, Cape sparrow, Olive thrush, Southern masked weaver, Grey-headed gull and Southern red bishop - we equaled our record! We unpacked and then Nicola went outside to water the garden quickly and spotted a group of Common waxbill in the garden! A bit of an anti-climax to break our record in this fashion but it still stands and give us a good motivation to go back to Mkuze to try again!

Polokwane birding Oct 2011

Links

• List of birds

Leaving home around 14:30 we immediately ran into problems. The N11 past Loskop dam was closed due to a truck overturning and we had to detour via Stofberg. When we finally got onto this road, we got stuck behind a queue of almost 2km long, caused by three trucks driving right behind one another and no-one being able to overtake them. It took us 30km to get to the front and overtake and we only arrived in Polokwane after 7pm. Luckily we had ready-made boerewors rolls for dinner.

We were up just after 5am and as Polokwane Game Reserve only opens at 7am, spent about 20 minutes picking up a decent number of birds at our accommodation, including African palm swift. Driving slowly towards the reserve, we added Black-headed oriole and Amethyst sunbird. At the reserve entrance, Black-faced waxbills were flitting in a bottlebrush and just beyond at the picnic site, three Hamerkops were disturbed from their roost by noisy campers. Driving around the reserve we picked our way through the regulars but were disappointed not to hear any cuckoos. By 10am we had around 80 birds on the list, including Northern black korhaan, Coqui francolin, Wahlberg's and Steppe eagles, Greater honeyguide, Yellow-fronted tinkerbird, Ashy tit and Violet-eared waxbill. The reserve was obviously very dry and not producing any water birds so we drove out to Polokwane Bird Sanctuary for these. Our previous visit to the Bird Sanctuary produced little more than lots of flies but this time it was much more productive with Wood sandpiper, Ruff, African jacana, African snipe, a few warblers, Orange-breasted bush-shrike and African fish eagle added to the list. We ate lunch at the picnic site and a fly-by Yellow-billed kite became our 100th bird for the day. It was still early so we decided to head off to Magoebaskloof. Despite a Stop/Go roadworks section just after Zion City we started the Woodbush Forest drive shortly before 3pm. We didn't expect to find much so late in the day but the calls of African emerald cuckoo, Sombre greenbul and Purple-crested turaco made good ticks on our list. Doing the Forest drive in Nicola's Jazz was entertaining but going very slowly did the trick. It was a very scenic drive and having added also Olive woodpecker, Scaly-throated honeyguide, Swee wasbill, Grey cuckooshrike, Chorister robin-chat and Olive bush-shrike, we ended with 114 species for the day. Still 12 short of our record but a really nice day's birding. Arriving back in Polokwane after dark, we got some take-aways for dinner.

Despite a late night, we were up early again. Not wanting to spend money for entering reserves again, we birded the suburbs for an hour or so before making our way slowly back home. So unfortunately unsuccessful in our record-breaking attempt this weekend but it was a very enjoyable outing and we are looking very much forward to Mkhuze next weekend.

Borakalalo NP birding - Oct 2011

Links

• List of birds

Having set our personal record of 126 bird species ID'd in a day in November 2010, we decided to make an attempt at breaking this record by visiting three excellent birding spots on three consecutive weekends in October. With Polokwane Nature Reserve booked for our second weekend and Mkhuze Game Reserve for the third, we started our trips with a visit to Borakalalo National Park.

On Friday afternoon we drove to Borakalalo via Pretoria and arrived shortly before dusk. A few of the regular birds were around and we notched up about 15 species on our way to the Moretele river camp where we had a safari tent booked. As we got settled we heard both African scops and Southern white-faced scops owls. After dinner we went to bed early, expecting to rise well before dawn.

At 05:00 we were having rolls and coffee, listening to Crested francolin, Fiery-necked nightjar, Pearl-spotted owlet, Red-chested cuckoo and a few others as well. We left camp and drove slowly towards the low-water bridge below the dam wall where we saw the African finfoot last time. Strangely though, this time there were almost no birds. Upstream of the bridge had flocks of White-breasted and Reed cormorants, African darters and Squacco herons the last time we were here, but now, nothing. We drove past the fishing area at the picnic site and was disappointed to discover that the thick reeds that used to line the shore have all been cleared away. All the habitat where African purple swamphen, Little rush and Lesser swamp warblers as well as a host of herons used to be found, was all gone. With only about 30 birds or so on our list, and the sun rising over the dam, we turned back west towards the Moretele river. Heading towards the western boundary we saw Violet-backed starling, Golden-breasted bunting and the usual hornbills, drongos, flycatchers and waxbills while Rattling cisticolas, Bar-throated apalis and Tawny-flanked prinia were calling loudly. The two hides on this side were also a bit disappointing with very low water levels and just a few Sacred ibis. As we reached the western limit and turned around, both of us got a tremendous fright when we drove right past a massive black mamba. We only saw it as it reared/jumped (probably in fright as well), higher than the car, literally about a foot away from Nicola's open window. Chances of it striking Nicola were probably slim, but the sheer speed with which it jumped and its physical size made us think twice for the rest of the weekend about climbing out the car to investigate bird calls. In this area we also added sightings of Grey tit-flycatcher, Chestnut-vented tit-babbler, Gabar goshawk, Steppe eagle and Southern pied babbler. We planned to have lunch at Sefudi dam in the game section south of Klipvoor dam. Unfortunately when we arrived there, a whole bunch of people were fiddling around there 4x4s and one of them told us they have just finished re-painting the hide at the dam. But worse was to come when we discovered that Sefudi dam had also been cleared of all the reeds. A single Grey go-awaybird hopped down to the water edge and almost disgustedly flew off a few seconds later. We left for the picnic site at Klipvoor dam to have lunch. With the sightings of new species drying up significantly, we decided to head back to camp and have a rest. Just after 4pm we drove out towards Klipvoor dam again and added a calling Lesser swamp warbler and Red-billed oxpecker as our last birds for the day, bringing our day's total to 103.

Sunday morning we packed up quickly and left the tent before dawn. We were still too early for the Moretele area so decided to bird the area around Klipvoor slowly. At the picnic site we were happy to find two Violet-eared waxbills. Among the regulars we got nice sightings of Crimson-breasted shrike, Kalahari scrub-robin and Amethyst sunbird. With all the reeds around Klipvoor dam gone, our wader tally increased rapidly with all the common sandpiper species as well as Three-banded plover, Blacksmith lapwing, Common greenshank, Black-winged stilt and Ruff seen. In the acacia veld we saw a few Marico flycatchers and no fewer than 3 individual Red-crested korhaan, with one of them doing it's distinctive flight/fall 5m in front of the car. Around 11am it was time to start heading home but first we had a quick brunch at the picnic site where we scared a barn owl from its day roost inside a dead tree-trunk.

We dipped on quite a few birds, but still had an enjoyable weekend with our list of birds seen at Borakalalo now standing at 184. Let's see how next weekend at Polokwane Game Reserve goes.

