In memory of my grandmother, Lettie Nortje, who passed away on 24 Dec 2013 aged 84. Farewell and may you rest in peace.
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Our plans for the December holiday was to visit mainly the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe as there were about 25-odd species in southern Africa that are limited to the afromontane forests and grasslands here and another ten or so that we could find in the lowlands of the Honde valley. We knew that crossing Beitbridge border over the Christmas holidays was going to be a challenge so we carefully planned our trip so that we enter and exit on weekdays and as early in the morning as possible. To complement the eastern highlands we hoped to pick up a few miombo specials at stopovers (there and back) at Lake Mutirikwi and would also drive through Kruger National Park on our way up and stop off at Mapungubwe National Park before heading home.
20 Dec 2013
With the house locked up we left it behind for the last time in 2013. The N4 highway wasn’t too bad but when we turned off at Belfast to head north towards Dullstroom, Lydenburg and Ohrigstad, there were plenty of slow cars and slower trucks plus a fair bit of heavy rain and terrible potholes. But we made it safely to Phalaborwa at around 18:30 and settled into a very nice little self-catering place called Eagle’s Nest. With an early start planned for the next morning, we didn’t stay up long after dinner.
21 Dec 2013
The birds started singing early and it was pleasantly cool as we packed the car to leave at 5am. We got to Kruger NP’s Phalaborwa gate 20 minutes before opening time but there were already about 15 cars in the queue. While we waited, we added our first birds for the trip: African mourning dove, Red-chested and Diderick cuckoos, Black-backed puffback, Grey-headed bush-shrike, Emerald-spotted wood dove, Burchell’s coucal and a few others. Luckily most of the people in front of us turned out to be day visitors so we were able to check in quickly when the gate opened and off we went. The first 2 hours or so were nice and cool and the birds were out singing so we steadily added most of the common birds. Red-crested korhaans were calling all over and almost every second bird was a Red-backed shrike. We turned north-east on the H14 and added a few more common bush birds. All the way to Mooiplaas picnic site we had little excitement but did get a brief glimpse of a Eurasian golden oriole and got stunningly up-close to an African hawk-eagle. After lunch at the picnic site we popped into Mooiplaas water hole. Unfortunately it seems the good rains have chased all the small birds into the veld as we only had very distant views of some Kittlitz’s plovers with a few Egyptian geese and elephants for company. Three White storks were close enough for decent pics and further along towards the hides over Pioneer dam, Black crakes feeding on a dead fish also provided ample good pictures. We checked in at Mopani rest camp just after 2pm and enjoyed the air-con unit for the rest of the afternoon. Around 17:30 we took a walk to the camp’s shop/restaurant where we watched an African paradise flycatcher feeding it’s chicks in a small cup nest, two meters from where everyone was walking past! The border fence at Pioneer dam had a short walk along it and provided opportunity for some great sunset photos. Back in our unit it was time for dinner and bed.
22 Dec 2013
Things cooled down a little during the night and it was again a very pleasant start to the day as we left Mopani camp the moment the gate opened at 04:30. We had a long 170km to drive to Pafuri gate so while it was still a little too dark to bird, we drove at the speed limit to make up some distance. After half an hour we slowed down to bird along the way, and picked up the common birds but the highlight undoubtedly was a harassed pair of Greater blue-eared starlings trying desperately to satisfy the hunger of two almost full grown Great spotted cuckoos. Other nice sightings were Hooded vulture and Southern carmine bee-eaters, a bird we hadn’t seen in a while. Shortly after leaving Babalala picnic site where we stopped for a quick break, we were delighted to see a Dickinson’s kestrel, a bird we had only seen before in the Okavango. The Pafuri section yielded Meves’s starling, Broad-billed roller and White-crowned lapwing, but it had grown hot again by the early afternoon and we still had some way to go to Musina. A last slow drive over the Levhuvhu river bridge added no new birds and all too soon we had left Kruger NP and made our way to Musina. We followed the directions to our accommodation, but were horrified to find the place booked out by a contractor for the last 6 months and another 6 months to come, despite the fact we had a fully paid up reservation. To complicate things the lodge owner was apparently in Zambia and unreachable by phone. The contractor gave us directions to the owner’s second lodge in town, so we headed there to see what we could find. This lodge was also fully booked but fortunately some people had not arrived so they were able to accommodate us. We were none too pleased with this, had it not been for a couple of people not pitching up we would have been stranded in Musina for the night. After getting take-aways for dinner we took a quick swim in the pool to cool down and then got into bed -we were planning to get up at 3am to head for the dreaded Beitbridge border post.
