Sunday 22 January 2012

Kaapschehoop birding and hiking, Jan 2012



Links

We were up by 03:15 and driving by 03:45, arriving in Kaapschehoop at about 6am. We parked the car in front of a guesthouse and then started the stroll towards the escarpment. Walking through bizarre rock formations we quickly added excellent birds like Cape rock-thrush, Buff-streaked chat, Swee waxbill, Wailing and Wing-snapping cisticolas. The short walk leads to a ranger station with a stunning view towards Komatipoort, Barberton and Swaziland. Through the rising early morning mist we saw Alpine and African black swifts and heard African emerald cuckoo, Sombre greenbul and Purple-crested turaco, but the raptors let us a bit down. Back in the hamlet we slowly walked past residents starting their early Saturday morning and picked up Amethyst and Greater double-collared sunbirds. Just beyond the hamlet limits, walking towards the Kaapsehoop hiking hut, we saw our first lifer: Drakensberg prinia. A short break at the hut allowed us to spot a confiding Olive bush-shrike and then shortly thereafter, on the way back to the village, we added our second lifer: Brown-backed honeybird. After getting a permit for Battery creek waterfall we took the short but steep and slippery walk through indigenous forest. Although visible from the road, the waterfall's much more impressive when you stand underneath it but the noise does mean you can barely hear one another talk, let alone bird calls. Back out to the top we did get a brief glimpse of a Chorister robin but not much else. Feeling tired from our early morning drive, we checked into Hippo Pools guesthouse and got a fantastic loft unit with kitchenette, bathroom, 2 bedrooms, lounge - all for just R200 pp! After an afternoon nap we headed back down to Battery Creek to try and lure White-starred robin out, but only got Yellow-fronted tinkerbird. There was enough time to take another walk to the escarpment edge but again the raptors failed us and we only spotted a lone Yellow-billed kite. After a canned dinner relaxing in front of the TV, we headed for bed early.

Expecting our bird guide, Enos, at 6am, we were up at 5am and ready just before 6am. Enos showed up exactly on time, having already walked 7km from his lodgings. Walking towards the Blue Swallow Heritage Site we ticked off all the regulars we also saw Yellow-fronted canary, Yellow bishop, African pipit, Red-winged francolin and African olive pigeon before reaching the forest. Enos said the Blue swallows haven't been back in the last 2 seasons so we decided to rather spend time in the forest. African emerald cuckoo called early on and Barratt's warblers were quite common in the scrub. An Olive woodpecker made a brief showing before we reached areas where we tried to call Bush blackcap, Orange ground thrush and White-starred robin. After two unsuccessful locations, we were walking around a bend when a robin-like call warbled behind us. First thinking it a Chorister robin we turned around to look for it and then Nicola spotted it - but it was a Bush blackcap! Elated we watched it for a few minutes while it called continuously and eventually moved off. Our playback of African emerald cuckoo got the bird interested but never enough to get close-up views. Shortly after we turned around we finally made contact with an Orange ground thrush but only got fleeting glimpses as it kept on darting to and fro above our head. Walking a little further and playing our recording again, we picked one up again, either the same one responding to our call or a different one. After patiently waiting in the undergrowth to the side of the road and playing the recording a few times, we finally got him sitting still on a branch long enough for all three of us to see him really well. Satisfied with some decent forest birding done, we made our way back to the top, picking up another Olive bush-shrike and a Crowned eagle on the way. Back in Kaapschehoop we loaded the car with our last stuff and dropped Enos off at his lodgings before making our way back home.

Kaapschehoop is an excellent birding location, close enough for a weekend birdwatching and hiking outing and we certainly plan to go back soon. We highly recommend making use of Enos as a bird guide - let us know if you need his number.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Okavango, Caprivi and Vic falls birding, Dec 2011



Links

13 December
Daily birds: 55, Total count: 55, Lifers: None

Leaving home just before 1pm, we were slightly surprised to see a Purple heron at Kruger dam. Some other birds we saw on our way north included Pin-tailed whydah, White-winged widowbird and European roller. We found Shelanti Game Lodge easily and checked into a beautiful chalet (only R220 per person per night). It was already around 5pm but we took a walk around the outside of the antelope breeding camps (roan, sable, black impala etc.) and added Kalahari scrub-robin, Shaft-tailed whydah, Black, Klaas’s and Diderick cuckoos, Southern pied babbler, Acacia pied barbet and Orange-breasted bush-shrike. Dinner consisted of cheese sandwiches and then we relaxed in the bedroom under a very welcome air-conditioner.

