Zululand birding, Dec 2013

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With a long drive ahead of us on Friday afternoon, we didn’t waste any time after work. Despite a heavy downpour south of Carolina on the R33 towards Amsterdam, it was an uneventful drive and we got to a very muggy Wildebeest Ecolodge just outside Hluhluwe at around 19:30. Our double-bed room with en-suite bathroom was quite adequate but unfortunately the freezer in the shared kitchen was not working so we turned the fridge as cold as it’ll go and hoped our meat and other cold stuff will survive until the following night. As we had to get up at 03:30 on Saturday morning, we each took a quick shower and then got into bed (thankfully covered by a mosquito net and fairly decent roof fan moving some of the hot air around).

Saturday morning was reasonably cool as we left the Ecolodge at 4am but it was so ridiculously humid that we struggled constantly to keep the windscreen from fogging up. Things were already starting to brighten up as we hit the tar road towards Sodwana and when we turned off towards Nibela Lake Lodge 20kms later, it was light enough to bird. But we had to meet our guide, Lucky Ngubane and Nibela Lake Lodge’s manager, Sarel van der Westhuizen at 5am, so we ignored all the good-looking birding spots along the way and got to the lodge at 04:45. With introductions over, Lucky led us through the dense forest on the lodge’s property, mainly looking for Neergaard’s sunbird but also whatever else we could find.

It turned out to be a lovely forest to bird in, with well-maintained pathways, and we picked up several of the common forest birds like Yellow-bellied and Sombre greenbuls, Crowned hornbill, Red-chested cuckoo, Orange-breasted bushshrike and Black-bellied starlings. A great nice sighting of a posing Eastern nicator allowed for some photographs but an African goshawk darted off the moment it was spotted. Neergaard’s sunbird eluded us though. Lucky heard it calling several times but the energetic little things never remained still long enough for us to get a look at them. Finally at the end of our forest walk we managed to locate a male in a bush together with some Marico sunbirds, and got a brief glimpse of him as he flitted from branch to branch.

Leaving Nibela Lake Lodge, we drove to the floodplains surrounding the point where the Mkuze river enters Lake St Lucia to look for Rosy-throated longclaw. In some of the dense woodland we drove through, we were delighted to stumble across an African pygmy kingfisher, not a lifer but a seldom seen bird and the first one for the year. On the grassy floodplains, a rather unexpected lifer sat still for great photos: Pale-crowned cisticola – a bird we had searched for several times and always missed. But undoubtedly the show reached it’s climax when we spotted our first Rosy-throated longclaw! Sitting right beside the tracks and obviously not minding our vehicle, we were able to drive to within less than two meters from it and it didn’t budge! Nicola took stunning close-up photos of the male as it seemed to be building a nest. No much further we were stopped by the Mkuze river entering Lake St Lucia and the squelchy wetland here was very productive: Pink-backed pelicans, Great and Little egrets, Greater and Lesser flamingoes, Caspian tern, Hottentot teal, Black-winged stilt, Grey and Goliath herons, Yellow-billed and Saddle-billed storks, Kittlitz’s and White-fronted plovers and huge numbers of Grey-headed gulls. With about 30 species added on the flood plain, we headed off towards Muzi pans, hoping for a Pel’s fishing owl or buttonquail to round off the day.

Lucky and Sarel were both amazed to find Muzi pans pretty much flooded. The reeds surrounding the pans were already sitting in water, and there was no way we would be able to walk across the normally dry edges to reach the dense riparian woodland on the other side to look for Pel’s. However, there was still good birding to be had with lots of waders (mainly Ruffs, Wood and Common sandpipers), Squacco, Purple and Grey herons, White-faced whistling ducks, both pelican species and Spurwing geese. Alas, too flooded to hope for crakes or buttonquails. We dropped off Lucky and Sarel back at Nibela Lake Lodge and stayed for a quick lunch and ice-cold cokes looking out over Lake St Lucia. Nibela Lake Lodge really has a fantastic setting with luxury cabins and reasonable prices (although it’s still in a price range we can only afford once a year) and we’d certainly recommend this place to anyone birding Nibela peninsula and surrounds. But we were booked in at Bonamanzi so left soon after lunch for the drive around to the other side of the lake. It was a very early morning start for us so after checking in at Bonamanzi, we felt we deserved a rest in the air-conditioned tree house. We ended our day with a short drive as the sun was setting and added a single Lemon-breasted canary to bring our day’s count to 119 species. Returning to air conditioned bliss, we cooked dinner and got an early night to recover from the early start.

The day dawned humid but slightly cooler than the afternoon before, so we made use of the early hours to get some birding done before the sun caught up with us. We visited both Leguaan and Lapwing hides and then drove around the entire reserve. It was a quiet morning with rumbling thunder and spots of rain and apart from hearing Scaly-throated honeyguide, the majority of the birds we heard and saw were pretty common forest birds. By 10am things have heated up significantly and we went back at our tree house to hide. The Bonamanzi staff had gone the extra mile and left a bouquet of flowers and a complimentary bottle of iced champagne for Nicola’s birthday! This was a good excuse to have a bit of celebration so while drinking bubbly, Nicola opened her presents – a cooking thermometer and a Kindle Paperwhite! By noon it was ridiculously hot and sticky outside – a shower, aircon and fan helped to keep things reasonable but we dared not venture outside again until 5pm when we had another short drive before dinner at the restaurant. The dinner was nice although over-priced and the lack of aircon in the restaurant soon had its toll. Although we had not had any physical exertion, the humidity was so high we both had rivers of sweat running down our faces, and needed a second shower before going to bed.

An early start to the day saw us packed and ready to leave Bonamanzi by 6am, so that we could bird Muzi pans and Mkuze Game Reserve on the way home. With thick layers of cloud blown in overnight, the morning was still humid but much cooler and it was actually pleasant to be outside. We reached Muzi pans shortly after 7am and were rather shocked to find the water level in Muzi Pans had risen a good half a meter since we were there less than 48 hours ago. The squelchy grassland that held so many waders 2 days before were drowned completely and it seemed most of the birds had moved a little further away to drier patches. But the birds were still there and we watched myriads of Barn swallows hunting insects, joined by the odd Lesser striped and Wire-tailed swallows. Reed cormorants, Great, Little and Cattle egrets hunted fish where a strong current forced them closer to shore, while both Pink-backed and Great white pelicans scooped mouthfuls of water to find breakfast. The bits of remaining “shoreline” were swarming with Wood sandpipers, while White-faced whistling ducks sunned themselves on one of the few remaining islands. Beyond Muzi pans the road worsened somewhat towards the eastern entrance to Mkuze so the slow driving meant we only had about 3 hours inside the reserve. We took the road south to Nsumo pan which was also bursting its banks and had little wader-friendly shoreline to speak of. Adding only a few new birds for the day, we soon had to leave before we could add Senegal lapwing or Black-bellied bustards that were now very easy to miss in the dense grass. An uneventful drive saw us safely home just before 5pm for a few busy days ahead before leaving for Zimbabwe’s Eastern highlands.

Loskop dam birding, Dec 2013

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Leaving Middelburg just after 04:30, we drove through drizzle that remained after an early morning thunderstorm. At the Olifants river bridge we picked up the usual suspects like Thick-billed weaver, Lesser striped swallow, Little swift, Black crake, Grey heron etc, while Red-chested and Diderick cuckoos provided background noise. For only the second time we spotted an otter fishing in the stream and then definitely a new one - a decently sized crocodile, only about 50m away from someone's back garden fronting on the river. It was still drizzling a little as we entered the reserve at 6am but the birds were sensing the skies clearing and were out hunting and foraging. Bar-throated apalis, Rattling cisticola and Black cuckoo now took over from the other two cuckoos with some other nice calls in between like Orange-breasted bush-shrike, Chinspot batis, Grey tit-flycatcher and White-browed scrub-robin. Our main aim for the day was to test my new Canon Powershot SX50. It was amazing how we're now for the first time able to take full-frame shots of birds, even ones that are a fair distance away. It even helped to identify far-off silhouettes against the dark grey sky like Spotted flycatcher and Southern black flycatcher. We paid a visit to the brand now Lily pond hide just before the picnic site and got absolutely fantastic pictures of Little grebe and Green-backed heron. By 10:00 we've had a good morning's birding and as the sun had now burned through the clouds, it started getting hot. On our way out we added one last nice sighting - Western osprey carrying brunch. We were back in Middelburg by lunch time and enjoyed our pictures from the new camera!

United States kayaking and birding, Nov 2013

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After three almost endless flights through Dakar and Washington to Atlanta, I arrived in the United States for the first time. Gordon picked me up from the airport and we drove back to his place in Decatur, east of downtown Atlanta. Iwas dead on my feet after over 24 hours of travel so we spent the afternoon quietly packing for our kayaking trip to Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on the southern Georgia border with Florida.

I was still tired but feeling much better when we got up at 5am on Monday morning. Jane, a friend of Gordon's and a medical doctor working for the CDC, picked us up around 06:30 and we started the 5 hour drive south through Macon and Cordele, turning off at Tifton towards Pearson and the Homerville. Driving through rural Georgia was interesting - fancy homesteads next to trailer parks, almost everyone driving huge American pick-ups and brandishing hunting rifles. We arrived at Stephen C Forster State Park sometime before noon and checked in at the reception office. While Jane sorted out the admin, I walked around and tested my new camera on Double-crested cormorants, Black-and-white warbler and alligators. Just before 1pm we sat down at a picnic table for lunch of bagels and cream cheese, generously supplied by Jane. We were waiting for a friend of Janes's, Sharon, driving through from Charleston, to join us. Sharon showed up while we were having lunch so when we finished, we drove back to the reception office from where we rented one canoe and two kayaks to do a bit of paddling for the afternoon. Gordon and I first shared the canoe as it was slightly easier getting our balance and paddling technique going and we thoroughly enjoyed this unique experience. There were some birds along the way, mainly American white ibis, Snowy egret, Little blue and Green herons as well as Pileated woodpecker and Belted kingfishers. I discovered that birding, especially birding photography, and canoeing/kayaking don't mix at all. Although the canoe/kayak is super-quiet and you can get quite close to the birds, it takes a fair time to stop and stabilize it sufficiently to look through binoculars or a camera lens. Also, since you're on the water, the binocs and camera are packed away in a dry bag between your legs, so every time you want to use it, you have to stop the canoe/kayak, get the camera/binocs out, steer again because you've started drifting, then keep steady enough to try and find the bird again - it's almost impossible!

