Durban pelagic and St Lucia birding, Nov 2015

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In November 2014, a pelagic trip off Durban arranged by Niall Perrins produced a Grey petrel and among a whole bunch of other goodies; with initial plans for my 2015 Africa Big Year already underway, this prompted us to add a 2015 pelagic trip to the plans.

It was a long drive to Durban and we only arrived at 9pm. Our accommodation at Bentley “lodge” was truly awful and I’d rather not dwell on it here – they will certainly not see us again. Saturday morning we were up very early and on our way before dawn. The confusing Durban roads took some time to negotiate but we made it to Wilson’s wharf in time to meet the rest of the group. The weather was overcast and cool and although there wasn’t much of a wind, the skipper told us a two metre swell was predicted. At 6am we were off and in the harbour we ticked our first birds: Caspian and Common terns, Grey plover, Terek sandpiper (very distant), Grey-headed and Kelp gulls. Raptors were also out and about and a Western osprey and Lanner falcon were nice additions. The moment we got past the breakwater it was obvious it was going to be an interesting day as the swells came in at a 45 degree angle and were as large as predicted. Our first pelagic birds were the predictable White-chinned petrels but it wasn’t long before a Flesh-footed shearwater and Great-winged petrel were spotted. Trying to look for the distinguishing features on the heaving boat was distinctly unpleasant. The motion sickness tablet I took that morning made me so drowsy I had to sit down for a while and close my eyes but this was perhaps not a good idea and twenty minutes later I was heaving as well. Throwing up did make me feel much better though and I was practically fine for the rest of the day except that I really struggled to keep my eyes open. A couple of Indian yellow-nosed albatrosses and Wilson’s storm-petrels got interested in the chum that was put out but we had barely started looking for interesting birds when there seemed to be a problem with the engines. It turned out something was wrong with the clutch and the skipper couldn’t get the boat to reverse at all. Disappointingly, the call was made to return to Durban. We puttered back for the next two hours and although it was now more pleasant since the sea was calmer and we were sailing with instead of against the swell, it would’ve been nice to stay out for another 1-2 hours. The Flesh-footed shearwater was a lifer for both Nicola and I and the Great-winged petrel was new for the year too. So at least not a complete waste. We were back in the harbour just after 1pm and after saying goodbye to everyone, headed up the coast to look for Red-headed quelea that was reported from Umhlanga Nature Reserve. Although we couldn’t find the queleas, we added Knysna turaco, Thick-billed, Spectacled and Yellow weavers, Sombre and Yellow-bellied greenbuls and Terrestrial brownbul. By early afternoon we took to the road again for the 3-hour drive to St Lucia. Arriving there with an hour or so daylight left, we stopped at the bridge over the estuary and then the estuary itself for a few more birds. Jo-a-Lize lodge smack in the middle of town was our accommodation for the night and although there was no-one at reception, the security guard had our room keys. The room was a little run-down and parking a long way away, but the air-con worked and we had a small kitchen too. After a quick shower we were in bed and asleep by 8pm.

Another early wake-up call saw us at Banghazi gate (iSimangaliso wetlands park) at 5am. The birds were already calling: Livingstone’s turaco, Black-collared barbet, Red-capped robin-chat, Terrestrial brownbul, Diderick and Red-chested cuckoos were all very vocal. We drove the Vlei loop through the forested coastal dunes but the “vleis” were sadly bone dry and an obvious result of the now year-long drought in Kwazulu Natal. The birding was still good though: Collared, White-bellied, Marico and Grey sunbirds, Green malkoha, Chinspot and Woodward’s batises, Crowned and Trumpeter hornbills, Narina trogon, Crested guineafowl, Square-tailed drongo, Black-bellied starlings etc. At Catalina bay the lake’s water had receded so much that you could almost not make out the flamingos standing in the shallows more than a kilometer from us. There were some waders on the shore but even with a scope we would’ve struggle to ID these. The forest at Cape Vidal produced absolutely fantastic views of Blue-mantled crested flycatcher, Brown scrub-robin, Woodward's batis and Rudd’s apalis. The beach was a bit crowded though and there were no birds around – after getting some ice-cream from the kiosk, we got moving again. Disappointingly, the Dune, Pans and Banghazi loops were all closed and with temperatures rising towards mid-day we thought we’d see if we could re-enter the park at Dukuduku gate west of town. Annoyingly, they wanted to charge us another R140 to enter the same park (it all falls under iSimangaliso wetland park) so instead we picked up a few more birds at the estuary before deciding to take a break from birding. For dinner we pigged out at the local seafood dig, Ocean Sizzler.

Initially we were going to drive back via Muzi pans and Mkuze, but the terrible drought has given us second thoughts and instead we decided to enter iSimangaliso again, but go through Dukuduku gate and then drive up to Charter’s Creek. A quick stop at the St Lucia bridge was totally worth it as it was low tide and there were thousands of waders out: Little stint, Grey plover, Pied avocet, Common, Wood and Curlew sandpipers, Ruffs and a bunch of others just too far away to ID. Other birds included Goliath and Purple herons, Great egret, African purple swamphen, Black crake and Caspian terns. We’ve never seen the western side of the lake before and the riparian forest immediately beyond the gate was simply teeming with birds: Crested guineafowl, Sombre and Yellow-bellied greenbuls, Terrestrial brownbul, Orange-breasted bush-shrike, Eastern nicator, Dark-backed weaver, Black-crowned tchagra and Burchell’s coucal were just a few. Beyond this forest patch though, we were back in grassland dotted with palms, much like the road up to Cape Vidal. This still produced Yellow-throated longclaw, European bee-eater, a few cisticolas and swallows, but the glut was over. It was obvious though that this part of the reserve would be magical in wet years and we could just imagine the likes of crakes, rails, flufftails and Black coucals all over the place. However, now it was dry and windy and although we spotted lots of giraffe, a couple of Red-billed oxpeckers and some cracking Collared pratincoles, the birding wasn’t great. We stopped briefly at Charter’s Creek but this was so sad (chalets are no longer in operation, lake shore is almost a kilometer from the jetty and picnic/ablution facilities dilapidated) that we turned around quickly. The drive home was uneventful.

Despite some under-average accommodation, slightly disappointing pelagic and horrendously dry conditions, it was a really great birding weekend. Although our species count wasn’t that high, the quality of birds was amazing and I added nine new birds for the year, bringing my African bird tally for 2015 to 989.

Wakkerstroom birding, Nov 2015

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It’s been a while since we visited Wakkerstroom and with many possible new annual birds, including the possibility of a lifer (Rudd’s lark), we planned and booked our trip here a number of months ago. Knowing how difficult it could be to locate the area's specialty larks, we employed a local guide for most of the weekend: Lucky Ngwenya.

Friday afternoon we arrived at dusk and made a quick circuit of the wetlands in town, getting some excellent views of several African snipe and African rail. The weekend’s accommodation was at Chetnole cottages on the outskirts – a really fine place with self-catering facilities, comfortable beds and a cozy lounge. Saturday morning we met Lucky at the Wakkerstroom Post Office and headed north east out of town. Before heading into the hills we made a quick stop at the pans and picked up about twenty odd birds including Little bittern and Grey crowned crane. On a dirt road outside Wakkerstroom we stopped in a large patch of Ouhout. We picked up a bunch of birds here including Cape canary, Cape weaver, Drakensberg prinia, Bokmakierie, Black-headed oriole, Lazy and Wing-snapping cisticolas and Dark-capped yellow warbler. Lucky could hear Barratt’s warbler calling as well but it was far away and we were just not able to distinguish it between all the other bird calls. A few kilometers further we stopped near a wooded gully and we barely got out of the car when Lucky spotted a Bush blackcap. The guy’s got brilliant eyesight and it took a while for the two of us to latch onto the bird. A calling Red-throated wryneck distracted us and when we heard another noise close-by we looked up to find the Bush blackcap perched in the open about five metres from us. At this point we were high up on a hill with a vast valley spreading below us. At this higher altitude we also saw Greater kestrel, Banded martin, Steppe buzzard, Secretarybird and Buffy pipit, but as we headed lower down, we got a different suite of birds: Red-chested, Diderick, Klaas’s and Black cuckoos, Barrow’s korhaan, Denham’s bustard, Long-billed pipit and Cape crow. We stopped next to a field with grass grazed very short by cattle, followed Lucky through a fence and then fanned out, looking for African quailfinch. It wasn’t long before we flushed a few but despite them dropping back into the grass less than ten metres in front of us, we just couldn’t see them. It took some careful scanning and even more careful tip-toeing before we finally managed to sneak good views before the whole flock disappeared to another corner of the field. Reaching Dirkiesdorp still in the morning, we headed back to Wakkerstroom with a quick stop at a few rocky outcrops where we ticked Mocking cliff-chat, Cape rock-thrush and African black duck (at a small stream). Back in Wakkerstroom we turned north west into the lark loop roads and we got good views of Eastern long-billed, Spike-heeled and Red-capped larks, Blue korhaan and Mountain wheatear. By mid-afternoon we were back in town and with over a hundred species already seen, we gave Lucky a break and dropped him off close to his home. Nicola and I continued birding and drove back up the dirt road we started on this morning, mainly to finish off some of the pentads we started atlassing. Heavy clouds and a cold wind had started moving over the mountains and we only added Malachite sunbird, Cape bunting and Red-winged francolin before driving back. Our evening was very pleasant inside our cottage while wind and cloud streaked across the hills and delivered a little bit of much-needed rain.

Sunday morning we picked Lucky up from his home but heavy fog and drizzle made birding very hard. We turned around on a dirt road high in the mountains that was so socked-in that you couldn’t see ten metres. Instead Lucky directed us on a long drive to Daggakraal township where we stopped at various points looking mainly for Botha’s lark. With the first two spots producing nothing, we tried for a last chance in a cattle-grazed field on the outskirts of the township. Leaving the car, we fanned out again and walked for about ten minutes before Lucky spotted a few larks in the grass. Walking a bit closer, we flushed them and were then able to get closer for good looks before they flew off  – Botha’s lark ticked! The heavy cloud had started to lift and we raced back in the direction of Wakkerstroom and made a quick stop at Fickland pan where we finally saw our most-wanted bird for the weekend – Rudd’s lark. Lucky even showed us a nest briefly – it really was just a few grass tussocks twisted together and without knowledge of exactly where it is, we would obliviously walk right over it. Mongooses are a serious threat to the lark’s eggs and Lucky told us they were watching where we walked. So in order not to draw attention to the nest for the mongooses, we only took the briefest of glances at the nest and then walked a few more circles, pretending to be interested in something somewhere else. At Fickland pan itself there were Spur-winged geese, Great crested grebe, Maccoa duck, Southern pochard, Grey-crowned crane and Levaillant’s cisticola. We headed back up the mountain where we were fogged in this morning; now it was clear and sunny but a very strong wind made conditions unfavourable. Even so, Lucky quickly found us a Yellow-breasted pipit before we drove some beautifully scenic tracks down into Kwazulu Natal. The wind was becoming rather uncomfortable and by noon we were back in Wakkerstroom. Thanking Lucky for a wonderfully successful weekend, we stopped off at Chetnole cottage to gather all our stuff and then slowly birded out towards Amersfoort and then headed for home.

With 148 species seen (and 1 heard only) for the weekend, it was by far our best effort in Wakkerstroom, almost entirely thanks to Lucky who really is a fantastic guide and highly recommended.

Hazyview to Kruger NP birding, Oct 2015

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Friday after work we left for Hazyview and drove without incident via Sabie. This was our first weekend out with the Middelburg Bird Club and our chairman arranged some decent accommodation for all of us just outside Hazyview. There was still a bit of daylight left when we reached Sabie and we started atlassing on the last stretch towards Kwambali Riverside Lodge. It was early evening already so not many birds were around but we did pick up some African black swift, Black saw-wing, a great view of a Yellow-rumped tinkerbird and in the dark gloom of a pine plantation, an African goshawk. We checked in at Kwambali at 6pm, met Billy (Middelburg Bird Club chairman) and a few others and enjoyed views of a family of Mountain wagtails in the Sabie river flowing just outside our cottage. Feeling hungry, we decided not to braai and threw a couple of steaks in a pan and some roasties in the small grill in our cottage. It was quite humid but luckily not too hot and the fan in our lounge and bedroom helped a lot. After dinner we headed straight for bed, anticipating an early start on Saturday.