14 December
Daily birds: 107, Total count: 120, Lifers: Greater painted snipe

Just before 5am we had a quick cup of coffee and then took a stroll around the breeding camps again. It was overcast and dark but we still got Swainson’s spurfowl, Pearl-spotted owlet, Magpie shrike, Rattling cisticola and a few others. Back at the chalet around 06:30 we had some breakfast, then took another walk before checking out. On the way back to the tar road we also added Southern black tit, Green-winged pytilia, Monotonous lark, Bearded woodpecker and Common scimitarbill. The road to Grobler’s bridge border is in good shape and we arrived just before 10am. The South African side went quickly but on the Botswana side we stood in a queue at the cashier for 20 minutes before getting through. But by 11am we were done and took a leisurely drive to Palapye. Dark rain clouds were around and every now and then we had a few drops of rain. Past Palapye and onto Serowe we made good time and arrived at Khama Rhino Sanctuary around 1pm. We checked into our chalet and had some lunch and a rest before heading out at 3pm. The roads in the sanctuary are deep sandy ruts and although it’s a fairly comfortable ride, you definitely need a high-clearance vehicle. We visited all of the pans as well as a bird hide and added quite a nice number of birds considering the time of the day but our best sighting was of Greater painted snipe at Serwe pan – the first time we’ve seen this in Southern Africa. Other notables include White and Marabou storks, Jacobin cuckoo, Double-banded courser, Martial eagle, Violet-eared waxbill and Swallow-tailed bee-eater. At 6pm we were back at our chalet and had mealiepap, sweetcorn, tomato relish and viennas for dinner. Our chalet turned out to be quite permeable to the local insect population as well as some four-legged furry animals. Nicola found this out first hand when a rat sitting on a rafter pooped on her! It was a bit of a restless night and at 5am we were ready to go.

15 December
Daily birds: 97, Total count: 161, Lifers: Curlew sandpiper (N), Golden weaver (N), Swamp boubou, Hartlaub’s babbler, Senegal coucal

Happy birthday Nicola! We packed up and left early under heavy clouds, driving slowly towards Serwe pan and picking up all the regulars along the way. At Serwe pan we again got the Double-banded courser and three Greater painted snipes along with Red-billed, Cape and Hottentot teal, Common swift, Common greenshank, Kittlitz and Common ringed plovers, Curlew sandpiper and Red-capped, Rufous-naped and Eastern clapper larks. A few more birds were added back towards the entrance, bringing our total list for the sanctuary to 95. We left for Maun at 09:30. Despite heavy clouds and the occasional spit of rain, it was a long and hot drive with the aircon working hard. On the way we added Greater kestrel, Brown snake eagle and Cape Crow before arriving at Okavango River Lodge outside Maun just before 4pm. After sorting out the details for our mokoro trip, we rested a short while before doing half an hour’s birding from a picnic table in front of the lodge’s bar. With an excellent view over the Thamalakane river, we quickly picked up a bunch of waterbirds including Pied and Malachite kingfishers, Black crake, African openbill, Squacco heron and African jacana before the lifers started pouring in: first we heard Swamp boubou calling in a tree above us but unfortunately couldn’t spot it. Then a confiding Hartlaub’s babbler sat right in front of us for a good ID, and several moments later a Senegal coucal hopped into a tree on the opposite bank. With the sun setting fast, we walked back to our chalet and then Nicola spotted the Swamp boubou. After a good look at him, we headed back to the chalet for an eat out (of cans) dinner. While getting all the cooking stuff from the car, Nicola also spotted three White-browed robin-chats, calling clearly in the scrub.

16 December
Daily birds: 82, Total count: 184, Lifers: Long-toed lapwing, Great reed warbler (N), Rufous-bellied heron, Black coucal, White-browed coucal, African reed warbler (N), Coppery-tailed coucal

It was a beautiful morning as we sat on the river front counting birds just after breakfast. Our ride to the starting point of our mokoro trip was at 8am so we had some time to just sit and relax. Very soon we had notched up basically the same set of birds we got when we arrived last night, including the Hartlaub’s babblers, Senegal coucal and Swamp boubou. Just after 8am our “driver” came to fetch us – we were expecting a bakkie or 4x4 trip but it turned out to be a much more fun 45 minute trip by boat. The fast ride along the canals towards the buffalo fence was exhilarating and cool in the already blazing heat and a sighting of two flying Long-toed lapwings made it even better. At the buffalo fence, from where all mokoro trips start, we soon met up with our guide, Galaxy, had all our stuff loaded into a fibreglass mokoro, and off we went. We were marginally disappointed for not having a real mokoro, but the reasons for this were justified – for starters, the three of us and our gear would not fit in a normal mokoro but more importantly, if everyone was allowed to cut down a hardwood tree to make a mokoro for this booming tourist industry, pretty soon there would be nothing left. So I think this is a commendable government requirement. Galaxy poled us quietly over the water for the next two hours, going through water lily and reed covered canals and ponds. Its very tranquil and relaxing although the December heat is fierce. Surprisingly, perhaps because the water is too deep, there were few birds around, apart from myriads of African jacana and Squacco heron. At 11am we arrived at our campsite on an island under a large fruiting sycamore. We set up our tents and had some lunch before relaxing in the mid-day heat under the welcome shade and watched Blue waxbill, Arrow-marked babbler, Red-billed firefinch, African green pigeon, Southern grey-headed sparrow and Woodland kingfisher in the trees and on the ground around our campsite. At 2pm we went for a walk around our island but with both Nicola and I having suffered diarrhea that morning, the walking was not very comfortable. The sun was intense and when we returned just after 15:30 we were unsure how we would handle the rest of our trip. But during this time we had heard both White-browed and Coppery-tailed coucals and had excellent sightings of Black coucal – this meant that we have now ID’d all the Southern African coucals! Deciding that the Okavango water was filtered by billions of reeds, we switched our home-filtered supply with the lightly tannin-stained Okavango water – neither of us experienced any further tummy issues. Some time after 4pm we took a short mokoro trip to another island from where we walked to the “Hippo pools” a large open pond where the water was deep enough for them. While sitting on a grassy knoll looking at the hippos, we heard African reed warbler calling in the reeds in front of us – a lifer for Nicola. On our walk back to the mokoro, we ran into a grazing elephant and had to backtrack and walk a circle around him, trying to stay downwind. We reached camp by 7pm and while Galaxy made us some pap, we shared our beetroot and breyani dinner with him. The mozzies chased us into the tent immediately after dinner but it was so swelteringly hot that we spent the entire night in our underwear, welcoming every breath of wind pushing fresh air through the tent vents. During the night we heard hyenas, jackal and even a far-off lion calling but more exciting was Galaxy chasing an elephant out of our campsite.

