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Birding Trip Report | South Africa October 16th – November 13th, 2010

Participants: Femkje Sierdsma, Michiel van Ettinger (author, mvanettingerATgmail.com)

Sites visited: Cape Town, West Coast NP, Tanqua Karoo, Paarl, Simon’s Town (incl. pelagic), West Cape, Rooi Els, Hermanus, Johannesburg, Nylsvlei, Kurisa Moya, Kruger NP,

Wakkerstroom, Royal Natal NP, Golden Gate NP (Drakensbergen), Memel, Marievale Birds are indicated in bold, other animals in bold and italics. All photos are made by Michiel van

Ettinger and Femkje Sierdsma. Itinerary & introduction This trip started in Cape Town on October 16th. Then, we made a loop via West Coast, Tanqua Karoo, Paarl, Simon’s Town incl. pelagic, Rooi Els, Hermanus before flying from Cape Town to Johannesburg. There, we met family and we travelled with them to Kruger Park (Punda Maria gate), with stops in Nylsvlei and Kurisa Moya on the way. From Punda Maria we travelled in 5 days through Kruger NP to exit the park at Malelane gate. In 1 day we travelled all the way to Wakkerstroom, which amazed us by the amount of birds we could still add here to our list. After this, we visited Royal Natal NP and Golden Gate NP in the Drakensbergen. Via Memel and Marievale we returned to Johannesburg from where we flew back to Amsterdam. We ended up with 401 species of birds! On several occasions we hired a guide, but most was self-guided. Unless otherwise indicated, we followed the tips given by the South African Birdfinder which is an essential book and omits reading and summarizing thousands of trip reports. October 16th-18th: Amsterdam – Cape Town and surroundings We departed Amsterdam at 4:30pm with British Airways for London Heathrow, where we had plenty of transit time. Our flight by South African Airways left at 9pm, we arrived in Cape Town exactly as scheduled at 10am on the 17th, excellent. It was already 28oC! We picked up our Chevrolet Spark rental car at Hertz and drove to Afton Grove Country Retreat and picked up Pied Crow, Sacred Ibis, House Sparrow and Barn Swallow along the way. We were greeted with a warm welcome and soon found some birds in the garden: Black-headed Heron, Cape White-eye, Southern Double-collared Sunbird, Pin-tailed Whydah (nice!), Cape Canary, Common Waxbill, Hartlaub’s Gull and Cape Gull. We stocked up supplies at the supermarket opposite of Afton Grove and then went to Kommetjie for a walk on the beach. The weather was fantastic but a bit chilly and we could, not surprisingly, add a lot of new birds: Blacksmith Lapwing, Swift Tern, Greater-striped Swallow, Common Fiscal, African Black Oystercatcher and even a Cape Sugarbird. On the 18th we woke up early and saw a Chaffinch in the garden of Afton Grove. The owner of Afton Grove gave us some good advices for birding on the way to Kirstenbosch. So we took the M42 (Orpen Road) and a few hundred meters after the second roundabout we parked our car on

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the right on a gravel parking. It is indicated by a yellow sign on the left “Tokai Lions Club”. We entered the property on the opposite side of the parking and immediately saw African Paradise Flycatcher. After a few moments, a Black Sparrowhawk sailed overhead, it apparently breeds in the vicinity. This location should also be good for Amethyst Sunbird, but we had Southern Double-collared and Malachite Sunbird. A troop of Chacma Baboons crossed the path. Time to go! We entered the magnificent Kirstenbosch Gardens from Rhodes Drive (M63) and soon we saw African Harrier-hawk, Cape Batis, Sombre Greenbul, Lemon Dove, Orange-breasted Sunbird, Cape Sugarbird, Karoo Prinia, Olive Thrush, Cape Robin-chat, Cape Turtle-dove, Lesser Kestrel, Cape Francolin, Sombre Greenbul, Olive Thrush, Chaffinch, Cape Bulbul, Levaillant’s Cisticola, White-necked Raven and White-rumped Swift. We spent all morning here. On the way back, I asked the park guards if they knew a spot for Spotted Eagle-owl and they directed us to the lane of trees behind the entrance. Within a minute, Femkje discovered one roosting individual. Fantastic!

