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After hearing about the hard-core birding weekends in Kruger from a friend at work, we booked our places on a weekend's birding around Punda Maria camp in northern Kruger National Park, everything organized as a fund-raising event for SANParks by the West Rand Honorary Rangers.
Friday
We left our Polokwane accommodation bright and early, so that we could get some good birding in on the way to Kruger NP. We picked up a few common birds along the road but only started birding properly at Muirhead dam in the Royal Macadamia farm. We wandered around the dams and picked up some common bush birds like Yellow-bellied and Sombre greenbuls, Cape batis, Grey-headed bush-shrike, and a nice sighting of a Lizard buzzard. Unfortunately no African pygmy geese on the dam. We continued to Kruger and birded slowly on the road to our camp, Punda Maria. We booked in at Punda Maria and had a short rest in our bungalow before meeting up with all the other participants of the birding weekend. There were a lot of cloud about and although it prevented a hot direct sun from scorching us to death, it was still hot and humid. We were lucky to have Niall Perrins as our guide for the duration of the weekend and together with his wife Debbie and another five people in our group, headed off on our first game drive, to be followed with sun-downers and a short night drive back to camp. We picked up a few nice birds like White-backed vulture, Wahlberg's eagle, African green pigeon, Levaillant's cuckoo and Black cuckooshrike. But it was not long before the clouds could not contain themselves anymore, and wept deluges onto the earth. We tried putting up the sides of the game drive vehicle to prevent the wind blowing the rain into the car, but the canvas sides and top had seen better days and the numerous holes in the roof meant no-one stayed dry. We parked under a tree and waited for the clouds to cry themselves out, all of us crouching over our cameras and binoculars. With the rain not letting up, we turned around to collect our rain gear back in the camp. By the time we left camp again, the worst of it was over so we continued with the plans for sun-downers. We drove along a very wet and muddy track to a beautiful spot overlooking a bend in the Luvuvhu river, where we sipped drinks while trying to spot the Water thick-knees that were calling in the night. After nightfall we started the journey back to camp, however our vehicle proved no match for the deep muddy ruts where three vehicles had now passed and we got ourselves well and truly stuck. We followed our drivers advice and climbed out the car, rocking it back and forth while he revved it, trying to free it from the cloying mud. Our attempts were very successful and the right back tyre which was halfway into the mud ended up completely submerged. Being the front vehicle we at least had the security of knowing two more cars were on their way, so when they arrived there was some discussions and then major jostling as we all squashed into the two remaining cars and made our way back to camp. The vehicle was left to the mercy of the lions and leopards. Back at camp we had a nice braai for dinner before climbing into bed, sparing a thought for our drivers who were about to head back to free the stricken vehicle at 9pm.
Saturday
At 01:45 our alarm woke us up and sleepily we dressed and made our way to camp reception. Everyone was already waiting and as soon as we were on our car, we left. At the camp gate we were held up a little while our driver put down the side flaps and front screen as it had started drizzling again. Soon we were on our way though and with the drizzle stopping every now and again, we had excellent sightings of Water thick-knee, Bronze-winged courser, Fiery-necked, Square-tailed and European nightjars. The Klooperfontein pans unfortunately offered nothing new but soon after we got onto the tar road, a Spotted eagle owl made a brief appearance. As we got closer to Pafuri we saw more nightjars and Bronze-winged coursers. Unfortunately our vehicle was at the back when a Three-banded courser was spotted and it flew up before we were able to see it well and it remained off our checklist. Just before reaching the Levuvhu river we had two fantastic leopard sightings: a mother and teenager slowly walked down into a stream bed before fading into the darkness and then another teenager lying on top of one of the signposts just before the Levuvhu bridge. Both sightings offered a great photographing opportunities but by the time we made it to the bridge to look for Pel’s fishing owl, the time spent with the leopards delayed us enough to make it too late for the owl. Even so, the bridge provided a vantage point for good sightings: first up were a few White-crowned lapwings landing on one of the few remaining sandbars, soon followed by calls of Brown-hooded kingfisher, African fish eagle and Tropical boubou. Knob-billed duck and Eurasian hobby had fly-overs and some of the tangles on the southern side of the bridge produced Yellow-breasted apalis, Collared sunbird, Ashy flycatcher and Willow warbler. As it started getting lighter, the first swallows and swifts made their appearance. First were lots of Barn swallows together with Common house and Rock martins. Lesser striped and Wire-tailed swallows followed and then the big one we were hoping for – Bohm’s spinetail! A single bird flew a few circles providing just enough time for a positive ID before disappearing. After about an hour the bridge wasn’t offering anything new anymore so most of the vehicles turned north. Three more lifers made it onto our list: first was an Olive-tree warbler – not a great sighting but the call confirmed it. Soon after the group heard Harlequin quails calling. Since we’ve never IDd them before, it took us a while to pick up on the call and while we were listening to these, the soft booming of a Kurrichane (Small) buttonquail could also be heard. Normally we would not ID these two lifers on call alone but with Niall confirming them, there was no doubt in our minds. Around 07:30 we turned around and headed for the Pafuri picnic