Cape birding, Jun 2015

Links

• 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

Links

• 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!

Albertine rift (Uganda and Rwanda) birding, Apr 2015

Links

• List of birds

24 Apr
The flight to Entebbe was surprisingly empty so when we arrived ten minutes early in Entebbe, queues were relatively short and I was quickly through immigration and customs. My guide, Joseph Mugerwa, and his friend Peter were waiting for me and drove me to a forex bureau where we sorted out Joseph’s payment. Accommodation for the night was at Sunset hotel, pretty much on the main Entebbe-Kampala road. It was basic but actually quite a bit better than some of the places where I’ve stayed in Africa – rooms were neat and clean, lighting was good and a fan helped to drive away the mosquitoes and lake flies that were omnipresent. After a quick dinner I was off to bed.

25 Apr
Joseph arranged an early breakfast and after I’d eaten, I started my birding count from the hotel’s gardens. Ruppell’s glossy starling, Black-and-white casqued hornbill, Eastern plantain-eater and a few common jobs were noted. Joseph picked me up at 7am and we birded along the way to Mabamba swamps, picking up African openbill, Grey crowned crane, Long-crested eagle and a few others along the way. We reached Mabamba swamps around 9am and quickly sorted out a boat. Pied kingfisher, African jacana, Long-toed lapwing and Hamerkop were common. We spent a good hour and a half searching fruitlessly for Shoebill when our assistant Hamington spotted something flying high above us. A closer look confirmed it was a Shoebill and I managed to snap a shaky picture as proof. Papyrus gonoleks were calling from several places but apart from the briefest of glimpses, we never got a good view. We returned to the landing place and headed north towards the Fort Portal road. After a quick stop for lunch along the way, we drove almost five hours to get to Fort Portal. A quick stop just outside Fort Portal to let the car’s over-heating engine cool down a bit, yielded Red-headed malimbe, Collared and Variable sunbirds. Our overnight stop was Ruwenzori View Guesthouse – basic accommodation once again but with a fantastic garden that produced no less than five different sunbirds: Superb, Bronzy, Ruwenzori double-collared, Green-throated and Scarlet-chested. After checking in, we took a walk up the road and added the stunning African blue flycatcher, Black-crowned waxbill and Double-toothed barbet. The Ruwenzori mountains towered over Fort Portal but the heavy cloud obscured all but the lower foothills so we never really saw them. Joseph and Hamington then left for their own accommodation while I settled in for an impressive three-course dinner, including ice-cream, sharing a table with three American Peace Corps volunteers. It was already 9pm when we finished dinner so after a quick shower, I climbed into bed.

26 Apr
In the early hours of the morning the wind picked up and not long before my alarm woke me at 04:30, it started raining. With prospects of a very wet day looming, Joseph and Hamington joined me for a decent breakfast before we left into the rainy and misty dark. Thankfully the road down into the Semuliki valley was tarred two years ago – I can only imagine what a nightmare road it used to be, dropping about 800m in altitude from Fort Portal. We reached Semuliki park’s headquarters at 7am but it was still raining so we sat for fifteen minutes or so in a nicely sheltered double-storey structure. The rain stopped and things lightened up a bit so we donned gumboots and headed down one of the forest trails. We got semi-decent views of Black-casqued hornbill, heard Yellow-throated nicator and Blue-headed coucal but not long after spotting some Piping hornbills and a cracking view of Rufous-sided broadbill, we ran into a section of the path completely flooded for more than a hundred metres. We started wading down the path but deep holes stomped by elephants left us focusing on the “path” much more than birds. After five minutes our site guide, Justice, decided that we were not going to get through the water soon, so we turned around and took a different trail a little higher up. This produced Fire-crested alethe, Grey-headed sunbird, Crested malimbe, Xavier’s and Icterine greenbuls. Just before we turned around at 11am, we got excellent views of undoubtedly the highlight of the day – African piculet. Other good birds we heard very well included Black-billed turaco, Lowland sooty boubou, African emerald cuckoo and Tambourine dove. We got back to the camp just before noon just as the rain started coming down again and we drove into the local village for a rather un-appetizing meal of goat and rice. Having nibbled on the goat, getting as much of the stodgy rice down my throat and completely avoiding the oily sauce the goat floated in, we had a short rest back at the camp. The rain calmed down to a slight drizzle by 2pm and we left for another forest trail from the camp. This time we started with excellent views of African dwarf kingfisher and also saw Green hylia, Red-billed dwarf hornbill and Simple greenbul before turning around. We then spent some time walking along the road but apart from a few common birds, this was a bit disappointing. Just after 5pm I called it a day and we drove back to camp for some tea and later dinner. My accommodation was a small hut about 100m into the forest and you couldn’t see the neighbouring huts at all. Unfortunately this is where the nice bits ended – the bathroom was rather filthy, without hot water and a shower drain that clogged the moment you opened the shower taps. There was no gauze in front of the windows either so you couldn’t dare opening them for a bit of less-stale air. Fortunately it wasn’t quite as uncomfortably hot as I’ve experienced in Ghana, Gambia and Cameroon and I was able to sleep reasonably well.