23 Dec 2013
We’ve been fearing this day for months now, ever since we made the decision of crossing Beitbridge border post over the December holiday period. I’ve read horror stories ranging from people taking eight hours to even being stranded at the border post for two days! But one shouldn’t believe everything posted on the internet and besides, even though it’s Christmas, we specifically planned to minimize our time at the border by going early on a Monday morning, getting to the border well before sunrise, buying third-party insurance before-hand and generally psyching ourselves up to be as patient, polite and friendly as possible. So after getting up at 3am and packing quickly, we approached the border with trepidation. The South African side looked an absolute mess to be frank. The border post itself looks worse than Musina (which isn’t that great a place either) and having been shunted to follow the other light vehicles going around the side section of very dark roads at 4am, it was not a good start to our border-crossing experience. We were in a car queue to get parking for about 20 minutes but when we did get a spot to park in a dingy looking parking lot, it was a quick visit to the pre-fab buildings for customs and immigration. This was followed by a quick police inspection of the car’s engine number and then we were through the SA side and heading across the Limpopo. One would hardly think it’s possible but on the Zim side, it was an even greater mess. A huge open area was being used haphazardly as a parking lot and everyone just parked their cars wherever they pleased. There are absolutely no signs or indications of where you should go or start. A dishearteningly long queue snaked in front of a building occupied by the police so while Nicola joined this queue I went to find an official to find out where we should go. Having found one, I learned that we should go to the other side of the road (right, as opposed to left). We started by getting a gate pass and paying for the bridge toll (US$10), then we stood in the queue for immigration while filling out our entry forms. This all went as smoothly as you can expect from the busiest (and in my opinion, worst) border crossing in Africa and we got our passports and gate pass stamped. Next was customs where we had to pay road tax and carbon tax and get our Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for the car. And here things ground to a halt. There were four active counters when we entered, all of them with different signs, all of them apparently (according to the official outside) doing the same thing, and in reality, all of them doing exactly nothing. We joined the shortest queue which had seven people in front of us – we only walked out of there an hour and a half later. There didn’t seem to be any distinction between people only entering with light vehicles and the commercial traffic and it’s these guys with their big trucks and long manifests that took up so much time. When we made it to second from the front of the queue, there appeared to be a shift change, but this took almost 20 minutes while the new official searched for a money vault, then a pen, then chatted with her friends, then got up to go scratch her nose etc. It was gross incompetence of a kind I've never seen before. The biggest irony is the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority’s (ZIMRA) motto, prominently displayed all over: “We are here to serve” (our own interests?!) Finally we got to the front, got “served” and stamped and made our way outside. We now needed a third stamp from the police but luckily this went quickly when I found the back door to the police building. Back at the car we negotiated the myriad of cars in the “parking lot” and drove up to the green shed to get the car inspected. This also went fairly smoothly despite the inspector wanting us to have declared our personal clothes, food, and everything else on a declaration form – this was after another official had specifically said we only need to declare commercial goods. So with a “I don’t care what happens to you at the gate” attitude, the lady inspector gave us the last stamp on the gate pass and we went through the gate without being hassled again – 3 hours exactly after we entered the South African side! The 300km road up to Masvingo is not the best around. You can do 100kph in most places but the road is so battered, bruised, patched and re-patched that it’s a very bumpy ride all the way. We were waved through three police road blocks and paid two US$1 tolls and also got a speeding ticket just outside Runde River. Signs with the speed limit are pretty much non-existent so we mostly guessed a limit of 60kph within a town, and 100kph outside. We had just left Runde River’s outskirts and were getting up to 80kph when we were pulled over. According to the policeman the town only ended about 200m down the road from where we were. We looked rather blankly at the fields surrounding us, trying to imagine what part of the grass constituted a town, but gave up and just paid the R200 so we could get moving. Just outside Masvingo we took the turn-off towards Great Zimbabwe and were suddenly cruising along a beautiful and quiet tarmac road. We arrived at our accommodation, Norma Jeane’s Lakeview Resort, around noon, and immediately settled down to catch up on some sleep. At 3pm we took a drive to Sikato bay to try for some miombo birds. Unfortunately it was rather quiet so late in the afternoon and our only really good sighting was a White-breasted cuckooshrike. We went back to our accommodation and chatted to a fellow South African traveler who had just come back from the Bvumba mountains, where we were headed the next day. He gave us some good advice on roads to take, and some horror stories of the eight hours it took them to cross Beitbridge only ten days earlier. After a shower we headed to the restaurant for dinner, where we watched Greater bush babies wake and leap from their palm tree roost into a neighboring bush, looking for mangoes and grubs. After an excellent dinner we crept into bed.