Spotted Eagle-owl Cape Sugarbird Cape Batis We left the area and went to Table Mountain, where we took the cable car up and down again. This gives you a nice view over Cape Town. On the top we saw Rock Dassie/ Hyrax. From the cable car, while descending, I saw a Peregrine Falcon sitting on the rocks. Other birds here were Familiar Chat, African Black and Alpine Swifts and of course White-necked Raven. We drove back to Noordhoek via the Chapman’s Peak Drive, which was really beautiful in the late afternoon light. October 19th: West Coast NP We woke up at 5am to visit the marshes opposite Afton Grove. The owner can give you details. We found lots of birds here with Cape Grassbird, Lesser Swamp Warbler, African Marsh Harrier, Malachite Kingfisher, Common Waxbill, African Reed-warbler (call is quite similar song to our European one!), Black-crowned Night-heron, African Spoonbill, Cape Spurfowl and a Grey Squirrel in the garden. We left Afton Grove at 9am and got terribly lost in the highway maze in Cape Town. At the entrance gate of West Coast NP we bought a so-called Wild Card (which was a perfect deal as we would visit Kruger too) and soon enough we saw Common Ostriches, plus a very impressive Puff Adder along the road digesting something very large. Abrahamskraal Birdhide was very nice, highlights were our first Namaqua Doves, breeding Pearl-breasted Swallows in the hide itself, Black Harrier, Black-shouldered Kite, African Marsh-harrier and many more. We continued towards Tsaarsbank, along the way we stopped at some so-called Atlantic viewpoints and there we saw again Black Harrier, White-backed Mousebird, Rock Kestrel and “digiscopefilmed” some breaching Southern Right Whales. At Tsaarsbank we enjoyed the magnificent shoreline and a singing but reluctant Bokmakierie. Well, onto Geelbek then where the visitors centre was closed for the day. A family of 5 Black-shouldered Kites including 3 juveniles, an African Hoopoe and a Fiscal Flycatcher made for a beautiful last birding action of the day. We stayed overnight in Langebaan Gastehuis B&B (550 SAR) which was OK and had dinner in town.

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October 20th: West Coast NP Next morning we tried the Geelbek Estuary bird hides and although windy, it was really beautiful. We nearly thought we still were in Europe with species like Pied Avocet, Common Greenshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Little Stint, Ringed Plover, Caspian and Sandwich Terns and even an Osprey. Other birds included Bokmakierie, White Pelicans, Malachite Sunbird, Kittlitz’s Plover and Lesser and Greater Flamingos. At Seeberg birdhide the wind was even stronger, the light was beautiful though. Lesser & Greater Flamingos and Caspian, Sandwich, Antarctic and Swift Terns gave excellent views. A White-throated Canary rocketed overhead with 180 km/hr. When we got back into the car, along the road we saw a Black Korhaan.

Southern Black Korhaan Blue Crane Well, it was time for some real twitching then as we searched for the Verreaux’ Eagle spot mentioned in the Birdfinder, but we did not manage to find even the road leading to it. So we spent some time at Velddrif, a guard at one of the local salt factories guided us around which gave us nice views of Black-necked Grebe. At Velddrif itself we took a look from the birdhide and saw a remarkable amount of Pied Kingfishers. The usual waterfowl was also present with Shoveler, Pied Stilt, Reed Cormorant, Anhinga and Yellow-billed Teal to name a few. We decided to take the gamble to drive all the way to Ceres, despite that it was already late in the afternoon. It was a very scenic drive, a recommendation if you like grasslands & potholes. At the Aurora/ Elandsbaai turnoff we suddenly saw a Ludwigs Bustard. Just before Porterville we had 25 Blue Cranes foraging on the beautiful hills. Around 19:00 we arrived in Ceres, nearly all hotels/ B&B’s were fully booked but we finally could get a room at the classy Chantilly Guesthouse (500 SAR) where we were received with a warm welcome. October 21st: Tanqua Karoo NP So we woke up at 6am and left at 7 after finally having a good cup of coffee. The drive to Karoopoort took us 30 minutes. We had prepared for a hot desert’s day, i.e. already stocked up enough water but we were driving in the rain and it was cold… Soon enough the famous plains appeared and during some brief stops we saw Red-faced Mousebirds and Dusky Sunbird. Due to the wet circumstances we could add some waterfowl as well: Whiskered Tern, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Knobbed Coots (>300 exx) and various ducks and teals. Just before Eierkop hill we stopped at some sandy and rocky outcrops (the spot is elaborated in the SA Birdfinder) where we had magnificent views of two hunting and running Spotted Eagle Owls, only a few meters away! Rufous-eared Warbler, Sickle-winged and Karoo Chats were present at Eierkop and a beautiful male Southern Pale-chanting Goshawk flew by over the plains. We continued to the P2250 and the landscape became more barren. Regular stops provided us of Red-capped Larks, Yellow Canaries and Rock Kestrels. Birding was quite hard due to the strong wind (you couldn’t hear the larks). No coursers or korhaans were present today however. At