27 Apr
Breakfast was a Spanish omelet with two slices of toast, washed down with unfiltered filter coffee. At 7am we went back to the same trail we started with yesterday. There were far fewer clouds in the sky and the temperature was noticeable hotter. Despite this we only got our first new birds about half an hour into the walk: Scaly-breasted illadopsis and Dusky long-tailed cuckoo. We added most of the other birds we’ve seen/heard yesterday but also got good views of Lowland sooty boubou, Blue-shouldered robin-chat and Yellow-throated cuckoo. A quiet raptor floating through the trees got us running for a good view and all of us got a brief but good look before it disappeared. Our guide was very excited and after we browsed through all options and eliminated all the others, we confirmed it – a Congo serpent eagle! An almost knee-deep swamp had us wading very very carefully so that the water wouldn’t spill into the top of the gumboots. Beyond this wet section we came across a decent bird party but only added things we’ve already seen. It was now about 3.5 hours into our walk and my feet were protesting viciously. Just before 11am we turned around. By the time we reached the road, I was limping and gratefully slumped into the car. Lunch was waiting back at the camp – goat again, but thankfully this time with much more palatable chips (or Irish potato as the locals call it). As the day had heated up considerably, I decided to have a siesta until 3pm. In the afternoon we returned once more to the same trail but took a slightly different route, looping back to meet up with the path entering the forest. We didn’t add much but did get a nice look at a Long-tailed hawk and then some crappy back-lit views of Blue-throated roller – a species I would’ve loved to see up close. Dinner was a very decent peanut sauce, spaghetti, chips and rice, none of which I was able to finish, but the power had gone off just before we arrived and I never really saw what I put into my mouth. When Joseph and Hamington returned from the village where they had dinner, we got talking on a number of interesting subjects including economics, education, religion and biology and before I knew it, it was 10pm. The power was still off as I said goodnight to Joseph and Hamington and then had a cold shower in the dark. At last the power came back on as I stepped out of the shower and I was able to finish off my bird list for the day before going to bed.

28 Apr
At 05:30 I packed up quickly to make a 06:15 breakfast and 06:30 departure. Now I saw for the first time the spectacular valley that we had descended into in the dark two days ago – what a beautiful spot! We didn’t linger in Fort Portal but headed straight through on our way to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Reserve. Queen Elizabeth National Park was on the way but we first stopped in a town to get the car’s air filter cleaned and filled up on fuel. Queen Elizabeth reminded me a lot of Muhango Game Reserve in the Caprivi – tall, moist woodland interspersed with thick savannah – perfect for birds! Unfortunately our available time was very limited and the only birds of interest we were able to add were Yellow-throated longclaw, Black-lored babbler and Sooty chat. In another town we bought an early on-the-go lunch of chapatis and coke and then headed down a long dirt road of dubious quality in the Ishasha section of Queen Elizabeth park. This was also excellent woodland birding country and with hindsight, it would’ve been better to leave Semuliki the previous afternoon and spend the night in Queen Elizabeth. But now we were heading up to Bwindi and as we drove higher into the hills, it became cooler and the clouds became more ominous. We reached Bwindi View Guesthouse in Buhoma at 14:45 and having had almost no proper birding the whole morning, I was itching to get going. Our site guide Christopher was ready and immediately after the checking in formalities, we started birding. And what a fantastic three hours we then had! From the guesthouse’s gardens we walked up the road and just birded along the roadside, then took a path down to a small stream which we followed down before climbing back-up to the guesthouse. In the three hours we spent here, I added TWENTY new birds for the year! Even before leaving the garden I notched up my first lifer in Bwindi – Grey-green bush-shrike. Thereafter, the mouth-watering names kept on coming off my pen: Grey apalis, Cinnamon-chested bee-eater, Buff-throated apalis, Barred long-tailed cuckoo, Speckled tinkerbird, Grey-winged robin-chat, White-tailed blue flycatcher, Dusky blue flycatcher, Petit’s cuckooshrike, Yellow-whiskered greenbul, Toro olive greenbul, White-chinned prinia, Luehder’s bush-shrike, Baglafecht weaver, Grey-capped warbler, Mackinnon’s fiscal, Thick-billed seedeater, Brown-capped weaver, Snowy-crowned robin-chat. And each and every one of these I saw as clear as daylight! We were back at the guesthouse at 6pm and I had added 49 birds for the afternoon, taking the whole trip’s total to 194 birds. A three-course dinner came at 19:30 and after a very welcome hot shower I went to bed feeling extremely satisfied with the birding so far and perhaps also slightly upping my hopes for the second half of the trip.