24 December 2013
We got up reasonably early and had tea and breakfast while watching the day dawn. Due to the extremely slow hot plate in the outdoors kitchen, the sun was well and truly up by the time we started birding. We headed back towards Sikato bay and picked up a few nice birds including a lifer - Variable sunbird. Back at Norma Jeane's, we packed up and started the drive towards Bvumba, taking the scenic route around the lake’s eastern perimeter. The birding along this route was much better and we added another two lifers - Black-eared seedeater and Miombo double-collared sunbird. By 11am we were still only about halfway down the road and decided to speed up a bit so that we could still get to Bvumba in daylight. It was a pity though since there is really beautiful miombo woodland on this road. Once back on the A9, we drove a solid 3 hours to Mutare where we stopped briefly to fill up fuel and do a bit of shopping. We made the mistake of not driving to the other end of town and used the Spar supermarket we found in Sakubva. It was a huge supermarket but unfortunately VERY empty with no fresh produce whatsoever. In the end we bought only a one litre milk. The drive up into the Bvumba mountains was beautiful and we arrived at Seldomseen shortly after 4pm. Unfortunately, again we struck it unlucky. It seems there was some miscommunication between the person in Harare doing the bookings and the people at Seldomseen were under the impression that we never confirmed our booking (which we did) and so all the cottages were full. With frustration and desperation at the point of boiling over, they did a quick survey of their bookings and determined that they could actually help us with accommodation if we were willing to change cottages after the first night. Obviously this was no problem for us so with lighter hearts we unpacked our stuff into Swynnerton cottage. We also arranged to have a bird walk at 6am the next morning and were looking forward to adding more lifers. As we started cooking dinner, our last lifer for the day appeared in the flowery bushes outside our cottage – Stripe-cheeked greenbul!
25 Dec 2013
On Christmas morning our guide, Peter, met us outside our cottage at 6am and we started walking up Seldomseen’s driveway. Our first new bird for the day appeared in the canopy above, just two minutes after starting out. Western olive sunbirds, together with male and female Miombo double-collared sunbirds were chasing around up in the canopy. Orange ground-thrushes and Livingstone’s turacos were calling loudly as we entered the forest. Our second lifer was Roberts’s warbler but we only got a poor sighting before it disappeared. We slowly descended into the wetness and several times stopped in good spots (slightly more open understorey) to call for Swynnerton’s robin. No luck though. Other forest birds were easily picked up: Stripe-cheeked and Yellow-streaked greenbuls, African yellow white-eye, Dark-backed weaver, White-eared barbet, Red-capped robin-chat and both Olive and Black-fronted bush-shrikes. A short climb led us out of the forest into a small grassy clearing where two Yellow-throated woodland warblers provided really good views before our third lifer, Mottled swift was spotted flying overhead. Back in the forest we tried for Swynnerton’s robin several more times without success but then got what was probably the highlight of the day – Peter heard Buff-spotted flufftail calling in the undergrowth so we played the call on the PDA. Two minutes later it approached the path we were standing on, less than two meters from us! A brilliant close-up sighting! Our three-hour walk with Peter was almost up when he picked up our fourth lifer for the day – Chirinda apalis calling high in the canopy. Again not the best of sightings but still there. After a cup of tea back at our cottage we packed everything in the car as we would now move to Twinstreams cottage after we get back from a drive around Bvumba. Heading out of Seldomseen towards the Bvumba Botanical Gardens, we stopped for some chittering next to the road and were ecstatic to clearly see Yellow-bellied waxbills (fifth lifer) among a group of Common waxbills. The tar road towards the gardens turned out to be rather busy – admittedly, it was almost noon on Christmas day and we figured people were all heading for lunch at Leopard Rock hotel further down the road. But the dirt road turnoff to the gardens was much quieter and almost as soon as we turned off, two White-tailed crested flycatchers could be seen just next to the road – our sixth lifer. We had to pay a hefty US$8 to get into Bvumba Botanical Gardens and we didn’t stay very long: we walked around some of the ponds and into the forest before completing