We got to Billy's island around 3pm and walked around what used to be a small settlement. A white-tailed deer watched us tamely as we walked past but the trees for eerily quiet. By 15:30 we were back at the small pier where we tied our transport and we now switched around so that Jane and Sharon shared the canoe while Gordon and I tried our hands in the single kayaks. We both quickly discovered that although the kayaks are a little less stable in the water, they at least have decent seats with backrests (unlike the bench-like seats in the canoe) and responded faster to paddling. We were back at the office shortly before 5pm and after pulling our kayaks/canoe up on the shore, made our way back to the campsite. After pitching tents and setting our beds up, we settled down to a great dinner of couscous and lamb curry prepared by Jane and watched a Barred owl make its way across the darkening campground.

After a good night's sleep we woke to a completely fogged in morning. We had a 90-minute drive to the other side of Okefenokee and had to be there before 10am so we packed up quickly between a bite to eat and then drove along the southern edges of Okefenokee, briefly crossing into Florida. We eventually turned west again just before Folkston to Suwannee Canal Recreational Area. This time we were going to sleep out in the swamps so we took a almost an hour to repack all our gear into a number of drybags and stuffed them into our kayaks and canoe. Gordon and I decided to stick to kayaks as they were more comfortable to sit in while Jane and Sharon again shared a canoe. We finally got underway shortly after 10am and enjoyed a good 2-hour paddle before heading into what they call prairie, a bit of swamp with far fewer cypress trees and more open grass and lily floating rafts. We came to what's literally an anchored raft made with plastic modular sections tied together, where we stopped off for lunch. This raft had a neat picnic table under a shady roof as well as a chemical toilet to the one side. It was an awesome place to have lunch, floating in the swamp!Paddling through the prairie was a little more difficult as the canals are much shallower so you tend to scoop up quite a bit vegetation with each stroke - by the time we got back to the main canal to start heading for our campsite, we were starting to feel the strain on our backs, shoulders and arms. But it was still an amazing experience so we didn't mind at all. Having paddled another 3 miles or so after our lunch spot, we arrived at our campsite at about 4pm. It was a wooden deck with a large roof and picnic table, partially anchored on a solid island, and partially standing in the canal. A long drop toilet stood about 75m away. We were now out of the prairies and surrounded by large cypress trees, but there was a patch of more open plains on the swampy island a few hundred meters away and we heard Sandhill cranes land and take off from here as dusk slowly settled. We pitched our tents under the roof and made our beds. I was borrowing bedding stuff from Gordon and thinking that it won't be cold enough to justify a 4-season sleeping bag, I had opted for taking a few blankets along. This time dinner consisted of self-help burritos with some great options of fillings, again thanks to Jane, and we stuffed ourselves before chatting into the night. By 9pm it started getting significantly colder with a bit of a breeze picking up, and we all headed for bed.

The breeze was obviously a sign of things to come as a cold front started pushing through during the night. The wind picked up even more and by the time we got up and was very cold (around 3 or 4 degrees C) and the wind strong enough to seek shelter from. The dense cypress trees helped protect us from the worst of it but we still wanted to get going quite quickly so it wasn't long after a cup of coffee and breakfast that we headed back out onto the water, this time covered in a number of layers to keep warm. As we got into slightly more open sections of the canal and our muscles warmed up, we shed a layer or two but even by mid-morning the wind was still strong and cold from the east. We took a slightly different route back, going through a denser short-cut that was a bit more interesting. It was amazing how close you could get to basking alligators - literally no more than a meter away from the kayak before they would disappear into the water! About a mile before the end, we took a short detour into another prairie that was covered in water lilies. It was quite pretty and we spotted some Great and Little blue herons. But in this open are with little cover, the wind was really hitting us hard and we didn't stay very long before heading back to the more sheltered canal and then back to the start. We were back just before lunch and after unloading the kayaks and canoe and re-packing the car, we had a bagel-lunch at a picnic table outside the reception office. We then walked through the Visitor centre and watched a short movie on Okefenokee. We drove around a bit as well, visiting an example of an old homestead, showcasing how people used to live in the area in the 1900s. Unfortunately it was closed and we could only wander around the outside. A kilometre-long boardwalk took us to a 10m-high observation tower from where we could look out onto large sections of the swamp. Having been in the thick of it for 3 days, it was a very different perspective and we also spotted a few American coots in one of the ponds. Although it was still quite cold, we could imagine how hot and uncomfortable it must be during summer as even in the cold there were still a fair number of mosquitoes around!

Mkuze Game Reserve birding, Nov 2013

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With the good rain we and Zululand had in October, it looked like a perfect plan to drive down to Mkuze Game Reserve for a weekend's birding. However, things went a bit pear-shaped on Friday afternoon shortly after I picked Nicola up from work. We had 5 hours to drive the 400 odd kms to Mkuze before the gate closed at 7pm - not a lot of breathing space considering that most of the road there has a speed limit of 100km/h and frequently down to 80km/h. Ten minutes after we left Nicola's work, just on the other side of the N4 towards Ermelo, the X-trail's front left brakes suddenly seized up completely. Thinking fast, we decided to take the wheel off and smack the disk brakes a couple of blows to loosen whatever was going on, drive back home and swap cars. In a flat panic of blurred action, Nicola jacked the car while I loosened the nuts and then took the wheel off. We couldn't see anything wrong so I just gave the brakes a few hits with the tire iron, put the wheel back on and literally in less than 10 minutes, we were on our way back home. Hitting the brakes seemed to have helped as the car didn't lurch to a stop now if I eased off the accelerator and we couldn't smell the burning brake pads anymore. But now we started to worry about getting to Mkuze before the gates closed. Driving as fast as I dared, we got back home safely and in about 6 minutes tossed all our stuff from the Xtrail to the Jazz, washed hands re-set the alarm and were off again by 14:35. But now we had lost a very precious 45 minutes or so and it was going to be tight. The next four hours flew past at breakneck speed as I sped and overtook the countless trucks on the Mpumalanga roads. It took us a frustrating 30 minutes to get through Ermelo, now in such a state of poor traffic control and endless road works that we swore to not drive through there again in at least 3 years. Outside Ermelo I was able to pick up some speed and also made up some time once we hit the KZN roads. Finally, as dusk became night, we drove the last 20km gravel road to the entrance gate, entering the reserve at 18:45 just as the gate guard was walking up from the camp site to lock up for the night. Incredibly relieved, we relaxed as we drove the last 10kms to the reception and found our hut open with the keys in the door. Nicola's snackwich dinner was gulped down before we passed out after a stressful afternoon.

When my alarm woke us at 04:30, the first birds had already started calling and before we left the camp at 5am, we had Red-chested cuckoo, Emerald-spotted wood dove, Crested guineafowl, Chinspot batis, Green-backed camaroptera and Grey tit-flycatcher on the list. We first headed down to the kuMasinga hide but found it occupied by a family noisily having breakfast and didn't stay long. We then followed directions to a flowering bush south of the kuMasinga hide where Brian Wilson has possibly seen a Plain-backed sunbird the previous weekend. The directions were perfect but unfortunately the weather wasn't. Although pleasantly cool, a stiff south-easter had started blowing and we found the flowering bush devoid off any birds, let alone a Plain-backed sunbird. However, the birding was still reasonably good and we ticked the usuals at regular intervals, including Orange-breasted and Gorgeous bush-shrikes, Black- and Brown-crowned tchagras, Senegal lapwing, Common scimitarbill, Sombre and Yellow-bellied greenbuls, Terrestrial brownbul, Black, Diderick, Klaas's and African cuckoos, Collared, Marico, Purple-banded and Scarlet-chested sunbirds among many others. At the Nsumo pan hides, the wind howled across the lake and it was decidedly unpleasant. We stuck around long enough to pick up Wooly-necked and Yellow-billed storks, African openbill, African jacana, Glossy ibis and an excellent sighting of an Osprey. We turned north and made a quick pass of the airstrip where a single African pipit was seen and a few Crowned lapwings harassed a passing Yellow-billed kite. We spent lunch at the Inhlonhlela hide but this yielded nothing new. On our way back to Mantuma camp we heard our sixth cuckoo for the day: African emerald cuckoo. A quick stop at Mantuma for our exit permit for the next day was followed by a drive back towards the entrance gate. Large sections of Mkuze had burned this year and after some good rains, the entire Mkuze looked like paradise - it was incredibly green with new shoots all over, dense grass and bush having burned away so you could scan deeper into the veld and it seemed that all the animals were also enjoying this bounty tremendously. We paid a visit to the Thaleni picnic site and Malibala hide that has unfortunately seen better times but added a number of good birds like Rufous-naped and Sabota larks, Red-fronted and Yellow-rumped tinkerbirds and then spent 10 minutes watching a very tame Black-bellied bustard picking up grasshoppers and calling it's peculiar champagne-cork pop. We were back at our hut just after 5pm with dusk starting and the strong wind still blowing. We made a quick dinner in the shared kitchen and heard Fiery-necked nightjar calling before heading for bed. We ID'd 99 birds for the day - certainly not the best Mkuze can offer but then the wind we had all day definitely hampered birding, especially at Nsumo pan.