After a quick breakfast just after 4am, we started birding in the overcast dawn. The thick clouds did not help birding but hopefully it would ensure that the day didn’t become too hot. By the time we reached Kruger National Park’s Phabeni gate, we’d already logged twenty birds, including Purple-crested turaco, White-browed robin-chat, Black and Red-chested cuckoos, Sombre greenbul and Black-shouldered kite. Once inside the park, a light drizzle began to fall and we couldn’t hear too many birds. Still, a bedraggled small raptor gave us adequate views to ID it as a Eurasian hobby. We turned north onto the Sabie river road with the drizzle persisting. Despite this, we kept adding new species and just before the road started curving east, we were up to seventy birds for the day. A grassy clearing just on the curve had two cracker Senegal lapwings (our first sighting in Kruger NP) and by the time we reached Paul Kruger gate, we had IDd over a hundred birds and the drizzle had cleared. However, a quick visit to Lake Panic was a bit disappointing – only a single Squacco heron, Water thick-knee and Blacksmith lapwing were added. There was no sign of the usual weaver cacophony and kingfishers were limited to a couple of Brown-hooded and one Pied. We decided to make a quick turn through Skukuza camp to see if we could find more water birds in that section of the Sabie river. This proved fruitful but not because of the water birds! We parked at reception and walked through the gardens where we added both White-browed and White-throated robin-chats, African paradise flycatcher, a stunning view of a Yellow-bellied greenbul and a soaring Martial eagle. At the river things were quiet again but we did see Goliath heron, Wood sandpiper and Great egret before we left. With the afternoon dragging on and getting hot, we re-traced our drive from the morning. At 5pm we reached Phabeni gate again and stood at 133 species for the day. Hoping that we could get a few more back at Kwambali lodge, we rushed through Hazyview and got to our cottage at 17:30. Although we couldn’t find the Mountain wagtails again, we did pick up a calling Little rush warbler and finished the day on 134. It was the rugby world cup semi-finals between us and New Zealand today so we all sat nailed to the TV for the remainder of the game which sadly ended in a narrow loss. The whole group then got together at Kwambali’s communal lapa for a nice braai and chat. We saw some old acquaintances and met up with other members of the club. During dinner we all presented our tallies for the day – there were additional counts specifically for birds of prey, hirundines (swallows, martins, swifts) and club-defined specials. It seemed like we were on top of the birds of prey list and second from the top on the total species count – an excellent day’s birding! As the early morning started catching up with us, we bid a good night to all just after dinner and retired to our cottage.

Instead of birding a different area today, we thought that an early morning visit to Lake Panic could get us some new species, especially weavers. It was still dark when we left Kwambali but the sun rose into a clear sky just as we reached Paul Kruger gate around 05:15. The queue was short and soon we were heading for Lake Panic. Thankfully, only four other vehicles were there and we stayed for a good half an hour. The weaver nests were still ominously quiet but we did get a single Lesser masked weaver. A Malachite kingfisher and Wire-tailed swallow were further welcome additions and when we left the hide, we were already over fifty species. On the other side of Skukuza camp we saw a tall circling tower of vultures. Luckily we were able to stick with them as they started descending, finally ending up on a dirt road following the southern banks of the Sabie river. There was obviously a kill but unfortunately it was in the middle of the river and completely obscured. Strangely, there were no other cars and we had the spectacle all to ourselves – we worked our way through every single bird and ticked White-backed, Hooded, Lappet-faced and White-headed vultures, Marabou storks (lots) and a couple of Yellow-billed kites. With the day now heating up seriously we headed back to the Sabie river road and worked westwards to exit the park just after 11am. We had already seen over a hundred species on the day and figured we could get quite a few more on the drive home. A quick stop at Kwambali to drop our completed checklist and cottage keys, got us Cape white-eyes, Yellow-fronted canaries, Kurrichane thrush, Bar-throated apalis and a Long-crested eagle. Then we took a slow drive up towards Sabie, finished off our atlassing and added more birds (Southern double-collared sunbird, Steppe and Jackal buzzards, Bronze mannikin, Pied crow). With Long Tom pass behind us we descended into Lydenburg where we saw a Long-tailed widowbird and a Mallard at a small pond. Through Dullstroom we only added Ant-eating chat and both inland cormorants but in Belfast we were happy to add Pied starling and Speckled pigeon. Feeling confident that the lack of rain so far this season had created good mudflats at Wonderfontein and Leeuwfontein pans, we decided to make small detours to these. Without planning it, we now realized that we actually had a small chance of breaking our own daily record of 153 species. We reached Wonderfontein around 16:30 and it delivered big time! Right in front of us were three White-backed ducks – hands down the best view I’ve ever had of these uncommon ducks. Other birds included both White-winged and Whiskered terns, Wood sandpiper, Red-knobbed coot, Grey and Purple herons, Little and Great crested grebes, Grey-headed gull, Cape shoveler, Spurwing goose and Southern pochard. Surprisingly, no teals or other ducks. Adding a large raft of Greater flamingo from one of the other pans, we ticked twenty new birds for the day just from the pans – we now stood at around 150 species, give or take - we were in for a real good chance to break our record! Screeching to a stop just off the N4 highway at Leeuwfontein, it was obvious that this was going to be good stop. So we made the effort and drove to Alzu’s petrol station from where we picked up the farm track to the pan. Just driving the short 2kms to the pan was fantastic – Cape sparrow, Greater striped swallow, Capped wheatear (!), African stonechat, Pin-tailed whydah and Swainson’s spurfowl were all new. At the pan, the water level was so low that what is normally a small island, had grown into a bridge, splitting the pan in two shallow ponds with lots of waders around. African snipes were the most obvious birds around – there were probably about twenty of them. The waders were more difficult as they were almost impossible to approach on foot and just a bit far for our binoculars in the fading light. The only ones we were confident to add were Kittlitz’s plover, Little stint and Curlew sandpiper – there were lots of these three around and some were close enough to ID 100%. There probably were some Ruff and Common greenshanks too but they were so far off that we just couldn’t tick them with certainty. Other birds seen were African spoonbill, Cape longclaw, African pipit and flying around the bridge over the N4, Little swift and South African cliff swallow. Not entirely sure of our total count at this point, we decided to see what we can find at home. We rushed home as dark and angry clouds built in the west and got to Middelburg just before 6pm. Not expecting too much so late in the day, we were quite surprised to add a further eight new birds: Karoo thrush, Little egret, Cape weaver, Little rush warbler, Fan-tailed widowbird, Yellow-billed duck, Red-collared widowbird and Crowned lapwing. Wew! We parked at home and unloaded the car in the evening gloom and decided to have pizza for dinner. Still unsure of our final count we figured we could have pizza either in celebration or commiseration – time would tell!

Early on Monday morning I quickly entered all our birds into our database and found two duplicate entries we had to delete. But when I ran the final query and the total came back, I was ecstatic! One hundred and sixty eight species! And we weren’t even trying for the record until about 2pm! It was a wonderful weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed the trip so ably organized by Billy and the club. We finished with a total count (for the entire weekend) of 206 species, 17 (!) birds of prey, 11 hirundines and 15 specials (as defined by the club).

Cameroon birding, Sep 2015

The flight to Cameroon (with a quick stop in Libreville) was on time and despite waiting for my backpack for over thirty minutes, it was still just after 9pm when I exited the terminal. My old friend from our previous Cameroon trip, Benji, was waiting for me in the damp heat and escorted me to his car – the same one we used three years ago but with the addition of a few new scrapes and noises. It was a short drive to the Foyer du Marin hotel – also the same one we used three years ago. After a quick chat about the itinerary, Benji left me to have a snooze.

I was up before dawn, had a quick shower and packed up to be ready at 6am. Benji picked me up on the hour and we visited a boulangerie for a breakfast sandwich and some on-the-road snacks. Another friend of Benji’s was going with us to Bamenda – she and Benji were attending a funeral there together. Before getting completely out of Douala we had a quick stop at a marshy bit where a bunch of Common moorhens, Common greenshank, Northern grey-headed sparrow and African jacana were noted. Then it was a long road through Manjo to Dschang where we stopped for lunch. Interesting birds we picked up along the way were African pied hornbill, Brown-throated wattle-eye, African harrier-hawk, Vieillot’s black weaver and Yellow-mantled widowbird. After lunch we continued to Awing where Benji wanted to visit a small lake. Unfortunately, a bridge got washed away and all we could was walk along the dirt road to the bridge and back. Birding here was still good in the early afternoon though with Evergreen forest warbler, Square-tailed saw-wing, Orange-tufted sunbird, Scaly francolin and Mackinnon’s fiscal all making an appearance. The road to Bamenda is in a shocking condition and despite it being only about 300kms from Douala, the actual drive took us about seven hours. Considering Bamenda is a city of over 300,000 people and the capital of the North-west region, it’s really a disgrace that the local government has allowed the only access road to deteriorate to such an extent. Finally in Bamenda, I got checked into the Manjong hotel (or Blue Pearl hotel, depending on which signpost you read). Now at about 1200m a.s.l., there was a major reprieve from the stickiness of Douala and the climate was actually very pleasant. Benji left for his own accommodation while I settled down to a quite pleasant dinner of steak and chips before getting into bed. There are no mosquito nets, fans or air-conditioning in the rooms, but since I didn’t see any mosquitoes enter the room after dusk, I left the balcony door open until after dinner. Even after closing it for the night, it was not stifling and in the early morning hours I pulled the blanket on the bed over me as well – a far cry from the incredible discomfort we experienced three years ago camping out for two nights in the lowland forests of Korup National Park on the Nigerian border.

Benji arranged with the chef to have an early breakfast and despite not having proper milk to go with my coffee, the bread and croissant were fresh, the omelet well-seasoned and the watermelon crisp – a proper start to the day. The main centre of Bamenda lies in a bit of a bowl, surrounded by green hills. We drove back up the road through the suburb Upstation towards the village of Baba II – really just a collection of subsistence farmers and huts strung along a dirt road leading up into the hills. A landslide prevented us from driving all the way to a forest patch and left us with a 3km walk just to get there. Birding along the road was good though: Northern double-collared sunbird, Black-crowned waxbill, Chubb’s cisticola, West African swallow, Little, Yellow-necked and Yellow-throated greenbuls, Western tinkerbird and Green-headed sunbird among others all made it onto the list before we reached the forest. Inside the forest it was initially quiet and we only got Yellow-billed turaco and African emerald cuckoo calling. But a little deeper things got more interesting and we picked up Naked-faced barbet, Western mountain greenbul, fantastic views of Ruwenzori hill babbler, Western black-headed oriole and Elliot’s woodpecker. During a short rest for some sardines, rolls and pawpaw, we also added Grey apalis, Bannerman’s turaco, Yellow-spotted barbet and White-bellied elminia. With heavy thunderclouds threatening we started heading back down but didn’t quite make it out dry. Luckily it was just a brief shower and the sun was out again by the time we reached some corn fields below the forest. A good look at one of the weavers confirmed a Bannerman’s weaver and later, while waiting for the guestbook to arrive, I got a fleeting but decent glimpse of a pair of Red-faced crimsonwings. Benji and his brother Lazarus, who joined us for the day’s walk, shared some raffia palm wine while we waited for the guestbook and this also gave me a good rest before the long walk back to the car. It was around 1pm when we started heading back and with the sun out in force and me not having put on sunscreen earlier that morning (thinking we’d be in the forest all day), I got a bit of a tan. We were back at the car at 2pm and then it was another hour and half back to the hotel. I was back barely half an hour before it started pouring again and then it rained until early evening. Since dinner options were rather limited, I had steak and chips again.