the scenic drive. Apart from some more Yellow-bellied waxbills, this time accompanied by both Common- and Grey waxbills, as well as Bronze mannikins, there wasn’t much else to see. A spot of rain sent us running for the car and we decided to also make our way down to Leopard Rock hotel. On the way, a bunch of aerial swallows forced us to pull off and study them carefully and yes – there were Eastern saw-wings among them to make our tally of lifers for the day seven! Leopard Rock hotel was very busy and noisy and in-between the drifting clouds it was actually quite hot. We were not sure how much dollars we would still need for the rest of the holiday so we decided to rather skip the US$18 lunch menu and eat out (of cans). A few kilometers up the road, close to Bunga Forest Reserve, we pulled into a small opening in the forest and ate lunch before returning to Seldomseen for an afternoon snooze. It was a very successful day for us and after dinner and a bit of TV, went to bed looking forward to another early morning walk with the other Seldomseen bird guide, Buluwezi.
26 Dec 2013
The day dawned bright and clear with none of the mist of the day before. Once again we were up and ready by 6am for our morning walk. Buluwezi surprised us when he arrived, saying we should rather drive to some other sites where the Synnerton’s robin was more curious and more easily seen. The first spot was only about a kilometer down the road where we parked and took a walk up the canopy shrouded road. After only ten meters we spotted a bird in the road, and Buluwezi excitedly gesticulated that it was the robin! We both had a quick look but it had it’s back to us and disappeared into the forest within a few seconds. So we felt we still had to see one properly before we could really count it. On our way to the next birding spot, Buluwezi spotted a Singing cisticola on the grassy verge of the road. Since this was one of our target birds we pulled over and scanned the grassy field until he came out from hiding. Finally Buluwezi spotted him far off in the distance, but luckily the bird stayed put until we could properly ID it. This same grassy field also yielded Cape grassbird, Yellow-bellied and Common waxbills. Our next stop was a private property a few kilometers down the road, where a Bronzy sunbird had taken up residence. We got out the car and called him on the PDA, and within seconds he was flying above us. We both got a reasonable look at him, although from a distance, before he flew off. Our last stop was the old Tony's Tea Garden. The buildings were now vacant and the gardens were slowly giving way to natural forest. A type of creeper common in the garden apparently provided small fruit that Red-faced crimsonwings liked, and apart from Swynnerton's robin, this was probably our biggest target bird for Bvumba. Although Buluwezi spent ages scanning the canopy, there were no birds in sight and nothing responded to the calls from the PDA either. A noisy troop of Samango monkeys didn't help our cause either. For the moment giving up on the crimsonwings, we took a walk through the surrounding forest, calling Synnerton's robin at every single likely-looking spot and after every failure we got more desperate to see this elusive bird. Occasionally Buluwezi proclaimed hearing the call but he must have superior hearing because we couldn't recognize the distinctive whistle. Shortly after starting to ascend again from a small stream, with our hopes vaporizing, we finally found one! It scurried about the path in front of us and we got a good look, saw the distinctive white necklace and then it was gone. But finally we could tick off Synnerton's robin for real!. Our short walk back to the car surprised us with another lifer. Buluwezi heard the faint chirping and scanned the canopy high above, and with great excitement pointed out the Red-faced crimsonwings! Although they were a good 30m above our heads we got to see the bright red wings and could just make out both male and female birds. Buluwezi got us four lifers for a hugely successful morning but now our time with him was at an end. After dropping off Buluwezi back at the lodge, we headed to Leopard Rock hotel again in search of the Silvery-cheeked hornbills, but to no avail. Apparently White Horse Inn on the way back to Mutare is also a good place for the hornbills so we decided to make it our lunch stop. Unfortunately the only new bird for the day we could locate was African yellow white-eye but at least the lunch was excellent and feeling very contented, we made our way back to Seldomseen in the early afternoon.It was getting a bit hot and humid, despite the higher elevation so we rested for the rest of the afternoon before dinner and bed.