17 December
Daily birds: 70, Total count: 191, Lifers: Dickonson’s kestrel, Slaty egret, Lesser jacana

After a pre-dawn wake-up with a quick cup of tea and some rusks, we took a short mokoro ride and then started a long walk towards some pools where game and birds congregated. Almost as soon as we started we spotted Dickinson’s kestrel in a palm tree. The birding was not quite as good as we expected and I was rather surprised at how quiet the thickets were. But it was overcast and windy and although the birds were not out in force, the walking in these conditions was very pleasant. We soon reached the pools along with another large group of tourists and we spotted Slaty egret and a short while later Lesser jacana as well. Galaxy told us that the pools would be teeming in a month or two’s time and we thought it a bit strange that the birds would be better later rather than this time of the year. We eventually started our way back and as the wind dropped a little and clouds started burning away, it got hot again and we were very glad to reach the campsite again by 11am. Relaxing in the shade for the rest of the afternoon, we watched our resident avian friends around the campsite. By 16:30 it was still very hot but not so bad that we couldn’t go on a mokoro cruise for the rest of the afternoon, returning by about 18:30. It didn’t look like poor Galaxy had anything but mealiepap to eat, so we shared our entire dinner with him. The mozzies drove us into the tent again after dinner and unfortunately sleeping conditions were no better than the previous night.

18 December 2011
Daily birds: 53, Total count: 194, Lifers: None

Another pre-dawn breakfast was followed by a 3-hour walk on our own island. We didn’t see or hear anything new but it seems the windy conditions had stirred up something because both Nicola and I got itchy noses with Nicola later tearing up from the intense hay fever. We actually had to cut our walk a bit short because of this and arrived back in camp at 09:30. The sun was merciless and we tried to stay as still as possible until 2pm when we headed back to the buffalo fence where we got picked up by the people from Okavango River Lodge just after 4pm. The ride back was windy and cool and Nicola spotted some Water thick-knee and another Lesser jacana. Back at the lodge we wasted no time in getting into the shower and then off to the bar for steak and chips. Overall the mokoro trip was excellent but the following should be said: you end up spending a lot more time walking than out on the water, which for birding is better since apart from the odd Openbill, African jacana or Squacco heron, you see little else from your low-down vantage point through the reeds; organizing a mokoro trip through any of the Maun-based lodges is a total rip-off – we paid about R2300.00 for the 3-day trip for the two of us and our poor guide got about R500.00 of that. That said, our guide Galaxy was incredibly willing, friendly and conscientious. His technical skills identifying birds were a bit lacking though as he frequently mixed up calls and bird names and foreigners not knowing the local birds at all may suffer because of this. But to us this didn’t really matter as we made all the IDs ourselves while he guided away and did a wonderful job of telling us other interesting things.

19 December 2011
Daily birds: 94, Total count: 205, Lifers: African goshawk (N), Green-backed honeybird, Pel’s fishing owl

After another bout of diarrhea for me, we left Okavango River Lodge early to try and visit the Maun sewerage works. Alas, we were told its impossible to bird inside the fence so we birded outside, picking up quite a few bushveld species including Lilac-breasted roller, Common scimitarbill, White-browed sparrow-weaver etc. Before 9am we drove into Maun to buy probiotics, Lomotil and a fan, as we had another 7 tent nights ahead of us and I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to live through scorchers like we had in the Delta again. We found everything we were looking for and then headed off towards Shakawe, picking up White-backed vulture, Steppe buzzard, Red-billed oxpecker and Burchell’s starling along the way. We drove through some nice rain storms and arrived at Drotsky’s cabins in very wet conditions, driving through deep puddles in the sandy road. We checked in and then pitched our tent in tall riparian forest with water dripping on us non-stop. We hid in the tent until the worst had stopped and then took a short walk in the forest. White-browed robin-chat, African green pigeon and Hartlaub’s babblers were very common and we even spotted an African goshawk. We went back to reception from where one of the owners, Jan Drotsky, took us on a short walk looking for Pel’s fishing owl. Two minutes into our walk, a small bird flew into a dead tree to our left and after some deliberation we concluded that it was a Green-backed honeybird. At the end of campsite 17 Jan led us through some undergrowth until suddenly he pointed through the trees. And there in broad daylight it sat watching us – a Pel’s fishing owl! It flew a short distance into a further tree but sat there in the open and we had fantastic views for about half a minute before it flew away. Wow! After searching for 3 years, and arguably the most wanted lifer for this trip, we’ve got him!! Very happy, we made our way back to the tent, cooked supper in the growing dusk, and made friends with our neighbours before crawling into bed, the box fan we bought in Maun making life considerably more comfortable.

