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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)
