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Hoping to catch up with some high-altitude species like Drakensberg rockjumper, Drakensberg siskin and Bearded vulture, we headed down to Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge for the weekend, together with our friends Ian and Margaret Koegelenberg. The Koegelenbergs still had a function to attend on Friday evening and was only leaving home afterwards; we left Middelburg just after 2pm, reaching Harrismith around 6pm. Ian and Margaret arrived at midnight and we settled in for a few hours’ sleep before getting up at 05:30. Despite heavy lightning the previous night and a forecast of 60% rain for the weekend, the skies were clear and after breakfast we drove out to Bergview stop to leave Ian’s bakkie while we went birding around Harrismith in the X-trail. The birding was not overly exciting but some highlights included Blue korhaan, Eastern clapper lark, Red-throated wryneck, Cinnamon-breasted bunting, Banded martin, Alpine swift, Southern bald ibis and a Secretarybird. After picking up Ian’s bakkie again, we drove in convoy through Phuthaditjaba and then up into the mountains, stopping for lunch on the paved road just beyond the Witsieshoek toll gate. Ominous clouds were building all over the escarpment and the Witches were poking in and out of swirling mist above the Sentinel car park. Birding on the road towards Witsieshoek was very quiet and apart from Bokmakieries, Red-wing starlings and Cape crows, there wasn’t much else. We stopped at Witsieshoek to check in, then left the bakkie again to drive up to Sentinel car park in one car. Although they have now started paving the road back from the car park as well, sections of it seemed to not have been maintained in the last five years and looked worse than I’ve ever seen it. Old Jacob, the guard at the car park, still remembered me after all these years and he allowed us out behind the fence to see if we could spot any Drakensberg rockjumpers. But with the static electricity positively humming around us, the birds were quiet, and we left again without adding anything. Back at Witsieshoek we watched the fog roll in from Ian and Margaret’s room, having coffee and banana cake. After a very pleasant shower it was off to a buffet dinner in the restaurant and then a peaceful night’s sleep, only slightly interrupted by the bangs of lightning and the tap-tap of rain.
Nicola and I were up at 05:30 and had a quick cup of coffee and tea before doing some birding along the entrance road of the Lodge. Clouds were high but heavy and a strong wind raced across the ridge. There were plenty of Malachite sunbirds and Bokmakieries to entertain us but nothing worth mentioning apart from that. At 7am we went for breakfast while Ian and Margaret still had a bit of a lie-in. We were ecstatic to see a single Bearded vulture fly over the Lodge and investigate the usual spot where bones are left for it. Around 8am we made our way to this “vulture restaurant” along with a film crew from Homebrew studios. These guys wanted close-up shots and action footage of the vultures and had very strong opinions about where they wanted to film from. The lodge staff member who put the bones out kept telling them that the vultures are not going to come with them standing so close. Nicola and I took up station in a small ruin about 50m away and Margaret came to join us about 10 minutes later. But by 9am, predictably, no vultures had appeared (we did have a Black harrier and Jackal buzzard fly past though) and it was time for us to start our trip back. The weather was pretty good a little further down the mountain but try as we might, we couldn’t find any rock-thrushes, francolins or blackcaps and by 11am we headed back to Harrismith. After filling up with fuel we did a little more birding along a dirt road running east of the N3 but by noon we gave up and turned back home. It was a very pleasant weekend up in the hills and really nice to share a birding trip with friends – it also means more eyes to help spot birds!
The newly upgraded huts at Witsieshoek are a little out of our normal price range but they really are quite nice and considering the howling wind and driving rain we had overnight, it was so comforting to not be sleeping in a tent! The birding was a little disappointing but we did decide not to go up the chain ladders due to the threatening weather so we never really had a good chance of seeing the rockjumper or siskin anyway. I’ve had better views of Bearded vulture and that we missed the chance of seeing it feeding at the vulture restaurant was also a bit disappointing. However, I did add six new birds to the annual tally, now standing at 652
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