27 Dec 2013
We were up bright and early and had the car packed ready for our drive to the Honde valley. First we drove past the White Horse Inn again for another attempt at finding the Silvery-cheeked hornbill. But no such luck and we headed into Mutare where we filled up with petrol and quickly bought some groceries at the Spar (this time we headed straight into town where we found a properly stocked Spar). We had heard great things about Cecil Kop Nature Reserve from Buluwezi, so on the way out of Mutare, we stopped in there for some birding. Considering the complete lack of facilities and crappy road, the US$5 per person demanded by the Rasta-dude at the gate was a little ridiculous. Perhaps it was because it was already late in the morning (about 9am) but we didn't find any of the miombo specials we were still looking for. We drove up the 5kms to the radio masts and then turned around and were back on the Honde valley road by 11am. The twisty descent into the Honde valley was beautiful. Mutarazi falls dropped out of a cloudy top straight down for over 700m (after Tugela, it's the second highest waterfall in Africa) and the green green valleys looked lush and healthy. The tar road was not too bad in general but especially on the bends you had to drive slowly and carefully to dodge the potholes. But the last 6.5km to Aberfoyle is dirt road and after the rains they had for the past few weeks, not in good condition. We arrived at Aberfoyle safe and sound just after 1pm and checked in. Aberfoyle really is a fantastic place in a fantastic setting. It's literally at the end of the road (Gleneagles Mountain Reserve is a little further on but there's nobody there), tranquil, surrounded by forest and run by very friendly and competent people. But boy was it hot and humid! Our rooms didn't have air-con so we were extremely grateful that we dragged the little box fan along that at helped a little. After a short rest we walked around the lodge a bit and our hosts introduced us to the their bird guide, Morgan. We told him all the specials we were after and he quickly devised an itinerary for us, starting with a visit to Wamba marsh that same afternoon to try for Anchieta’s tchagra. At 16:30 we met up with Morgan and on our way out of the lodge stopped for our first lifer of the day – Scarce swift that Morgan had spotted flying high above us. After turning off at the Wamba tea factory and shortly before reaching the marsh, Morgan stopped us at the edge of a forest patch and pointed out another two lifers: Blue-spotted wood-dove and Green-backed woodpecker! Our mission though was the very localized tchagra, so soon we were squelching through the marsh, knee deep in water and getting terribly scratched by the innocent-looking ferns. But it was so worth it when Morgan called out from where he was looking! We hurried over and although it was quite far (about 50m) we could see it clearly and it actually stayed long enough for a photo before it slipped back into the reeds. Satisfied, we headed back to the lodge, quite content at getting four lifers on a day that was set aside for traveling. Another shower to rinse off the marsh and we were off to a delicious three-course meal: fried Haloumi cheese salad for starters, fillet steak for mains, and rum soaked banana crepes for desert! Absolutely stuffed we climbed into bed and got an early night.
