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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!