After another early breakfast, we left for a short drive to the Mankon sacred forest on the north-western outskirts of Bamenda. As Benji had to attend the funeral today, his brother Lazarus and a local guide, Richard, also joined us – Benji would guide me until 10am when he had to leave and  Lazarus and Richard would stay with me for the rest of the day. The forest patch is rather small and since it’s a sacred area in the local fondom, there is currently no access to the interior of the forest. Instead, a track skirts around the edge for about two kilometres. It’s on a hill side and fairly open so it’s quite easy to spot a lot of forest-edge birds. We had a number of the usual forest species but bloody Common bulbuls dominated the scene and every first, second, fourth and fifth bird you looked at, was a Common bulbul. Even so, we had great views of Pale-fronted, Grey-headed and white-breasted nigritas, White-chinned prinia, Guinea turaco, African blue and Black-and-white flycatchers, Blue-throated brown and Copper sunbirds and Western tinkerbird. We returned to the car just after 10am and Benji dressed up to leave for the funeral. Lazarus, Richard and I had a bit of a rest on the steps of the Mankon museum and ate sardines on rolls. Around 11:30 we walked back on the same track. Unfortunately neither Lazarus nor Richard were birders so it was left to me to do the spotting and identification – not easy in unknown territory. However, a flock of small birds with brilliant red heads was unmistakably Red-headed quelea and this delighted Richard – it was apparently a new bird for their local bird list. We had heard and seen a few other birds by the time we reached the end of the track but nothing new that I was able to ID. We rested for about ten minutes before turning around but barely made it out of the clearing where we sat when it started to rain. Struggling to keep camera, notebook and binoculars dry, we rushed back to the Mankon museum, and just as we got into the car, absolutely soaked, it stopped raining. Richard and Lazarus dropped me off back at the hotel where half an hour later, it started raining again. I spent the afternoon drying clothes and shoes and typing up the bird list. Cameroon had so far produced 19 new species for the year and my Africa count for the year was up to 939.

Today was a bit frustrating. First, Benji and Lazarus was an hour late picking me up as some guy had parked them in at their accommodation and couldn’t be found until almost 7am. By the time we reached the Sabga hills it was already past 8am and the twenty minutes we spent looking for Neumann’s starling was fruitless and did not yield anything new. The road from Bamenda to Ndop was as crap as the other side of Bamenda. Two detours through some thick mud around broken bridges ate up another twenty minutes. Outside of Ndop Benji started to struggle getting the car into gear and this necessitated another half an hour in Ndop to fill up hydraulic fluid. Then a very hilly road up the slopes of Mount Oku forced us to stop twice to keep the engine from over-heating. By the time we reached the top of the climb, it was already past 11am and the most productive part of the morning was gone. But now at least we reached a tarred road that wound down the slopes to Elak and Oku. We were in fantastic Afro-montane forest wreathed in mist, reminding me much of Bwindi and Nyungwe forests, and Benji and I got out to walk and bird along the road. It was reasonably quiet though and the only bird of note we saw was Black-collared apalis. We had a few sugar balls and bananas for lunch before walking down a track to Lake Oku – a beautiful natural lake nestled in the foothills of Mt Oku at about 2200m. The trail down to the lake was quiet but on our way back up I spotted a wattle-eye and this one didn’t have a white wing-bar – it was a Banded wattle-eye – one of my target birds! In the next ten minutes we also saw Black-billed and Preus’s weavers and then also a Mountain robin-chat – another target bird. Back at the top of the trail we rested at a construction site of what might be a guesthouse in future. We got to the car just as it started raining and then drove down towards our accommodation at King David’s guest hotel in Oku. Definitely a step down from the Manjong hotel: the room was bare cement, I could feel the individual slats beneath the mattress on the bed, there was no hot water, electricity was questionable and the bathroom rather miserable. But it was peaceful and quiet and the food that was especially prepared for us rather nice. I went to bed early and slept like a log despite the poor quality mattress.

Mount Oku was in one word, disappointing. We had a thin breakfast and left around 06:30, walked up the road, through some farm fields and then entered the forest on the lower slopes. Right on the forest edge we picked up a forest warbler calling, but calling faster than the Evergreen forest warbler we’ve seen and heard several times now – this was a Bangwa forest warbler. Unfortunately this was also the last new bird we saw until we exited the forest. The weather was heavily overcast with a thin drizzle now and then and at this altitude (2100m) – pretty chilly. The track leading up into the forest was steep in places and very wet and slippery. It was also mostly overgrown so not the nicest of climbs. We saw and heard a number of birds but nothing exciting and nothing we haven’t ticked before. Just before reaching the highest point of our walk, Benji spotted a Grey cuckooshrike that was at least new for the trip. The track down was equally wet, slippery and overgrown and I was grateful to be out of it when we reached farmland again. Above the cornfields we now walked through, a Pectoral-patch cisticola was flying and calling and I was finally able to tick this bird (we've heard it several times but I never got a look at it). We walked another fifteen minutes until we reached a road. Benji called Lazarus to come and fetch us and then we spent the afternoon having lunch and watching the rain from the guest house’s verandah. Benji also commented on how quiet the forest was and how different (much more activity) it was in the dry season. I’ll admit that it’s a pretty forest and it has lots of potential but all in all, this was one of those awful birding days for me. Dinner was a very decent hot-pot of fish and potatoes but soon after dinner I went to my room to endure a last night on the paper-thin mattress.

There was plenty of blue sky about in the morning – it promised to be a nice day. We left immediately after breakfast and drove up into the forest by Lake Oku. We took the same walk down to the lake shore as two days ago and spending more than an hour on this 200m walk proved very fruitful. Apart from the usual common birds like Ruwenzori hill babbler, Cameroon, Northern double-collared and Olive-bellied sunbirds, we also got fleeting glimpses of Black-bellied seedcracker, Afep pigeon and Bamenda apalis. At the edge of the lake a Brown-capped weaver kept flitting between his nest and some foliage higher up and a small family of African black duck was very conspicuous. Back on the road we carried on slowly while Lazarus leapfrogged us with the car. A few other common birds were ticked but the only other bird of note was a Yellow-bellied hyliota. Just after 11am we reached the edge of the forest and looked down Mt Oku to the rice paddies of Ndop. We got back in the car and slowly descended the horrible road. It started raining as well and I was endlessly thankful that we were going downhill and not up. In Ndop it was noticeably warmer as we stopped for a local lunch. Thereafter we got onto an even worse road to Balikumbat – Benji’s home village. To call it a road would be unfair to dongas – it really was just a stretch of ground cleared of trees and grass where mad people occasionally drove. It made the Bamenda road look like a four-lane highway. It took us almost two hours to drive the twenty odd kilometers. We first reached our accommodation for the night – the Plateau Resort. In this case, calling it a resort is unfair to miserable dumps around the world. My room was large enough but the floor and single sheet covering the bed were filthy. There was no light (as in, no light-bulbs), no toilet seat, no toilet paper, towel or soap. We got them to wash the floor, change the bed sheet (but I never got another sheet or blanket) and screw in a light bulb. Then we visited Benji’s parents, brother and daughter. As Benji hasn’t seen them for a few months, we spent some time with them before going on an afternoon birding drive around Balikumbat. This was very interesting and we picked up Yellow-mantled widowbird, Striped kingfisher, Variable sunbird, Southern fiscal and a couple of beautiful Marsh widowbirds. With the sun faltering behind some serious thunderclouds, we stopped at Plateau Resort to have a “shower” before visiting Benji’s sister for a delicious home-cooked dinner. Oddly, since they’re at the same altitude, Balikumbat seemed a lot hotter than Bamenda and I was sweating throughout dinner. I think Benji could see I was getting tired so after taking me back to Plateau Resort, he returned to his family.

I slept reasonably well despite the heat and humidity and got up at 5am to sort out all my stuff. Benji was ready at 6am and we left the dump behind us to have breakfast at Benji’s sister’s. She made us a quick omelet typical West African style. With a couple of bread slices and a cup of Ovaltine, we were ready to go. We drove out on a track that gave us access to the slopes of the isolated outcrop on which the Balikumbat palace stood. Benji’s grandmother had a mud-brick house here and to be safe, we left my bag with her while we birded further uphill. There were a couple of large trees, palms and patches of cornfields, giving way to tall grass higher up. Pretty much everything was sopping wet from overnight dew and within two minutes I was soaked from the hips down. African green pigeons started our day’s list and soon the other expected species like Common bulbul, Red-eyed dove, Pied crow, Tropical boubou etc, were also on. Still within the trees, Benji spotted an Oliveback and I was actually able to get a few crappy photos of this beautiful little bird – it was a Grey-headed oliveback and very high up on my list of birds I was desperate to see in Cameroon! A bush-shrike call got us interested in some palm leaves and Benji first thought it was a Many-coloured bush-shrike when he got a glimpse of it. However, the calls didn’t really match. The bird returned a few minutes later but I never got a good look at it – all I saw was a bill that was way too thin for a bush-shrike. The bird flew off again and after deliberating for a good ten minutes, we gave up and left it unidentified. Higher up the hill we got both Senegal and Blue-headed coucals, lots of Red-collared widowbirds and some Orange-cheeked waxbills. We had a fly-by of something that looked like a Seedcracker but it disappeared in the tall grass. As fog started pouring over the cliffs above us, the red and dark grey bird we thought might be a seedcracker returned and sat on top of a small tree about 50m away. All we could really see through the binocs was dark grey and red so I whipped out the camera hoping it would sit still long enough. It did, and when I zoomed in on my camera, I almost dropped it. On the zoomed image, however distorted, it was impossible to miss the small white spots on the flanks of the bird – it was a Dybowski’s twinspot! I yelled at Benji but the bird flew off. Benji had a look at my photo and was equally surprised and happy. What an absolute top-notch find! It would take some doing to unseat this little twinspot as my top bird for the entire trip! Feeling exhilarated we climbed higher still and heard an owl hooting on the cliffs. I scoured the rock face carefully and although I couldn’t locate the owl, I did find a Common kestrel – the mist had started piling in thickly now and it partially obscured the cliff making things a little difficult. We decided to start back and stopped for a few minutes at Benji’s grandmother who offered us some peanuts as a snack. The rural track then took us further into the countryside and Benji aimed for a road that zig-zagged steeply up a hill. The surface became pretty much un-driveable, (not that the track so far should be considered much better) and we parked about a quarter of the way up to walk the rest. We had left the mist on the opposite side of the valley and the morning was starting to get hot. This side of the valley was distinctly drier and the vegetation also more stunted. Birds perhaps more typical of bushveld were common here: Variable sunbird, Whistling cisticola, Yellow-bellied eremomela, Black-crowned tchagra, Tawny-flanked prinia. The road was impossibly steep in places – smashed windscreens next to the road evidenced some nasty mishaps in the past. By the time we climbed about 300m in altitude, we reached the top in baking heat – we stopped long enough to ID a pair of Black-shouldered puffback and then walked back down. It was now almost noon and bloody hot. We paid a quick visit to Benji’s in-laws and then also stopped briefly again at his parents' place to pick up Lazarus and another lady who were going with us to Ndop. The road back to Ndop was still as bad as yesterday and the blue skies above us did not make things more comfortable. The tar road to Bamenda was also still poor but at least the air cooled down significantly higher up in the hills and heavy cloud over Bamenda made it feel twenty degrees cooler than Balikumbat. We reached Manjong hotel around 14:30 and I spent the afternoon cleaning clothes and gear, taking a proper shower for the first time in four days and relaxing a little in the cooler air. I pigged out for dinner and polished a plate of steak and chips and a whole pawpaw for dessert.

My last birding day in Cameroon dawned with heavy cloud remaining after rain during the night. Benji and Lazarus picked me up at 06:15 and we drove out to Mankon forest again, hoping to find something different. We added a few of the common birds but about half an hour into the walk it started raining again and out came the rain jackets. At the turn-around clearing the rain turned to drizzle and then intermittent dripping before stopping altogether. We sat there for about twenty minutes and got some great views of a pair of Luhder’s bush-shrikes. On the way back a very wet oriole turned out to be a Eurasian golden oriole – my first for the year! This, along with an immature Northern puffback were another two new birds for Mankon forest and our resident guide Richard was ecstatic that we’ve given him three new birds in total for his list. I was dropped off at Manjong hotel for lunch and then picked up again at 13:30 to visit hilly countryside in the Babanki area. We drove for about an hour and turned onto a gravel track leading to a radio tower at the top of a hill. After parking in someone’s front yard, we walked upwards for about 2kms, birding along the way. A couple of sunbirds were around (Orange-tufted, Cameroon, Green-headed) and another Grey-headed oliveback. Other than that there wasn’t much to report and as heavy clouds started threatening again, we turned around. The drive back to Bamenda was uneventful and we arrived just before 6pm, in time for dinner.