Sunday morning we were up at 4am, packed the car after breakfast and were off by 5am. Our hope was that the wind would die down overnight so we could spend some time at the Nsumo pan hides. This was not to be as the wind was still going and had brought some heavier clouds with it too. So instead of making for Nsumo pan, we enjoyed slow birding towards the hides and picked up all the common birds we expect plus also Grey penduline-tit, lots of Yellow-throated petronia, Lesser honeyguide and heard a Jacobin cuckoo calling. At the pan hides we added Water thick-knee together with all the other birds we saw the previous day. it was however now already 9am and time we started heading back. We made another quick turn at the Plain-backed sunbird bush but again not a single sunbird in sight. KuMasinga hide proved an excellent last stop with Crowned hornbill, Yellow-bellied greenbul, African cuckoo, Swuare-tailed drongo, and undoubtedly our entire weekend's highlight: a cracking good view of two Pink-throated twinspots - only our second time ever and more than five years since we last saw them, also at Mkuze! With such a high, we had to turn our backs on another excellent Mkuze trip and headed home, this time driving a much more relaxed (although 30km longer) route via Amsterdam and Carolina, arriving to a Middelburg plunged in yet another complete power black-out. Thank you Eskom!

Kruger National Park birding Sep 2013

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• List of birds

On Friday afternoon we headed out to central Kruger National Park for a long weekend's birding. With news of a Caspian plover seen at Mooiplaas watering hole just outside Mopani camp, we were happy that our planned tour up to Phalaborwa and Letaba would be so close that we'd have a reasonable chance of twitching this uncommon Palearctic migrant. Our drive was fairly uneventful and we arrived in Phalaborwa just before 7pm. We stayed in Arimagham Guest House that wasn't fancy but good value for money for the one night. Nicola made some snackwiches for dinner and after a long day's work and driving we were fast asleep by 9pm.

It was hot and humid when we arrived last night but this morning it was overcast and cool as we drove up to Phalaborwa gate. Unsurprisingly, the queue was already about a 100m long when we got there, 20 minutes before opening time. While waiting we ticked off our first birds that had begun to call: African grey hornbill, Crested francolin, Black-headed oriole, Cardinal and Golden-tailed woodpeckers and a bunch of others. Getting through the gate went smoothly and by 06:05 we were inside. With a bit of extra distance to drive towards Mopani we kept to a steady 20km/h but stopped for everything that we thought we could ID. Sabota lark, White-backed vulture, Dark chanting goshawk, Purple and Lilac-breasted rollers, Bateleur, Blue waxbill along with some other common birds were seen on the tar road towards Mopani. When we reached the H1-6 we turned south and shortly after got onto the S49 north towards Mooiplaas watering hole. The dirt track delivered a few more birds but it only got interesting at the watering hole. First up was lots of Chestnut-backed sparrowlarks and a pipit (probably African) that wouldn't sit still long enough for a good view. Scanning the grassy scrub just on the northern side of the concrete dam, we suddenly spotted a large plover. A good look through the binocs confirmed our lifer for the trip - Caspian plover! Altogether there were six of them and Nicola managed a couple of decent photographs before we turned around. The weather was now windy and things became unpleasantly dusty on the dirt tracks. We made a quick stop at Mopani camp where we scanned the dam shore from outside the restaurant to add Saddle-billed stork, Great egret, Grey heron, African jacana, White-winged tern, Red-breasted swallow and Cut-throat finch. Our slow drive south towards Letaba yielded Green-winged pytilia, Marico sunbird, Burchell's coucal, Kori bustard and Wahlberg's eagle together with a few others but the overcast and windy conditions definitely prevented a high daily count. We reached Letaba camp sometime after 4pm and quickly pitched our tent before taking a slow drive along the river. Dinner was pre-cooked chicken pasta salad and with little else to do for the night, we settled in quickly.

It was windy throughout the night but still heavily overcast when we broke camp on Sunday morning. Our first birds for the day were heard and not seen: African mourning dove, Chinspot batis, Arrow-marked babbler, African fish eagle, Red-faced mousebird, Black-crowned tchagra. With the weather still very windy, we decided to stay off the dirt tracks as much as possible and stuck to the tar all the way to Olifants camp. It was now actually quite cold so it was kind of pointless sitting outside to have a snack so on we went again, taking the S92 and S91 loop back to the H1-5. The highlight of this loop was definitely a couple of White-crowned lapwings along the Olifants river but there were also some Yellow-billed stork, Pied kingfisher, Black-winged stilt, African green pigeon and our first Eastern nicator for Kruger. Back on the tar road we drove very slowly and got nice views of smaller species like Burnt-necked eremomela, Long-billed crombec, Yellow-breasted apalis and White-browed scrub-robin. With enough time left, we decided to take the S127 and S40 loop past Ratel pan picnic site. This turned out to be a very dusty decision but we still added a few more birds, including White-headed vulture. Arriving in Satara camp just after 5pm, we checked into our little bungalow that was sufficient (kitchenette outside, ensuite bathroom but a little overpriced for what you get. A trumpeter hornbill flew past as we parked and after dinner we went on a short walk around camp to look at a couple of African scops owls that were calling.

By Monday morning the wind had finally settled a bit and the clouds looked a little thinner too. We left Satara very slowly and had some excellent birding along the first 10-15km picking up around 50 species. But when we did only 20km in over 3 hours, we realized that we were not going to make our destination (Pretoriuskop) at this rate. Since we also wanted to have a quick stop at Lake Panic, we decided to push on a bit and only stopped if we spotted something worthwhile. We made good progress and by lunch time were on the Sabie road just outside Skukuza. One of the many small loops next to the river had a nice big fruiting fig tree and we sat in the car here for lunch. Then it was off to Lake Panic that was surprisingly quiet, having had to fight for sitting place several times before. Lake Panic delivered the usual customers: Grey, Goliath and Green-backed heron, Village and Lesser masked weavers, Water thick-knee, Black crake, African jacana and Lesser striped swallow. We took the S65 south to link up to Napi road and picked up calling Greater honeyguide and a couple of Southern white-crowned shrikes. Napi road was quiet, but a lone white rhino crossing the road right in front of us provided good photo opportunities. Our little hut in Pretoriuskop was tiny but again, we weren't going to spend a lot of time there so it was OK. Tonight we were lazy and ate in the restaurant but this again disappointed just like our previous Kruger restaurant experience. We were hoping that things have picked up in the last 3 years but obviously it had not. But at least we didn't have dishes to do so after another walk around camp, we were off to bed.

Deciding to exit via Malelane gate in the south, we departed Pretoriuskop when the camp gate opened at 6am and got onto Voortrekker road. While it was still cool we picked up many good birds and a reedy patch in a little depression produced Croaking cisticola. By the time we reached the tar road towards Malelane we had 50 birds for the morning and after we exited, we stopped on the Crocodile bridge and added another 15 birds in and around the river. It was just before 11am as we tackled the road back and safely reached home just before 3pm. There were major road works between Malelane and Nelspruit with two long Stop/Go sections, so we'll try our best to avoid having to travel this road in the next 2-3 years. An excellent long weekend with 156 birds for the trip, not bad considering that the only cuckoo we heard was Klaas's, migratory birds are only starting to arrive now and the weather on the first 2.5 days wasn't conducive to high bird counts.

Kaapschehoop birding/hiking Sep 2013

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At just after 4pm on Friday, we left Middelburg, heading for the picturesque town of Kaapschehoop with our friends Laura and Bennie for a weekend of relaxed birding and hiking. Despite some slightly dodgy directions we found our accommodation – Karin's Kaia, a lovely 2-bedroom cottage with an upstairs lounge and balcony - very comfortable for the weekend. We quickly settled in, made dinner and enjoyed David Attenborough's Life of Birds for an hour or so. By that time it was getting late so we headed for bed, ready for an early morning start the next day.

Saturday morning we had a quick breakfast and then headed out to walk to the escarpment. It was unfortunately quite windy and overcast, so most birds were sensibly hiding away. However, a few ones did show themselves: Buff-streaked chat, Familiar chat, both Sentinel and Cape rock-thrushes, Yellow bishop and a number of Wailing cisticolas calling. We reached the escarpment very quickly and were disappointed to find the wonderful view covered by haze. The wind was not at all daunted by the cliff face and rushed up at us, so we turned around and headed back. We had some fun bundu-bashing and climbing the wonderful rocky boulders before getting back to town. On the outskirts we saw both male and female Amethyst sunbird, Southern double-collared and Red-winged starlings. We stopped off at the cottage for a quick breather, before we obtained a permit for Battery creek waterfall from Koek 'n Pan. We crossed the road and quickly dipped down into the kloof, where we followed the winding path alongside the stream. At one river crossing Pieter went on ahead while I waited for Laura and Bennie, who had become entangled in some thorny branches. Once free we turned to follow Pieter and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a Mountain wagtail flying low across the stream. I quickly pointed it out to Laura and Bennie since it was a lifer for them. We then spent a nice half hour at the foot of the falls taking numerous photos. Laura crossed the stream to get a better angle, but on the way back she slipped and fell into the stream, giving her elbow a nasty knock. Fortunately she had passed her camera to me before crossing, so the only consequences were wet clothing and a very nasty bruise. After that incident we headed back so Laura could get to some dry clothes. On the way back out we had fleeting glimpses of an Olive woodpecker before leaving the forest. Once home we rested for an hour before heading into town for an afternoon snack at the pancake restaurant. Dinner was a braai with potato salad and roast vegies followed by another hour or so of Attenborough’s Life of Birds before bed.

We had planned a nice breakfast of omelets and bacon, but unfortunately I could not partake due to a nasty tummy bug. Despite my best efforts, I could not even keep water down, and the mere thought of food had me gagging. Fortunately Laura had some handy Valoid so I dosed myself before we climbed in the car and headed back. We got home by lunch time where we settled in for a quiet afternoon. Despite all the incidents, it was a very relaxing weekend, and our only regret was that the inclement weather had made for a small birding count.