20 December 2011
Daily birds: 64, Total count: 219, Lifers: Chirping cisticola, Collared pratincole, African skimmer

Early today we collected our neighbours and headed off for the site where the Pel’s had been roosting the day before, only to find that he had chosen a new spot, undoubtedly due to our visit the night before. Disappointed not to see him again we headed back to camp and said goodbye to our birding companions who were leaving that day. We did manage to show them the very pretty Narina trogan so we felt we had been semi decent birding guides. We then walked down to the river and boarded a boat for our aqueous birding tour. We headed up the panhandle searching for specials like Pels’ and White-backed night heron but no such luck. However a short while into the trip we heard the call of the Chirping cisticola, and later came across a wonderful marshy field which was covered with birds – African openbills, White-faced ducks, Blacksmith lapwings hiding the less common Long-toed lapwing, various Egrets, and to our delight, a flock of Collared pratincoles, lifer number two for the day! Our guide then took us upstream to the last remaining sand bank, which serve as nesting sites for the African skimmer. We were afraid that the water levels would be too high, and that all the skimmers would have left, but lady luck shined on us that day and we picked up lifer number 3! Very satisfied we headed back to camp and then hid in our tent for the majority of the day as another storm blew through. A post-dinner attempt at night birding lasted all of 15 minutes as the relentless mosquitoes gave no indication that they worried about our layers of insect repellent.

21 December 2011
Daily birds: 122, Total count: 242, Lifers: Bradfield’s hornbill, African Golden Oriole, Brown Firefinch

We had to pack up a very wet tent in the morning after breakfast and after collecting our frozen bottles of water from reception at Drotsky’s, we were on our way. Common waxbill at the Botswana border post was a new bird for the trip and after we finally left the Namibian border and drove into Mahango National Park, we soon picked up Bradfield’s hornbill. The 12km to the entrance gate where we had to get our permit to drive onto the floodplain was awfully corrugated and we didn’t see much anyway. Around 9am we got our permit and returned a short section down the road to go onto the loop road over the flood plain. This immediately bore fruit with Dickonson’s kestrel, Collared pratincole, Swallow-tailed bee-eater and Grey tit-flycatcher among the nicer sightings. We completed the loop road and returned the same way, having lunch along the way. It was another scorcher of a day and when we finally left the park we were still white from the sun cream. At Ngepi camp we quickly checked in and met Christoph, the local birder recommended to us by the neighbours from Drotsky’s. After pitching our tent and a bit of afternoon rest, we commandeered Christoph for an afternoon walk. Barefooted he led us through the fields and township area immediately outside Ngepi camp and in the 2 hours we spent with him, picked up numerous specials including Lesser moorhen, Yellow-billed oxpecker, Greater painted snipe, Red-headed weaver, African pygmy goose, Lesser jacana, Rufous-bellied heron, Chirping cisticola and our second and third lifers for the day: African golden oriole and Brown firefinch! Back at the camp we sat on the deck overlooking the Kavango river and sipping ice cold drinks and added African pied wagtail and an over-flying Osprey. After breyani and veg for dinner we hit the bed but got a tad hot when the power, and with it our fan, went off just before 10pm.

22 December 2011
Daily birds: 105, Total count: 253, Lifers: Mosque swallow, Wattled crane

A very early start got us onto a boat again with Christoph as our guide, just before 6am. Heavy cloud made for a picture perfect sunrise as we added Banded martin, Long-toed lapwing, Ruff, White-fronted plover, Collare pratincole, Black-crowned night- and Green-backed herons. On a crumbling sandbank we found two lonely African skimmers (one adult one 2-month old chick) and on the Mahango National Park border we got fantastic views of White-backed night-heron. Back at the camp we quickly re-organized the car a bit and headed for Bwabwata National Park Park (Buffalo Park) on the opposite shore of Ngepi camp and Mahango. While driving through town we picked up Namaqua dove, Rufous-naped lark and Scaly-feathered finch. Inside Bwabwata we saw Bateleur, Purple roller, Jacobin cuckoo, Common scimitarbill and a few others, but then, just as the road entered the floodplain, I stopped to scan the marshes and while gazing through the binocs, three Wattled crane walked into my field of view. I almost dropped the binocs as I tried to simultaneously switch the car off, get Nicola’s attention and get out of the car. Leisurely the three strolled along the edge of the marsh, about 30m away from us as we slowly followed taking pictures – now we had the Top 3 birds we were looking for!! Further on we added a few more birds, including a fantastic view of a Slaty egret, before turning back, having lunch under a large sausage tree and then driving back through a heavy rain storm. A quick stop at Popa falls which are arguably the world’s lowest “falls” got us a maybe Rock pratincole but it was too far off to be 100% sure so we left it off our list. Just before turning into Ngepi camp we also added a Village indigobird and on the almost flooded Ngepi road I scared up two female Double-banded sandgrouse. We arrived back at 3pm and typed up our list of the past two days before having dinner and getting in an early night.