Kruger NP birding Aug 2011

Links

• List of birds

After a slap dash drive to make it into Kruger National Park before the gates closed, we took a slow drive towards Berg-en-Dal camp, counting a few birds in the late afternoon. The campsite was rather full and we had to use a bare earth site smack in the middle and nowhere near the fences. After a dinner of cold boerewors rolls we settled to an early night as we planned to get up at 05:30 the next morning.

After making some coffee and tea for the morning, we left the campsite shortly after 6am and turned north towards Matjulu waterhole. Having heard Fiery-necked nightjar, Pearl-spotted owlet and African scops owl early in the morning, our hopes were up and we got rewarded quickly with a pair of Southern ground hornbills turning over rocks for a bite to eat. We saw a glimpse of a lion's behind and shortly after some elephant and buffalo before reaching the waterhole. This was decidedly devoid of game and birds, possibly due to the crowds of people sitting in their noisy diesel 4x4s, craning their necks every time something stirred in the distance, only to be wrought with disappointment upon the appearance of another impala. We, on the other hand, enjoyed the early morning screeches of Brown-headed parrots and the Tarzan-like call of African green pigeons. However, no coursers or sandgrouse showed up in the half an hour we sat there and we took the drive up Steilberg slowly, eventually reaching the tar road again somewhere before 10am. We had a brief stop at Afsaal where Nicola took some excellent pictures of a patient Southern yellow-billed hornbill and also got pretty close to a female Chinspot batis but always just partially obscured by the foliage. From Afsaal we took a turn north before turning east and almost immediately south along the Biyamiti river. A few more birds were added, in particular a juvenile Dark chanting goshawk of which we managed a few photos before it disappeared. At our lunch spot under a shady tree, overlooking the James waterhole, we added three Woolly-necked storks and shortly after a adult and baby White rhino. With the afternoon wearing on we made our way back to Berg-en-dal and decided to go and sit at Matjulu for the remainder of the day. We sat for almost 2 hours in which time all hell broke loose when a leopard stalked from behind the small reservoir, out of sight from us, and then crossed the road smack in front of a very lucky van, with us once again only catching a glimpse of bum-spots through the grass - but it did mean we actually saw the Big 5 all in one day, without actually looking for them. Probably to the utter dismay of all the superficial sods chasing after sightings of these creatures with sheer indifference to everyone around them. We decided to make dinner our wedding anniversary dinner, even though its a few days early, and ate a fairly disappointing meal in the restaurant.

Sunday morning saw us up even earlier and at the gate before opening time. Still sticking to the speed limit, we legged it to Matjulu where we sat for two hours and added about 20 birds and 2 lions before heading back to the camp and packing up. We made a last trip along the Mlambane river adding birds like Bushveld pipit, African wattled lapwing, Ovambo sparrowhawk, Little bee-eater, Yellow-breasted apalis and Spectacled weaver before exiting at Malelane gate. We took an easy drive back via Schoemanskloof and got home by 4pm.

Unfortunately no lifers for the trip but did get 111 birds for the weekend including about 15 new ones for the year!

Namibia birding Jun 2011

Links

• List of birds

On Wednesday evening we flew into Windhoek, and got a few quick snaps of the lunar eclipse before heading for bed. Just before 4am we were up and away, driving without incident to Walvis Bay. Along the way the sun rose spectacularly over the desert just as we drove past Spitzkoppe and we stopped for a few quick pictures. A number of birds sat on the lines next to the road and we identified Karoo chat, Southern pale chanting goshawk and Lanner falcon before getting to Swakopmund. The dunes rose above the Atlantic as we entered and then drove past Swakopmund. We soon reached Walvis Bay and drove slowly along the esplanade, picking up Cape wagtail, Kelp and Hartlaub's gulls, Cape cormorant, Greater flamingo, Great white pelican and African black oystercatchers. Towards the Saltworks we saw Caspian tern and Common whimbrel and a great many waders too far off to ID. The road towards Paaltjies seems to disappear in the red algae-tinted evaporation ponds and we only added White-fronted plover here. Back in Walvis Bay we paid a visit to the Tourism centre to pick up a street map and learned to our dismay that the "Bird Paradise" at the sewerage works doesn't exist anymore. So we decided to make a quick stop at Dune 7 where I scrambled halfway up before taking the fast route down - great fun! We bought brotchens and landjaegers back in town and sat at the esplanade eating lunch, watching a kite-surfer make excellent use of the stiff sea breeze. The tide had now risen significantly but instead of pushing the waders closer to shore, it seems they found better feeding grounds elsewhere. We decided to check in at Spindrift Guesthouse for a lazy afternoon. At 4pm we took another quick turn around the lagoon and added a pair of Cape teal to our list before heading back for dinner.

Early on Friday morning we were up to visit the lagoon once more. We added most of the same birds but then struck gold on the road to the Saltworks. Among a bunch of Common whimbrel we noticed a very straight bill with red and black variation; a careful look confirmed it - Bar-tailed godwit! Very happy with our first lifer for the trip, we got breakfast at the guesthouse before driving to Swakopmund. We wanted to visit the Saltworks at Mile 4 but the confusion of new developments north and north-east of town made it so difficult that we eventually just left for Spitzkoppe. On the entrance road to Spitzkoppe we found both Karoo and Tractrac chat but had to look very carefully as the Namib form of Karoo chat also has a white rump. The towering granite of Gross Spitzkoppe and the Pondoks was something to behold and we took lots of pictures. After paying for camping we drove around the sandy tracks, picking up Capped wheatear, Short-toed rock-thrush, Namaqua dove, Scaly-feathered finch, Black-chested snake eagle, Dusky sunbird, White-backed mousebird and a few others. Nicola saw her first Rosy-faced lovebird before we had lunch at the Small Bushman's Paradise. A Common scimitarbill was added on the way to the Rock Bridge where we took lots of pictures and added Rock kestrel, Bradfield's swift and Black-faced waxbill. With the afternoon creeping along we made our way to the campsite immediately south of Gross Spitzkoppe where another large granite dome encroaches to form a narrow pass. We found a stunning campsite under a large overhanging boulder, parked the car and went for a short walk. After adding a pair of over-flying Verreaux's eagles we returned to the car to prepare our beds for the night and cook dinner. Monteiro's hornbills flew in to roost and after dinner as we took pictures of the rising moon, Spotted eagle owl, Barn owl and Freckled nightjar calls were heard between those of a myriad dassies.

Saturday morning before dawn we were up, had a quick breakfast, packed up and then parked ourselves among the granite boulders south west of Gross Spitzkoppe in the hope of finding Herero chat. Unfortunately, even after visiting all the other places we did yesterday, we still didn't hear or see any. We did get great views of Pririt batis though and when we drove to the Small Bushman's Paradise again, Nicola ID'd two White-tailed shrikes, a much sought-after endemic! We left Spitzkoppe by around 09:00 picking up a Ruppel's korhaan just before the tar road, drove to Windhoek, arriving at Daan Viljoen Game Reserve around 11:30. A lot of construction was going on and the dam at the camping area only had African palm swift, African jacana, Little grebe and lots of White-browed sparrow-weavers. On the one-way drive around the park we added Sabota lark, Familiar chat and Long-billed pipits. Just before we joined the tar road again, a number of Violet-eared waxbills were joined by a single Tinkling cisticola. Just before 2pm we headed back to Windhoek to my uncle and aunt's place in Klein Windhoek. My uncle, Hendrik Vrey (Link to his website), re-discovered the pyrography artform more than 40 years ago and a passionate hobby turned into a lifetime of stunning creations ranging from desert landscapes and animals to portraits and commissioned works. We spent some time looking at my uncle's latest artworks and watched him creating a stunning Welcome sign for us. My grandmother also visited and we chatted the afternoon away before going to Joe's for dinner, generously paid for by my uncle.