Argentina 2013

Links

• List of birds

Wednesday, 31 Jul

An early start to the day was needed to get to the airport on time for our flight, a very long 12 hours to Buenos Aires (BA). Once in BA, we made our way through luggage collection and customs, and then picked up our rental vehicle. Although a GPS was booked in advance, the rental car company had no charger to go with it. They assured us that the battery would last around 3 days, and most hotels would be able to loan us a charger. They also gave us a significant discount on the GPS rent and since there was nothing we could do about it, we accepted it. We programmed our destination and set off. Unfortunately, barely an hour into our journey, smack in the middle of peak BA traffic, the GPS started warning us about a low battery; cursing, we pulled out our map and tried to figure out where we were. By switching the GPS off when we were moving slowly in heavy traffic and only switching it on when we were expecting a turn we managed to find our way out of BA to our hotel in Campana, about two hours after leaving Ezeiza airport. It was around 2am SA time so we only managed to brush our teeth before collapsing into bed.

Thursday, 01 Aug
The GPS scare the previous night made for a rather unpleasant drive so now we were desperate to find a car-charger for the unit. After a lazy lie in we ate breakfast and packed up to head into Cmpana town to look for an electronics shop. We hung around for an hour or so waiting for the shops to open, but did manage to ID the first birds of our trip in a small park in the central square of Campana: Rufous hornero, Chalk-browed mockingbird and Eared dove. When the shops finally opened at 09:00, we managed to find a charger for the GPS, some food and water, then filled up the petrol tank and set off on the 700km drive to Esteros del Ibera, the second-largest wetland system on the planet! It was a long drive and we were worried about the last 100km of dirt road so we drove solidly and didn’t stop for birds en route, however sorely we were tempted. On Route 14 all went smoothly as the roads were empty and 2-lane “Autopista” almost all the way. But when we turned off Route 14 towards Mercedes, the road deteriorated significantly to a single-lane regional road full of huge potholes and very uneven surfacing, reminiscent of some of SA’s crappy back roads. In Mercedes we went looking for a bank to change money but found them all closed already so we simply had to carry on towards Carlos Pellegrini, a town on the edge of Lake Ibera and our base for the next three nights. The first 40km out of Mercedes is a brand new tar road and very pleasant to drive on but then we hit the dirt road and had to slow down. Luckily it wasn’t too bad and I was able maintain an average of 60km/h and in sections could go up to 80km/h. Although we were still in a rush to reach Carlos Pellegrini before dark (it was after 4pm already), we did manage to pick up several new birds on the way (Cocoi heron, Maguari stork, Red-crested cardinal, Giant wood-rail, Southern and Chimango caracaras, White monjita) and were delighted to see both a pampas fox and numerous capybara. We arrived at our accommodation, Irupe Lodge, just before sundown, and managed to pick up some exciting birds in the marshes in front of the lodge – Wattled jacana, Rufescent tiger-heron and Southern screamer being the highlights. Unfortunately we also seemed to pick up a puncture somewhere and had to change the rear left wheel in the dark as our lodge also lost electricity soon after we checked in. Being in a very desolate place at that point, the hard driving and misfortunes we had so far made for a bit of a depressing evening, but when the return of power was followed by a superb dinner of a vegetable kebab for starters, perfectly cooked chicken served on rice, smothered with some masterful mustardy sauce, our spirits perked up again.

Friday, 02 Aug
The day had rather a miserable start as we awoke to heavy downpours in the early hours. We headed off to breakfast with our binoculars, and somehow managed to eat something in between jumping up and down to look out the windows as new and exciting birds flew past. After breakfast we braved the freezing cold wind (ambient temperature, without wind chill was 10 degrees C) and sat on the covered patio, watching birds go about getting their breakfast, despite the icy wind and numbing rain. We discovered that the Southern screamers were pretty much resident in the private marsh in front of the lodge, but added a few passers by like Limpkin and White Cheeked Pintail. The trees and shrubs around the lodge were full of passerines like Green Barred Woodpecker, Spot Winged Pigeon, Unicoloured blackbird, Sayaca Tanager and the gorgeous Great Kiskadee. After lunch we decided on a short drive to see what we could pick up and slipped and slid our way around town, We did manage several more birds like the Tropical parula , Brown-and-yellow marshbird and Zone-tailed hawk but the muddy roads were so bad that we soon had to return. After another dinner worthy of Masterchef (superbly balanced potato and carrot soup, tender lamb and roast potato, red wine poached pear), we went to bed.

Saturday, 03 Aug
A strong breeze removed most of the cloud cover during the night and when we got up, a starry sky bode well. We had scheduled a morning’s birding with a local guide in a 4x4 and although it was bloody expensive, we thought it would be worth it. After a great breakfast we notched up the common birds around Irupe’s grounds before our guide came to pick us up. Unfortunately the weather had worsened again and heavy clouds drizzled as we left Irupe. Taking a slow drive out of Carlos Pellegrini we spotted two new birds: Yellow-winged blackbird and Whistling heron. The cold, windy and rainy weather didn’t really help and there were long stretches where we didn’t see anything at all. Then our guide turned down a farm road and we came upon a stretch of raised road running between chest-deep marshes covered in palms and reeds. This was much more fruitful and we added Ringed kingfisher, Spectacled tyrant, Chestnut-capped blackbird, Greater thornbird, Neotropic cormorant, Black-collared hawk, Savanna hawk and Black-crowned monjita. At the end of the farm road we reached our turn-around point and added one last lifer: Guira cuckoo. Our guide made quick work of the road back to Carlos Pellegrini where he dropped us off at 11am. It was still bitterly cold and rainy and we decided to watch a bit of TV before lunch. Another excellent 3-course meal befell us at lunch: parmeham, rocket and cheese starter, tomato and basil gnocchi as a main and a delicate fruit salad for dessert. Spending more than an hour in the dining room had other rewards too – a Long-winged harrier slowly circled past the marshy patch in front of the lodge and gave excellent views before heading off. With the weather still quite miserable, we spent a lazy afternoon on the covered and heated porch before dinner and then started packing for our departure the next day.

Sunday, 04 Aug
Following the advice of the locals, we decided to rather head back to Mercedes the way we came, then head east to Paso de los Libres and then north up the Route 14 to Puerto Iguazu. This route was more than 200kms longer than our intended route, but with two days of rain on the dirt roads, the locals just took one look at our car and shook their heads. So we needed and early start and after a 6am breakfast, we were on our way, still well before sunrise. The dirt road was wet but solid and we were lucky to see two pairs of Burrowing owls and a maned wolf running next to the road for a short distance. After sunrise we were a bit disappointed to see how thick the clouds still were, but we pressed on steadily and saw many of the now usual birds. After about 30kms of fairly easy driving, things suddenly took a turn for the worse. We now entered a section that was under construction and in preparing the road for future tarring, the entire road surface has been dug up and loosened so that it can be evened out and compressed. But with two days of rain, this turned into a quagmire of mud and clay and very quickly I had great trouble keeping the car going in a straight line and had to drop my speed right down to about 10km/h. This was OK for a while but it was obvious that at this rate it was going to take forever to finish the 80km to where the tar road started. After about 4 or 5km though, things got even worse when we got a particularly nasty patch. The car started fish-tailing, and even at 10km/h, I had absolutely no grip whatsoever and had to stop. We got out of the car to have a look. All four tires were clogged with mud and clay but the real problem was that the wheel wells were so thickly covered in mud that the wheels barely had space to turn. I took out the wheel spanner from the boot and started to scrape the mud away but this wasn’t very effective so very soon I was on my knees and scraping mud out with my hands. This worked and we were able to move on again but it wasn’t long before we had to stop and repeat the process of cleaning the wheel wells and tires. After the second stop I took my shoes off as I then didn’t slide around the mud so much. It was still very cold and windy outside so each of these stops were decidedly unpleasant. In one section we were only able to drive about 200-300 meters before we again had to stop. By now it was obvious that we were in for a long day – we weren’t worried anymore about what time we would get to Puerto Iguazu; we were now worried about getting out at all. We were in a very desolate place and hadn’t seen a single car since we left Carlos Pellegrini hours earlier. I had also started to keep a lookout for where we could see farm buildings in case we got so badly stuck that we had to go and ask for help. But with our continuous tire cleaning we still managed to make some progress and then to our utmost relief, almost 4 hours after we left Carlos Pellegrini, we finally reached the tar road. What an incredible joy to be out of the muck! It was immediately obvious that the car (and me, being covered almost literally from head to toe in mud) needed some serious cleaning since I felt one of the tires being very unbalanced the moment I went over 80km/h. But it was a Sunday and we had no luck. In Mercedes everything was closed, so we stopped next to the road on a grassy patch and tried to clean off as much mud as possible. This helped somewhat and at the petrol station we stopped to fill up, I was able to clean myself a bit as well. But now it was noon and we still had about 600km to drive so with Nicola plying me with chips, cookies and drinks, I hit the accelerator as hard as I dared and we made good progress, first to Posadas and then eventually Puerto Iguazu, arriving at our accommodation at 19:30. We were both absolutely exhausted but was so much perked up by our friendly and helpful host (although he didn’t speak a word of English) and an excellent self-catering apartment, that we felt very at home immediately and looked forward to the next few days. With the help of Google translator and our host guiding us around town, we found some dinner quickly and then had a hot shower and got straight into bed.