29 Apr
After a decent breakfast, Christopher met us in the guesthouse’s gardens again and we walked the same trail as yesterday afternoon. We started off with a number of the same birds we got yesterday. Our first new one was a White-eyed slaty flycatcher and shortly after we also got Grey-throated flycatcher. Both male and female Pink-footed puffbacks were new, along with Black-faced rufous flycatcher, Sooty flycatcher, Streaky seedeater, Angolan swallow and Western citril. We were back at the guesthouse just before 11am and I spent a few minutes browsing the craft stalls before making a selection and negotiating prices for three masks. We left promptly at 11am and birded along the road for the next three hours as we drove towards Ruhija, another 700m higher up into Bwindi’s hills. Along the road we found Black-and-white mannikins, Cassin’s flycatcher, Red-headed malimbe, Splendid glossy starling and Golden-breasted bunting. Higher up in the forest the road got wetter and muddier and Joseph had to drive carefully through these (thankfully short) patches. Heavy clouds were building around us and it was noticeably colder when we reached our accommodation (Nature’s Gift Guesthouse) just outside Ruhija. Not long after we arrived it started pouring down and it was actually very pleasant to sit inside the lodge, warm and cosy, while watching the cold rain. The storm passed for the most part and by 4pm we were able to leave the guesthouse and drive towards the park’s entrance. From here we birded for another hour and a half and picked up some real gems: Western bronze-naped pigeon, Mountain oriole, Chestnut-throated apalis, Mountain masked apalis, Strange weaver, Mountain greenbul and Regal sunbird. It started dripping again at 17:30 and we turned back to the guesthouse for dinner and bed.