Sunday morning we had breakfast before sadly saying goodbye to my family. We headed to the airport just before 8am and made it safely back home by 4pm. Although we dipped on a number of endemics like Rockrunner, Ruppel's parrot, Herero chat, and all the endemic larks, it was still a magic weekend. Camping under the stars at Spitzkoppe was everything I hoped for and the visit to my family made for an excellent end to a short long-weekend. 95 birds for the trip with 9 lifers for Nicola and 7 lifers for me.

Nylsvley Nature Reserve birding Jun 2011

Links

• List of birds

After dropping the cats at Nicola's parents on Friday afternoon, we drove without incident to Nylsvley, arriving at Dinonyane Lodge in the early evening. At reception we saw our first African green pigeons for the year and also added Groundscraper thrush, Fork-tailed drongo and Swainson's spurfowl before checking in. After leftovers for dinner we hit the bed early in anticipation of an early rise.

At 5am we were up and left for the gate at Nylsvley just before 6am. Unfortunately we learned at the gate that in winter they only open at 06:30 so we drove around for a while, taking pictures of the dawn breaking over the bushveld. At 06:30 we entered. Initially pickings were slim and after half an hour's drive to the first hide we only recorded a handful of common birds like Crested francolin, Rufous-naped lark and Crested barbet. At the hide a single African jacana footed around the lilies and further on Speckled mousebird, Common ostrich and White-browed scrub-robin were seen. After driving the full perimeter of the reserve, we exited to visit Vogelfontein's hides on the north eastern boundary. This proved much more interesting and a couple of African snipes called loudly before our presence flushed them. Purple, Grey and Squacco herons there were plenty of, African purple swamphen, Crimson-breasted and Southern white-crowned shrikes, Pearl-breasted swallows and Great egrets adding to our list. Despite the small foot operation Nicola had on Friday, she managed to hobble to the closest hides that had excellent views over the floodplain. Leaving Vogelfontein we drove around the southern end of the reserve and entered again to have lunch at the picnic site. After lunch we slowly drove all the other roads in the reserve adding a few more birds like Magpie shrike, Blue waxbill and Green-winged pytilia. Exiting the reserve at around 14:30 we quickly stopped at Vogelfontein again before heading back to the lodge. A quick afternoon snooze followed before we started our braai fire and then watched some of the bird antics at the lodge - African green pigeons coming in to roost, five Black-collared barbets fighting over a branch, a row of Cut-throat finches on a tree just outside our room, and a lone Cardinal woodpecker searching for dinner. Our own dinner was ready just after 6pm and we watched an SABC movie with a cup of tea before going to bed.

Sunday we rose early again but decided this time to spend the morning at Vogelfontein. This paid off handsomely with Crimson-breasted and Southern white-crowned shrikes, Violet-eared waxbill, Malachite kingfisher, African snipe, Knob-billed and Yellow-billed ducks, Red-billed and Hottentot teals, Purple, Grey and Squacco herons, African rail, Brubru, Purple roller, Marsh owl, Marico flycatcher, Black crake, African jacana, African purple swamphen, Hamerkop and Glossy ibis all being recorded among a few other common birds before we left. Another drive around the southern perimeter yielded nothing new and after another quick stop at Vogelfontein we started to make our way back to Pretoria. A late afternoon drive along the Zaagkuildrift road added African wattled lapwing, Village weaver, Village indigobird, Pied crow, Buffy pipit and Capped wheatear.

A rewarding weekend out with 113 species recorded for the weekend. It was surprising though how many birds we recorded outside the reserve as opposed to inside. But we were sure that walking around the inundated floodplain in summer would change things considerably - we plan to be back soon!

Loskop dam Nature Reserve birding Jun 2011

Links

• List of birds

A spur-of-the-moment trip out to Loskop dam Nature Reserve got us just over 70 birds for a winter's morning, adding nine birds to our total for Loskop dam - now standing at 146 birds for this location! Highlights were Thick-billed weaver, Emerald-spotted wood dove, Secretarybird, stunning views of Chinspot batis and Black-headed oriole and also Orange-breasted bush- and Crimson-breasted shrikes.

Barberspan birding - May 2011

Links

• List of birds

On Friday afternoon, after dropping cats off at Nicola's parents and having a quick meeting with a work colleague, we took the N14 through Krugersdorp and Ventersdorp to Barberspan 25km west of Sannieshof. Arriving before dark, we were able to do a quick spot of birding along the pan's edge outside the reserve, picking up Half-collared kingfisher, Great crested grebe, Squacco heron, White-backed mousebird, Little bee-eater and our first western race Common fiscal (Lanius colaris subcoronatus) among a few others. Inside the sanctuary we drove slowly and at the bridge crossing the outflow of the pan, picked up African purple swamphen, Lesser swamp warbler, Common moorhen, lots of African darters and both Reed and White-breasted cormorants. We found the reception area all locked up and deserted but when we drove over to the staff quarters, got some help and eventually got the keys to the Pelican guesthouse. It was very basic, but had a kitchen, bathroom, lounge, 3 bedrooms and was clean. I started a fire for a braai while Nicola packed out the car. After dinner we went to bed early with the intention of rising long before sunrise.

Saturday morning after breakfast we were on the go before sunrise. We drove south towards Peter's Pan but after less than a kilometer found the roads completely submerged and impassable. Back-tracking, we added a bunch of waterbirds at the bridge, including Black crake and the usual Darters and Cormorants. We exited the sanctuary and turned south, picking up Northern black korhaan, Acacia pied barbet, Namaqua dove, Bar-throated apalis and Chestnut-vented tit-babbler before we entered the angling area around the southern edge of the pan. Here we saw both Whiskered and White-winged tern (surprisingly for this time of the year), Grey-headed gull, Kittlitz's plover, Malachite kingfisher, Cape teal, Brown-crowned tchagra and Goliath heron among quite a few other species. Luckily there were not too many anglers about and the birding here was fairly pleasant. Exiting the angling area, we made a quick stop at the Holiday resort to find out accommodation prices for future visits. We then headed north and stopped just before the bridge on the road towards Vergenoeg, setting up the scope with views towards Leeupan. Unfortunately there was much the same on this pan and no Maccoa duck, pelicans or flamingoes could be seen. However, a Double-banded courser and both Sand and Banded martins made up for this. We followed the road back towards the N14, picked up a few more birds before entering the sanctuary again from the eastern side. We had lunch in the hide just before the bridge but added no new birds for the day. Back at the guesthouse we had some tea under the large trees outside and were entertained by a very vocal Fiscal flycatcher. Around 2pm we made our way to the fence road on the western edge of the pan. Cape longclaw, Spike-heeled lark, Plain-backed and Long-billed pipits as well as Ant-eating chats were pretty common and we drove as far as we could go before the flooded roads turned us around. While starting the fire for dinner back at the guesthouse, we ended our birding for the day with a Cape robin-chat.