Monday, 05 Aug
We had lots to do in Puerto Iguazu, not least of these were having to fix our puncture, getting the car washed properly and getting some money. But these could all wait, because we were in Puerto Iguazu to see one of the new seven wonders of the world, a sight I’ve been dreaming of seeing with my own eyes ever since I saw The Mission, decades ago. We drove to the entrance of Iguazu park on the Argentinean side and paid the exorbitant fee (almost R600 for the two of us), and then took a walk through the forest to the Upper trail above the falls. I’ll be the first to admit the throngs of people definitely detract a little but when we emerged from the trail onto steel walkways and got our first look at one of the most spectacular sights on earth, I got a lump in my throat and felt tears welling up as I took in the vast majesty of Iguazu falls. It was everything I imagined and although it was obviously fantastic to share this with Nicola, I wished that my parents were also there as I know how much they would’ve appreciated such a sight. We walked every single bit of the Upper walkway, snapping away as we went, even though the light wasn’t too great. Since the Upper walkway isn’t particularly long (about 650m), we soon finished this and then headed for the train station to take us to Garganta del Diablo – the Devil’s throat. Waiting in line at the station, Plush-crested jays got so close to us that Nicola was able to get fantastic photos and before we boarded the train we also saw our first coatis (of the raccoon family). After the short train ride we followed the crowd out onto a 1100m walkway spanning half the Iguazu river all the way to where tons of water plunge into a tight chasm every second, creating so much cloud and spray, that you can barely take pictures at all. The noise was simply deafening – it’s like standing at the very lip of Augrabies falls in the Northern Cape back home when it’s in flood. It truly is spectacular and although Victoria falls we saw in 2011 were really awe-inspiring, it is simply dwarfed by Iguazu. Being so engrossed in the drama of the falls, we almost forgot to do birding. Close to and over the falls we added Black vultures, Grey-breasted martin, Grey-rumped swift, White-rumped and Blue-and-white swallows and in the foresty bits, Pale-breasted thrush, Saffron finch, Red-rumped cacique and the epitome of jungle birds – the Toco toucan! Returning from Garganta del Diablo, we had a picnic lunch on an open patch of grass before doing the last section of trail – the Lower track. This path had some more panoramic views of the falls and at the end, took you right up close and personal (and soaking wet) to one of the falls where it roars over a precipice. Extremely satisfied with our day, we finally headed back to Puerto Iguazu for dinner and bed.

Tuesday, 06 Aug
We had some chores to do today and the first was to get the car cleaned. Our host from our apartment had shown us a few car wash places, all of them looking rather scruffy, but there was nothing else so we pulled up to the first open one shortly after 8am and watched with wry grins on our faces as four youngsters jumped to work. Thankfully they had a high-pressure hose but it still took them the better part of 15 minutes just to clean the wheel wells. Huge clumps of mud kept falling off as they washed and in their fury from being dislodged from the car, they bonded instead to the concrete platform below. When the car was finally clean inside and out we left, and the poor youngsters set to work behind us, attempting to clean the mud off their platform – they are probably still at it. We headed off for the next chore, which was to get the tire fixed. Unfortunately it turned out that a whole patch of side wall was damaged so we got an inner tube put in as a cheaper alternative to a new tire. But this was quite quickly accomplished and we then headed off into town to attempt to get some cash. Irupe lodge could not take credit cards like we had hoped, so our cash supply had dwindled. After driving around to three different banks we accepted the inevitable, that no-one would let us buy cash off the credit card, instead we had to draw money from the ATM and pay the exorbitant bank charges. But we did feel a lot better with money in our back pockets. We then headed off home for the rest of the afternoon and had a relaxing afternoon doing absolutely nothing.

Wednesday, 07 Aug
The next morning, after changing some pesos to Paraguayan guaranis at a ridiculous “tourist” rate we headed for the ferry ride across to Paraguay. It was a short distance, and by 9am we were standing on Paraguayan soil. The ferry berths in Ciudad Presidente Franco, about 8kms from the centre of Ciiudad del Este, and since we couldn’t find a taxi from this deserted suburbian area, we started walking in. After a little more than a kilometer we managed to flag down a local bus which took us right to the market place we were planning on visiting. The market place (along Avenida San Blas) consists of hundreds of rickety stalls, crushed into every available spot on the pavement of both sides of the street. We wandered up and down for the better part of two hours, looking at stall after stall selling cheap clothing, shoes, torches, power tools, mopeds, electronics, ‘designer’ hand bags and just about everything else you can think of. We purchased a few curios as mementos of the day and then caught a taxi back to the ferry. Back in Puerto Iguazu, we spent the afternoon doing some more curio shopping, finding some very interesting masks and other items before going home for the night.

Thursday, 08 Aug
For our last day at Iguazu we were hoping to get across to the Brazilian side for a different perspective. This proved surprisingly easy as we drove to the central bus station in Puerto Iguazu and got a company that does a return trip all the way directly to the falls on the Brazilian side, and helps you to get through the immigration checkpoints easily too. The bus left at 08:10 and just before 9am we were dropped off outside the Brazilian Iguazu falls entrance. After buying tickets we were ferried onto another bus (free, part of the entrance ticket) that goes all the way to the end, stopping at several stops along the way where you can access all kinds of activities (unfortunately these you have to pay extra for). We stayed on right until the last stop and from there started walking back along the trails. Right away we saw the falls again in all its splendor, and from this side you definitely got a much better overall picture of the falls. We snapped away, walking up and down the walkways, taking an elevator to the lower section, got wet directly under the falls and watched spellbound as Great dusky swifts dove straight into the pouring falls to cling to the glistening rocks behind the water curtain where they nest. We spent a good three hours doing this before sitting down in the shade of a small tree for lunch. After lunch, we started focusing primarily on birding for the first time, and dug out the map to try and find good walking routes through the forest and hopefully away from the crowds. We saw that our only chance was at one of the bus stops further down the route so we hopped on the bus and headed for that station. When we got there we found out that the walk was part of a tour, which cost an additional R300 per person, so we opted instead to just walk out on the main road along which the bus ran. Since it was a good 2 kms walk, we were the only two walking, and therefore got some relative peace in between the regular passing of the buses. Because of this we did manage to find a few new birds: Chestnut-eared aracari and Rufous-capped motmot. We also got fleeting glimpses of a hummingbird but our eyes are not yet trained to pick the subtle nuances of the hummingbirds’ colouration in the seconds you have before it flits away. Once we reached the main gate, we visited the curio store and got a few mementos of our short time in Brazil, before catching the bus back across the border. We went back to our apartment to cook dinner and pack our bags since the next day we were leaving Iguazu falls behind us.

Friday, 09 Aug
An early start the next day saw us on our way to Concordia. Since it was a good long drive (about 900km) we focused mostly on getting there, and ignored the birds along the roadside. After a few hours Nicola took a turn at driving on the wrong side of the road for the first time. All went well until we were pulled over at a police checkpoint. The policeman who came to the window immediately heard we were foreigners and asked to see Nicola’s driving license. When that proved to be in order, they asked to see our emergency triangle, compulsory in Argentina. When they saw we had that, they then complained that our lights were off (in Argentina it us compulsory to have headlights on at all times of the day or night) even though the lights were obviously on when we stopped. But since I had to remove the car keys to open the boot to show them the triangle, the lights were off at this point. I tried to explain using sign language and a little Spanish, but I simply did not have the appropriate vocabulary and they didn’t understand (or didn’t want to understand) a word of English. They kept on insisting the lights were off and we had to pay a fine. I then tried to explain that I want to phone my embassy (when reading about the notoriously corrupt Entre Rios police, I noted that this could sometimes help) but this they didn’t understand either and it started to look like the policeman was getting pissed off with me. We were in a desolate place with no towns or other form of civilization nearby and the police had taken me into a building off the road, leaving Nicola sitting alone in the car outside. I wasn’t comfortable with the situation and decided to just pay the fine and get the hell out of there. I forked over ARS650 (just over R1000) in cash, actually got a receipt for it and then left, feeling really angry about losing so much money to a bogus traffic violation. Disgruntled and angry at Argentinian authority figures, we approached all subsequent checkpoints with extreme trepidation, constantly checking our lights, seatbelts, speed limit and trying to looko as innocuous as possible. Thankfully we didn’t get pulled over again until we reached our hotel just outside Concordia. It was a nice 4-star place next to the highway, catering mostly for business accommodation it seemed, but we had a nice apartment with a lounge, cable TV, free WiFi and a Jacuzzi in the bathroom!

Saturday, 10 Aug
It was still dark outside as we ate breakfast on our last full day. Outside it was freezing and the car was covered in thick frost. Our GPS failed as we drove into Concordia but luckily we got a decent map from the hotel and was able to navigate to the port at the Rio Uruguay. The launch site for the ferries across the Rio Uruguay was from inside a naval base of some kind and it took a significant amount of sign language and many of the 50 words of Spanish I knew before we managed to make them understand what we wanted to do. So we parked our car in a designated place and waited around until the “ticket” office opened – a table with two chairs and a lock box underneath, positioned outside the small immigration office. With our tickets paid for we went to get our passports stamped and ran into trouble. It seemed that Nicola’s entrance/exit stamps in her passport didn’t match up with what their system said, but since the stamps proved that she crossed borders legally all the time, it was obvious (luckily to the immigration officers as well) that there was something wrong in the system. We stood there waiting for almost 20 minutes when they finally managed to figure it out and with a thumbs-up, stamped her passport and off we went, running to the ferry that was now waiting just for us. We were the only foreigners on board as we made the 15 minute trip across the river and stepped onto Uruguayan soil. Passports stamped we walked off into the town of Salto, quite a pleasant, very European looking town. We changed money to Uruguayan pesos and then wandered up and down the streets, eventually found a tourist office where we got a map, and then decided to visit the local zoo. Although quite depressing by South African standards, this was apparently still one of the better ones in South America and we gawked at some interesting things like tigers, jaguars, pumas, forest cats and foxes, peccaries, llamas and a number of local bird species. We even saw a lifer up in a tree: Golden-rumped euphonia! Back outside the zoo we bought some empanadas from a street vendor and wandered back into town, got a few more bites to eat and then made our way back to the port for the ferry across at 14:30. We eventually made it back to the hotel by about 4pm, tested the Jacuzzi in our bathroom (was fantastic but leaked water all over the bathroom floor!) and then spent the early evening packing and getting our stuff sorted out. Nicola managed to fix the GPS (one of the thin wires broke off completely) so it looked like navigation won’t be a problem the next day. At 8pm we had proper Argentinian steak for dinner.