My last day in Cameroon severely tested my patience. Yesterday, just as we started up the gravel track towards the radio tower, there was a funny clunk sound from the left front of the car. It didn’t re-occur as we carried on up the track so we continued birding. In hindsight, we should’ve turned around and got it sorted out. When we got back last night, mechanics had already gone home so it had to wait 'till this morning. The hotel staff gave me a message from Benji at 7am that he would be there at 08:30. I had a leisurely breakfast and packed up, waiting for him in the hotel lobby at 08:30. No Benji. At 9am I phoned him and was told they had a “small breakdown” and he’d be there in half an hour. We had to be at the airport at 6pm tonight and with seven hours driving from Bamenda to Douala and then Douala traffic to fight through, this was getting tight now. At 10am I was still waiting and getting anxious. Another call to Benji had Lazarus show up at the hotel to re-assure me (didn’t work) and then finally, around 10:45, Benji showed up. I threw my stuff in the car and we got going. But the moment we started driving, I realized the street mechanics had now completely ruined Benji’s car – the prop shaft was actually knocking against the body of the car! We limped through central Bamenda in first and second gear but after about three kilometres it was quite obvious we would never make it to Douala. I was desperate and implored Benji to find a taxi or other car we could take. Leaving me and the car next to the road, he went looking for a car and driver to hire. Lazarus came to wait with me again and eventually, Benji showed up with a private car and its driver, George. George’s car popped gears at higher speeds, struggled to keep the exhaust attached to the body and virtually nothing but the hooter and the radio on the dashboard worked, except for, ironically, all the warning lights. But it was going forward significantly faster than poor Benji’s car and we were on our way. Just outside Bamenda we had some rain but it didn’t really slow us down. We stopped in Dschang for a 7-minute lunch. For real. It was a buffet setup and I scooped some rice and a sauce of unknown origins onto a plate and shoveled as much as I can into my mouth in three minutes flat. From parking and going again, seven minutes had passed. From Dschang we descended into heavy fog that turned into a persistent rain as we entered the steamy lowlands. Time pushed on as we started getting stuck more often behind large trucks and buses; really hard to overtake on the single-lane curvy roads. We reached the outskirts of Douala at 6pm and twenty minutes later came to a dead standstill. It seemed like some congestion at a roundabout (why Africa persists with this method of intersection control that clearly doesn’t work, boggles my mind), had brought everything to a halt and as the minutes dragged on, we had to switch the car off. I was now getting really anxious because the airport was still half an hour away, and who knew how long this was going to take? Eventually we started moving again but with time now approaching 7pm, we again stopped dead. I couldn’t take it anymore and since motorcycles were still zipping past us, I asked Benji to get us one of these. Benji jumped out and managed to flag an empty one. With Benji carrying my backpack and the day pack on my shoulders, we both hopped onto the motorbike and off we went. We weaved through the motionless cars and suddenly we were on open road. Our bike wasn't going to the airport so while balancing on the back, Benji phoned a driver from the Foyer du Marin hotel to come pick us up where the bike turned off. We arrived at the airport at 7am - still two hours before the flight. We landed at OR Tambo before 5am and I was back home before the work day started.

Compared to my other African trips this year, birding in Cameroon was a bit disappointing as I only got 37 new species for the year. But being the peak of the rainy season was obviously a big factor in this - it rained every single day and especially in Bamenda, for long periods at a time. The new birds I did get were fantastic though. The top standouts were Dybowski's twinspot, Grey-headed oliveback, Black-collared apalis and Banded wattle-eye. Benji went out of his way to arrange a good tour. Especially on the last day when things started going wrong, Benji pulled a magic rabbit out of the hat to get me to the airport on time. If you do ever plan a visit to Cameroon, Benji's your man - although birding's Benji's main ticket, he can arrange everything else as well - mail him at benjijayin@yahoo.com.

Madikwe, Sep 2015

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We arrived in a rain-soaked Rustenburg a little late for birding so after checking in at the Safari hotel on the edge of town, we went out for pizza. Safari hotel was comfortable and we slept like logs before getting up early for breakfast. It rained throughout the night. At breakfast, it was still raining and a heavy fog had covered the Magaliesberg. We departed immediately after breakfast with the idea of doing some atlassing around Kgaswane Mountain Reserve. This turned out to be a disappointment – the weather certainly was a problem, but after paying to enter the reserve, we discovered to our great irritation, a marathon going around the loop road in the reserve. With runners, cars and people everywhere, there was just no point and it took all my self-control not to run over the people on the single lane loop road. We exited the reserve in disgust much earlier than planned and vented our annoyance at the gate clerk who neglected to tell us about the marathon. With rain still pouring down we turned west and drove without incident to Zeerust and then north to Madikwe. This was a surprise for Nicola as a present for our fifth wedding anniversary – a bit of a treat for putting up with me for five years. We reached Abjaterskop gate in the late morning; although still heavily overcast, it was at least not raining anymore. But birding was still slow as we drove east towards Thakadu River Camp – our accommodation on the Groot Marico river. On the way we added about 20 species, including Cape penduline-tit, Southern pied babbler, Gabar goshawk, Yellow-bellied eremomela and Groundscraper thrush. The last few kilometers we had to push a little faster though to get to Thakadu by 2pm. From our first arrival at Thakadu, we were taken care off most wonderfully. Our bags were offloaded and the car keys taken to park the car elsewhere. A hot towel for our faces was welcome in the cold and we were immediately escorted to the dining area for a welcome cocktail and lunch. Since we had some left-over pizza in the car, we only had some salad before being taken to our luxury tent: a large tent with a massive bed, lounge area, espresso machine, air-con, private deck overlooking the Groot Marico, en-suite bathroom – it was magnificent! We quickly unpacked and walked back to the dining area for a few snacks before leaving on our first game drive at 15:30. Apart from ourselves, there was just one other couple in the vehicle with us – snobbish folk who cared little for anything other than the Big 5. So with our guide focused on finding the Big 5, we didn’t really have much chance for birding and the only interesting birds we added were Southern pale chanting goshawk, Red-billed buffalo-weaver, Little bee-eater, Pearl-spotted owlet and Red-crested korhaan. The nice thing about Madikwe is that all the rangers from all the lodges are in radio contact. When something special is located by someone, it’s called in and then all the rangers go on a queued standby so that everyone gets a chance to see the sighting well; this also ensures that there are never more than three vehicles at a time at a sighting. We stopped briefly for an elephant with a broken tusk but then went on standby for a small pride of lions. When we got our chance, our ranger (Lazarus) was able to drive right up to them – literally within five meters. The lions were completely unperturbed by us and we spent a good twenty minutes photographing them from all angles. It started raining again and we did not envy the couple of vehicles that inexplicably, did not have canopies. The occupants were dressed in heavy-duty ponchos but still looked decidedly miserable. With sunset approaching, we drove to the small airfield. The rain had let up again and with massive thunderheads in the east and a setting sun in the west, we took some unbelievably pretty sunset photos while having sun-downers and snacks. Just after 6pm we left and slowly made our way back to Thakadu for dinner. This was a fancy three-course affair that was simply delicious. Dinner was done just after 8pm and we went straight to bed.

Sunday morning dawned relatively clear of cloud but it was bitterly cold. Dressed in all the warm clothes we had, we had a quick cup of coffee before departing for the morning’s drive. Two brothers from the UK, one now living in SA, joined us today and we were delighted to find out they were interested in birds too. This meant we were more inclined to call stops for birds and about twenty minutes into the drive we did just that when we discovered a small bird party. A noisy group of Meyer’s parrots were joined by Chestnut-vented tit-babblers, Southern pied babblers, a pair of Chinspot batis, Long-billed crombec, Green wood-hoopoes and a Marico sunbird. We heard the previous day that a group of four cheetahs, all brothers, had a scuff with some lions that injured one of them, and now everyone was on the lookout for them. Not long after we left the bird party, the call came in that the cheetahs were found and we started making our way south towards a power line. There were lots of groups wanting to see the cheetahs so after getting our queue number, we stopped for coffee and muffins – very welcome in the bitter cold. Soon after we left, and Lazarus drove straight into the bush until we were able to see the other vehicles around the cheetahs. We got our first look at the one injured brother, resting for a bit while his three brothers walked west. He then got up, called to them and slowly walked west as well. We followed him until we saw his three brothers coming back for him. Re-united, they turned west again and we followed for another few minutes until our time was up. The cheetahs were very photogenic and we snapped pictures as fast as we could. It was well past 9am when started heading back to camp. Along the way we discovered that our bundu-bashing has cost us a tyre and we had to stop for a quick change. All of us pitched in and we were on our way again in less than ten minutes. Back at Thakadu we had a nice breakfast but as it was already after 10pm, it was actually less than three hours until lunch! The two gents who shared our game drive this morning were excellent company and we chatted over lunch and did a spot of birding together towards our tents in the afternoon. Some more snacks followed at 15:00 before our afternoon game drive started. Our snob couple had departed after the morning’s drive so now it was just Nicola and I and our two new friends, Darrol and Mervyn. Despite the weather improving significantly since the previous afternoon, it was still very cold and we were all dressed up and had no issue with using the extra fleece ponchos handed out by Lazarus. Birding-wise, we saw Violet-eared waxbill, Pearl-spotted owlet, Rattling cisticola and a few other common birds. We reckon the cold weather dampened the birds’ spirits since there certainly wasn’t as much going on as we would’ve liked. There was a small enclosure where four wild dogs were kept separate from the main group – they were related to the main group and Madikwe’s management did not want them to breed. We got to see two of them tearing at a carcass – although not truly a “wild” sighting, it’s always nice to see wild dogs. We visited a different pride of lions and stayed with them for a good twenty minutes and watched in amusement as a herd of elephant walked passed and chased off the lions. We had sun-downers some distance from the lions before making our way back to camp in the dark. The only nocturnal animal we saw was an African scops owl. With no imminent rain, we had dinner in the camp’s boma – another gorgeous three-course meal. With our departure from Madikwe on our minds, we went to bed with heavy hearts.

The next morning dawned clear and crisp but just half an hour into our morning drive, the clouds started to gather and by 8am it was completely socked in, the mountains covered in fog and it was viciously cold. Mammals were shy this morning but we got great views of a Southern white-faced scops owl, and also added Golden-tailed woodpecker, Burchell’s starling, African wattled lapwing, Coqui francolin and African harrier-hawk. We were back at camp for breakfast before 9am. Darrol and Mervyn spotted a White-throated robin-chat outside the dining area and I got to within less than a metre of this pretty bird. We ate quickly as it was a long drive back, packed up and checked out. We drove back the same way we came to try and complete at least one full protocol pentad we started two days earlier. Our raptor list continued to grow with nice sightings of Black-chested snake-eagle and Greater kestrel but there wasn’t much else of interest. By the time we exited the park, the weather had improved and by the time we reached home a few hours later, the skies were finally clear of cloud.

It was a short but magnificent weekend. Madikwe is hellishly expensive by our standards but the service we got at Thakadu River Camp was absolutely top-notch and very luxurious. Perhaps we’ll visit again with our ten year anniversary….

