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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.
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