23 December 2011
Daily birds: 109, Total count: 264, Lifers: None

We overslept a little but still managed to leave Ngepi Camp around 05:45, arriving at a locked Mahango Game Park gate at 06:15. Irritated, I walked back towards the headquarters and found the receptionist lazily walking towards the gate which she should’ve opened at 6am. Finally in, we quickly made our way towards Mohembo border and from there got onto the floodplain road. Driving slowly with the sun at our back we picked up Fawn-coloured lark, Senegal coucal, Mosque swallow, White-browed coucal, Grey-headed kingfisher, Dickonson’s kestrel and three Wattled cranes. Very soon it became hot again and we had to lather sunscreen on. Towards the northern exit of the floodplain we finally picked up a Yellow-billed egret and Comb duck and then did another loop back to the south during which we added White-crested helmetshrike, Pin-tailed whydah and Eurasian golden oriole. Our second run past the large baobab got us an out-of-range African emerald cuckoo before we headed back home. We spent the afternoon relaxing before dinner and bed.

24 December 2011
Daily birds: 89, Total count: 268, Lifers: Ayres’s hawk-eagle

Around 1am I got woken up by some strange scuffing and snorting noises outside the tent. In a dazed state I didn’t quite realize what it was until it got louder and I finally woke up to the fact that a hippo was feeding immediately outside the tent. It dawned on me that a hiking tent will not keep an angry hippo at bay and I didn’t care to become another statistic. With my heart thumping in my throat I woke Nicola up with the one hand, while reaching for the car keys and flash light with the other. We waited until it moved off a little to the left, then very carefully unzipped the tent, crawled out as quietly as possible and made a quick dash for the car. Feeling much happier inside the car we dozed uncomfortably for just over an hour before checking it was gone and making our way back to bed. At 04:45 my alarm went off and we groggily had some breakfast, started packing the stuff inside the tent and then went for our morning walk with Christoph. We were hoping to catch some Burchell’s sandgrouse but although the terrain was ideal and we picked up Temminck’s courser and lots of Double-banded sandgrouse, the Burchell’s sandgrouse remained elusive. Back at camp we quickly packed up, paid and made our way across Bagani bridge and into the Caprivi proper. It was a very pleasant drive, the speed limit forcing us to drive no faster than 80km/h so we could still watch roadside birds. Nicola spotted a flying bird which turned out to be an Ayres’s hawk-eagle, our only lifer for the day. Lunch was had at a picnic spot along the road and we made it to the Kwando river soon after. We checked into Camp Kwando around 2pm but were dismayed to learn there was no electricity to power our box fan. Tired from our hippo escapades, we both slept the afternoon away, made dinner at 6pm and spent a hot and sticky night in the tent.


25 December 2011
Daily birds: 77, Total count: 274, Lifers: Arnot’s chat

After a late lie-in, we got up and had breakfast before getting directions to Mudumu National Park. Once there, we headed for the Park Rangers office to get a permit, only to find we had to go to a different office. The trip was not wasted though, as we spotted the first canary of our trip, Yellow-fronted. The road to the second office was rather hairy with several big pools, each deeper, larger and stickier than the last. About 300m from the office we abandoned the car and set off on foot. After paying for our permit we walked back, picking up Broad-billed roller on the way. Just before we reached the car, we saw a 4x4 navigating the pond we had been to scared to try, and when they almost got stuck and had to back up we were grateful we didn't try it! We turned around and drove through the park, sticking to the main track for most of the way. We picked up quite a few bushveld birds, but nothing particularly special, until Nicola noticed an Arnot’s Chat, our only lifer for the day. On the way back it started to rain heavily. We attempted to reach the Hippo Pools by navigating a side road, but turned around when faced with another chain of puddles in the road, rapidly growing in the heavy rain. Back on the main road we stopped on the side, listening to teh heavy drumming on the roof. After a Christmas lunch of tuna mayo on Provitas, we headed back to camp to wait out the remainder of the rain shower. Although we didn’t pick up many lifers, the day did yield quite a few new birds for trip: Yellow-fronted canary, Steppe eagle, Red-billed hornbill, Flappet lark and Black cuckooshrike.

26 December 2011
Daily birds: 58, Total count: 282, Lifers: Schalow’s turaco, Tropical boubou

Tired of camping we left Camp Kwando soon after 4am, eating some Salticrax as we drove to Katima Mulilo. We aimed to search for crakes at the sewerage works in Katima but the directions were a bit misleading and we couldn’t find it. We slowly drove to our accommodation for the night, Caprivi Houseboat Safaris, on the banks of the Zambesi. As we stopped in the driveway, a Schalow’s turaco hopped into the tree above and shortly after we chatted to the owner’s son, a Tropical boubou flew out from the shrubs in the garden. Silke, co-owner of Caprivi Houseboat Safaris, helped us to locate the sewerage works on Google Maps and then we left again, this time managing the find the place. Unfortunately it was completely overgrown with reeds and although we could hear birds calling and scuttling around, there was no chance of seeing any of them. Disappointed we left and bought some late breakfast at the Pick & Pay before going back to our lodge and checking in. Feeling sleepy after the early start and the day’s heat already building, we took a welcome rest in our stunning chalet, right on the banks of the river. African green pigeons and Trumpeter hornbills joined Red-faced mousebirds and Dark-capped bulbuls in a fruiting tree next to our chalet and in the early afternoon Nicola spotted an African finfoot right from the deck of our bedroom! After some intensive re-organizing of the car and drying of the tent, we went for a sunset cruise picking up Green-backed and Black-crowned night herons, Half-collared, Malachite, Giant and Pied kingfishers, five African finfoots and White-faced whistling duck, but alas, no Pel’s fishing owl. Having returned just before 8pm, we made a quick dinner and then jumped into bed to escape the hordes of mosquitoes.