Kruger NP birding, Aug 2015

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After work we drove uneventfully to Malelane where we were able to start atlasing our first pentad for the trip in the failing light. A White-browed robin-chat was calling in the grounds of the place we were staying at (Paradise Creek) and along with another 15 birds or so, gave us a good start to the pentad. On Saturday morning we were up just after 4am, hoping to get to Malelane gate before the mad rush. After a quick cup of coffee and tea we left our accommodation and arrived at Malelane gate ten minutes later – we were the second car in line and in the next half hour, it grew to about twenty cars. As it grew lighter, the dawn chorus started and we heard White-faced duck, Water thick-knee, Natal spurfowl, African fish eagle, Emerald-spotted wood dove and Egyptian goose. The moment the gate opened at 6am, we crossed the Crocodile and checked in at the gate. A number of birds were already out and about and most of the usual Kruger birds were ticked in the first hour. Four kilometers after Malelane gate we turned east onto the S114, turned again onto the S25 and then the S119 to go past Gardenia hide. This was spectacularly disappointing though since it was virtually bone-dry and we couldn’t even hear any birds from here. We headed north and stopped just on the other side of Biyamiti weir for lunch before making a quick stop at Afsaal picnic spot for some biltong and drinks. South of Afsaal we came across a pair of pipits that posed beautifully for photos. Critical evaluation of the pics ensued and we decided it was Bushveld pipits but thought we’d just post them onto Facebook later to get a confirmation. Unfortunately the Steilberg road was closed so we headed west on the Matjulu loop instead and spent some time at the Matjulu water hole. There was nothing exciting here but we did get excellent views of Grey-headed bush-shrike as we started making our way to Berg-en-Dal camp. After checking in we scoured the densely populated campsite and the only spot we could find for our small hiking camp, was in-between two caravans. Annoyingly, both caravans each used two of the four available power points. Sure that this was not allowed, I duely unplugged one of the cables and connected our own extension. We only had a few minutes to quickly set up the tent and air mattresses before having to go back to reception for the start of our sunset drive. There were a lot of people and four separate vehicles left for the sunset drive – ours was unfortunately the biggest and we were a group of 14 on the back of a small truck. However, this turned out to be one of the more memorable sunset/night drives we had. We picked up the obligatory elephant, buffalo and rhino groups but with dusk creeping up steadily we stopped quickly for a stork standing on top of a small tree. On first glance it looked like a Saddle-billed stork but the light was bad and only when I put my binoculars on it, I realized it was a Black stork! Unfortunately it flew off the moment we IDd it and we couldn’t get any pictures. But Nicola had finally managed to see this major bogey bird! We stopped along the S118 to look at a pride of lions in the Mlambane river bed and while the truck was switched off, we could hear African scops owl and Fiery-necked nightjars calling. We turned south onto the S114 for the second half of the drive. Things were just starting to get a bit boring when all of a sudden there was a bit of a commotion left of the truck and our guide screeched to a halt. It was an aardvark! Absolutely amazed to have seen this shy nocturnal mammal, everybody exclaimed and oohed and ahed. Our guide explained that he’d only seen one two years before for the first time and he’s been doing this for nine years! Hugely pleased with the drive, we headed back and got to camp at 19:30. Back at our tent, the two neighbouring caravans’ occupants were back but at least they have left our power plug where it was. Neither of us were terribly hungry so we quickly heated up a can of beans and viennas before heading for bed. Not having camped in more than a year, I managed to forget blankets or sleeping bags at home – fortunately it was not cold and we were able to get a few hours’ sleep before it got chilly in the early morning.

Before dawn we were up, packed the tent in the dark and stood in the queue for about ten minutes before the camp gate opened. We immediately drove north to the Matjulu water hole in the hope of finding some sandgrouse. However, after an hour waiting patiently, we had little more than the usual birds. We left around 07:30 and headed east on the Matjulu loop, north on the H3 and back down on the S114. Highlights were Gabar and Dark-chanting goshawks, Lappet-faced vulture, Martial eagle, Stierling’s wren-warbler and when we crossed the Crocodile river again on the way out, a single Saddle-billed stork. The drive back home was uneventful and I finished the trip with five new birds for the year.Nicola finally picked up a Black stork and the aardvark was a mammal lifer for both of us.

Cape birding, Jun 2015

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• List of birds

On Friday afternoon we left for a week’s birding in the Northern Cape and two scheduled pelagic trips out of Simonstown. Having had two previous planned pelagic trips cancelled due to poor weather conditions, we were really hoping that two back to back trips would give us the chance of at least doing one trip. As the boat trips were scheduled for a Thursday and Saturday, we decided to take the whole week off and drive to Cape Town via the Northern Cape, specifically to atlas a few virgin pentads for the SABAP2 atlassing project. Leaving from our office in Pretoria though, I heard a brief clunking noise in the Xtrail's engine, followed by a strange grating sound when accelerating from low rpms. This noise disappeared above 1500 rpm though and the car’s driveability did not seem to be affected. Having paid lots of money for the trip already, we decided to risk it and carry on, driving all the way to Vryburg on the Friday night. Although we had no further problems with the car, we arrived in Vryburg with threatening clouds and strong winds preceding an unseasonal storm.

During the night it started to rain and when we got up, it was still raining heavily. Fearing the state of the dirt roads in our planned atlassing area, we decided to rather head south and visit Mokala National Park on our way to Prieska. It was about 300kms to drive and the rain continued, justifying our decision to change plans. By the time we arrived at Mokala though, the rain had stopped and there were small patches of blue sky. It was cold though and the birding prospects were not great. But boy, did Mokala surprise us! What a gem of a National Park! The habitat consists mainly of sparse camel thorn savannah/woodland with a number of small rocky outcrops. The park does not contain the Big 5 but have a number of rarer antelope species like roan and tsessebe. Neither of these two buck though are nearly as pretty and dignified as the many oryx we saw. At the reception and camp area there are brand new (although a bit expensive) chalets overlooking a small dam and everything appeared calm and peaceful. The service at the gate and reception was especially friendly and helpful and when we started birding, we were equally impressed. We had lots of the usual woodland species like Marico flycatcher, Black-chested prinia, Fork-tailed drongo, Golden-tailed woodpecker, Northern black and Red-crested korhaans, Brubru, Ashy tit, Acacia pied barbet etc, but also got excellent sightings of Violet-eared waxbill, Short-toed rock-thrush, Cape penduline-tit, Kalahari scrub-robin, Scaly-feathered and Red-headed finches. I was not expecting to see Sociable weavers here but a small colony was building a nest in one of the thatch roofs outside the toilet at the reception area. And by far our happiest birding moment in Mokala came when we spotted the little fellow that uses Sociable weaver nests for breeding/nesting – Pygmy falcon! We had handsome views of a male/female pair and got great photos – this was also a lifer for Nicola. Although we had some intermittent sunshine through the day, clouds had started building again when we left Mokala at 3pm. Instead of returning to the N12, we took a short cut on back roads north west of Mokala and made our way to Douglas. Apart from a few patches of corrugation, the dirt roads were in good condition and it was easy to drive 80-90 kph. From Douglas we had an excellent tar road to Prieska where we checked into some very nice and modern accommodation. Despite Eskom switching the lights off at 6pm, we had a good meal before going to bed.

Sunday was very cold and completely overcast. The 80kms of dirt road south to Vosburg were unpleasantly slick and I had to slow down to about 60kph to keep from skidding off the road. In Vosburg we started atlassing our first virgin pentad but the miserable weather made the going tough. We did start picking up our first Karoo birds though with Karoo chat, Karoo scrub-robin, Karoo korhaan and Karoo long-billed lark all added. The best sighting though was a cute Rufous-eared warbler that actively foraged on the ground, keeping it’s extra-long tail cocked up. We atlassed three virgin pentads along the tar road to Carnarvon but as the clouds did not lighten even by early afternoon and the birding was extremely slow, we called it a day and drove through to Carnarvon. Our self-catering accommodation in Carnarvon was very cosy and we watched an afternoon-movie with microwave popcorn before planning the next day’s drive.

Finally on Monday the weather had cleared up but it was still bitterly cold as we drove out of Carnarvon towards Williston. We reached our first virgin pentad only 20kms outside of Carnarvon and quickly added Karoo korhaan, Karoo long-billed and Large-billed larks that were calling in the distance. Birding was not easy in this uniform Karoo habitat and being stuck on a tar road (luckily not very busy) with no access to the adjacent farms, didn’t help. Even so, rocky outcrops and lower drainage basins were surprisingly active and we added some great birds like Black-headed and White-throated canaries, Lark-like and Cape buntings, more Rufous-eared warblers, Spike-heeled and Sabota larks , Black-chested prinia, Grey-backed cisticola, Scaly-feathered finch, Mountain wheatear, Karoo scrub-robin and Karoo chat. The star for us though, were several excellent sightings of Karoo eremomela – the first time we recorded this pretty bird. Around lunch-time, busy with our third pentad, we suddenly encountered some strange actions from the car. Standing still, just idling, off the road, the rpm counter dropped suddenly to 500 rpm and picked up again to over a thousand, before dropping again. It did this several times and we immediately agreed there was something major wrong and we need to get some technical help. Not wanting to be stranded in this remote part of the country, we stopped birding and left for Williston, another 100kms away. However, when I accelerated above 80kph, the car started juddering – like when you would have problems with your carburetor. Carburetor issues would also explain the changes on the ref counter; except, this was a fuel injected car with no carburetor. Slowing down to 80kph seemed to keep the car from juddering though and we slowly struggled our way to Williston, fearing the car would die on us at any moment. We arrived in Williston around 2pm and quickly found a mechanic. He was rather clueless as to the cause of the issue and then test-drove the car. Now suddenly the mechanic was able to push it to about 160kph without any problems and although he thought it could be a fuel-filter problem, he was unable to replace it as it was an in-tank filter. He thought it safe to continue driving though. But obviously something was wrong with the car and we didn’t think it was worth the risk to continue with our birding plans in the Northern Cape, especially since we were planning on driving the longest uninterrupted road in South Africa, from Calvinia south through the Tanqua Karoo – not a good place to have car problems. We called my dad in Cape Town and asked him to make an appointment at a Nissan service dealership. We decided to stay the night in Williston but then drive straight through to Cape Town the next day, going via Calvinia and the N7. We checked in at Annie’s Inn in Williston for a rather subdued night.

On Tuesday morning we left before sunrise and headed west to Calvinia and then down the Vanrhyn’s pass to link up to the N7. Between Clanwilliam and Citrusdal there were lots of very annoying roadworks and even more annoying heavy mist but at least we had no trouble from the car, even driving at 120kph. Driving through Cape Town we made a quick stop at Raapenberg Bird Sanctuary to see if we could find the Snowy egret that had hung around there for the past three weeks. No luck though, so we carried on to my parents' for lunch. We first took the car to a general mechanic who was also rather clueless as to the juddering of the car but was sort of able to pinpoint the strange noise we heard from Pretoria at low rpm acceleration, but advised us to go to the manufacturer service centre. This we did and although the staff were rude, they were able to quickly identify the problem as a seized alternator pulley. We arranged for the ordering of the pulley and booked the car in for Wednesday afternoon. Then we rented a car for two days so we were at least mobile without hampering my parents.

With a number of chores to do, we decided to stay at home on Wednesday. In the afternoon we dropped my car of at Nissan service centre and picked up our rental, then drove out to Raapenberg again for a second attempt at the Snowy Egret. Again we had no luck but the wind had also picked up significantly and it did not bode well for our planned pelagic on Thursday morning. We drove out to Simonstown arriving at our excellent accommodation (Blue Water Bay) at 7pm. I phoned Trevor Hardaker who confirmed the next morning’s pelagic was definitely off and it didn’t look good for Friday either. Since there was no rush now for the next morning, we had a relaxed evening in front of the TV and slept late the next morning too.

The wind was still quite breezy when we left Simonstown. We spent a few minutes at Boulders to pick up African penguin and then spent the entire morning atlassing a few pentads around Strandfontein sewage works. Back at my parents in the late afternoon, Nissan service centre confirmed that the car has not yet been fixed so we had to wait until Friday. The wind calmed down during the afternoon but when I phoned Trevor again at 5pm, he confirmed that Friday’s weather prediction was also poor and the pelagic would not go ahead. Frustrated and disappointed that the third attempt at a Cape Town pelagic was now also unsuccessful, we went to bed early.

Deciding to rather use Friday to sort out the cars, we stayed at home. Around 10am, Nissan finally informed us that the car was fixed. We picked up the Xtrail and dropped off the rental car, then met up with Gordon at a local micro-brewery at 3pm. After testing some of the brews on offer we all headed back to my parents where we loaded up Gordon’s car with all the staff we brought down for him. The weather throughout the day was quite calm and the afternoon was absolutely glorious. At 5pm I phoned Trevor again and was ecstatic to hear that our second planned pelagic for the trip was set to leave Simonstown at 7am on Saturday morning. Dinner was fresh fish and chips and with the good news about the pelagic, we were in bed early as we had to leave around 5am to ensure we make it through the Muizenberg roadworks in time.