Up again at 05:15, we were packed and on our way well before sunrise. A quick drive through the campsite got us two Spotted thick-knees and at Northern bay Blacksmith lapwing, Red-billed teal and Goliath heron. At the bridge heading out of the sanctuary, we added all the usuals, including the cormorants, Black crake, African purple swamphen, Little and Great crested grebes, Half-collared kingfisher and an over-flying African spoonbill. Outside the sanctuary we made a quick stop at Leeu pan and picked up the Sand and Banded martins again, but surprisingly, also Pearl-breasted and Barn swallows. We scrutinized the Crowned lapwings carefully and eventually found the Double-banded courser again. Heading back down towards the N14, we heard Zitting, Cloud and Levaillant's cisticolas, Malachite kingfisher, Red-capped lark and Swainson's spurfowl. A quick drive through the angling area got us Grey-headed gull, Purple heron, Great sparrow, Whiskered tern, Three-banded and Kittlitz's plovers and a group of Spurwing geese flying over the pan. It was 9am when we got back on the N14, making the long drive back home.

An excellent birding weekend considering the time of the year. On Saturday we saw 98 species and our total for the weekend came to 109! Although the guesthouse's ablutions are a bit limited, it was so cheap that we would certainly consider staying there again next time.

India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka - Apr 2011

Links

• List of birds (entire trip)

10 Apr 2011
Day count: 7
Trip count: 7
Day Lifer count: 4 (Nicola), 3 (Pieter)
Trip Lifer count: 4 (Nicola), 3 (Pieter)

Departing from Johannesburg at noon on 9 April, we arrived in a steamy Mumbai just after midnight on the 10th. We spent five hours keeping weary eyes on the circling mosquitoes in the domestic terminal, pretending to not feel the sweat trickling down our backs and listening to 107 repeats of Hammer and a nail. We caught a connecting flight to Nagpur and then endured 7 hours of being shaken, stirred, tossed, turned and thoroughly mixed along the 250km of potholed, corrugated, twisting, “bicycle path” to Kanha National Park. At 4pm we checked into Pugmark Resort, welcomed by our host, Rahul and his father. After 32 hours in transit, we collapsed for 2 hours before our first Indian dinner – a fantastic meal of rice, chicken and vegetable masala. We lasted long enough to have a quick shower and look up the few new birds we’d seen along the torturous drive before collapsing into bed for the early start the next day. Our first new birds were: Large-billed crow, Greater coucal and Black-rumped flameback (woodpecker).

11 Apr 2011
Day count: 45
Trip count: 49
Day Lifer count: 36
Trip Lifer count: 40 (Nicola), 39 (Pieter)

At 04:45 we woke to get ready for our day’s outing, looking for the King of Cats in Sal forests of Kanha National Park. Following a quick cup of Indian tea (ginger and cardamom spiced chai), we drove out to the park gate, settled formalities and picked up a park ranger to accompany us. Rahul drove quickly to get us a place in the “Tiger show” but despite this, we saw a few chital (spotted deer) and Indian gaur and also picked up some exciting new birds: Indian cuckoo, Indian roller, Red-wattled lapwing, Common hawk cuckoo and the striking Racket-tailed drongo. At the picnic site where we got our “Tiger show” number we only added Large-billed crow but then made our way slowly around the park. Mammals we saw included sambar and bharasinga deer, wild boar and a family, including boisterous puppies, of very tame spotted jackals. Our favourite birds were: Grey-headed fish eagle, Crested serpent eagle, Changeable hawk eagle, White-throated kingfisher, Red-vented bulbul, Sirkeer malkoha, Jungle and Spotted owlets, lots of Indian peafowl, Alexandrine parakeets, Rufous treepie, Red-headed vulture, and to our delight, Red junglefowl (ancestor of the domestic chicken)! Unfortunately, even though the elephant mahmouts were out the whole morning, no tigers were seen, so the “Tiger show” for the day was cancelled. Back at the resort at around 10:30 it was warming up intensely and we took a siesta until late in the afternoon. Rahul’s father then took us for a short walk around the local village where we added an Oriental white-eye. Dinner at 7pm was followed by watching some IPL cricket on the lounge TV before heading for an early bed.

12 Apr 2011
Day count: 49
Trip count: 63
Day Lifer count: 10
Trip Lifer count: 50 (Nicola), 49 (Pieter)

Another early start to get a number for the “Tiger show” which yet again proved fruitless as no tigers were seen. However, our drive did yield a few new birds: Black ibis, Lesser whistling duck, Paddyfield pipit, Brown crake, Scarlet minivet, Tickell’s blue flycatcher and Spangled drongo. We were back at the resort before noon where we quickly packed our bags, had a hasty lunch and then bundled into a cool air-conditioned car for the 5-hour drive to Bandhavgar National Park. At Tiger Trails resort we were welcomed by the manager and led to our room, almost right next to a small pond where a Little cormorant, parakeets and Indian pond herons were in residence. Our room’s aircon was an ingenious design of blowing air over a pool of water – clever, but perhaps not quite the best choice considering the fantastic mosquito breeding site it provides. A short walk around the area before dinner got us Plum-headed parakeets, Common tailorbird and the haunting call of the Asian koel (kind of coucal).

13 Apr 2011
Day count: 56
Trip count: 80
Day Lifer count: 14
Trip Lifer count: 64 (Nicola), 62 (Pieter)

For the third day in a row we were up before 5am, and entered Bandhavgarh National Park through Gate 2. Several fresh tiger tracks got us excited early on. A few spits of rain saw us scrambling to get the open jeep’s cover on – unfortunately the humans inside ended up being the poles holding it up so for about 15 minutes we had an uncomfortable ride, not being able to see anything at all. It soon cleared though and we got to see Coppersmith barbet, Eurasian hoopoe, Chestnut-shouldered petronia and Long-billed vulture. However, the tigers remained elusive. We had breakfast at a small outcrop and spotted our first Indian robin before heading slowly back towards the gate, hoping for some tigers along the way. Alas, this was not to be, but we soon forgot this when our guide spotted a Savanna nightjar sitting perfectly camouflaged on a tree stump right next to the road. Other first sightings included Crested treeswift, White-rumped shama and White-eyed buzzard. Back at Tiger Trails resort we rested over the hottest part of the day, had some lunch and then took a walk into town, doing some birding along the way. Although we only added a Common woodshrike and Small minivet, taking our first walk through an Indian town was interesting. We haggled for a saree before making our way back to the resort for dinner. The resort manager, Eric D’Cunha, was very helpful and informative and pointed out flying foxes feeding off the Indian butter trees and also a Grey nightjar calling.