28 Dec 2013
Another bright and early day dawned, and we met Morgan at 04:45 so we could drive across to Katiyo tea estate in search of the other Honde valley specials. And boy did the birds play along! Our first lifer was Magpie manikins that we found feeding in the various clumps of bamboo along the road. Shortly after entering the tea estate, a pair of Silvery-cheeked hornbills flew across the road, our Bvumba bogey birds. Close the air strip we parked the car and walked along the track and into some hilly agricultural land. Here we picked up Red-throated twinspot, Garden warbler, Short-winged cisticola, Pallid honeyguide and our star bird for the day, Moustached grass-warbler. The grass warbler needed a lot of work: Morgan played the call frequently and we could hear it answering in the distance but it was a good 20 minutes of playing the call, the walking a little on, then scanning before it all of a sudden appeared in a bush about 20m from us. These were just the lifers and we were treated to a large number of raptor sightings as well: Long-crested eagle, African goshawk, Eurasion hobby, African harrier-hawk, Black-winged kite, Wahlbergs eagle, Lizard buzard and Black-chested snake-eagle. With six lifers in the bag we headed back to the lodge and stopped at some corn fields along the way to pick up the seventh: Black-winged bishop. Back at Aberfoyle we had a swim in the pool, followed by lunch and at 2pm headed out with Morgan again, this time to Gleneagles Mountain Reserve. And we found our target bird – the Bronze naped pigeon! He called hauntingly from the far away cliffs and eventually one flew into the forest in front of us and allowed us some glimpses of him from afar. We also got much better sightings of the Pallid honeyguide, and were delighted to see African Broadbill again, only our second sighting in 5+ years of birding. Back at the lodge we had a nice soapy shower – much needed after a day of sweating and walking through the mud. Another excellent dinner followed and we headed for bed.
29 Dec 2013
With a hard day’s birding behind us and pretty much all the specials seen (dipped only on Lesser seedcracker and Red-winged warbler), we decided today was a rest day. A late lie-in was followed by a scrumptious breakfast. Then we spent a significant amount of time doing absolutely nothing – what a pleasure! It started getting hot towards 10am so we headed for our slightly cooler room to lie under the fan and watch a bit of TV. After lunch it started raining and we were glad we planned our birding for the previous day. After a lazy afternoon it was dinner time and then bed.
30 Dec 2013
There was no rush today so after another good breakfast we packed the car, had a shower, settled our bill and sadly said goodbye to Aberfoyle Lodge. Despite the heat and humidity here we had a great time with very friendly and helpful people, excellent birding and top-notch food – we’d recommend this remote spot of heaven to anyone. A slow drive out on the dirt road got us a couple of forest birds like Tambourine dove and Livingstone’s turaco but soon we were back on the tar and took our time up the valley and eventually all the way up the escarpment. The Nyanga mountains were heavily clouded and we drove into the mist shortly before the turn-off to Pungwe Drift. It was cool and misty and birding slow. Soon however, our concentration shifted to the road rather than birding as the heavy rains over the past weeks have muddied up the dirt roads that’s mostly used by large trucks and tractors for logging the pine plantations. With the car starting to fish-tail in sections, I had to slow right down. Luckily we had lots of time for the 24kms from the tar road and it wasn’t long before we reached the final turn-off with another 2kms down to the Pungwe river. This road was real nasty though as it was steep and very muddy. Going down wasn’t too bad but I dreaded the return drive. Halfway down we had to stop at an “office” to pay entrance of US$8 per person and US$5 per car. The per person entrance fee was supposedly per day as well but the guard at the office said he’d only ask us the money for one day. Good thing too since we thought US$8 per person per day a bit exorbitant. Another kilometer or so got us to the Pungwe river and we saw a cottage on either side. The drift was certainly passable but it looked a little risky with large potholes, the river flowing about 30-40cm deep over the drift and quite strongly too. Luckily our caretaker arrived just then and opened the cottage on this side of the river for us. No electricity and fairly rustic but a nice location, very peaceful and serene. We arrived in time for lunch so we sat outside and put our feet up and quite excitedly watched our thirtieth lifer for the trip fly low and dip into the river right in front of us – Blue swallows! Both males and females were seen every now and again and we were ecstatic to finally see the most handsome swallow of all! Late afternoon we waded across the drift to explore a little and the made our plans for the rest of our 3-night stay. The road in was really horrible and neither of us fancied driving anywhere else as we were also warned 4x4 only after the drift – we thought you definitely needed 4x4 just to get to the drift! Dinner was cooked on gas and after a few TV episodes on the computer with a cup of tea, it was off to bed.
31 Dec 2013
With no big plans for today, we didn’t rush breakfast and by 7am took a slow walk down to the Pungwe waterfall. It was a short 1.5km walk but very pleasant and we saw Yellow-bellied and Common waxbills, more Blue swallows, Eastern saw-wings and a much better sighting of a female Red-faced crimsonwing. Back at our cottage we met some locals who were staying at the Mutarazi cottages a few kms down the road and wanted to try their hand at fishing the calmer Pungwe below our cottage. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and lazing about and it was a good thing too as heavy clouds moved in over the afternoon and brought some more wet.