Up at 04:30, we left at 5am and drove along the beach road. Heavy fog along the way was a bit of a concern but by the time we reached Muizenberg, we were out of the worst of it. The road was deathly quiet at this time and we made it to Simonstown with more than an hour to spare. We dozed in the car at the Simonstown jetty and listened to seagulls. Just before 7am, the rest of our group and our guides, Trevor Hardaker and John Graham showed up and explained how the day was going to work and what we expected to see. Just before 07:30 our little launch arrived and all of us quickly scampered aboard. Although the deck at the back was smaller than the boat we used out of Durban last year, the cabin inside was more comfortable and had larger windows so you could actually sit inside quite happily. We had a fast and bumpy sail out of False Bay, adding familiar birds like Hartlaub’s gull, Cape cormorants, African penguin and Cape gannet. Barely 15 minutes out of the harbour we had our first true pelagic birds – White-chinned petrel and Sooty shearwater and shortly after, Subantarctic skua. Rounding Cape Point was spectacular with hundreds of birds swirling around the sheer cliffs. Now in the open ocean, it was slightly less bumpy but the swells were bigger (around 2m) and standing up without holding on to something was just simply impossible. Taking photographs was a nightmare. There were lots of birds around now and we started seeing our first albatrosses – mostly Black-browed and Shy and occasionally we also had Indian yellow-nosed albatross. We saw our first Pintado (Cape) petrel and had poor sightings of Antarctic prion and Wilson’s storm-petrel. We had a quick glimpse of a Northern giant petrel as it came and gone but missed out on the Manx shearwater that did the same. The boat’s captain confirmed that they had a fishing vessel on radar and we steamed at full speed for almost two hours to get there. When we did, it truly was a spectacle to behold: hundreds, perhaps thousands of birds were flocking behind the fishing boat. It was speculated that the fishing boat had recently dropped its nets back in the water after a catch and that there were bits of fish still stuck in the nets, drawing in all the birds. Most numerous were the Pintado petrels and Cape gannets. Quite a few White-chinned petrels and Sooty shearwaters were also around and a good number of Black-browed and Shy albatrosses All of a sudden there was a call for a white-backed albatross. It was not easy picking it out between the hundreds of other birds and we only got a quick glimpse of it as it flew away. But with our guides and boat captain now alert to its presence, we soon saw it again – it was a Northern royal albatross! By the time we left the fishing boat, we had seen two Northern royal albatrosses but were unable to get photos of it. I spent some time on the top deck of our boat with Trevor and the captain, trying to take some photos from here – not an easy task. It was already well past noon when we started back towards Simonstown. We were offered delicious sandwiches and soft drinks that went down very well, despite the queasy motion on the boat. Both Nicola and I had taken Stugeron the previous night and in the morning and although we didn’t really feel sick, I especially felt extremely drowsy and on the way back, actually fell asleep for a brief period. Approaching the harbour in Simonstown we picked up our final bird for the pelagic – a few Bank cormorants. Back on shore at 15:30, we were a little wobbly at first but this eased in time. We said goodbye to everyone, and very happy with the day’s outing, drove back to my parents. As the pelagic trip was ultimately the reason for driving to Cape Town, we had now fulfilled our plans and it was time to go home.

Well before dawn on Sunday morning we were up, said goodbye to my parents and drove back home. We had a quick stopover in Beaufort West and did some birding at Karoo National Park before the long drive home. We got home late but safe and reflected on a very interesting week with a number of negatives (car problems, dipped on Snowy egret, first pelagic trip cancelled) but out-weighed by the positives. Highlights of the trip were:

• Atlassing five virgin pentads in the Northern Cape
• Excellent sightings of Rufous-eared warbler, Karoo eremomela and Pygmy falcon
• Discovering Mokala National Park
• Spending a relaxing time with my parents
• Going out on our first Cape town pelagic trip
• Picking up four lifers on the pelagic trip (Northern royal albatross, Northern giant petrel, Antarctic prion, Pintado petrel)

Malawi birding, Jun 2015

Links

• List of birds

Our long weekend trip to Malawi started with a flight from Johannesburg to Lilongwe where we were picked up by our guide from Land & Lake Safaris – Katengu Jimu. Katengu was extremely friendly and we chatted away as we drove into Lilongwe where we stocked up on soft drinks and water as there wasn’t any where we were staying. The drive to Dzalanyama Forest Reserve was quite slow and the 60 odd kilometers took us two hours – it’s a dirt road most of the way and in spots its very bumpy and uneven. Thankfully it was now the dry season and there were no muddy patches we had to power through so just having a high-clearance 2x4 vehicle was OK. As we entered the miombo woodland close to Dzalanyama lodge, we stopped a few times to listen for birds but it was pretty quiet. We reached the lodge and met the two caretakers/cooks – Lucius and Flaxon. We were the only guests and could pick our rooms so we decided to sleep in one of the tents built on platforms overlooking a small stream below the lodge. The sun had already gone behind the low range of hills separating Malawi from Mozambique but we still had enough light left for a quick 30 minute walk. This proved successful as we picked up our first lifer for the trip – Green-backed eremomela. Dinner was served at 18:30 and started with tomato soup and bread, then spaghetti bolognaise with fresh salad and mixed vegetables and fruit salad for dessert.

Our first night in the tent turned out to be pretty cold as the single duvets we each had on our beds didn’t quite manage to keep the warmth in – we didn’t expect it to get quite so cold at night. Dressed in fleece jackets, pants and beanies, we had a quick cup of coffee and then set out for a pre-breakfast walk, first going down the road we came, and then heading up the slope to the west. There were some cloud around and a nippy breeze didn’t help. The first birds we saw also headed for the tops of the trees to catch some sun and in the distance we spotted a couple of Broad-tailed paradise-whydah – a lifer for Nicola. We warmed up as we started climbing and soon found ourselves completely surrounded by fantastic miombo woodland. The first bird party we located contained Cardinal woodpecker, Cinnamon-breasted bunting, Southern hyliota, White-breasted cuckooshrike, Familiar chat, Green-capped eremomela, Chinspot batis, Retz’s helmetshrike, Spotted creeper, Rufous-bellied tit, Wood pipit, Black-backed puffback and the omnipresent Fork-tailed drongo. The hyliota, creeper and tit were all lifers and very happy with this start, we went back to the lodge for breakfast. It was already almost 10am when we left the lodge again after breakfast and this time we drove out to the other side of the lodge and crossed a flimsy wooden bridge before parking next to the road to walk into the woodland. We were close to a small stream and the vegetation was a bit thicker and the trees taller. Schalow’s turaco and White-tailed blue flycatcher were seen well but we didn’t add much more before returning to the lodge for a late lunch. By 3pm we left heading east and as we drove along I spotted movement - we stopped for the Stierling’s wren-warbler right next to the car. Unfortunately it flew off before Nicola could get a good look but then Katengu spotted something far better – a Bohm’s flycatcher! It was quite far away and only presented its back to us, but it was still a great find. For the rest of the afternoon we wandered around in various spots and added a few more birds but our only other lifers were Orange-winged pytilia and a noisy group of Pale-billed hornbills. Dusk was heavy when we returned to the lodge and after dinner, we begged another two duvets from the caretakers.

Although we slept warm this time, Sunday morning was really cold and it was not easy getting out of bed before the sun was up. Another pre-breakfast walk followed a cup of coffee. We were still on the edge of the lodge’s property when a whistling call caught our attention and after Katengu searched a little, we saw the source – a Miombo scrub-robin. Despite the bad light, I still managed a few pictures and with lifer number one for the day in the bag, we carried on down the road. Crossing the bridge just 100m down the road from the lodge we spotted two Mountain wagtails wagging upstream and then entered the dense woodland on the other side. A few common birds made it onto the list before we heard the characteristic tapping of a woodpecker. We tracked it carefully and then got eyes on it – it was Stierling’s woodpecker! We watched this female woodpecker for a few minutes before also seeing the male and then followed them for about twenty more minutes. The next hour or so was quiet and we were almost starting to get desperate for something when we saw some yellowish buntings a good distance away. Luckily they sat still and we were able to get very good views of the black (not striped) cheek pattern – it was Cabanis’s bunting. After breakfast we drove for a short distance to some cattle pens and not twenty meters from the road got a pair of Souza’s shrikes. A little deeper into the woodland we entered a clearing with a number of protea bushes that are good for Anchieta’s sunbird. We scanned and walked around a bit but couldn’t see any. About ten minutes later, as we were aiming to go back into the woodland again, I saw some movement on some of the more distant proteas. I whipped up the binoculars and got a quick glimpse of an Anchieta’s sunbird. We rushed through the grass and stopped about fifty meters away and luckily it was still moving in-between the proteas. We had fantastic views of this very pretty sunbird and even got better views of a pair of Souza’s shrikes perching on the proteas. After another late lunch we drove to a spot with very dense woodland and quickly located a bird party. Unfortunately we got nothing new as we added up African dusky and White-tailed blue flycatchers, Rufous-bellied tit, Spotted creeper, Southern hyliota, Variable and Miombo double-collared sunbirds, White-breasted cuckooshrike, Arrow-marked babbler, African yellow white-eye and Yellow-throated petronia. We thought we’d worked our way through all the species when I spotted a larger bird hopping up a branch like a woodpecker. I pointed it out and after a quick look, Katengu confirmed it was a Whyte’s barbet. Back on the dirt track we scoured the roadside woodland edges where Nicola latched onto a hyliota with a clear yellow wash on the breast and much longer white wingbar – it was a Yellow-bellied hyliota! We ended the day with nine lifers, celebrating it with another excellent dinner.

On Monday morning, for the second time on the trip, we heard the low distant booming of Southern ground hornbills as the rising sun eased away the morning chill. For some reason I was tired today and by the time we got back to the lodge for breakfast, I was not particularly keen on the rest of the day’s walking. But the thought of missing something kept me going and after breakfast we birded for another four hours straight. Despite finding two good mixed species foraging flocks, the only new birds for the year was a Brown-backed honeybird that gave us an interesting challenge to ID as we also had a young male Greater honeyguide with incomplete colour and facial markings. After lunch we returned to the dambo we visited on Saturday and search again for the Lesser seedcracker that we heard but never saw. Katengu found the clicking calls quickly but it took another ten minutes before both Nicola and I had reasonably good views of this pretty seedeater. Happy that we managed to get at least one lifer for the day, we returned to the lodge for dinner. We were surprised to find out that we actually saw more birds today than any other day so far so it was actually quite a decent birding day. After a nice hot shower, we climbed into bed for our last night at the lodge.

It was a 3-hour drive back to the airport and as Katengu mentioned the possibility of getting Locustfinch and Rosy-throated longclaw in the grassy fields close to the airport, we decided to leave the lodge early. As we packed and got money out to tip the lodge caretakers/cooks, I noted that I was missing some Kwachas. A further check confirmed that I also missed 50 US dollars, several hundred rand and Nicola also missed a few hundred rand. We’ve been robbed. Realizing there’s a good chance that it might’ve been one of the lodge staff, but with no evidence, our breakfast was subdued. Sure, we probably should’ve taken our bags with us but this would’ve been decidedly uncomfortable with all the walking we did. With forced smiles we said goodbye to the lodge staff and left for Lilongwe. We informed Katengu about this as we were driving and he thanked us, asking us to also report the issue in our feedback to Land & Lake Safaris. Feeling a little better after talking about it, we had a few last-minute bonuses: Miombo blue-eared starling seen along the road to Lilongwe and then Locustfinch, Orange-breasted waxbill and Southern citril on the grassy fields just outside the airport. At 10am we checked in and spent the next two hours in the lounge before boarding the flight home.

Despite losing a significant amount of money, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Dzalanyama lodge is quite comfortably set up by local standards and the food was excellent. Our guide from Land & Lake Safaris was knowledgeable, courteous and helpful and we’d happily engage his services again. Our final bird tally was 107, really not too bad at all for winter miombo birding. I was expecting to add twenty new birds for the year, hoping for thirty and actually got 36, bringing the year’s current total to 865 African birds. The birding was also exceptional quality as we ticked off fantastic views of birds we’ve been looking for a long time: Spotted creeper, Cabanis’s bunting, Stierling’s woodpecker, Pale-billed hornbill, Anchieta’s sunbird, Whyte’s barbet and Rufous-bellied tit. Now we just need to do another Zimbabwe or Mozambique trip to add these birds to our southern African list!

Albertine rift (Uganda and Rwanda) birding, Apr 2015

Links

• List of birds

24 Apr
The flight to Entebbe was surprisingly empty so when we arrived ten minutes early in Entebbe, queues were relatively short and I was quickly through immigration and customs. My guide, Joseph Mugerwa, and his friend Peter were waiting for me and drove me to a forex bureau where we sorted out Joseph’s payment. Accommodation for the night was at Sunset hotel, pretty much on the main Entebbe-Kampala road. It was basic but actually quite a bit better than some of the places where I’ve stayed in Africa – rooms were neat and clean, lighting was good and a fan helped to drive away the mosquitoes and lake flies that were omnipresent. After a quick dinner I was off to bed.