14 Apr 2011
Day count: 53
Trip count: 95
Day Lifer count: 14
Trip Lifer count: 77 (Nicola), 76 (Pieter)

By now we’ve had enough of rushing out on jeeps to see tigers that are hiding away, so we decided to bird around the resort and towards the National Park’s boundary. Our decision paid off immediately when we saw White-rumped munia and Common rosefinch barely 100m from the resort. Further on we took our time to identify a Plain prinia and then Nicola spotted both the Yellow-wattled lapwings and Asian pied starlings. At the park’s boundary fence Nicola pointed out a Black-naped monarch that she’d already seen the day before and after we sat down for a while, an Oriental turtle dove came to sit in a bush right next to us. We wandered back to the resort in time for breakfast and added a Pintail snipe, Indian silverbill and a White-breasted waterhen – a walk of less than 2 hours yielding 10 lifers! After breakfast we sat quietly in the garden and waited for the birds to come to us. Lots of Red-vented bulbuls obliged, along with an Asian paradise flycatcher, Tree pipit, Chestnut-bellied nuthatch and Common iora. After lunch we retreated to our room to escape the heat but after a shower and some rest, emerged again just after 4pm. Before our driver arrived at 7pm, we added a few more new birds for the day, but unfortunately, our lifer list for the day remained at 14. We were then driven out to the Umaria train station where we supposed to catch a train at 20:50. While our driver found out that our train would be 20 minutes late, we shared a waiting room with 3 backpackers and got stared at and even our photos taken by the curious locals, while we had some dinner. Then our train got delayed another 25 minutes and at 10pm were told the train would be an hour and 15 minutes late. Half past ten our driver informed us that the train would be there in 15 minutes and shortly after came to fetch our luggage and carried it to the next platform. Our train then promptly showed up at 11pm. We climbed onto our car, a “A/C Two Tier” class car which means you have aircon and only double bunk beds to share, as opposed to the 3-tier classes and lower. It was a big difference to the South African trains we’re used to: there were no compartments, just cubicles covered with curtains, each containing a 2-tiered bunk bed. And on the opposite side of the aisle, another 2-tier bunk bed. It appeared that we were not able to share a cubicle as every single bed was occupied apart from 2 left open for us – one on the bottom bunk opposite the aisle for Nicola and one on the top bunk in a cubicle for me, sharing with a family of four. The aircon was a great relief and we immediately settled down to try and sleep – rather unsuccessfully in the end.

15 Apr 2011
Day count: 6
Trip count: 97
Day Lifer count: 1
Trip Lifer count: 78 (Nicola), 77 (Pieter)

Nicola managed to get some sleep during the night but a stuffy nose and noisy cubicle partners kept me awake throughout the night. At 6am I joined Nicola on her bunk bed and we had a quick Jungle bar for breakfast before braving the horrendous toilet for morning ablutions. At the first station we stopped at in the morning, we realized we still had a long way to go and since we were already 2 hours late, we could only hope that our driver in Agra would wait for us. The train stopped regularly in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason and when we finally did arrive in Agra at 12pm, having covered 700km in 13 hours, we were rather daunted stepping into the crowds at Agra Cantonment train station. Our driver was nowhere in sight. Feeling overwhelmed we started walking towards what appeared to be the exit, when a guy came around the corner bearing a placard saying “Welcome Mr Very”. We smiled in greeting and he immediately took Nicola’s bag and guided us towards his car in searing midday heat. I asked him if he’d be able to give us a quick glimpse of the Taj Mahal before we left for Bharatpur and he dutifully drove us onto a busy road from where we could see the majestic dome in the distance. Much more impressive though, was the Agra fort we drove past – a phenomenal edifice towering in red sandstone over everything else. Then we experienced some hectic traffic through narrow, crowded Agra roads, tiny little shops spilling their wares onto the street and everywhere tuk-tuks, rickshaws, taxis, horse-drawn carts, buses and trucks fighting for every inch of space, massive speakers blearing out Hindi music in the middle of the road. After 5 minutes of gawking, we decided to trust our driver, and fell asleep in the back as he made his way to Bharatpur, about an hour’s drive away. We woke up suddenly as he pulled into the entrance of Sunbird hotel and we got blasted by the hot air as we stepped outside. The hotel manager/receptionist was very friendly and offered us a glass of Fanta while we checked in. We then got booked into a cosy cottage, complete with aircon and TV – no SABC though. We had a late lunch, then took a shower and rested in the cool room before taking a quick walk at 5pm to see where Keoladeo National Park was located. At 19:30 we had a wonderful Indian vegetarian dinner and then hit the beds hard.

16 Apr 2011
Day count: 71
Trip count: 126
Day Lifer count: 21
Trip Lifer count: 99 (Nicola), 98 (Pieter)

At 05:30 we were up and smearing ourselves with suncream and mozzie repellant. The hotel manager had already arranged our cycle rickshaw and we quickly wolfed down breakfast before getting on the –rickshaw and heading for Keoleadeo National Park. Our rickshaw driver spoke reasonable English and seemed to know his birds fairly well. The first 2km or so we rode through scrubland looking almost exactly like South Africa bushveld. Most of the species we’ve now come to recognize easily were about, and we quickly reached a tally of 20, including lifers in Grey francolin, Bank myna and White-eared bulbul. Further on we saw the first patches of water and while our rickshaw stopped in the shade, we took a walk out on a narrow path. Immediately we saw a large group of Painted stork and with a few Black-necked ibises foraging in between. The water edges held large numbers of waders and egrets and we notched up Little, Intermediate and Great egrets, Common and Wood sandpipers and a few Common greenshanks. Further along we ran into a fellow birder who’s also staying at Sunbird hotel. His guide identified the Pheasant-tailed jacana we spotted in the distance and then also noticed a Greater painted snipe hiding in the grasses. Just before the end of the trail I spotted a Grey wagtail, quite common in the are but this time we got a much better view of it than the sighting back in January in Walter Sisulu Botanical gardens that caused such excitement. On our way back, we were very happy to see two Sarus cranes that have landed in the wetland, barely 20m from us. What magnificent birds! Reaching 175cm tall, these are the tallest flying birds in the world. Back on our rickshaw we drove deeper into the park and stopped at a Hindu shrine from where we could walk on our own again. Patches of wetland either side of the track produced Garganey, Bar-headed goose, Spot-billed goose, Egyptian vulture, Black-necked stork, Spotted redshank, Ruddy shelduck and Eurasian spoonbill while we were glad to finally see a woodpecker other than the Black-rumped flameback – the very spotty Yellow-crowned woodpecker. It was now almost 11am and very hot. We got back on our rickshaw and slowly made our way back to the entrance of the park, picking up Black redstart and Citrine wagtail along the way. At sunbird hotel we had lunch under the thatched lapa together with our fellow birder (Belgian) we met in the park, and another Brittish couple who’s birded in India for many years. We all agreed to go to the Chambal river tomorrow as the water birding there is apparently also very good and a bit different to Keoladeo. The rest of the afternoon we cooled down under the aircon in our room and at 4pm, headed back to Keoladeo to see if we could add anything for the late afternoon. Although we got much better views of Greater painted snipe this time, we didn’t add anything new.

