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September 12th was Dad’s 65th birthday and I thought it fitting to spend a relaxing and peaceful weekend with Mom and Dad in the Tankwa Karoo NP. After an overnight stop in Ceres, we were up before dawn on Friday morning and entered the Karoo through Karoopoort. Early morning cloud still hung around the mountains and it was pretty cold every time we stopped to listen for birds or look at the beautiful geological formations. We started with singing Namaqua warblers and Karoo prinias. At a picnic spot where we stopped for breakfast, a couple of Karoo chats and Cape buntings investigated the possibility of crumbs from the car and White-necked ravens flew across the road. My Dad and I had a very brief glimpse of a Black-headed canary and as we entered the Karoo proper, we also added Alpine swift, White-throated canary, Grey-winged francolin, Rock martin and Sickle-winged chat. I was hoping to try and pick up Cinnamon-breasted warbler in Peerboomskloof (Skitterykloof) but it was quiet as we drove up the short section of tar and then a little further into the scenic plateau above Katbakkies pass. We returned to the bottom and paid a visit to the Tankwa Padstal which stocked some delicious looking preserves, the most promising being the kiwi chutney. Stocked up on delicacies we headed further north on the longest un-interrupted road in South Africa – over 200kms between Calvinia and Ceres. Just before entering Tankwa Karoo NP, with the three highest summits in the Cedarberg shimmering to the west, we stopped for lunch and then saw tiny little pebbles, weirdly sand-carved into upside-down semi-spheres, scattered all over the sandy plain. The Karoo proper now started producing good species including Large-billed, Cape clapper, Red-capped and Spike-heeled larks, Trac-trac chat, Karoo scrub-robin, Namaqua sandgrouse and Capped wheatear. Thankfully the gravel road was recently graded and comfortable to drive on. We entered the Tankwa Karoo NP proper through a cattle grid and shortly after saw a single Karoo korhaan wander across the road. It was still a long drive to the offices where we had to check in and with the afternoon getting hot, we picked up a little speed. At the bridge crossing a small stream just before the park office we picked up South African shelduck and Common fiscal. We checked in quickly and then spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around our accommodation at De Zyfer – an old converted farmhouse with no electricity, a solar powered fridge/freezer and a donkey boiler. In front of the east-facing verandah, there was a small dam wall and a walk over the top in the late afternoon produced a Fairy flycatcher. It was pure bliss putting our feet up drinking a cup of tea, watching House sparrows, Southern masked weavers, Cape turtle doves, Karoo scrub-robins and Familiar chat compete for scraps with a couple of Striped mice and Karoo bush rats. As the sun started setting, Dad took a walk behind the farmhouse and scared up a Barn owl from a derelict barn. We ate dinner out on the verandah with dusk hurrying along in the desert stillness. With the stars out we talked and reminisced until our eyes drooped and then headed for bed.
On Saturday we were up before dawn and after discovering that the tap water in the house is virtually undrinkable, decided to wait until the office opened so we could buy some bottled water. After breakfast we drove out to the bridge just before the office and spent an hour around the bushes picking up Namaqua warbler, Fairy flycatcher, Bokmakierie, Cape spurfowl, Karoo prinia, White-backed mousebird, Karoo thrush, Rock martin plus a few others. When the office opened at 08:30 we popped in quickly to get a 5-litre bottle water and then drove north, hoping to ehad for Varschfontein on the western side of the park. The office staff told us the road was recently graded and doable in a sedan. On the way we added Common ostrich, Chestnut-vented tit-babbler, Booted eagle and Dusky sunbird but best of all were two beautiful Rufous-eared warblers cavorting in the early morning sun not far from the road. As we turned west, the vegetation changed a little and I heard Cape clapper lark and Grey-backed cisticolas calling. The road descended a small valley and here we got stuck a bit: although the road was still good, very high drainage bumps were just a little too much for the Corolla. We stopped here and got out the car, walking around the Karoo veld and taking pictures of late flowers, weird cacti and more interestingly, a massive puff adder and a centipede almost a foot long. Both Trac-trac and Sickle-winged chats were quite common here along with Karoo lark, White-throated canary, Cape bunting and Rock kestrels. Not risking the road down to Varschfontein, we turned back east and decided to head up Gannaga pass that ascends the Roggeveld escarpment in the north eastern corner of the park. Earlier in the week I had made contact with Japie Claasen of Karoo Birding Safaris who was extremely helpful in providing us with advice and a map of where we’d be able to drive with the Corolla. So with Gannaga pass marked as doable, off we went. What an absolutely fantastic pass! The road was surprisingly good despite being rocky and narrow in places. From the bottom of the valley it climbed about 600m and close to the top there was a viewpoint from where the entire Tankwa Karoo stretched to the west, climbing up into the Koue Bokkeveld and then the high Cedarberg and Groot Winterhoek mountains. We stopped for lunch here and while eating cheese, crackers, kiwi chutney and fruit, we gawked over the beautiful scenery and interesting rock formations. It was noticeably cooler on top as we carried on along the road that now started showing snow damage. We had a nice sighting of Black-headed canaries but as it was already now early afternoon, the birds were not many. We slowly scanned the rocky cliffs to the north for Cape rockjumper and Groud woodpecker but neither was seen or heard – only Red-winged starlings, a covey of Grey-winged francolin and a lone Spur-winged goose at one of the dams in the valley. We returned down Gannaga pass, arriving back at De Zyfer cottage around 4pm. It was time to get the donkey boiler and braai fire going but in a strong breeze that had picked up across the plains, this was a smoky affair. Again we spent the evening chatting away and Dad and I happened to be looking at the right spot in the sky when one of the most brilliant meteorites I’ve ever seen burned across the sky and broke up into smaller pieces in the upper atmosphere.
As we were again up before dawn on Sunday morning, we could still eat a decent leisurely breakfast before the sun was up. After dropping the cottage keys at the office we left and drove out slowly. The usual suspects were about but just outside the park’s gate we picked up a juvenile Black harrier which we were able to approach and get decent pictures in. We paid another visit to the Tankwa Padstal and bought more preserves and home-made ginger beer before heading for Peerboomskloof again. In the kloof we added Malachite sunbird, Rock kestrel, Cape clapper lark, Karoo lark and Karoo chat but as we reached the top of the kloof, we had to pick up a little speed as I still had to get to the airport for my flight back home. We stopped in Katbakkies pass to look at the beautiful Skurweberg mountains behind the Koue Bokkeveld and soon after were on the road to Ceres. With road works hampering the way between Ceres and Worcester, Dad decided to drive a little loop via Tulbach, Wellington and then behind Paarl mountain to reach the N1 without incident. Just after 2pm we were at the airport and the short weekend was officially over. It was a truly memorable weekend with my parents. The Tankwa Karoo is spectacularly beautiful and I added 14 new birds for the year (I was only expecting about 10). I do hope to visit this park again sometime soon.