Sunday, 11 Aug
After we got robbed by the police on Friday, we now had very little pesos left, so we were very apprehensive of any police checkpoints as we left Hathor Hotel, scared what would happen if we had to pay another bribe. The 65km or so to El Palmar National Park was thankfully quite deserted so early in the morning and the few checkpoints we did drive through did not have a single policeman in sight. We arrived at El Palmar at 8am and paid ARS 100 entrance fee – we now had only ARS450 left to pay for petrol and tolls back to BA. El Palmar NP is a stronghold for Yatay palms and they were everywhere. Unfortunately it seemed that only Eared doves and Monk parakeets seem to like them as we barely saw anything else until we came to a more wooded section closer to the Rio Uruguay. Here we got American kestrels, Diademed tanager, Picazuro pigeon, Green-winged saltator and Black-capped warbling finch. At the end of the road was a sort of campground with a restaurant and horse stable but on this cold and cloudy day, so early in the morning, it looked a rather miserable place. We had to turn around now as we still had a 370km drive to Buenos Aires. Just before 11am we were back on the autopista and made good progress. Yet another problem befell us now. The GPS now failed completely as it wouldn’t even switch on anymore and this meant we had to contend with driving through Buenos Aires without its help. Luckily, due to the problems with it the previous day already, I had sat down and calculated coordinates for the important turn-offs in the city before we went to bed on Saturday. So we were able to use the hiking GPS and some written down instructions to make sure we got the turn-offs right. Only once we crossed the last big bridge over the Rio Parana and were outside of Entre Rios province were we able to relax a bit more every time we passed a police checkpoint. In Zarate we filled up for the last time and were able to pay by credit card so now had no more worries about our cash lasting either. We made it to the airport just after 3pm, dropped off the car keys and went through all the normal check-in and immigration procedures before relaxing in the lounge along with the Argentinian rugby team before the flight. The flight itself was uneventful except for a baby in the seat right in front of us that wouldn’t stop crying and yelling throughout the flight. Nicola’s dad kindly picked us up from the airport again before the long drive home.

A very memorable holiday indeed – here are a few pointers for others who want to visit the same places:

• The Ibera wetlands is an amazing place and absolutely worth the visit. But they lie at the end of (currently, from Mercedes) an 80km stretch of dirt road that becomes virtually impassible in rainy weather. We don’t know how long it will take to (or even if they will) tar the full stretch of road, but until they do, do consider the weather and climate before planning to drive there yourself. The other options directly from Carlos Pellegrini to Posadas (driving north east) would be a very bad choice without a 4-wheel drive vehicle.
• If you plan to visit any of the bordering countries like Brazil, Uruguay or Paraguay for just a day or two from Argentina, don’t plan on changing cash only when you arrive here. The so-called “tourist” exchange rates are ridiculously poor (for instance, officially you’re supposed to get about 800 Paraguayan guarani per Argentinian peso, but with the tourist rate, we could only get 480) and is more or less the same at all the exchangers. Rather buy your money back home right from the start.
• Food is surprisingly expensive in Argentina, even in a supermarket. Make sure you budget enough for this. The restaurant prices are not too bad though, all things considered. Buying any kind of food at the kiosks or restaurants inside the Iguazu national paks (both Argentinian and Brazilian sides) are a very bad idea – we paid over R35 for a 500ml Coke – so rather plan to take some food and drinks, including enough water, with you.
• To see Iguazu falls properly, you have to experience both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides. In Argentina you get close to the falls and walkways lead to the top of several of the separate falls. From this end you also get into the teeth of the falls at Garganta del Diablo and must not be missed. In Brazil, you’re further away from the falls so you can get a much better overall view. In the mornings the sun is on your back viewing the falls, creating stunning rainbows all over. Both sides though are very expensive to visit for non-locals. Current entrance fees for Argentina are ARS170 (about R280) per person and ARS160 (about R265) per person on the Brazilian side (cheaper though if you can pay in Brazilian reais).
• To get to the Brazilian side from Puerto Iguazu is very easy: Crucero del Norte bus lines runs four times a day from Puerto Iguazu, through the border across the bridge and directly to the Brazilian Iguazu entrance for ARS60 per person (return). There are also four buses a day back. At the Argentinian border you have to present yourself to immigration but on the Brazilian side the bus driver collects all the passports and get them all stamped quite quickly.
• Iguazu falls must be a lepidopterist’s idea of heaven. In the area we saw 30+ different species without trying, by far the highest diversity we’ve ever come across. If you’re into butterflies, this is THE place to go! Birding though is not actually very good at all. Admittedly it is winter but Iguazu is still sub-tropical and we did expect to see more than we did. The crowds certainly play a big role in driving the shier mammals away and probably contribute the quiet bird life too but we also found that there isn’t all that many places where you can go and bird in peace and quiet. On the Argentinian side, there is dirt road that turns left off the airport access road about 3km beyond the Iguazu falls entrance road. We drove a short section of this one afternoon but the weather wasn’t great and we didn’t hear or see a single bird. But I suspect that early in the morning this drive could be good place to explore as it doesn’t have remotely the number of people on it than at the falls itself.
• If you want to visit Paraguay from Puerto Iguazu, take the ferry that leaves from the port. Its quieter, easier, quicker and cheaper than taking the road first to Foz do Iguacu in Brazil and then to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. The only problem with this route is that there isn’t a lot of easy transport from the Paraguayan port into town and you’ve got to walk to the main road in Ciudad Presidente Franco first (about 1km) from where you can flag down a local bus or moto-taxi if you can find one.
• Until our run-in with the Entre Rios police on the way back, we were never concerned about the numerous police checkpoints. Our driver’s permits, passports and car license were checked several times without any problems and we had the compulsory emergency triangle and fire extinguisher in the boot as well. But the notorious Entre Rios police got us. They made up a violation right there on the spot and being unable to converse or argue with them in such a remote and desolate place, we didn’t have a choice but to pay up. If you do ever plan to drive through Entre Rios, make sure you have plenty of pesos that you can pay if you have to. On our last day we were very stressed passing through every single checkpoint since we only had a few hundred pesos cash left with which we had to put in petrol. We didn’t want to dwell on the consequences of another forced bribe….
• Learn some Spanish. Outside of Buenos Aires, actually even just outside the airport, you can consider yourself lucky if you can find someone speaking even basic English. We carried Lonely Planet’s Latin American Spanish phrasebook and dictionary which proved very helpful and managed to pick up quite a few words/phrases along the way.

Durban pelagic and St Lucia birding, Jul 2013

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• List of birds

We were excited to be going on our first proper pelagic trip – our Flock at Sea cruise in March didn’t really count. This trip, arranged by Niall Perrins, was to leave from Durban either on Saturday or Sunday so we had to prepare to have the full weekend available in Durban. On Thursday we got confirmation that the trip is on for the Saturday so we planned to add a little detour to St Lucia after the pelagic. Having left Middelburg at 2pm on Friday, we drove to Durban via the N11 and N3, arriving just after 9pm. It was a rather awful drive with lots of road works and heavy traffic but we made it safely and checked into a centrally located B&B. Dinner was quickly followed by hitting the pillows.We were excited to be going on our first proper pelagic trip – our Flock at Sea cruise in March didn’t really count. This trip, arranged by Niall Perrins, was to leave from Durban either on Saturday or Sunday so we had to prepare to have the full weekend available in Durban. On Thursday we got confirmation that the trip is on for the Saturday so we planned to add a little detour to St Lucia after the pelagic. Having left Middelburg at 2pm on Friday, we drove to Durban via the N11 and N3, arriving just after 9pm. It was a rather awful drive with lots of road works and heavy traffic but we made it safely and checked into a centrally located B&B. Dinner was quickly followed by hitting the pillows.

At 04:30 my alarm got us going. After a quick breakfast we left and initially struggled a little finding our way down to the harbour but eventually got there with plenty time to spare. We were to leave from Wilson’s Wharf. Soon after parking we saw another birder and he led us onto the boat, the isiHuhwa. The rest of the group, including the crew, soon showed up and just after 6am we started up and navigated out of the harbour. It wasn’t long after we left the breakwaters when we spotted our first pelagic bird, and a lifer to boot – Indian yellow-nosed albatross! For the next 3 hours we pounded through some sizable swells of 1-2m, making our way into deeper water and looking for fishing trawlers or rafts of birds. Unfortunately we couldn’t find any of these and although we got some fantastic views of Humpback whales and Common dolphins, the only other birds we got were Subantarctic skua and White-chinned petrel. Our guides started chumming with popcorn covered in fish guts and oil but the only bird that eventually showed up was a lone Wilson’s storm-petrel. Eventually we had to go back and our return journey was equally quiet except for one Subantarctic skua that first flew behind the boat, then responded well to thrown pilchards and eventually sat still in the water for all to photograph. We were back in the harbour at 2pm and although even the guides mentioned that it was unusually quiet in terms of birds, we were still happy to have added a few pelagics to our KZN list, and having seen two new mammals. The rest of the afternoon we caught up on some sleep before starting a braai for dinner. There was time for some coffee and rusks before we again left before dark and drove a good 100km north on the N2 before the sun had risen. By 9am we were in St Lucia. After booking a boat cruise up the estuary for 3pm, we drove to the Iphiva campsite to walk the Iphiva trail. Our first attempts to find the trail led to numerous scratches and swearing so we decided to rather follow the much clearer horse trails leading into the grasslands. Earlier, while driving towards St Lucia, we listened to some of the calls of birds we were hoping to see and now, not 5 minutes after walking into the grasslands with a patch of forest on our left, we suddenly heard one of these calls! It was Woodward’s batis! Unfortunately the call wasn’t close so we carried on walking, adding White-eared barbet, Tambourine dove, Trumpeter and Crowned hornbills, African dusky flycatcher, Malachite and Brown-hooded kingfishers, Yellow-throated longclaw, Woolly-necked stork, Scarlet-chested and Collared sunbirds, Livingstone’s turaco and Narina trogon. We returned from the walk, then drove out to a picnic site at the estuary for lunch. Our accommodation for the night was at Oppi Rotse in Kingfisher street and after settling in we left for our boat cruise up the estuary. It was a Sunday, the boat was full of booze cruisers and a stiff breeze was blowing – we weren’t expecting to see much. Apart from a few Caspian terns and Grey-headed gulls we added Giant and Pied kingfishers, Water thick-knee, African darter and Lesser swamp warbler. Back on land we headed for a local pub to get fish for dinner and then relaxed at our accommodation for the rest of the night.