30 Apr
With the prospect of an 11-hour drive ahead of us to Nyungwe forest in Rwanda, we had precious little time available for birding today. A light drizzle had replaced the hard rain during the night when we ate breakfast at 06:15. By 06:45, pre-dawn light had started filtering through the clouds and we left for the same spot where we birded yesterday afternoon. Immediately we started with White-breasted nigrita and Yellow-rumped tinkerbird and heard both Ross’s and Black-billed turacos calling. The beautiful trilling that only a broadbill can make was heard clearly and Christopher confirmed this as African broadbill. I then heard another soft trilling call, rising in pitch, very similar to our Scaly-throated honeyguide but a fair bit shorter. It was very far off and the others couldn’t really hear it but when I described it to Chris he thought he knew what it was and played back the call for Grauer’s warbler – it was spot-on! A few hundred metres down the track we could all hear it very clearly. We had fantastic views of Red-faced woodland warbler, Stripe-breasted tit, Strange weaver and Sharpe’s starling, a bird that Christopher has never actually seen before. Just before we turned around we picked up Ruwenzori batis, almost identical to Chinspot batis except for a large yellow instead of black eye. Just before reaching the car Christopher heard Mountain illadopsis calling and in response to playback, it came to sit for about ten seconds on some fern leaves less than five metres from us. We had a good hour and forty five minutes birding but now we had to get going. We said goodbye to Chris and his trainee guide Kenneth and left. It wasn’t long before we reached the tar road despite the wet and muddy tracks of the higher Bwindi forest. We stopped in Kabale to fill up with fuel – a horrible little town with roads in appalling condition. From here it was a short drive to the border where it took us about 40 minutes to get through – not bad as African borders go. On the Rwandan side, driving wasn’t easy as we now had to stick to the right (wrong) side of the road and the speed-limit was strictly set at 60km/h on more open roads and 40km/h in built-up areas, of which there were never-ending numbers. The road surface was excellent though and the rumour that Rwanda was one of the cleanest countries in Africa (thanks to a presidential decree of everyone taking one Saturday a month to clean up) certainly appeared to be true. Houses also seemed to be better constructed that those elsewhere in Africa and the people have caught on to large-scale farming of tea, rice, sugar cane and maize as we constantly drove past massive fields of these, as opposed to the almost invariable subsistence farming in the rest of Africa. Kigali came in sight about an hour and a half after leaving the border and after getting a little lost on the by-roads, we eventually got onto the road leading south to Huye. The going was maddeningly slow though. I doubt that there’s a straight road of longer than 1km in Rwanda and if there is, it’s nowhere near where we drove. There are also no dual carriageways or overtaking lanes so if you get stuck behind a truck on an uphill (which happened about twenty times), chances were you would not get past anytime soon. The 140kms from Kigali to Huye took us about three hours and here we turned west and up into Nyungwe forest. It was getting late in the afternoon and heavy mist swirled around the forested mountain summits. As Joseph had never been here before, we had to stop several times to ask for directions and when we finally did reach our accommodation at Gisakura Guesthouse, on the other side of Nyungwe forest, it was already pitch dark. I was very concerned that we had completely driven out of the forest and it seemed to me we would waste a lot of time to get back into it. But Joseph went to fetch the site guide Narcisse, who assured me it would be OK. I had an ordinary dinner before counting up all the birds for the day. A Handsome francolin that we saw in the deepening gloom high in Nyungwe forest, was the 802nd bird for the year – exactly one hundred new birds for the Uganda/Rwanda trip!

01 May
It was a beautiful morning but spoiled a little by the staff arriving late and starting breakfast only at 06:45. I stuffed toast and omelet down my throat before we left, driving for about ten minutes back up the mountain. Narcisse spotted Yellow-eyed black flycatchers and we stopped next to the road and picked up four immature and noisy birds picking up insect road-kill. This spot actually turned out to be excellent and we wandered up and down the road for thirty minutes, adding Mountain greenbul, Mountain masked apalis, Thick-billed seedeater, African hill babbler, Chubb’s cisticola, Grey apalis, Regal sunbird, Waller’s starling, Strange weaver, Cinnamon-bracken warbler, Mountain sooty boubou, Dusky tit and Grauer’s warbler. Driving for another twenty minutes, we reached the Uwinka Overlook and Narcisse and I left from here, walking down the main road. Although we heard both Ruwenzori turaco and Doherty’s bush-shrike, we couldn’t find them but we had stunning views of Blue-headed and Ruwenzori sunbirds, Ruwenzori apalis and Red-faced woodland warbler. We turned off the main road onto a track and at a tall flowering tree picked up a couple of Purple-breasted sunbirds high in the canopy. We kept descending the slopes for another thirty minutes, adding Narina trogon, Stripe-breasted tit, Yellow-streaked greenbul and White-eyed slaty flycatcher. A smaller muddier track led to a small stream and just beyond we finally got good views of White-bellied elminia (crested flycatcher). We reached the main walking trail and slowly ascended this back to Uwinka as heavy clouds started rolling in and thunder threatened in the distance. Close to the top we heard Red-throated alethe calling for the third time today and finally I got a brief glimpse of this skulking forest-floor bird. We reached Uwinka as the first drops of rain fell and we just made it to the car before it started hailing. Back at Gisakura Guesthouse I was told I couldn’t have lunch in the dining room because some other people had booked out the lunch service. After giving them a piece of my mind about this poor service I took lunch in my room and a short siesta before we were to leave again at 3pm. Unfortunately things took a turn for the worse. As I stood by the car waiting for Narcisse, Hamington talked to the one employee at the guesthouse. Hamington told me they wanted us to leave because they had given all the rooms to someone else. With blood rising to my head I asked the employee to take me to his boss, one Mazimpaka Laurent. I asked him why he’s telling us to leave when we had a booking. He just looked at me and refused to answer. He didn't apologize, didn't explain, didn't arrange alternative accommodation. Then I lost it completely and told him what an arrogant bastard he was and what piss-poor service he is giving to a paying client. I packed my bags and left. At the car we saw another two guys sitting at the reception office and I was told they were also told to leave despite having booked. I went back to the “boss” and told him I will write to everyone I could think of to tell them how bad his place is and he just waved his hand in my face to dismiss me. So, to everyone out there reading this blog, I hope you take notice of this and that you will avoid at all costs, Gisakura Guesthouse in Nyungwe forest. There are a number of other options available so please, for the sake of improving the hospitality industry in Rwanda, boycott this place. It hasn’t much going for it anyway – it’s outside the forest, the rooms do not have en-suite bathrooms and the shared ones aren’t particularly clean or nice anyway. The lighting in the room is the worst I’ve had on the entire trip so far and the food was rather mediocre. I’ve traveled a lot in Africa and have only had one other bad experience at a hotel in Kumasi in Ghana but Gisakura really takes the cake. I know I am in Africa and I shouldn’t expect much but I’m fed-up with this attitude of “I don’t have to give good service, because this is Africa”. Grow up. Figure out that your livelihood depends on the money that guests bring to your establishment. Mr Mazimpaka Laurent, I hope you read this and I’d like you to know that I also wrote to the Rwanda Tour and Travel Association as well as the Tourism department of the Rwanda Development Board as I have promised you I will. You are a disgrace to your country and the tourism industry and I hope you suffer the consequences. Our afternoon’s birding was not great. We walked around the edges of a tea plantation where Dusky crimsonwings frequent the covered grassy verges but these have recently been cleared and the only things we saw were Streaky seedeaters, Black-crowned and Yellow-bellied waxbills. Down in the forest we did have great views of Luehder’s bush-shrike and a glimpse of Banded and White-chinned prinias but that was about it. With heavy clouds making the late afternoon very dark, we squeezed through the tea plantation to get back to the car and then drove to a different place to overnight. This place was a little further down the road in a little settlement and to be honest, was a bit of a dump. But Joseph and Hamington joined me for dinner along with the two other guys who got told to leave Gisakura Guesthouse – they were two young, very pleasant Dutch fellows, having a good time in East Africa. I enjoyed the chat over dinner and said goodnight to have a shower in a dingy bathroom and try to get some sleep.