27 December 2011
Daily birds: 86, Total count: 289, Lifers: None

After an early breakfast of rusks and coffee we took a drive along a bumpy track running next to the Zambesi. Unfortunately we didn’t have good access to the river itself and only got the usual birds in the area like Tropical boubou, Schalow’s turaco, Black-throated canary, Yellow-breasted apalis, Marico sunbird, Yellow-bellied greenbul etc. We were back at the lodge before 8pm, packed up and headed for the border. The Namibian border was quick an easy but the Zambian side was a proper African road border with no signposts, tarmac, or order of any kind. We had to make four separate payments, get four different receipts/documents, in four different "offices", each one more dilapidated than the last. Ridiculously, one office accepted only Kwachas and the other only US Dollars. After paying about a thousand rand in total and spending an hour filling in books (and not once getting our car inspected) we were finally able to get going. We passed over the Zambesi bridge and quickly through Sesheke before heading into open country for the 200km drive to Livingstone. We drove slowly and enjoyed the immensely green countryside, patches of which were inundated with water. Along the way we saw Lizard buzzard, Bronze manikin, Yellow bishop, a flood of Squacco herons, Bateleur, African paradise flycatcher and our first Southern black flycatcher and Black-headed heron for the trip. We arrived in Livingstone around 1pm and drove through town, pleasantly surprised that the roads were quite good and people seemed to obey standard road rules. Mostly. Heading for our accommodation, we got a little worried when we had to turn down a dirt road and drive into rural roadside Africa but when we found Sunbird guesthouse about 150m down the road, we got secure parking, a pleasant garden, a large, clean room with TV, aircon, mozzie nets over the beds and a clean bathroom. Even better was that breakfast was included in our rate; even though it was only two slices of bread, coffee and one egg, it was still much more appetizing than the standard 3 rusks we’ve been having for the past 2 weeks and our hosts Rebeccah and Kennedy were extremely friendly and helpful - this was hands down the best accommodation for our trip. We had a late lunch, then went back into town to check out the curio market and returned to do our stinking laundry in the bath tub before making an early dinner. Watching the 2nd day of the SA/Sri Lanka cricket on SABC 3 was a mixed blessing since SA was doing badly (and it only got worse) but the one or two Zambian channels we picked up were entertaining.

28 December 2011
Daily birds: 34, Total count: 294, Lifers: Rock pratincole, Collared palm-thrush

We slept late and then had a great breakfast of toast and egg before heading for Victoria falls. Even from a distance we could see the cloud rising above the falls and when we parked the car at the entrance, you couldn’t miss the “Smoke that thunders”. We paid the (slightly high) entrance fee of 20 USD per person and walked to the first viewpoint. Oh, what a sight! Yes, its touristy and yes its expensive, but wow! Vic falls truly is a natural wonder. Getting wet in the spray, we walked to every single viewpoint and trail, taking pictures and videos of the mist rainbow(s), the falls, Batoka gorge, microlights passing over, bungee jumpers off the bridge and even a bunch of locals hacking a dead hippo to pieces in the middle of the Zambesi (above the falls) and dragging it to shore (probably for dinner). Birding in the immediate spray zone was almost impossible and besides, there weren’t many birds to see or hear anyway. Only when we walked the trail down into the gorge to see the Boiling Pot, did we start adding birds, including White-browed robin-chat, African emerald cuckoo, Swamp boubou, Trumpeter hornbill and new birds for the trip: Verreaux’s eagle, Red-chested cuckoo, Grey-headed bush-shrike and Red-winged starling. Back on the road to Livingstone we stopped at some of the lay-byes next to the Zambesi and at the second one saw a Rock pratincole on a small rock about 5m into the stream. After unsuccessfully looking for the sewerage works south of the town, we found the entrance to Mosi-oa-Tunya Game Park we wanted to visit tomorrow and as we parked at the entrance, Nicola noticed a Collared palm-thrush – unfortunately, since this was properly in Zambia, it didn’t count as a Southern African lifer. Eating a pack of chips for lunch, we drove towards the Flying Fox site south of the Vic falls bridge but were disappointed that they charge 40 USD for 2 cable slides across the gorge that will take you all of 5 minutes to complete. The rest of the afternoon was spent cooling down in our aircon room, watching Sri Lanka ruffle the Proteas' feathers. Dinner was another unglorious tinned breyani.

