Kruger NP birding, Aug 2015

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• List of birds

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

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• 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!