site for breakfast. Along the way we added Yellow-billed oxpecker, Long-tailed paradise-whydah, Mosque swallow, Striped kingfisher and both Orange-breasted and Grey-headed bush-shrikes among a bunch of other common birds. Having some snacks with coffee at the picnic site added a couple more common birds but nothing exciting. From here we headed east towards Crook’s Corner. Our last lifer for the day was a poor sighting of Mottled spinetails as pointed out by Niall. Confident now of the Harlequin quail call we picked up numerous more calls from the rank grass along the track. Red-faced cisticola, Broad-billed roller and Crowned eagle gave good views but the sight of a cuckoo got us all very excited when it turned out to be a Common cuckoo – only our second sighting ever! Crook’s Corner punched in with Little rush and Marsh warblers, Saddle-billed stork, Blue-cheeked bee-eater and Pied kingfisher. On our way to the border post we got cracker photos of Grey-headed kingfisher and also saw Lemon-breasted canaries. Then it was back on the road and after a quick pit stop at the picnic site we spent a good 20 minutes at a few road-side pools south of the Levuvhu. Spectacled weaver, Wood sandpiper, Red-billed firefinch and Cut-throat finch were added before getting Sabota lark and Eurasian golden oriole a bit further south. With the afternoon dragging on a bit, we were all getting tired and some heads were starting to sag. But the sight of a Kurrichane buttonquail running across the road lifted our spirits again and we were wide awake for a last few birds like Eurasian hobby, Kori bustard, Great spotted cuckoo, Wattled starling and Dark chanting goshawk. Having only returned around midnight from retrieving our stuck vehicle and then still having to wash it before loading us in again at 02:00 in the morning, our poor driver must have been knackered. Just before 4pm we were back in camp and our driver could go off for a rest. We were still keen on getting the most out of the day. Niall and Debbie graciously agreed to take us along on a short drive up the Mahonie loop. Although we added nothing major, we did see another eight species, bringing our total tally for the day to 153, breaking our previous daily record of 149! Very chuffed with the day, Niall dropped us off and we quickly completed our weekend checklist before dinner. While eating venison and chicken potjies, the Honorary Rangers presented some sponsored goodies to everyone and gave a short talk on what they do and how they operate. However, both of us were very very tired and after all the activities were done, we said goodbye to our new friends from our group and headed for bed.
Sunday
After the long Saturday out in the field, we only rose at 6am, had some breakfast and headed out at 7am. We turned onto the gravel road towards Klopperfontein in the hope of finding Temminck’s courser. Although still overcast it was definitely hotter than Saturday and it seemed quieter as well. Many of the common birds were added at one point or another and highlights included Martial eagle, African and Klaas’s cuckoos, Broad-billed roller and Common quail. Just before Klopperfontein, I drove over a slight bump in the road and then heard a funny noise coming from the left front wheel. First thinking that some sticks got stuck in the wheel well, we stopped and inspected it but couldn’t find anything. We sped up for a short distance and made a few sharp turns to try and dislodge whatever was making the noise but to no avail. We stopped again and did a more thorough inspection without finding anything again. Fearing something more serious we decided to head back to Punda camp where we arrived just after 10am. While filling up with fuel I jacked up the car and removed the wheel. I still couldn’t see anything obvious and neither the wheel nor the brakes seemed excessively hot. Between the brake disk and the metal cover I did see a tiny stone of about 3mm across. I didn’t think this could be the source of all the noise we heard but removed it anyway. With the wheel back on we drove off and lo and behold – no noise! So maybe it was the small stone after all. It was now depressingly hot and humid and still feeling the effects of the long Saturday, we decided to cool off a little under the aircon in the hut. Only after 3pm did we emerge again to a cloudy afternoon and decided to drive out east to see what we could find. Unfortunately no exciting birds were seen but it was a pleasant drive anyway and we were back in camp just before the gates closed. After dinner we took the spotlight down to the hide at the camp perimeter hoping for something interesting. There was nothing around though and as it was still hot and humid, we quickly fled back to the hut.
Monday
We were up at 4am and took a quick walk down to the hide. There were some nightjars around but after short foraging flights, always went to perch just beyond the reach of our spotlight. We did hear African scops owl but when it started drizzling again, we walked back to the hut and packed up. We were at the camp gate at opening time and immediately drove out onto the Mahonie loop. It was overcast, wet and quite dark and it seemed the birds thought it was still sleeping time; we didn’t pick up many in the first two hours or so. Most of the birds we did see were the common ones but we had a few nice sightings: we spent about five minutes watching a Black cuckooshrike beating a massive caterpillar to death, a Bennett’s woodpecker sat still long enough for semi-decent photos and we got our first Red-billed oxpecker for the trip, gleaning parasites off a giraffe with just one eye. With wet and overcast conditions still reigning, we reached the end of the Mahonie loop and it was time to head home. Outside Kruger NP the clouds eventually eased up and it made the driving home relatively comfortable, arriving safely home in the afternoon.
It was a great experience out with the Honorary Rangers’ birding weekend. We had a nice group on our vehicle and made new friends, including our guide Niall and his wife Debbie who were very generous with their time and knowledge. We would certainly be doing this again!