It seems to have rained during the night as the road was damp when we left well before sunrise. We arrived at the Cape Vidal gate on the dot at 6am, paid our entrance fee and started birding. Heavy fog collecting in the lower areas together with distant clouds and increasing pre-dawn light, made for a surreal but pretty picture. It was therefore very fitting when we heard THE call of the African wild – a Fiery-necked nightjar. We stopped the car to listen to this beautiful call and then all of a sudden there was another call that we immediately recognized: Swamp nightjar! – Our third lifer for the trip! It was an amazing start to the day! We drove on through the grasslands and picked up Rattling and Croaking cisticolas, Burchell’s coucal, Yellow-throated longclaw and African stonechat. On the Pan loop we saw a few waterbirds like African jacana, Egyptian goose and Blacksmith lapwing but nothing special. The next loop off the tar road was the Vlei loop that also went deep into the coastal forest. Here we picked up African paradise flycatcher, Red-capped robin-chat, Brown scrub-robin, Black-crowned tchagra, Yellow-bellied apalis, Yellow-rumped tinkerbird, Fork- and Square-tailed drongos, Dark-backed, Spectacled and Cape weavers, Sombre and Yellow-bellied greenbuls, Emerald-spotted wood dove, Tambourine dove, Orange-breasted, Gorgeous and ruddy form Olive bish-shrikes and a proper sighting of Woodward’s batis. Realizing that we were not going to make Cape Vidal at the rate we were going, we pushed on back to the tar road but made one more stop at the Mafazana pan hide. On the way in we got cracking views of Green twinspots and Blue-mantled crested flycatchers. Grey waxbills sat still long enough for good views and an African cuckoo-hawk brought our 2013 tally of birds of prey to a whopping 34. The hide itself was very quiet and we quickly returned to the tar road to drive north. We made it Cape Vidal just after 10am and drove around for a short while. On the way out we added our first Eastern nicator for the year and picked up a Southern banded snake-eagle sitting on a telephone pole. At noon we were back in St Lucia and then settled in for the long drive home.

Although the species diversity on the pelagic was a little disappointing, it was a great trip and Cape Vidal delivered the goodies. We plan to return again for a weekend later in the year.

Mauritius 2013

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• List of birds

Friday - Kempton Park
After work meetings, shopping and a few other errands we drove to our accommodation in Kempton Park, close to the airport. We got ourselves a take-away dinner and spent the evening watching dvd’s the B&B supplied. We got an early night in preparation for our early flight the next day.

Saturday – Mauritius!
We got up early, had a quick breakfast and headed for the airport. After an hour or so reading in the lounge, we boarded our plane, and then stood in the parking bay for a full hour until the airline caterer had delivered the food for our onboard meal. Eventually we took off. About two hours into the flight we flew over Madagascar and both of us peered down at the mysterious island, promising to visit there soon. An hour or so later we flew over Reunion, and Pieter got some lovely views of the volcanoes piercing the clouds. We landed in Mauritius only about 20 minutes late as the pilots had done their best to make up for the initial delay. As we taxied in, we both peered out the windows looking for our first Mauritian bird but were dismayed when this turned out to be a bunch of Common mynas. Our rental car (with First Car Rental) was a bit of a skedonk with little Marie biscuit wheels and creaks and groans coming from all over. Driving into Mahebourg for the first time was intimidating: the streets are literally only wide enough for two lanes, buildings are built right up to the edge (no shoulder) and street name signage is virtually non-existent. Having driven most of the Mahebourg streets at least twice, we eventually found our accommodation, Auberge Le Saladier, a lovely B&B run by an extremely friendly and helpful couple. After checking in, we took a quick drive down to Blue Bay for some sunset pictures and then returned for a local dinner and our first night in Mauritius.

Sunday – Black River Gorges National Park
Our first birding destination was Mauritius’s only national park, the Black River Gorges. Detailed directions from our hosts in Mahebourg saw us passing through sugar cane fields, small towns, Hindu monuments and tea plantations before arriving at Le Petrin, one of the access points for Black River Gorges. All 9 Mauritian endemics are to be found here but since many of these are still listed as Endangered or Critically endangered, we weren’t sure what we’d be able to see. We took a slow walk along one of the forest tracks and very quickly picked up our first lifer – the very common Mauritius grey white-eye. We peered longingly into the trees hoping to catch a glimpse of the very rare and endangered Pink pigeon, but no such luck. We did pick up a few more lifers: a White-tailed tropicbird flying far away over the trees, and later the Mauritius olive white-eye, Madagascar turtle dove, and the Madagascar fody. Returning to our starting point we made our way to the other side of Black River Gorges intending to climb Mauritius’s highest peak, but just then our petrol light came on. We decided instead to find petrol first and drove down the mountain towards the nearest petrol point indicated on our map. We arrived on the west coast to find that our map was wrong, no petrol was to be found in miles! Nervously we drove east along the coast of the island, passing through town after town with no petrol station. It was a very pretty drive but we were not in the right frame of mind to really enjoy it. Eventually we arrived at a bigger city and were delighted to stumble across a petrol station, over 50km after the light came on! We filled up and headed back into the mountains, determined to go bag the peak, despite the weather now being hot and humid. First though, we stopped off at the “Coloured earths” in Chamarel, an interesting combination of eroded basaltic soil and sand with different chemical compositions resulting in sort of a sand-coloured rainbow patch, smack in the middle of the forest. Back on the road, we soon found the trailhead for the peak and parked. Luckily the walk in is dead-easy with a flat 3km walk along muddy pathways carved out of the casuarina forest. The last 50m or so is not that straight forward though with a very steep and nasty scramble up loose dirt to reach Mauritius’s highest point, Piton de la Petite Riviere Noir (828m). From the summit we had a 360 view: the entire Black River Gorges spread below us, the large lakes and mountains to the north, Port Louis in the distance and the surrounding Indian ocean as far as you can see. Mascarene martins and swiftlets, both lifers, flitted around us in a stiffening breeze. After s spot of late lunch, we climbed back down the slippery slope, hiked back and then drove back to Mahebourg. Another restaurant dinner and an early night followed.

Monday– Grand Baie
To try and miss the notorious traffic of Port Louis, we got up early and were off just before 6am, driving around 70 kms on the motorway to get to the most north western point of Mauritius, Grand Baie. We had a very special trip planned – a trip on a submarine! A briefing started at 09:30 followed by a short ride across the lagoon to a larger ship anchored close to the reef and serving as base for the submarine. Excitedly we climbed down the ladder into the sub and crawled to our seats since the sub was barely tall enough to accommodate us while seated. The sub dropped down around 20m to a shipwreck – an old, limping boat that was deliberately sunk to act as an artificial site for future corals to grow. A few fish darted around the rusty ship, but we saw far more fish when we moved over to the coral reef itself. Hundreds of yellow and blue and red (although they appear brown at that depth) fish danced over the corals. To our delight a turtle appeared out of the blue (literally) and slowly swooped off through the water to a quieter spot. We moved over several coral mountains before heading to a particularly active patch, so active it’s been called the aquarium. An amazing abundance of fish darted in and out and over this little patch of coral, which even housed a a moray eel. An anemone waved from the top of the coral, and a little clown fish swam all around it. An angel fish glided majestically past, and six lion fish glared menacingly from the depths. Scores of yellow fish swerved nervously about, a few larger black fish came closer to satisfy their curiosity, and an occasional flash of brilliant blue was yet another species. All too soon we were surrounded by a curtain of bubbles as the sub surfaced again. It was a fantastic experience; I could easily have spent hours down there just watching the fish go about their day. On our way back to Mahebourg we stopped off in Port Louis to visit their craft market where we picked up a few souvenirs, the most impressive being a wooden scale model of a French brick. The building of wooden ship models started in Mauritius in the 1960s and has grown to such an extent that Mauritius is now famous for this. We could hardly go home without one of our own, although we wish we were able to afford one of large models with intricate detail and carving work, selling for thousands of dollars. We were back in Mahebourg for an early dinner.

Tuesday – Black River Gorges
The day dawned overcast, but we weren’t put off. Straight after breakfast we headed off again to Black River Gorges, still hopeful of finding some of Mauritius’s endemics. Some rain and a steady wind made the morning quite chilly, so instead of walking, we just drove around the perimeter of the park, looking for birds. Unfortunately Mauritius is not a friendly place for car birding; narrow roads and impatient drivers make it impossible to drive slowly. We eventually headed for the Grande Riviere Noir entrance to the park, which gave access to the river valleys itself. Once there, the rain had cleared a bit so we braved the wind and took a walk. At the very beginning of the walk, a parakeet flew into a tree ahead of us and got us very excited before we identified it as the common introduced Rose-ringed parakeet. As we continued on our walk we heard this strange call, a deep hooom… hooom…, sounding very much like an owl. Since Mauritius has no owls we wandered on very puzzled. A short while later the mosquitoes started becoming a real nuisance so we turned back. Again we heard the hooom… hooom… call, and this time the thought popped into our heads that it might be a dove. We perused our bird book and were excited to find out that it was the call of our sought after Pink pigeon! We scanned the trees eager for a sight of it, but only got a brief glimpse as it flew off. Happy with this ID, we headed back to the Le Petrin entrance of the park to spend some more time along the escarpment of the gorge before heading home. Right by the entrance, we stopped to look at a large pigeon on the ground and were thrilled to see it was a Pink pigeon! It was very obliging and allowed us to get close enough for good pictures of this famous bird. When it flew off we continued our walk and were lucky to catch a glimpse of a group of parakeets flying and calling overhead. Back at the B&B we took advantage of the free wifi to compare the calls of the two parakeet species on the island and confirmed our suspicions – it was the scarcer Mauritius parakeets! So our day ended with two endemic lifers added to our list!