17 Apr 2011
Day count: 46
Trip count: 144
Day Lifer count: 14
Trip Lifer count: 113 (Nicola), 111 (Pieter)

Our wake-up call at 04:30 got us dressing quickly and then joining the others for the 1.5 hour drive to Chambal. We boarded a small but neat fiberglass boat and started our cruise downstream. Immediately we added our first lifer for the day: White-browed lapwing. We had glimpses of the Gangetic river dolphins but never enough to see it properly. However, many of the endangered fish-eating gharial were around and it was special seeing these strange-looking reptiles. The small beds of reeds and shores of the river were covered with birds and it was difficult to try and ID birds while eating breakfast. Ruddy shelducks, Garganey and lots of Wood sanpiper, Common greenshank and Ruff were around. Cathy then pointed our River lapwing and soon after we also spotted Great thick-knee. We got fair views of Black-tailed godwit and Temminck’s stints but our day was made when we saw a whole bunch of Indian skimmers nesting on a sandbank – these soon started taking off and we had fantastic views of them skimming for food close to the boat. As we made our way back to the launch site we added more lifers: Plain-throated martin, Little ringed plover, River and Black-bellied terns and a large flock of Small pratincoles. After this excellent morning out, we made our way back to Bharatpur since we had to leave for Delhi at noon. A horrendous traffic jam saw us stuck in the exact same spot for an hour and a half and as a result we only got back to the hotel at 12:30. Our driver was already waiting but there were no haste as the hotel manager had already informed the driver that we’d be late so we quickly had some lunch first before heading off. A five-hour drive later we arrived in a wet Delhi and made our way to Pahar Ganj to stay at Aster Inn – slightly dodgy location but the hotel turned out to be very good value for money. Dinner was yet another plate full of Indian vegetable masala, roti and cumin rice – we’ve come to really enjoy Indian food!

18 Apr 2011
Day count: 7
Trip count: 146
Day Lifer count: 2
Trip Lifer count: 115 (Nicola), 113 (Pieter)

The cold that I’ve been trying to get rid off for the past five days has now properly passed onto Nicola. After a comparatively poor breakfast, we left just before 08:30 but it took the better part of 2 hours for us to get out of Delhi. Another massive traffic jam, caused by people just driving wherever and whenever they please across an intersection, held us up for more than half an hour. Then we crossed the Ganges and soon had much better stretch of road on which we almost managed 100km/h. As soon as we turned off towards the National Park though, things got back to normal – between 20-40km/h on truly horrendous roads. We reached the general area of the park at about 3pm but our driver couldn’t find our accommodation. He stopped several times along the road to ask but no matter how many explanations he got and how many times he drove up and down the same road, he just couldn’t find it. For that matter, neither could we. We tried to get him to phone the hotel whose number was clear as daylight on the Confirmation number but he just indicated he didn’t have reception. Why he couldn’t just go into any of the thousands of hotels along the road and ask to use their phone, no-one knows. By some odd chance, the owner of our accommodation drove past and after a brief conversation with the driver, we ended up following the owner to the hotel – it turned out the name of the place changed 2 months ago – thanks for informing everyone. We arrived at 5pm – eight and a half hours after leaving Delhi, 250km away. It was a nice enough place though and after check-in we had a quick rest in our room before we took a short walk around the area. We managed to add two lifers, Jungle myna and Himalayan bulbul, before Nicola’s sinuses finally gave in and we headed back to the hotel with dusk approaching fast.

19 Apr 2011
Day count: 48
Trip count: 157
Day Lifer count: 10
Trip Lifer count: 125 (Nicola), 123 (Pieter)

We got our wake-up call at 04:45 and by 05:30 were ready take a short ride to where an Indian elephant was waiting for us. It was already saddled and our mahmout showed us a staircase to mount to get on top – and then we were off on our first elephant ride! We soon found out it was too shaky to watch birds using binoculars and then just sat back and enjoyed the ride. We crossed the river running past all the resorts and then spent about an hour walking around the secondary forest on the other side before returning. Short but great fun! We went back to our accommodation for breakfast and afterwards took a stroll in the forest and along the river, picking up another Grey wagtail, Blue whistling thrush and Chestnut-headed bee-eater. After bathing our feet in the Himalayan glacial run-off, we returned for lunch and a rest before our afternoon safari. The rush for tigers here at Jim Corbett was no different to the other parks but we quickly found the roads here to be particularly bumpy. Even so we still picked up a couple of lifers with Great hornbill being the highlight. We also saw our first barking deer, or muntjac. Another bumpy ride to get back at 7pm, followed by dinner and then bed.

20 Apr 2011
Day count: 28
Trip count: 162
Day Lifer count: 5
Trip Lifer count: 130 (Nicola), 128 (Pieter)

Another early wake-up call got us onto our safari vehicle just before 05:30. We took a long drive to a different gate of the park this time – a good 500m higher into the hills. We entered into Sal-covered slopes, much thicker and cooler than we’ve seen so far. The birds were quiet here but as yet another very bumpy road descended to the Ramganga valley, the calls came more frequently and soon we were struggling to keep our driver from rushing off before we’ve identified the birds. We were disappointed to not have more time to do this very pretty drive slowly and look for birds, especially since the few lifers we did manage to pick up were very colourful and exotic: Emerald dove, Golden-fronted leafbird, Blue-capped rock-thrush and Long-tailed broadbill. All too soon we were driving back to the top. Back at our accommodation we quickly packed up, had a 2-minute breakfast and then left for Delhi. The drive back was just as tedious and uncomfortable and we had another massive hold-up at the same spot we had 2 days ago. This time our driver was a bit less cautious and we managed to squeeze through on one side, after only 40 minutes in the jam. Soon after we lost 15 minutes when we hit something on the road and got a flat tyre. I helped the driver change it and not long after we were in Delhi. We reached our hotel without too much difficulty, despite some very heavy traffic, 7.5 hours since we left Corbett – a full hour better than the journey in. We were a bit taken aback by the location of the hotel – smack in the middle of the extremely busy bazaar section of Pahar Ganj. Our relief was apparent though when we entered and found a reasonably modern hotel, although it probably could’ve done with a bit more frequent cleaning. We checked in, got a nice room and had a quick rest before dinner and bed.

21 Apr 2011
No birding done

For the first time on our trip we slept late (7am), had breakfast and then ventured onto the streets of Delhi, looking for bargains. After two hours of haggling, and saying no-thank-you about a million times, we were happy with our purchases and made our way back to the hotel for a shower before checkout. We spent a few hours on the complimentary internet updating the blog and browsing the web before a late lunch and then a taxi to the airport. Checking in went smoothly and so was our passage through customs and security although it was a bit tedious compared to SA. We watched IPL cricket in the Delhi Daredevils Sports Bar and then boarded our overnight flight to Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia.