25 Apr
Joseph arranged an early breakfast and after I’d eaten, I started my birding count from the hotel’s gardens. Ruppell’s glossy starling, Black-and-white casqued hornbill, Eastern plantain-eater and a few common jobs were noted. Joseph picked me up at 7am and we birded along the way to Mabamba swamps, picking up African openbill, Grey crowned crane, Long-crested eagle and a few others along the way. We reached Mabamba swamps around 9am and quickly sorted out a boat. Pied kingfisher, African jacana, Long-toed lapwing and Hamerkop were common. We spent a good hour and a half searching fruitlessly for Shoebill when our assistant Hamington spotted something flying high above us. A closer look confirmed it was a Shoebill and I managed to snap a shaky picture as proof. Papyrus gonoleks were calling from several places but apart from the briefest of glimpses, we never got a good view. We returned to the landing place and headed north towards the Fort Portal road. After a quick stop for lunch along the way, we drove almost five hours to get to Fort Portal. A quick stop just outside Fort Portal to let the car’s over-heating engine cool down a bit, yielded Red-headed malimbe, Collared and Variable sunbirds. Our overnight stop was Ruwenzori View Guesthouse – basic accommodation once again but with a fantastic garden that produced no less than five different sunbirds: Superb, Bronzy, Ruwenzori double-collared, Green-throated and Scarlet-chested. After checking in, we took a walk up the road and added the stunning African blue flycatcher, Black-crowned waxbill and Double-toothed barbet. The Ruwenzori mountains towered over Fort Portal but the heavy cloud obscured all but the lower foothills so we never really saw them. Joseph and Hamington then left for their own accommodation while I settled in for an impressive three-course dinner, including ice-cream, sharing a table with three American Peace Corps volunteers. It was already 9pm when we finished dinner so after a quick shower, I climbed into bed.

26 Apr
In the early hours of the morning the wind picked up and not long before my alarm woke me at 04:30, it started raining. With prospects of a very wet day looming, Joseph and Hamington joined me for a decent breakfast before we left into the rainy and misty dark. Thankfully the road down into the Semuliki valley was tarred two years ago – I can only imagine what a nightmare road it used to be, dropping about 800m in altitude from Fort Portal. We reached Semuliki park’s headquarters at 7am but it was still raining so we sat for fifteen minutes or so in a nicely sheltered double-storey structure. The rain stopped and things lightened up a bit so we donned gumboots and headed down one of the forest trails. We got semi-decent views of Black-casqued hornbill, heard Yellow-throated nicator and Blue-headed coucal but not long after spotting some Piping hornbills and a cracking view of Rufous-sided broadbill, we ran into a section of the path completely flooded for more than a hundred metres. We started wading down the path but deep holes stomped by elephants left us focusing on the “path” much more than birds. After five minutes our site guide, Justice, decided that we were not going to get through the water soon, so we turned around and took a different trail a little higher up. This produced Fire-crested alethe, Grey-headed sunbird, Crested malimbe, Xavier’s and Icterine greenbuls. Just before we turned around at 11am, we got excellent views of undoubtedly the highlight of the day – African piculet. Other good birds we heard very well included Black-billed turaco, Lowland sooty boubou, African emerald cuckoo and Tambourine dove. We got back to the camp just before noon just as the rain started coming down again and we drove into the local village for a rather un-appetizing meal of goat and rice. Having nibbled on the goat, getting as much of the stodgy rice down my throat and completely avoiding the oily sauce the goat floated in, we had a short rest back at the camp. The rain calmed down to a slight drizzle by 2pm and we left for another forest trail from the camp. This time we started with excellent views of African dwarf kingfisher and also saw Green hylia, Red-billed dwarf hornbill and Simple greenbul before turning around. We then spent some time walking along the road but apart from a few common birds, this was a bit disappointing. Just after 5pm I called it a day and we drove back to camp for some tea and later dinner. My accommodation was a small hut about 100m into the forest and you couldn’t see the neighbouring huts at all. Unfortunately this is where the nice bits ended – the bathroom was rather filthy, without hot water and a shower drain that clogged the moment you opened the shower taps. There was no gauze in front of the windows either so you couldn’t dare opening them for a bit of less-stale air. Fortunately it wasn’t quite as uncomfortably hot as I’ve experienced in Ghana, Gambia and Cameroon and I was able to sleep reasonably well.

27 Apr
Breakfast was a Spanish omelet with two slices of toast, washed down with unfiltered filter coffee. At 7am we went back to the same trail we started with yesterday. There were far fewer clouds in the sky and the temperature was noticeable hotter. Despite this we only got our first new birds about half an hour into the walk: Scaly-breasted illadopsis and Dusky long-tailed cuckoo. We added most of the other birds we’ve seen/heard yesterday but also got good views of Lowland sooty boubou, Blue-shouldered robin-chat and Yellow-throated cuckoo. A quiet raptor floating through the trees got us running for a good view and all of us got a brief but good look before it disappeared. Our guide was very excited and after we browsed through all options and eliminated all the others, we confirmed it – a Congo serpent eagle! An almost knee-deep swamp had us wading very very carefully so that the water wouldn’t spill into the top of the gumboots. Beyond this wet section we came across a decent bird party but only added things we’ve already seen. It was now about 3.5 hours into our walk and my feet were protesting viciously. Just before 11am we turned around. By the time we reached the road, I was limping and gratefully slumped into the car. Lunch was waiting back at the camp – goat again, but thankfully this time with much more palatable chips (or Irish potato as the locals call it). As the day had heated up considerably, I decided to have a siesta until 3pm. In the afternoon we returned once more to the same trail but took a slightly different route, looping back to meet up with the path entering the forest. We didn’t add much but did get a nice look at a Long-tailed hawk and then some crappy back-lit views of Blue-throated roller – a species I would’ve loved to see up close. Dinner was a very decent peanut sauce, spaghetti, chips and rice, none of which I was able to finish, but the power had gone off just before we arrived and I never really saw what I put into my mouth. When Joseph and Hamington returned from the village where they had dinner, we got talking on a number of interesting subjects including economics, education, religion and biology and before I knew it, it was 10pm. The power was still off as I said goodnight to Joseph and Hamington and then had a cold shower in the dark. At last the power came back on as I stepped out of the shower and I was able to finish off my bird list for the day before going to bed.

28 Apr
At 05:30 I packed up quickly to make a 06:15 breakfast and 06:30 departure. Now I saw for the first time the spectacular valley that we had descended into in the dark two days ago – what a beautiful spot! We didn’t linger in Fort Portal but headed straight through on our way to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Reserve. Queen Elizabeth National Park was on the way but we first stopped in a town to get the car’s air filter cleaned and filled up on fuel. Queen Elizabeth reminded me a lot of Muhango Game Reserve in the Caprivi – tall, moist woodland interspersed with thick savannah – perfect for birds! Unfortunately our available time was very limited and the only birds of interest we were able to add were Yellow-throated longclaw, Black-lored babbler and Sooty chat. In another town we bought an early on-the-go lunch of chapatis and coke and then headed down a long dirt road of dubious quality in the Ishasha section of Queen Elizabeth park. This was also excellent woodland birding country and with hindsight, it would’ve been better to leave Semuliki the previous afternoon and spend the night in Queen Elizabeth. But now we were heading up to Bwindi and as we drove higher into the hills, it became cooler and the clouds became more ominous. We reached Bwindi View Guesthouse in Buhoma at 14:45 and having had almost no proper birding the whole morning, I was itching to get going. Our site guide Christopher was ready and immediately after the checking in formalities, we started birding. And what a fantastic three hours we then had! From the guesthouse’s gardens we walked up the road and just birded along the roadside, then took a path down to a small stream which we followed down before climbing back-up to the guesthouse. In the three hours we spent here, I added TWENTY new birds for the year! Even before leaving the garden I notched up my first lifer in Bwindi – Grey-green bush-shrike. Thereafter, the mouth-watering names kept on coming off my pen: Grey apalis, Cinnamon-chested bee-eater, Buff-throated apalis, Barred long-tailed cuckoo, Speckled tinkerbird, Grey-winged robin-chat, White-tailed blue flycatcher, Dusky blue flycatcher, Petit’s cuckooshrike, Yellow-whiskered greenbul, Toro olive greenbul, White-chinned prinia, Luehder’s bush-shrike, Baglafecht weaver, Grey-capped warbler, Mackinnon’s fiscal, Thick-billed seedeater, Brown-capped weaver, Snowy-crowned robin-chat. And each and every one of these I saw as clear as daylight! We were back at the guesthouse at 6pm and I had added 49 birds for the afternoon, taking the whole trip’s total to 194 birds. A three-course dinner came at 19:30 and after a very welcome hot shower I went to bed feeling extremely satisfied with the birding so far and perhaps also slightly upping my hopes for the second half of the trip.

29 Apr
After a decent breakfast, Christopher met us in the guesthouse’s gardens again and we walked the same trail as yesterday afternoon. We started off with a number of the same birds we got yesterday. Our first new one was a White-eyed slaty flycatcher and shortly after we also got Grey-throated flycatcher. Both male and female Pink-footed puffbacks were new, along with Black-faced rufous flycatcher, Sooty flycatcher, Streaky seedeater, Angolan swallow and Western citril. We were back at the guesthouse just before 11am and I spent a few minutes browsing the craft stalls before making a selection and negotiating prices for three masks. We left promptly at 11am and birded along the road for the next three hours as we drove towards Ruhija, another 700m higher up into Bwindi’s hills. Along the road we found Black-and-white mannikins, Cassin’s flycatcher, Red-headed malimbe, Splendid glossy starling and Golden-breasted bunting. Higher up in the forest the road got wetter and muddier and Joseph had to drive carefully through these (thankfully short) patches. Heavy clouds were building around us and it was noticeably colder when we reached our accommodation (Nature’s Gift Guesthouse) just outside Ruhija. Not long after we arrived it started pouring down and it was actually very pleasant to sit inside the lodge, warm and cosy, while watching the cold rain. The storm passed for the most part and by 4pm we were able to leave the guesthouse and drive towards the park’s entrance. From here we birded for another hour and a half and picked up some real gems: Western bronze-naped pigeon, Mountain oriole, Chestnut-throated apalis, Mountain masked apalis, Strange weaver, Mountain greenbul and Regal sunbird. It started dripping again at 17:30 and we turned back to the guesthouse for dinner and bed.

30 Apr
With the prospect of an 11-hour drive ahead of us to Nyungwe forest in Rwanda, we had precious little time available for birding today. A light drizzle had replaced the hard rain during the night when we ate breakfast at 06:15. By 06:45, pre-dawn light had started filtering through the clouds and we left for the same spot where we birded yesterday afternoon. Immediately we started with White-breasted nigrita and Yellow-rumped tinkerbird and heard both Ross’s and Black-billed turacos calling. The beautiful trilling that only a broadbill can make was heard clearly and Christopher confirmed this as African broadbill. I then heard another soft trilling call, rising in pitch, very similar to our Scaly-throated honeyguide but a fair bit shorter. It was very far off and the others couldn’t really hear it but when I described it to Chris he thought he knew what it was and played back the call for Grauer’s warbler – it was spot-on! A few hundred metres down the track we could all hear it very clearly. We had fantastic views of Red-faced woodland warbler, Stripe-breasted tit, Strange weaver and Sharpe’s starling, a bird that Christopher has never actually seen before. Just before we turned around we picked up Ruwenzori batis, almost identical to Chinspot batis except for a large yellow instead of black eye. Just before reaching the car Christopher heard Mountain illadopsis calling and in response to playback, it came to sit for about ten seconds on some fern leaves less than five metres from us. We had a good hour and forty five minutes birding but now we had to get going. We said goodbye to Chris and his trainee guide Kenneth and left. It wasn’t long before we reached the tar road despite the wet and muddy tracks of the higher Bwindi forest. We stopped in Kabale to fill up with fuel – a horrible little town with roads in appalling condition. From here it was a short drive to the border where it took us about 40 minutes to get through – not bad as African borders go. On the Rwandan side, driving wasn’t easy as we now had to stick to the right (wrong) side of the road and the speed-limit was strictly set at 60km/h on more open roads and 40km/h in built-up areas, of which there were never-ending numbers. The road surface was excellent though and the rumour that Rwanda was one of the cleanest countries in Africa (thanks to a presidential decree of everyone taking one Saturday a month to clean up) certainly appeared to be true. Houses also seemed to be better constructed that those elsewhere in Africa and the people have caught on to large-scale farming of tea, rice, sugar cane and maize as we constantly drove past massive fields of these, as opposed to the almost invariable subsistence farming in the rest of Africa. Kigali came in sight about an hour and a half after leaving the border and after getting a little lost on the by-roads, we eventually got onto the road leading south to Huye. The going was maddeningly slow though. I doubt that there’s a straight road of longer than 1km in Rwanda and if there is, it’s nowhere near where we drove. There are also no dual carriageways or overtaking lanes so if you get stuck behind a truck on an uphill (which happened about twenty times), chances were you would not get past anytime soon. The 140kms from Kigali to Huye took us about three hours and here we turned west and up into Nyungwe forest. It was getting late in the afternoon and heavy mist swirled around the forested mountain summits. As Joseph had never been here before, we had to stop several times to ask for directions and when we finally did reach our accommodation at Gisakura Guesthouse, on the other side of Nyungwe forest, it was already pitch dark. I was very concerned that we had completely driven out of the forest and it seemed to me we would waste a lot of time to get back into it. But Joseph went to fetch the site guide Narcisse, who assured me it would be OK. I had an ordinary dinner before counting up all the birds for the day. A Handsome francolin that we saw in the deepening gloom high in Nyungwe forest, was the 802nd bird for the year – exactly one hundred new birds for the Uganda/Rwanda trip!