02 May
Rain started at around 4am and poured down until breakfast time when it eased up a little. When we left at 7am it was only drizzling. We were headed for a swamp up in the mountains to find Grauer’s swamp warbler so first stopped at the Gisakura office to rent some gumboots. At 07:30 we reached the start of our trail but first spent half an hour running around on the road, looking for the elusive Ruwenzori turacos we could hear calling in the canopy. This was unsuccessful but we did see a small flock of birds I’ve been looking for in several other countries before – White-headed wood-hoopoe! A little further up the road Narcisse heard Dusky crimsonwings calling and we kept following the movements in the dense vegetation for about ten minutes before we finally managed to get a good sighting. We got a cracker view of a Bar-tailed trogon before eventually starting the trail down into the forest. It was very wet and muddy and I was very glad for the gumboots, despite the discomfort. About ten minutes into the descent we did get some great views (finally) of Ruwenzori turaco but this was completely overshadowed another ten minutes later when we were slowly walking in dripping, moss-covered, dense thickets. Narcisse let out a soft yelp and pointed furiously-calmly at a dark spot about ten metres away. I saw the blob and focused on it quickly – it was a Neumann’s warbler! I could clearly make out the heavy supercilium and lighter belly before it disappeared into the undergrowth. Narcisse had seen them only five times before in nine years of guiding and he was obviously ecstatic. I felt really happy with this sighting but it got even better as not long after, we got a brilliant close-up (two metres) view of an Archer’s ground robin and Narcisse even managed a photo before it too, disappeared. We finally reached the swamp at around 9am and sat for less than two minutes before seeing our first Grauer’s swamp warbler climbing up some grasses about thirty metres away. Red-chested flufftails were calling frequently and when we made our way across a short boardwalk through the swamp, we also got a quick glimpse of one flying just above the grass. The ascent back to the road was uneventful but we had such a good morning’s birding that we reached the car in great spirits. At the Uwinka Overlook we had an early lunch at the restaurant where you can have anything, as long as it’s an omelet. The sun had started peeking out occasionally and it was a very pleasant late morning. At noon we set off again on another trail and although we heard Red-collared mountain babblers calling up high in a tree, we didn’t really get any views of these tricky birds. With the sun rapidly heating up the forest, the birds settled down and we didn’t really see much. Narcisse managed to lure out a Grauer’s warbler and we finally had a good view of this bird. Later I also had a nice look at Banded prinias but then shortly before starting our ascent back up to the road we met up with a small flock of Red-collared mountain babblers. My feet by now had had enough of the gumboots and were not happy. After taking some pictures of a Handsome francolin I asked Narcisse if we could push on to the road. Mist had started rolling in from the valley floor and not-so-distant thunder also urged us along. We were back at the car at 14:30 and after a heartfelt thanks and goodbye to Narcisse, we turned east, back towards Huye. My birding trip in Uganda and Rwanda had now come to an end and it was time to make my way back home. On our way to Huye we had some heavy rain but we drove out of the storm to reach Huye close to 5pm. It took a few stops to ask for directions to Shalom guesthouse but when we found it, checked in without issues. There was no water (due to repairs by the town council) but at least the internet was working. For dinner we visited a local “coffee shop” where I had a decent enough pizza before spending the rest of the night listening to a children’s choir concert or something repeating the same chorus over and over and over again. It was maddening and I couldn’t understand how you could do that for three hours straight (from 9pm to midnight). Finally they quieted down and I was able to crawl under the mosquito net for some sleep.