29 December 2011
Daily birds: 79, Total count: 300, Lifers: None

A 5am rise saw us at the entrance of Mosi-oa-Tunya Game Park just after 6am. Paying the (exorbitant) entrance fee, we slowly made our way into the park, quickly adding Black-crowned tchagra, Broad-billed roller, Yellow-billed kite and Collared palm-thrush. A telephone line provided Wire-tailed, Barn and Greater striped swallows perching together. Along the dirt roads there were numerous open grassy fields that invariably had lots of shallow water puddles and ponds, These were very productive with Saddle-billed stork, Spur-winged goose, White-faced duck, Three-banded plover, Greater painted snipe, African jacana, Hamerkop, Wood sandpiper, Great, Cattle, Little and Slaty egrets, Green-backed, Black-headed and Black herons , Woodland, Brown-hooded, Grey-headed, Striped, Giant and Pied kingfishers, African spoonbill and African Darter. Of more significant note were only our second sightings ever of African cuckoo-hawk and African crake. Stopping along the Zambesi waterfront we got another Rock pratincole. Other significant sightings were Brown-crowned tchagra, Lizard buzzard, Bearded woodpecker and Lesser striped swallow (first one for the trip). Unfortunately the park not only produced good birding but a very annoying supply of mainly horse flies, which have a surprisingly nasty bite. Flinging a rolled-up stack of border crossing documents at them, we littered the car with fly carcasses until we had to concede a loss and roll up the windows. The border crossing documents now looked properly Africanized. After lunch of tuna, mayo and Salticrax and with the park thoroughly explored, we made our way out, made a few enquiries about a sunset cruise and then did some curio shopping before spending the later afternoon under the aircon back at the guesthouse.

30 December 2011
Daily birds: 41, Total count: 301, Lifers: None

Not having enough money left to do any adventure activities or enter Mosi-oa-Tunya again, we decided to sleep late, get everything in order and pack the car. After lunch we drove into town to visit the Livingstone museum which wasn’t up to South African standards but reasonably interesting nonetheless. We discovered that David Livingstone and I shared birthdays and I thought it’s not totally inappropriate to think we are also sharing a similarly adventurous spirit. It started raining while we were inside and the clouds stuck around for the rest of the afternoon, cooling things down appreciably. Just after 4pm we drove out to Taonga Safaris from where we departed at 16:30 for a sunset cruise up the Zambesi. We actually had a braai and bar on board and although we didn’t spot anything new, the BBQ chicken, sausage, cabbage, potato salad, rolls and as many drinks as you like, went down extremely well. Most notably, we saw a couple of Hooded vultures perched on one of the mid-stream islands – a new bird for our trip. By 7pm we were back, drove back to our guesthouse and quickly packed the last things in the car for an early departure.

31 December 2011
Daily birds: 76, Total count: 302, Lifers: None

Up at 5am and gone before 6., we quickly spent our last Kwachas on some petrol and drove to the border post. Having been told they would only open at 06:30 we were happy to see them operating at 06:15 already and we quickly passed through the Zambian side. Although the Zimbabwe border took a bit longer due to a printer spooling error (to print the car’s temporary import permit) we still took less than 30 minutes and paid considerably less (21 USD) than what we expected. Unfortunately the bridge across Batoka gorge is single lane so we couldn’t really stop to take pictures, but we had plenty of time to enter the National Park on Zim’s side and take a walk along the falls’s edge. Very quickly we discovered that the spray on the Zim side is far more intense than in Zambia, and soon we had to put our ponchos on. Taking pictures and movies proved very difficult and the strong updraft generated by the falls kept collapsing the umbrella as well (used to try and protect the camera lens from blurry spray spots). After a wet hour in which we appreciated the falls from the Zimbabwean side, but got few birds (we did see Trumpeter hornbill, Schalow’s turaco, Red-winged starling, African paradise flycatcher, Grey-headed bush-shrike and Tropical boubou), we left to drive along the Zambesi to the Big Tree. Here we added Brown-crowned tchagra, Bronze manikin, Common waxbill, African green pigeon and a few others. We attempted to reach Chamobonda Vlei as described in our Birdfinder but although we found an unmanned boom gate and were able to drive beyond this, the sandy track was blocked after a few kilometres and we had to turn back. We stopped in town to do our bit in supporting some local artists and then headed towards Kasane. The Zim road was fairly good but quite narrow and shoulderless so it took some careful aiming to miss the large trucks driving in the opposite direction. The Kazungula border crossing was painless and soon we were back in Botswana, quickly finding our accommodation at Thebe River Safaris just outside Kasane. We checked in and spent half an hour cooling off under the aircon before heading out to get some food for lunch and dinner. Getting tired of tuna/mayo for lunch and tinned anything for dinner, we bought some rolls, assorted cold meats, cheese, tomatoes and yoghurt. Late afternoon we popped into the Mowana Lodge grounds and took a walk around the golf course and the hotel itself. Nicola spotted a Collared palm-thrush which we were now very happy to add for Southern Africa (the ones we saw in Livingstone counts for Central Africa as it’s north of the Zambesi). Back at our own lodge we had a simple but tasty New Year’s eve dinner and went to bed long before the fireworks started (not that Kasane gets too busy in this department).