22 Apr 2011
Day count: 3
Trip count: 163
Day Lifer count: 1
Trip Lifer count: 131 (Nicola), 129 (Pieter)

We spent a few hours trying to get some sleep on Air Asia’s uncomfortable seats before landing at roughly 02:30 Indian time, 05:30 Local. We caught a bus to KL Sentral station and then took the monorail and got off a block from our hotel. To our relief they could check us in early so we spent a few hours unpacking, doing laundry and getting a few minutes shut eye. At 1pm our tummies were rumbling enough to overcome our fatigue so we went to the nearest shopping mall and were bewildered by the food floor where 10’s of little restaurants offer local cuisine for anything from R10-R100 a meal. We ate quickly and then headed off to explore KL. We discovered Chinatown market offering curios, clothing and knock-off Gucci handbags. A few blocks away we discovered Central Market where we bought some curios (Malaysian masks and a wooden folding bowl), and ‘treated’ ourselves to a foot spa – a Dr Fish foot spa! Yes we dipped our feet into a pool full of little fish which frantically fed off the dead skin on our feet using their sandpapery lips (no teeth). A tremendously tickly experience but good fun watching the tourists’ first expressions when the fish start nibbling away! And our feet were beautifully smooth afterwards. We then headed back to the shopping mall for dinner and then to the hotel where we slept like logs after two days with only a few hours sleep. Although we didn’t do any serious birding we did manage to pick up a lifer in the city – the Eurasian tree sparrow.

23 Apr 2011
Day count: 20
Trip count: 181
Day Lifer count: 18
Trip Lifer count: 149 (Nicola), 147 (Pieter)

After a good night’s sleep we got up reasonably early, caught a series of 3 trains and a taxi to Fraser’s Hill – a natural cool spot in Malaysia where the temperature was under 30! We had a fantastic time wandering through the rain forest and picked up 18 lifers, the most exciting being Streaked spiderhunter and White-throated fantail. Other lifers were the Red-rumped swallow, Common green magpie, Silver-eared mesia, House swallow, Lesser racket-tailed drongo and Chestnut-headed laughingthrush. We were sad that the long journey in meant we had only got there just before lunch as the early morning birding would probably have been fantastic. We did discover that there are a few hotels at Fraser’s Hill so on our next trip we’ll spend a few days there and get more of the 257 species recorded here. Our taxi driver was very helpful stopping at a dam and a waterfall en route for us to get some pictures. We also stopped at a natural mountain spring and collected some water, giving new meaning to the words “Bottled at source”. We retraced our steps back to our cool hotel room before having some Chinese food for dinner in the shopping mall.

24 Apr 2011
Day count: 26
Trip count: 195
Day Lifer count: 12
Trip Lifer count: 161 (Nicola), 159 (Pieter)

We ate breakfast as early as possible and caught the monorail to KL Sentral train station just after 7am. Then it was almost an hour’s train ride to Klang. At Klang we managed to find the bus station with our noses but were less successful finding the right bus to Kuala Selangor. But the very helpful locals caught on that we’re struggling and got us onto the right bus. An hour later, just after 10am, we were deposited at Kuala Selangor’s bus station. While driving, I saw the little hill Bukit Melawati and knew where to walk to. But it was still almost a 2km walk to get to Taman Alam Nature park, just below Bukit Melawati. It was blindingly hot and humid and by the time we arrived at the park, we were soaked through. We paid the entrance fee and took some pictures of the macaques before moving into the park. Swarms of mosquitoes attacked as soon as we entered the secondary forest and we had to slap on repellant very quickly. Then we took some time walking the circular route, passing through a large section of mangrove forest and having lunch in one of the watchtowers. The birding was really difficult – not only was it ridiculously hot and humid, the forest, especially the mangrove, was so thick that you couldn’t see deeper than about a metre. Even so, we still saw a few lifers, the most exciting being a Mangrove blue flycatcher, Black-capped kingfisher and Sunda pygmy woodpecker.Just after 2pm we couldn’t take the heat anymore and we retraced our steps back to Kuala Lumpur, arriving back at the hotel before 6pm. We had dinner at the Pavillion mall again and watched some TV before bed. We were happy we picked a few lifers for the day, but this was easily some of the toughest conditions I’ve ever birded in.

25 Apr 2011
Day count: 9
Trip count: 195
Day Lifer count: 0
Trip Lifer count: 161 (Nicola), 159 (Pieter)

Another early breakfast and by 8am we were in Kuala Lumpur’s famous Lake Gardens. It was steamingly hot and our binoculars fogged up immediately when we started birding. The birding in the park was surprisingly disappointing – there are very few walking paths (compared to the SA botanical gardens) and the many roads in the park are quite noisy. Petrol-powered leave-blowers were all over the park scaring the birds away and in total we only saw 9 species – nothing new. There was one surprise though when some raucous calls turned our heads and a couple of Hadeda ibises flew over. We first thought they could be some of the other ibises with a similar call but after we had a good look at them we decided they were definitely Hadedas that must have escaped from the Bird Park. We walked around the gardens until the Bird Park opened up and then entered the largest walk-in aviary in the world – 21 acres! Inside the Bird park we were treated to many of the Asian species and were able to recognize quite a few of the ones we’ve seen so far. Much more exciting were the ones we haven’t seen, like Nicobar pigeon, Asian fairy-bluebird and Rhinoceros hornbill. It was incredibly hot and humid though and we had a drink in the expensive Hornbill restaurant, just to escape the heat for a while. We then visited the Butterfly Park where a much smaller area was closed off, filled with flowering plants, small streams and lots of sweet fruit like pineapples and pawpaws. Thousands of butterflies circled around and Nicola was able to take a lot of great pics. We exited through a small exhibition of butterflies, beetles and other bugs found in the area. Our tummies warned us of the time and we headed for the Central market for Chinese lunch and sugar cane juice. After some cheap shopping we went back to the hotel to cool off before dinner.

26 Apr 2011
No birding done

Our wake-up call came at 2am. We dressed quickly, then hauled our baggage downstairs, checked out and caught a cab to KL Sentral Station. A bus was already waiting and just before 4am, we were at the airport. Our AirAsia flight was on time and soon we were speeding on our way to Sri Lanka – our third country on this trip. Immigration was a tad slow but it wasn’t long before we exited into a wall of humidity, although it wasn’t quite as bad as Malaysia. A short taxi ride got us to our hotel and we were lucky to be able to check in early again. We were both very sleepy so we barely took the time to dump our bags and then we hit the pillows, only waking after noon. We had lunch in the hotel’s restaurant and spent the rest of the afternoon resting and reading before taking a walk around the back streets of Negombo. The friendly locals greeted us and it was quite obvious that although there was a fair amount of rubbish and filth about, Sri Lanka was much cleaner and neater than India. For dinner we ordered chillie fried pork with noodles and rice and then got an early night.