Wednesday – Ile aux Aigrettes
For the first time on our trip, we had a late lie in and only got up at 7am. We ate breakfast and spent some time carefully packing our delicate wooden ship into our luggage. We then headed off for our last excursion, a trip to Ile aux Aigrette, a small (26ha), Mauritius Wildlife Foundation-protected coral island just off the coast, used to breed Mauritian endangered species of birds, reptiles and plants. We were guided carefully around the island to see all of these. Giant fruit bats were hanging from a netted roof in a breeding cage, covering their eyes with their hands and we were allowed to gently touch one of the giant Aldabra tortoises, a Seychelles’ endemic introduced because of its similarity to the now extinct Mauritius tortoise. The tortoise looked at us and stood up, the top of his shell being higher than our knees, stretched out his neck and begged for some attention. I swear it had a look of content on its face as we stroked its leathery neck! We continued our walk and spotted some of the Telfair skinks that were being bred here. Once we reached the more overgrown (more natural forest as it used to be) portions of the island, characterized by mainly endemic ebony species, we started seeing some birds, and were happy when our guide pointed out a Mauritius fody – an endemic we had missed on the main island. An excellent sighting of a Mauritius olive white-eye followed, and we learned that this is now even more endangered than the Pink pigeon with only about 150 birds left in the wild. A feeding cage provided shelter to more Pink pigeons and it was a touch sentimental to see these birds made famous by the works of Gerald Durrell and Douglas Adams. It was a good tour and it was fantastic to see the sincere efforts on the conservation front. Pink pigeons, although still endangered, now number around 400 birds in the wild, a fantastic achievement considering they numbered only ten birds in 1991. The Mauritius kestrel (one of the endemics we dipped on) is also a bit safer now, its population also up to about 400 from only 4 individuals at its most critical. Plants have also fallen to man’s hand – only 1.3% of Mauritius area is occupied by endemic species, the rest are introduced or are crops. The conservationists have around 12 full time personnel living on the island to assist in the conservation efforts. Their jobs entail collecting seeds from the endangered plants on the island, germinating them and eventually planting them in protected areas back on the main island. They feed the birds, import soil for the turtles to lay their eggs in (being a coral island, there’s very little soil deep enough for this), and put cages around the Mauritius olive white-eye nests to prevent the fodies from taking them over and destroying the eggs. They ring each fledging before it leaves the nest, and organize trips to the main island or to other small islands off the northern coast of Mauritius, where they re-introduce the bred birds. There is a long way to go, but it is good to see that perhaps these species will not follow the fate of the dodo. We headed back to the main island, finished packing and headed for the airport, our short trip over all too quickly. There’s much still to do in Mauritius and it’s such a friendly and easy place to visit that we will certainly go back when we get another opportunity.

Kruger NP birding, May 2013

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• List of birds

We managed to leave Middelburg around 12:30 and while Nicola drove, I carried on working on my laptop. Nelsruit was quite busy and we got a bit lost in Witrivier, looking for signposts towards Numbi gate. After finding the right road (R538) it was an agonizing drive through almost endless squatter camps. At some point we started feeling the road was going the wrong direction and we pulled over next to a speed cop to ask directions. We had indeed passed the turnoff which was apparently not signposted due to construction, but luckily it was only about 6km back the way we came and less than 20 minutes later we were at Numbi gate. It was already late afternoon but we still managed to see our first few common birds before we reached Pretoriuskop camp at 5pm. We checked in and got ourselves organized before I did a little more work, followed by dinner and bed.

It was still cool and dark when we left the Pretoriuskop on Saturday morning. Initially the birding was quiet but at Shitlhave dam we picked up a pretty little Yellow-throated longclaw and a Malachite kingfisher came to sit almost right in front of where we parked at the water’s edge. Water thickknee and Blacksmith lapwings were spotted on the opposite shore and just after left the dam, we got our first Gabar goshawk for the year. Back on the main road another little grey goshawk turned out to be Dark chanting goshawk. A few more common birds were seen as we headed further east but mammals were surprisingly thin. Then, not long after we saw our first kudus for the day, we were slowly cruising past an off-limits track when Nicola spotted a whole pack of wild dogs slowly jogging towards us. One other car saw them as well and we both stopped at the spot and watched as the 12-strong pack came right up to us, sniffed around the cars, marked the edges of the road, lazed a little in some early morning shade and then trotted off again. They were around us for about 7-8 minutes and it was only our two vehicles that saw them! It was a special treat for Nicola who had never seen Wild Dog in the wild before. A little later at Transport dam we got a nice sighting of a Pearlspotted owlet and lots of African black swifts over the dam itself and by the time we reached the main north-south road we had also seen some elephant, impala and zebra. We turned south towards Malelane and got nice views of Yellow-breasted apalis and Yellow-bellied eremomela within a few 100 metres from the turnoff. About 10km down the road we saw what appeared to be a Crested francolin, almost crawling across the road, skulking, almost as if it was thinking that no-one will see it if it walks slowly and low-down. We were approaching it slowly and a group of cars from the opposite side sped past but luckily didn’t scare it off. A quick look through the binoculars confirmed though that it wasn’t a Crested francolin so we got excited. As it reached the edge of the road, it suddenly stood upright and walked normally and now we could see it clearly – it was Shelley’s francolin! And then suddenly there was a whole covey of them! Nicola quickly took a few pictures before they snuck away into the grass and then we very happily drove on – an unexpected lifer! We spotted a second group of elephants before had a quick toilet break at Afsaal picnic spot. On the old Voortrekker road back towards Pretoriuskop a thickly wooded edge of a drift had both Grey-headed and Orange-breasted bush-shrikes, Spectacled weaver and Grey-backed camaroptera. A large white bird flying low and slow over the trees turned out to be a Saddle-billed stork and before we got back to Pretoriuskop we had also seen a Tawny eagle in a tree right next to the car, two juvenile Martial eagles and a number of Bateleur.

Back in Pretoriuskop we had a brief rest before Nicola started our dinner fire. After an early dinner we took a short walk back to reception where we boarded our game drive vehicle for the night drive. We left the camp site and only a 100m down the road from the camp gates, we saw a shadow with eyes slip off the road into the tall grass. Our driver claimed it was a leopard, but we didn’t believe him until we stopped right next to it and the spotlights picked out a spotty back disappearing into the grass. And then to our delight, a second spotty back bounced in after it - it was a mother with her teenage cub! Although very special to see, it was not a brilliant sighting as the grass was tall and almost leopard-coloured under the spotlights. We continued on our way and picked up a few nightjars from the glint of their eyes atop rocks and branches. But owls and other mammals were in rather short supply initially. We came across several small groups of buffalo, and then were delighted to get good views of a large spotted genet in a tree. Soon afterwards Nicola, who was operating one of the spotlights, picked out a Spotted eagle owl surveying a grassy field for dinner. Pleased to have picked up at least a few night birds, we started heading back to camp. We came across a pair of spotted hyena who jogged down the road in front of us for a good half a km. Suddenly we spotted another Spotted eagle owl, sitting in the road, in the path of the hyenas. The owl however seemed largely unperturbed and stayed put until the hyenas were only a meter or so away. It eventually flew up and went to sit haughtily in a tree just off the road where we managed to get some photos of it before heading into the camp site. We made our way back to our chalet, and apart from hearing a Barn owl screech in the early hours of the morning, the night was peaceful.

Next morning we quickly packed up and were out bird watching as soon as the camp gates opened, before the sun was fully up, hoping for some more nightlife settling in for the day. Unfortunately we didn't see any owls or nightjars, but instead had to be content with a brilliant sighting of another nocturnal creature. We were driving slowly around a koppie, keeping an eye out for flutterings in the trees, and barely glanced at the rocky slope next to the road. Luckily Nicola’s quick eye managed to pick out a leopard, almost perfectly camouflaged against the rock. We stopped and gaped at the little leopard cub sitting out in the open about 10 meters away. We kept an eye out for an over-protective mother, but we never saw her. Instead we spent a glorious 10 minutes admiring him as he sat and sunned himself, and then crept a little closer to the car to eye us out. We managed to snap a few pictures and then left the beautiful boy alone as tried to hide under a bush, feeling quite privileged to have been the only two people at the scene. We continued birding and picked up a few nice birds like another sighting of Yellow-throated longclaw, Common scimitarbill, Bushveld pipit and Little bee-eater, as well as several new raptors for the year: Brown snake eagle, Lizard buzzard and Shikra. A sparrow/goshawk of sorts tormented us for almost half an hour, sitting about 70-80m from the road, fluffed up in the morning sun and calling what sounded almost perfectly like Southern pale chanting goshawk. But these don't occur in Kruger and it also didn't look that large. Ovambo sparrowhawk was the only other option but it's PDA call was considerably shorter than the real thing - we had to depart without an ID. But even without the sparrow/goshawk, our bird of prey count for the weekend still totaled 13. So all in all a stunning weekend in Kruger, with a mammal lifer of wild dogs for Nicola, 2 sightings of leopard, and an avian lifer of the Shelley's Francolin, which has been a long time coming!