01 Jan 2014
Our new year started quiet with cool and overcast skies. After breakfast we set out again, crossing the Pungwe river and then carrying further up the tracks leading closer to the escarpment edge. A few of the now common birds in the area, including Scarce and Mottled swifts, Blue swallows and Eastern saw-wings were seen as we walked for about 4kms until we had a nice, albeit cloud-covered view, of Zimbabwe’s highest mountain, Nyangani. Just at this point we were lucky to spot a juvenile Augur buzzard that sat still long enough for a quick picture that was just good enough to ID it by. With more heavy clouds and mist moving in, we made our way back to the cottage for lunch and tea, watching even more rain cascading down on us.
02 Jan 2014
With hopes of getting to Lake Mutirikwi early enough to do some miombo birding, we were up at 04:15, ate a quick breakfast, packed and were on our way by 5am. The 2km track back to the Pungwe scenic drive proved as bad as we feared. The continuous rain over the past 3 days have not helped and one particularly steep and muddy corner had the car hopelessly spinning in the mud. I had to roll back twice to try and build a bit of momentum but with mud-caked tyres, this wasn’t easy. With a screaming engine and spinning wheels, I just just managed on the third try to take the corner and get on marginally more solid mud – enough to carry on to the next puddle where the tyres got cleaned a bit and provided a better grip. The rest of the 24km dirt road wasn’t too bad although it took us all of an hour and a half to drive. Despite very thick fog we were still able to do a little birding and we got our first Yellow-bellied waxbills and Red-backed mannikins for 2014. Back on tar we drove carefully through still very thick mist to Mutare to fill up with petrol. The trip through to Lake Mutirikwi was uneventful, despite passing six police road blocks on the way. Just before Mutirikwi river We turned off the tar road and followed the dirt track that circumnavigated the lake through excellent miombo woodland. In a few spots flying termite eruptions lured an abundance of birds but they were all common ones. We did get a nice sighting of a White-breasted cuckooshrike and a single Abdim's stork a little further on in a grassy field. We arrived at Norma Jeane's at around 2pm and spent a lazy afternoon enjoying the luxury of electricity, before having dinner at the restaurant. We were disappointed that the meal was not as well prepared, or as good value for money as the first night we ate there, but nevertheless, it was a lot better than tinned meatballs. With plans of leaving for the border at 4am, it was off to bed at 9pm.
03 January 2014
The alarm woke us up at 03:30, and we were packed and on the road by 4am. We made good time and reached the border at 7am. After our 3-hour border stint on the way in, we didn't really know what to expect. But things looked very deserted and surprisingly found the South African side more inefficient than the Zim side this time around. Despite stumbling around to try and collect all the necessary stamps on our gate pass, we were driving back on South African soil before 8am. After filling the fuel tank, we made a bee-line for the nearest supermarket in Musina and stocked up on fresh meat and vegetables before driving to Mapungubwe National Park. On the way we had a nice sighting of a pair of African hawk-eagles, and once inside the park we picked up Meves’s starling, Yellow-throated petronia and Red-billed buffalo-weaver. We were grateful for the overcast skies as they shielded us from the burn of the sun, but the clouds cleared by the afternoon and scorched down on us. The park must have had some rain recently because almost every sandy open bit was covered in small yellow flowers - very pretty! At 2pm we fetched our unit's key from reception and enjoyed the air-conditioning for the rest of the afternoon. We had a braai for dinner, watched a movie and heading off to bed to catch up on the early morning start.