27 Apr 2011
Day count: 36
Trip count: 204
Day Lifer count: 9
Trip Lifer count: 170 (Nicola), 168 (Pieter)

At 05:30 we were up and when we walked into reception at 6am, our driver from Malkey has just arrived, perfectly on time. We got into the small but cool air-conditioned car and were on our way north. Though the roads were pretty good, it took us a surprisingly long time to reach Anwilundawa Wetland sanctuary, about 10km north of Chilaw. Our driver had to ask around a bit but eventually found the access road and as we drove in, we got very excited to see the lotus-covered marsh and wetlands. Our driver parked close to what seemed to be an office and Nicola and I were immediately off looking for birds. The first thing we spotted was an Asian openbill, skulking in the reeds, then lots of Indian pond herons, Purple swamphens, Pheasant-tailed jacanas and Purple herons all over the wetland, stretching as far as we could see. Cotton pygmy goose became our second lifer for the day. We were walking on a raised mud track, separating the wetland from agricultural paddy fields to the west – a scene similar to the Den Staat wetlands at Mapungubwe. We soon realized that the variety of birds here was not fantastic despite this being one of the most extensive wetlands we’ve ever seen. It was still enjoyable birding though but as we carried on on the muddy track, the skies grew dark and lightning streaked above. We had just decided to turn around when the first drops came pelting down and we stopped to put on our R10 ponchos. These helped to keep our bags dry and to accumulate all the wet on the inside instead of the outside. Back at the beginning we turned down a road apparently leading towards the coast but after we walked about 500m or so, it started coming down hard and the walking was getting less pleasant. We headed back to our driver and soon were on our way to the hotel, reaching it just before noon. After dropping some of our heavy stuff, our driver took us to Colombo where we spent the afternoon shopping – we were particularly interested by the array of the most brilliantly done batiks we’ve seen and had to force ourselves to only buy three. Unfortunately, Colombo didn’t have the same street markets we experienced in Delhi so haggling wasn’t an option. We took a tuktuk back to the hotel which took more than an hour due to the heavy traffic and when we arrived at 6.30pm, our eyes were stinging from the traffic fumes. We had fish for dinner before going to bed early again.

28 Apr 2011
Day count: 26
Trip count: 211
Day Lifer count: 6
Trip Lifer count: 176 (Nicola), 174 (Pieter)

Up again just after 5am to catch a tuktuk to another unpronounceable wetland: Muthurajawela, immediately to the south of the Negombo lagoon. A very bumpy ride through the town of Bopitya got us to a Brittish-dug canal. Our boat driver wasn’t there yet when we arrived at 06:30 so we took a walk along the canal, and were ecstatic to pick up three lifers in the space of 15 minutes: Yellow bittern, Little heron and Black bittern! When the boat driver arrived we climbed aboard and then took a very nice 2-hour trip out to the lagoon and back, riding through some very interesting vegetation, past local fishermen and seeing some huge water monitors, and finally the Stork-billed kingfisher we’ve been hoping to see so long. On the way back we stopped at the roadside to get coconut juice – an unripe coconut cut open with a panga and a straw stuck inside! All too soon we were back at the hotel where we washed off the stickiness and rested until early afternoon – a good thing too because it rained hard for most of this time. For afternoon tea we had lychees and ice cream and for dinner we shared chicken and fish.

29 Apr 2011
Day count: 10
Trip count: 212
Day Lifer count: 1
Trip Lifer count: 177 (Nicola), 175 (Pieter)

Just after 7am we caught a tuktuk to Henerathgoda Botanical gardens near Gampaha. Unfortunately the gardens don't have the floral diversity you would expect and the mostly lawn gardens did not have a lot of species to record. We were able to identify a single lifer when we spotted a female Loten's sunbird just as we were about to leave the gardens just before 10am. We were back at the hotel before 11am, took a shower, checked out and headed for the airport. Our first flight at 3pm was to Chennai, back in India and then, just after 8pm, we flew back to Mumbai, arriving at our hotel in Juhu shortly before midnight.

30 Apr 2011
No birding done

For once we didn't wake to an alarm call and had breakfast under and awning outside the hotel. We caught a taxi into Mumbai and visited the crowded Gate of India and then did some shopping along the Colaba Causeway and watching some of the cricket games being played on a strip of open ground in the middle of Mumbai. Back at our hotel we spent the afternoon cooling of from the humid heat and packing up for our last flight for the trip. After dinner we watched some TV and then at 10pm, checked out caught a taxi to the airport and boarded our flight home just before 2 in the morning.

It was an amazing trip! We loved all three countries we visited. The people were friendly and helpful. Shopping and food was in general cheaper than back home, and although we didn't get to see tigers as we hoped, we did see lots of new birds, mammals and reptiles. Now we've seen what its like, we certainly plan to return in the not too distant future, visit new places and explore more of these fantastic countries!

Kruger National Park birding Mar 2011

Links

• List of birds

We left home after work on Friday afternoon and drove through some heavy traffic, arriving in Phalaborwa after 7pm. We checked into our accommodation and it wasn't long before the air-conditioner lulled us to sleep.

19 Mar 2011 - Day count: 90, Trip count: 90
My 33rd birthday! Happy to be on the way to Kruger, we left in a drizzle at 05:15 and waited for some minutes at the Phalaborwa gate before they opened. We had a long way to drive to Punda Maria but driving slow, we birded all the way there, picking up 3 bee-eaters, Namaqua dove, Martial eagle, Jameson's and Red-billed firefinches, African paradise flycatcher, Ground hornbill, Wattled starling, Saddle-billed stork, Black-crowned and Brown-crowned tchagras among many of the regulars. However, the drizzly and overcast weather kept many birds in but brought the reptiles out. Hundreds of chameleons were crossing the road and since they were difficult to see in the poor light, one had to be careful to not drive over them. A number of tortoises and a huge leguaan were also seen. Arriving at Punda Maria we decided to drive the Mahonie loop before checking in. Here we added Brown-headed parrot and Broad-billed roller. At about 3pm we checked in and had some birthday scones before starting our braai fire.

20 Mar 2011 - Day count: 116, Trip count: 139
We were at the camp gate just before the opened and when they did, were off to Pafuri for the day. With the weather looking excellent we tried to drive as close to the speed limit as possible to get to Pafuri early, but with so many birds to see along the way, it still took us almost 2 hours to reach the Levhuvhu bridge, unexpectedly picking up Levaillant's Jacobin and Diderick cuckoos. At the bridge the birding got exciting as we spotted African paradise flycatcher, African yellow white-eye, heard Grey-headed, Orange-breasted and Gorgeous bush-shrikes, Mocking cliff chat, Purple (lifer) and Village indigobirds, Horis swift and Meve's starling and Yellow-fronted tinkerbird. We first took the Nyala drive where we added Brown-headed parrots and then continued towards the picnic site. In the forest we got Shikra, African hoopoe, Trumpeter hornbill, Common scimitarbill and Bearded scrub-robin. the Levhuvhu was flowing quite strong but we managed Water thickknee, Green-backed heron and then a whole bunch of White-crowned lapwings on the opposite shore - a second lifer! On the way back to the tar road we spotted a Grey-headed kingfisher which added another lifer for Nicola. On the way back a male and female Chestnut-backed sparrowlarks sat still enough for pictures and at Klopperfontein, some patient watching produced two Temminck's coursers - lifer 3 and 4 for me and Nicola respectively. back at Punda Maria we had a quick bite to eat before leaving on a sunset drive. While the sun was still out there was nothing exciting but when it was properly dark, lots of Bronze-winged coursers, Fiery-necked nightjars and some owls (African scops and Southern white-faced scops) were seen. We also added a Lesser bushbaby and an African civet along with some of the other more common mammals.

21 Mar 2011 - Day count: 55, Trip count: 143
For almost 3 hours we drove the Mahonie loop, picking up only Purple roller, Green-winged pytilia, Southern black tit and Purple-crested turacos as new birds for the trip, before we departed from Kruger around 09:30. It was a long drive home where we arrived at about 4pm - a great weekend's birding.