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19 March
A very early start to Pieter’s birthday saw us reaching Zaagkuildrift by 6 in the morning. The Zaagkuildrift to Kgomo-kgomo road is one of our favorite spots and it did not disappoint. Half-collared kingfisher, Brown snake eagle, Shaft-tailed whydah, Barred wren-warbler, River warbler, Temminck's courser and Village indigobird were some of the more special birds seen, but the normal birds were also out in abundance so we had a list of 121 species by lunch. We continued our drive towards Borakalalo, another favorite spot of ours, but we decided to only bird the outside of the reserve for now, saving the inside for later on the weekend. Being later in the day and quite hot, the bird life was sheltering so we only added a few new species for the day such as Red-breasted swallow and European bee-eater. We continued towards our accommodation, and after a bunch of cryptic clues from Pieter I eventually saw a signpost and figured out where we were staying – Finfoot Lake Reserve! Being birders, the name had long intrigued us so it was nice to finally find out what the place was like. It was a lovely small private game farm on the southern shore of Vaalkop Dam, with dinner and breakfast included, and to our surprise, two activities per day. We immediately signed up for the boat trip that afternoon and before long we were being driven down to the dam. We were a group of roughly ten people, but the guide was also a birder so we did manage to add several new species for the day: African pied wagtail, White-winged tern, Chestnut-vented tit-babbler (warbler), Goliath heron, and the beautiful Black heron hunting fish and frogs by umbrella light. Night was falling by the time we drove back to the lodge so we could hear the first Fiery-necked nightjars warming up for the night. Back at the lodge we ate a very pleasant dinner and climbed into bed.
20 March
It was the working Monday in the middle of a long weekend, and we had some business to attend to in Pretoria, so we asked for a packed breakfast and left very early to get in some birding on the way. Zaagkuildrift was just as good as the day before with the addition of Black-winged pratincole and African marsh harrier. It was early afternoon by the time we headed back to the lodge, but we were in time for the afternoon activity of a game drive. Finfoot Lake Reserve is a small reserve with plenty of good birding habitat, however, it had been overrun with a weed from India called Flannel weed. The guide told us that it had only arrived in the last 2 months but it had spread like crazy and large areas of the reserve were covered. They had found a poison that did not damage the indigenous flora and had started treating it, but it was obvious they had a long way to go. Pieter and I joked that we should get our hiking buddy Shirley there, point out the offending plant and say ‘Shirley, Flannel weed, bad!’ and then let her loose. I’m pretty sure the reserve would have been clean within a few weeks! The birds were fortunately not affected and we saw White-throated robin-chat, Brown-throated martin, Burnt necked eremomela, Cinnamon-breasted bunting and a rush of other woodland birds. Back at the lodge we settled down to another very pleasant dinner before bed.
21 March
The last morning of our long weekend we had a reasonably early start and went on another game drive before breakfast. The specials seen were a Wahlberg's eagle and a late Fiery-necked nightjar before going back to the restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast we quickly packed up and checked out and headed back to Zaagkuildrift road to try and finish some of the atlassing pentads we started the previous day. The route past Borakalalo yielded Violet-eared waxbill and Meyers parrot, and we wished the weekend was longer so that we could have found time to bird inside the reserve as well. Zaagkuildrift yielded Lesser kestrel, Streaky-headed seedeater, Lesser grey shrike and a stunning Common whitethroat as new birds for the trip. By lunch time we had reached the N1 again and content with a stunning weekend's birding, we headed for home.We had ticked 175 birds for the trip!
19 March
A very early start to Pieter’s birthday saw us reaching Zaagkuildrift by 6 in the morning. The Zaagkuildrift to Kgomo-kgomo road is one of our favorite spots and it did not disappoint. Half-collared kingfisher, Brown snake eagle, Shaft-tailed whydah, Barred wren-warbler, River warbler, Temminck's courser and Village indigobird were some of the more special birds seen, but the normal birds were also out in abundance so we had a list of 121 species by lunch. We continued our drive towards Borakalalo, another favorite spot of ours, but we decided to only bird the outside of the reserve for now, saving the inside for later on the weekend. Being later in the day and quite hot, the bird life was sheltering so we only added a few new species for the day such as Red-breasted swallow and European bee-eater. We continued towards our accommodation, and after a bunch of cryptic clues from Pieter I eventually saw a signpost and figured out where we were staying – Finfoot Lake Reserve! Being birders, the name had long intrigued us so it was nice to finally find out what the place was like. It was a lovely small private game farm on the southern shore of Vaalkop Dam, with dinner and breakfast included, and to our surprise, two activities per day. We immediately signed up for the boat trip that afternoon and before long we were being driven down to the dam. We were a group of roughly ten people, but the guide was also a birder so we did manage to add several new species for the day: African pied wagtail, White-winged tern, Chestnut-vented tit-babbler (warbler), Goliath heron, and the beautiful Black heron hunting fish and frogs by umbrella light. Night was falling by the time we drove back to the lodge so we could hear the first Fiery-necked nightjars warming up for the night. Back at the lodge we ate a very pleasant dinner and climbed into bed.
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| Rufous-naped lark |
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| Red-backed shrike |
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| Black-chested prinia |
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| Acacia pied barbet |
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| Shaft-tailed whydah |
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| Temminck's courser |
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| Sunset over Vaalkop dam |
20 March
It was the working Monday in the middle of a long weekend, and we had some business to attend to in Pretoria, so we asked for a packed breakfast and left very early to get in some birding on the way. Zaagkuildrift was just as good as the day before with the addition of Black-winged pratincole and African marsh harrier. It was early afternoon by the time we headed back to the lodge, but we were in time for the afternoon activity of a game drive. Finfoot Lake Reserve is a small reserve with plenty of good birding habitat, however, it had been overrun with a weed from India called Flannel weed. The guide told us that it had only arrived in the last 2 months but it had spread like crazy and large areas of the reserve were covered. They had found a poison that did not damage the indigenous flora and had started treating it, but it was obvious they had a long way to go. Pieter and I joked that we should get our hiking buddy Shirley there, point out the offending plant and say ‘Shirley, Flannel weed, bad!’ and then let her loose. I’m pretty sure the reserve would have been clean within a few weeks! The birds were fortunately not affected and we saw White-throated robin-chat, Brown-throated martin, Burnt necked eremomela, Cinnamon-breasted bunting and a rush of other woodland birds. Back at the lodge we settled down to another very pleasant dinner before bed.
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| Spotted thick-knee |
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| European bee-eaters |
21 March
The last morning of our long weekend we had a reasonably early start and went on another game drive before breakfast. The specials seen were a Wahlberg's eagle and a late Fiery-necked nightjar before going back to the restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast we quickly packed up and checked out and headed back to Zaagkuildrift road to try and finish some of the atlassing pentads we started the previous day. The route past Borakalalo yielded Violet-eared waxbill and Meyers parrot, and we wished the weekend was longer so that we could have found time to bird inside the reserve as well. Zaagkuildrift yielded Lesser kestrel, Streaky-headed seedeater, Lesser grey shrike and a stunning Common whitethroat as new birds for the trip. By lunch time we had reached the N1 again and content with a stunning weekend's birding, we headed for home.We had ticked 175 birds for the trip!
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| Little grebe in the morning mist |
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| Speckled mousebird |