03 May
After breakfast at 7am, I spent some time cleaning up and hoped to work through some emails but then the power went off. I worked on battery power before we left for Kigali at 09:30. Just after noon we arrived at the airport and I said goodbye to Joseph and Hamington who still had to make it to the border, another two hours away and then drive to Kampala, probably another 5-6 hours. Unfortunately I couldn't even enter the main Departures terminal before check-in time so had to sit out three hours in a coffee shop. With lunch and internet available, it wasn't so bad. The flight was on time and almost completely empty and I got home just after midnight.

In summary
I was expecting to get at least 80 new species, hoping for a hundred and had 120 in my head as a high hope. My new bird total for 2015 was 125! I got 19 of the 25 high-altitude Albertine rift endemics. My total for the year now stands at 827, just 173 to go. Mabamba swamps were OK this time and is still definitely worth a visit to pick up Shoebill and Papyrus gonolek. Semuliki is definitely worth it if you're looking for variety - this is lowland forest and links up with the Congo basin, so you'll get a number of birds here you won't find anywhere else. But it's hot and humid as you can expect and the available accommodation and food rather dismal. On hindsight, I'd have been happy with just one night here instead of two and spending the extra night then at Queen Elizabeth park to pick up some of the savannah/woodland birds. Bwindi was special. Even at Buhoma that's only at about 1500m, the air is cooler and more pleasant and you're surrounded by Afromontane forest. The birding here was the best I had on the entire trip and I would gladly return here in future. Unfortunately, the accommodation prices are rather shocking so make sure you shop around before picking something. Nyungwe was good too and definitely warrants an extra night or two to visit areas around Lake Kivu. My guide, Joseph Mugerwa, based in Kampala, did an excellent job of arranging all the accommodations, food, birding guides and driving always carefully and with great skill, on sometimes rather terrible roads. He also handled the issues we had (like at Gisakura Guesthouse) quickly and efficiently and I would highly recommend him to anyone planning birding tours in the area.

Tips

• In the Albertine rift, in rainy season, it rains twice a day, every day. Luckily it's mostly thunderstorms so the rains stop after an hour or three and there always seems to be enough birding time every day. But never leave a rain jacket behind. And get a pair of decent gumboots. They rent them out around the place but it's better to get your own that fit properly because you'll be spending a lot of time in it.
• Unless you're desperate to pick up lowland forest species, I wouldn't spend more than one night at Semuliki. The birding there is reasonably good but if you want to find all the endemics here, you'll need to stay a week (and still may not get half of them) in very unpleasant accommodation and even worse food. Rather pay a quick visit, spend one night and have most of two days to bird the area properly and then head back to Fort Portal on the way to Bwindi.
• Bwindi and Nyungwe warrants longer stays. Despite the rains, birding at these higher altitudes are much more pleasant and the accommodation and food (at least in Bwindi) are much better (and more expensive obviously). At Nyungwe, try the expensive Nyungwe Forest Lodge or some other places I've seen on the internet, but please, at all costs, avoid Gisakura Guesthouse.