04 Jan 2014
After a quick breakfast we took a slow drive to the Tree Top boardwalk but only added the common birds like Broad-billed roller, Woodland kingfisher, Emerald-spotted wood-dove etc. We made our way back up to the mopani-covered plains to drive past the small dam at the entrance where we got Ruff, Wood sandpiper, Little stint, Little grebe and Three-banded plover. Heading east we found our first Striped kingfisher for the year and then a cracker view of a striding Kori bustard and a little further, Willow warbler and Double-banded sandgrouse. Literally thousands of Barn swallows were flying low over some grassy fields and perching on the road-side trees and a soft trilling call we immediately recognized as Barred wren-warbler. Further north we drove past the Zebra dam and then took the drive along the Limpopo. Here we got Malachite and Pied kingfishers, Red-billed firefinch, Common waxbill, Mocking cliff-chat, Orange-breasted bush-shrike and Spectacled weaver. The rocky road leading up to the Confluence viewpoint that's supposed to be used by 4x4s only was nowhere near as bad as the roads in Nyanga so the X-trail easily cruised to the top. We popped in to our unit at Leokwe quickly to pick up lunch and then drove out the park to see if we can pay a quick visit to the Den Staat wetlands and the western section of the park. What an utter disappointment! At den Staat, despite recent rains covering the fields in pretty yellow flowers, the area must have suffered from drought for some time because virtually all the brilliant wetlands were gone! It was just one big cracked mud plain with dead tree stumps and no birds! It was a real shocker and after ten minutes we turned around to drive to the western section of the park. This too was disappointing because the moment we crossed the cattle grid, the road just disappeared. Obviously they must have had severe floods a few years ago because the road is, well, just gone. There were some nasty tracks off to the side that we drove for a short while but it was now hot and the slow careful driving meant we couldn't really focus on bird-watching. We decided to turn around. On our way back out we made on last-ditch effort by driving up the Samaria access road. The wetlands here were in an equally non-existent state but about 200m past where the first ponds used to be, there was an obviously deeper depression that still had some water. There were some birds around so we parked and counted them up: Marsh and Wood sandpipers, White-faced whistling duck, Black, Green-backed and Squacco herons, African jacana, Black-winged stilt, White-winged tern and in the surrounding bushveld, Little bee-eater, Lesser grey shrike and Jacobin cuckoo. Just as we were about to leave, a large flock of birds circled and landed on a sandbar about 80m from the car. Too far for photos but a quick look with binocs confirmed Black-winged pratincoles. Feeling a little better after adding these waterbirds, we left this part of the park and went back to Leokwe. It was fiercely hot by mid-afternoon and we almost regretted booking a sunset drive that was to leave at 4pm. We still had faint hopes for Three-banded courser so at 15:30 we braved the sun and drove back up to the entrance. Our sunset drive was fully booked and two Americans and a group of French tourists filled up the bakkie. On our way to the Kanniedood 4x4 loop we picked up a Dark-chanting goshawk and another two Striped kingfishers. Our companions were much more interested in the 4-footed animals though and got very excited at our first group of impalas. On the 4x4 route our driver had to concentrate much more on driving so little attention was given to the animals although we did get a Pearl-spotted owlet. Down at the Limpopo we stopped briefly before driving along the river route and then back out to the entrance where we arrived just after 7pm. With 11kms back to Leokwe, it was prime time for nightjars and coursers so after all the other tourists had left, we took a slow drive back with Nicola armed with the spotlight. And it paid off - less than a kilometre from the entrance a little nightjar was sitting in the road and we were able to drive to within 20m of it. A careful look at the facial markings identified it as Rufous-cheeked nightjar. The rest of the drive was bird-less though and back at our unit it was time for dinner and bed.
05 Jan 2014
Our holiday was over and it was time to go home. A double-rainbow graced the sky as we packed the car and it must have been a good omen because on our way out we got a very unexpected lifer, a pair of Burchell's sandgrouse smack in the middle of the road! We took a few close-up photos as evidence and then exited the park , driving back home via Alldays, Polokwane, Roedtan and Marble Hall. Pale chanting goshawks were sitting on virtually every second telephone pole but what surprised us more was a large flock of White storks, probably 150 or more, all curiously standing in some mixed woodland just outside Mapungubwe. The road back home was uneventful and by 3pm we were home safely.
What an incredible and interesting two weeks! We identified 295 species in total of which 32 were lifers. I passed the 700 mark for southern Africa and Nicola is just 4 species short. Zimbabwe is certainly a land of contrasts but we'd certainly like to go back again, but perhaps try to avoid Beitbridge next time!