01 May
It was a beautiful morning but spoiled a little by the staff arriving late and starting breakfast only at 06:45. I stuffed toast and omelet down my throat before we left, driving for about ten minutes back up the mountain. Narcisse spotted Yellow-eyed black flycatchers and we stopped next to the road and picked up four immature and noisy birds picking up insect road-kill. This spot actually turned out to be excellent and we wandered up and down the road for thirty minutes, adding Mountain greenbul, Mountain masked apalis, Thick-billed seedeater, African hill babbler, Chubb’s cisticola, Grey apalis, Regal sunbird, Waller’s starling, Strange weaver, Cinnamon-bracken warbler, Mountain sooty boubou, Dusky tit and Grauer’s warbler. Driving for another twenty minutes, we reached the Uwinka Overlook and Narcisse and I left from here, walking down the main road. Although we heard both Ruwenzori turaco and Doherty’s bush-shrike, we couldn’t find them but we had stunning views of Blue-headed and Ruwenzori sunbirds, Ruwenzori apalis and Red-faced woodland warbler. We turned off the main road onto a track and at a tall flowering tree picked up a couple of Purple-breasted sunbirds high in the canopy. We kept descending the slopes for another thirty minutes, adding Narina trogon, Stripe-breasted tit, Yellow-streaked greenbul and White-eyed slaty flycatcher. A smaller muddier track led to a small stream and just beyond we finally got good views of White-bellied elminia (crested flycatcher). We reached the main walking trail and slowly ascended this back to Uwinka as heavy clouds started rolling in and thunder threatened in the distance. Close to the top we heard Red-throated alethe calling for the third time today and finally I got a brief glimpse of this skulking forest-floor bird. We reached Uwinka as the first drops of rain fell and we just made it to the car before it started hailing. Back at Gisakura Guesthouse I was told I couldn’t have lunch in the dining room because some other people had booked out the lunch service. After giving them a piece of my mind about this poor service I took lunch in my room and a short siesta before we were to leave again at 3pm. Unfortunately things took a turn for the worse. As I stood by the car waiting for Narcisse, Hamington talked to the one employee at the guesthouse. Hamington told me they wanted us to leave because they had given all the rooms to someone else. With blood rising to my head I asked the employee to take me to his boss, one Mazimpaka Laurent. I asked him why he’s telling us to leave when we had a booking. He just looked at me and refused to answer. He didn't apologize, didn't explain, didn't arrange alternative accommodation. Then I lost it completely and told him what an arrogant bastard he was and what piss-poor service he is giving to a paying client. I packed my bags and left. At the car we saw another two guys sitting at the reception office and I was told they were also told to leave despite having booked. I went back to the “boss” and told him I will write to everyone I could think of to tell them how bad his place is and he just waved his hand in my face to dismiss me. So, to everyone out there reading this blog, I hope you take notice of this and that you will avoid at all costs, Gisakura Guesthouse in Nyungwe forest. There are a number of other options available so please, for the sake of improving the hospitality industry in Rwanda, boycott this place. It hasn’t much going for it anyway – it’s outside the forest, the rooms do not have en-suite bathrooms and the shared ones aren’t particularly clean or nice anyway. The lighting in the room is the worst I’ve had on the entire trip so far and the food was rather mediocre. I’ve traveled a lot in Africa and have only had one other bad experience at a hotel in Kumasi in Ghana but Gisakura really takes the cake. I know I am in Africa and I shouldn’t expect much but I’m fed-up with this attitude of “I don’t have to give good service, because this is Africa”. Grow up. Figure out that your livelihood depends on the money that guests bring to your establishment. Mr Mazimpaka Laurent, I hope you read this and I’d like you to know that I also wrote to the Rwanda Tour and Travel Association as well as the Tourism department of the Rwanda Development Board as I have promised you I will. You are a disgrace to your country and the tourism industry and I hope you suffer the consequences. Our afternoon’s birding was not great. We walked around the edges of a tea plantation where Dusky crimsonwings frequent the covered grassy verges but these have recently been cleared and the only things we saw were Streaky seedeaters, Black-crowned and Yellow-bellied waxbills. Down in the forest we did have great views of Luehder’s bush-shrike and a glimpse of Banded and White-chinned prinias but that was about it. With heavy clouds making the late afternoon very dark, we squeezed through the tea plantation to get back to the car and then drove to a different place to overnight. This place was a little further down the road in a little settlement and to be honest, was a bit of a dump. But Joseph and Hamington joined me for dinner along with the two other guys who got told to leave Gisakura Guesthouse – they were two young, very pleasant Dutch fellows, having a good time in East Africa. I enjoyed the chat over dinner and said goodnight to have a shower in a dingy bathroom and try to get some sleep.

02 May
Rain started at around 4am and poured down until breakfast time when it eased up a little. When we left at 7am it was only drizzling. We were headed for a swamp up in the mountains to find Grauer’s swamp warbler so first stopped at the Gisakura office to rent some gumboots. At 07:30 we reached the start of our trail but first spent half an hour running around on the road, looking for the elusive Ruwenzori turacos we could hear calling in the canopy. This was unsuccessful but we did see a small flock of birds I’ve been looking for in several other countries before – White-headed wood-hoopoe! A little further up the road Narcisse heard Dusky crimsonwings calling and we kept following the movements in the dense vegetation for about ten minutes before we finally managed to get a good sighting. We got a cracker view of a Bar-tailed trogon before eventually starting the trail down into the forest. It was very wet and muddy and I was very glad for the gumboots, despite the discomfort. About ten minutes into the descent we did get some great views (finally) of Ruwenzori turaco but this was completely overshadowed another ten minutes later when we were slowly walking in dripping, moss-covered, dense thickets. Narcisse let out a soft yelp and pointed furiously-calmly at a dark spot about ten metres away. I saw the blob and focused on it quickly – it was a Neumann’s warbler! I could clearly make out the heavy supercilium and lighter belly before it disappeared into the undergrowth. Narcisse had seen them only five times before in nine years of guiding and he was obviously ecstatic. I felt really happy with this sighting but it got even better as not long after, we got a brilliant close-up (two metres) view of an Archer’s ground robin and Narcisse even managed a photo before it too, disappeared. We finally reached the swamp at around 9am and sat for less than two minutes before seeing our first Grauer’s swamp warbler climbing up some grasses about thirty metres away. Red-chested flufftails were calling frequently and when we made our way across a short boardwalk through the swamp, we also got a quick glimpse of one flying just above the grass. The ascent back to the road was uneventful but we had such a good morning’s birding that we reached the car in great spirits. At the Uwinka Overlook we had an early lunch at the restaurant where you can have anything, as long as it’s an omelet. The sun had started peeking out occasionally and it was a very pleasant late morning. At noon we set off again on another trail and although we heard Red-collared mountain babblers calling up high in a tree, we didn’t really get any views of these tricky birds. With the sun rapidly heating up the forest, the birds settled down and we didn’t really see much. Narcisse managed to lure out a Grauer’s warbler and we finally had a good view of this bird. Later I also had a nice look at Banded prinias but then shortly before starting our ascent back up to the road we met up with a small flock of Red-collared mountain babblers. My feet by now had had enough of the gumboots and were not happy. After taking some pictures of a Handsome francolin I asked Narcisse if we could push on to the road. Mist had started rolling in from the valley floor and not-so-distant thunder also urged us along. We were back at the car at 14:30 and after a heartfelt thanks and goodbye to Narcisse, we turned east, back towards Huye. My birding trip in Uganda and Rwanda had now come to an end and it was time to make my way back home. On our way to Huye we had some heavy rain but we drove out of the storm to reach Huye close to 5pm. It took a few stops to ask for directions to Shalom guesthouse but when we found it, checked in without issues. There was no water (due to repairs by the town council) but at least the internet was working. For dinner we visited a local “coffee shop” where I had a decent enough pizza before spending the rest of the night listening to a children’s choir concert or something repeating the same chorus over and over and over again. It was maddening and I couldn’t understand how you could do that for three hours straight (from 9pm to midnight). Finally they quieted down and I was able to crawl under the mosquito net for some sleep.

03 May
After breakfast at 7am, I spent some time cleaning up and hoped to work through some emails but then the power went off. I worked on battery power before we left for Kigali at 09:30. Just after noon we arrived at the airport and I said goodbye to Joseph and Hamington who still had to make it to the border, another two hours away and then drive to Kampala, probably another 5-6 hours. Unfortunately I couldn't even enter the main Departures terminal before check-in time so had to sit out three hours in a coffee shop. With lunch and internet available, it wasn't so bad. The flight was on time and almost completely empty and I got home just after midnight.

In summary
I was expecting to get at least 80 new species, hoping for a hundred and had 120 in my head as a high hope. My new bird total for 2015 was 125! I got 19 of the 25 high-altitude Albertine rift endemics. My total for the year now stands at 827, just 173 to go. Mabamba swamps were OK this time and is still definitely worth a visit to pick up Shoebill and Papyrus gonolek. Semuliki is definitely worth it if you're looking for variety - this is lowland forest and links up with the Congo basin, so you'll get a number of birds here you won't find anywhere else. But it's hot and humid as you can expect and the available accommodation and food rather dismal. On hindsight, I'd have been happy with just one night here instead of two and spending the extra night then at Queen Elizabeth park to pick up some of the savannah/woodland birds. Bwindi was special. Even at Buhoma that's only at about 1500m, the air is cooler and more pleasant and you're surrounded by Afromontane forest. The birding here was the best I had on the entire trip and I would gladly return here in future. Unfortunately, the accommodation prices are rather shocking so make sure you shop around before picking something. Nyungwe was good too and definitely warrants an extra night or two to visit areas around Lake Kivu. My guide, Joseph Mugerwa, based in Kampala, did an excellent job of arranging all the accommodations, food, birding guides and driving always carefully and with great skill, on sometimes rather terrible roads. He also handled the issues we had (like at Gisakura Guesthouse) quickly and efficiently and I would highly recommend him to anyone planning birding tours in the area.

Tips

• In the Albertine rift, in rainy season, it rains twice a day, every day. Luckily it's mostly thunderstorms so the rains stop after an hour or three and there always seems to be enough birding time every day. But never leave a rain jacket behind. And get a pair of decent gumboots. They rent them out around the place but it's better to get your own that fit properly because you'll be spending a lot of time in it.
• Unless you're desperate to pick up lowland forest species, I wouldn't spend more than one night at Semuliki. The birding there is reasonably good but if you want to find all the endemics here, you'll need to stay a week (and still may not get half of them) in very unpleasant accommodation and even worse food. Rather pay a quick visit, spend one night and have most of two days to bird the area properly and then head back to Fort Portal on the way to Bwindi.
• Bwindi and Nyungwe warrants longer stays. Despite the rains, birding at these higher altitudes are much more pleasant and the accommodation and food (at least in Bwindi) are much better (and more expensive obviously). At Nyungwe, try the expensive Nyungwe Forest Lodge or some other places I've seen on the internet, but please, at all costs, avoid Gisakura Guesthouse.