01 Jan 2012
Daily birds: 105, Total count: 308, Lifers: Red-necked falcon, Western banded snake-eagle, Miombo blue-eared starling

An early cup of coffee/tea, muesli and yoghurt, saw us ready for our morning game drive into Chobe National Park at 05:30. Unfortunately we shared our drive with a bunch of foreigners who only wanted to see leopards. The teenagers sharing our drive, we discovered, must have very poor parents because they obviously couldn’t afford haircuts; the one next to me must have gotten a crick in his neck from all the flicking he had to do to keep the hair out of his eyes during the drive. They were however extremely good actors since they faked their disinterest in their surroundings like, really well and spoke to each other like, Brad and Angelina, you know... Unfortunately our driver was equally disappointing and we passed so many raptors and smaller jobs that we would normally have stopped for, that we could easily have made a record-breaking count for the day if we drove ourselves. Even so, we did pick up Scarlet-chested and Amethyst sunbirds, Marabou stork, Jacobin and Levaillant’s cuckoos, Southern ground hornbill, Yellow-billed stork and Broad-billed roller among the regulars and managed to stop for a lifer – Red-necked falcon, having a breakfast of the feathery kind. Mammal-wise there were plenty of hippos on the flood plain, some buffalo, waterbuck, banded mongoose, lots of impala, warthog and giraffe and when we took the riverfront drive just outside the park on our way back, we also added two lionesses. Back at the lodge we jumped in our own car and headed for Kasane Forest Reserve. On the way out we stopped to look at the eagle Nicola saw as we returned from the game drive. This turned out to be our long-awaited Western banded snake-eagle and when we had a careful look at the starlings in a tree on the other side of the road, they became our third lifer for the day – Miombo blue-eared starling. Kasane Forest Reserve unfortunately had very deep sandy tracks and for the 2WD it was literally impossible to drive outside of these. After a few kms we came across a sandy intersection and decided to play it safe – with wheels spinning and engine roaring I just managed to get the car facing the opposite direction and then we headed back out, promising to return as soon as we’ve joined the Gauteng yuppies and acquired a 4x4. We did another few kms on the transit road through Chobe towards Ngoma, but it was getting very hot and the birds were having siestas as well. We headed back to the lodge and rested until our sunset cruise departed at 15:30. Our boat was full of foreign overlanders completely over the top ecstatic to see hippos and elephants and when we saw a Black heron fishing umbrella-style, they loudly chanted “night-time, day-time, night-time, day-time” after an idiotic YouTube video someone saw. Despite having all the blissfully ignorant aboard, we did add Goliath heron, Long-toed lapwing, Glossy ibis, Collared pratincole, and of course, the Black heron. Back at the lodge just before 7 we sat down to a very filling restaurant meal before packing the car for an early morning departure.

02 Jan 2012
Daily birds: 64, Total count: 314, Lifers: Montagu’s harrier, Boulder chat

At 3am we got up, packed our toiletries and left Kasane, driving very carefully in the dark. Thankfully the first 140km of road was very good and despite slowing down twice for elephants on the road, made very good progress. The second half of the morning’s drive was less pleasant; Botswana’s euphemism “Road under construction” obviously meant: “This is a k*k road full of potholes and we don’t have the money to fix it. Now or ever.”. Still, we reached Nata not long after 7am and the Nata Bird Sanctuary shortly after. Driving the very wet sandy road towards the Nata Delta proved a bit much for us when we discovered Red-billed teals swimming in our road. We gave up after about 3km but saw lots of Northern black korhaan, Fawn-coloured, Rufous-naped and Eastern clapper larks, Desert, Rattling and Zitting cisticolas, Ruff, Wood sandpiper, Common greenshank, a Kori bustard almost flying into us and our first lifer for the day, a quartering Montagu’s harrier. We also visited the Sua spit but the Birdfinder’s directions once again proved inconsistent with reality and we got no nearer to the pan than about 2km. This section of road did produce a Steppe buzzard and Lappet-faced vulture though. Back on the A3 we drove leisurely ‘till we reached the twin heaps of boulders either side of the A3, 62km from Francistown, where the Birdfinder indicated a possibility of finding Boulder chat. We parked under a tree to have lunch but I had barely opened the can of tuna when we heard the characteristic whistle. Quickly we locked up and walked towards the call, calling back on the PDA as we went. And then we saw it! Perched on top of a boulder for a few seconds before it disappeared back in the undergrowth! We got another couple of views before it disappeared for good and we got back to our lunch. In Francistown we made a very unproductive visit to Shashe dam – by now the temperature was pushing 40 degrees Celsius and it seems even the birds went looking for air-conditioned rooms. So we went searching for ours but only found a very hot tent, despite two fans blowing full-strength. Although the safari tents were some of the nicest I’ve ever seen, it really was unbearably hot and at 4pm we drove into town looking for a place to have dinner. Lonely Planet restaurants seem to have disappeared from reality so we ended up spending 2 hours in the sub-standard Spur, waiting for the sun to go down.

03 Jan 2012

The birders in us were frustrated as we packed up at 05:30, knowing we can't watch birds today as we have a long drive ahead of us. A week ago, our friends watching our house, phoned us with a nasty surprise - lightning had struck our house, blowing our alarm system entirely, melted the phone line outside and earthed through our water pipes, shearing one in the bathroom walls. They managed to close the mains tap before major water damage could occur and since we unplugged all our appliances before we left, these were still intact. But now we faced a lot of issues to sort out so off we went, crossing the Martin's Drift border without hassle and arriving back home just after 3pm.

A really wonderful relaxing holiday with excellent birding and truly African experiences - I hope we can do this again in the not-too-distant future!