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km 29 a creek and some bushes are present and this resulted in a Three-banded Plover, Malachite Sunbird, Fairy Flycatcher, Grey-backed Sparrowlark and cute Namaqua Doves. Time to go back (it was already 4:00 pm) and along the P2250 this gave us a Tractrac Chat. Just before the turnoff to Skitterykloof we had a few European Bee-eaters flying around. Skitteryfkloof was beautiful but again none of our targets appeared, still White-backed Mousebirds (>40 exx), Karoo Prinia, Pale Chanting Goshawk and Sickle-winged Chat were present. Cape Grysbok, Gemsbok and Springbok represented the mammal division here. We returned towards Karoopoort, along the way scanning all the waterholes for sandgrouses but in vain. Just at the point where we left the unpaved road we got a puncture. Fortunately we had a spare tire, so in the dark we were able to replace it and were on the road again at 7:30pm. Once we returned in Ceres the supermarkets were closed, but the landlord gave us a huge “leftover menu”. The benefit of B&B’s… October 22nd: Ceres – Paarl – Clovelly After a brief stop at the garage to check our tires, we drove through the beautiful winelands towards Paarl. Some nice Red Bishops, Bokmakierie and Pin-tailed Wydah were present at Jason’s Hill Winefarm. We arrived at Paarl and were easily granted access to the sewage works which had abundant birdlife. We extended our triplist rapidly here with lots of ducks, grebes and other waterfowl. Nice species here were Little, Eared and Black-necked Grebe, Little Bittern, Water Thicknee, and White-faced Duck. Also here, the Birdfinder was a must-have (see references). We fought our way back to the entrance through thick mud, our Chevy Spark was not the most ideal for these circumstances but whatever, we made it. To my opinion, the sewage works are a must-do. Fortunately we faced some fierce rainshowers on our way to Cape Town so the car was “clean” once we arrived at Cape Town airport to change cars as we did not have a spare tire anymore. We continued to Strandfontein and Muizenberg and found a fantastic B&B just a kilometer from the beach, up into Clovelly near Fish Hoek. We just followed the signs from the main road indicating B&B and ended up at Clovelly Lodge (Peri Rd., www.clovellylodge.com). They offered us to stay at another location near Bethel Rd which was magnificent, we had the place all for ourselves! No breakfast included but cooking facilities available, perfect. The owners are very friendly and bird/ nature minded. Go there! Rates are OK (SAR 550 for 2p per night). Prices drop dramatically the further you move away from the seafront! We could make a call to confirm our pelagic the next day and we were very happy to hear it would proceed. October 23rd: Pelagic Cape Town We left at 6:45am for Simon’s Town and searched there a bit for the right pier, there were even two boats leaving for a pelagic! We had a boat of 6 plus 2 crew (skipper Alan and guide Cliff(y)). We sailed out at 7:30 and soon it was full speed towards Cape Point. After Cape Point, we continued heading SW and soon the first birds showed up: Arctic Tern, White-chinned Petrel and already some Shy Albatrosses. But none of the birds sat down, so we continued searching for some fishing trawlers. Soon we discovered a gigantic cloud all along the horizon, as far as the eye could see, of birds. The “clouds” turned out to be hundreds of Great Shearwaters being on their “honeymoon” as Cliff called it. Our timing was perfect, I have never seen this in my life, fantastic! Alan found our first trawler and here it was getting crazy with high numbers of seabirds being Indian and Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses, Arctic, Subantarctic and Pomarine Skuas, Black-browed Albatrosses. Petrels gave good views with Wilson’s and Black-bellied Storm-petrels close to the boat being my personal highlights. Northern Giant-petrel, Pintado Petrels, Sabine’s Gull and Sooty Shearwater were also seen. We also “visited” a second and even a third trawler and behind each trawler lots of birds were present. Unfortunately, one of the trawlers was a longliner which is devastating for albatrosses but we did not view any dead birds fortunately. The treat of the day was clearly at the end when we saw glimpses of two “White-backeds”: a Wandering Albatross was viewable for a couple of seconds and we could even catch a glimpse of a Southern Royal Albatross, which was finally determined on a photograph back in the harbor. The swell increased so we decided to call it a day and returned to the Cape Peninsula. While

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having tea at 2:30pm in the shelter of False Bay, two Southern Right Wales surprised us when they suddenly appeared within 200 meters of the boat. Back to harbor but not without visiting some bird colonies. It turned out to be cormorant paradise here: White-bellied, Cape, Crowned and Bank Cormorant sat together on some rocks.

Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Cape Rock-jumper We were back in the harbor at 4pm after having a magnificent pelagic. We thanked the guides and continued to the penguin colony of Boulders’ Beach for an afternoon stroll. Indeed, the South-African Penguins were present and late in the day it was not too busy in this tourist hotspot. We returned to our accommodation and took a short stroll through the Silvermine Creek park which was a 100 m walk from our B&B. A Peregrine Falcon flew overhead, the inevitable Glossy Ibises were also present, amongst others like Common Fiscal and Levaillants’ Cisticola. Exhausted after such a nice day we went to bed early, but not after enjoying the phenomenal starlit panorama over the coast. Beautiful. October 24th: to Hermanus and back: Rooi Els, Harold Porter Gardens etc. We decided to have a day trip from Clovelly heading east, trying to reach Hermanus. The day started with rain, which was a bit of a disappointment. Nevertheless, we left Clovelly at 7am after having a delicious self-made breakfast. Rooi Els was a bit further than I reckoned, as you pass numerous townships with accompanying speed limits. But, we reached Rooi Els at 9am… in the pooring rain. After waiting 45 minutes in the car the downpour only increased so we backed off and had some good (read: not instant) coffee in Betty’s Bay. By this time, the weather improved so we returned and started birding around 10:30am. Rooi Els is basically one long footpath with on your left a single “mountain ridge” and on your right the ocean. Very characteristic. Soon, something else “very characteristic” caught my attention, a sound I had hoped for… And yes, a family of Cape Rock-jumpers (2 ad., 1 juv.) was foraging on the slopes! The rain started again but we still had some nice birds like Yellow Bishop, a singing Orange-breasted Sunbird, Cape Rock-thrush on the telephone wires, Cape Robin-Chat and Familiar Chat. Purple Heron and European Bee-eater were birds we didn’t expect to see here, both flew over. Heading east, our next stop were the Harold Porter Gardens. You pay a small fee to enter some nice gardens (surprise…) but the main attraction here was Victorins’ Warbler. Summarized: good luck… We met two Americans who visited the gardens for the third time in a week, fanatically taping the bird, but this time they and we were lucky as there was a bird hidden in the bushes 200 meters up the slope. Walking into the “left” canyon (“Dizakloof”) from the gardens, the location was approx. 100 meters before the bridge leading to the waterfall, with the slope uphill on your left and the river on the right. The slope on your left is the spot. We only heard it calling twice tough, that’s all, and never had even a chance of seeing it. Not my favorite bird… Other birds in the gardens were Swee Waxbills, Sombre Greenbul, Alpine Swift, Fork-tailed Drongo and African Dusky Flycatcher. The sound of Victorins’ Warblers on tape was constantly present in the background…

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We left at 4pm and were at 4:45 at Hermanus. From several spots you can see Southern Right Whales swimming, diving and jumping in the bay. The viewpoints are well indicated, even from the town’s centre it was easy to see them. A very nice sight. We went “back to the West” at 5:30pm and at the junction of the R43/44 we saw 3 African Fish Eagles (our first!) and 10 Blue Cranes “Bot River Vlei” it is called here I believe. On the highway near Khayelitsha we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and back in Muizenberg we got a pizza and went “home”. October 25th: West Cape Peninsula We got up early (6am), left at sevenish and were at 7:45am at Cape Point, being the only tourists around. Splendid weather. Birds immediately appeared in the form of Southern Boubou, Cape Siskin (along & on the stairs leading up to the lighthouse), Karoo Prinia and two Peregrine Falcons resting on the antenna. After enjoying the view over the cliffs & the sea we left at 9am and by then the first tourists appeared. From now on, we drove back but took every detour which was possible. Cape of Good Hope was nice and Hyrax came very close. Swift Tern and large flocks of Cape and White-breated Cormorant flew by. Platboom delivered a family of Ostrich, Avocet and African Black Oystercatcher. A herd of Bontebokkies gave great views here. Gifkommetjie delivered nothing spectacular, Olifantsbos had Hartebeest, Familiar Chat, Cape Wagtail and a large flock of Swift Tern. This location is famous for its many rarities (plovers, pipits) are regularly discovered so it’s probably worth to try your luck here. You can take a 30 min walk to the beach through the bushes, which was nice. We left the Cape at 3pm and drove to Rondevlei where we arrived at 4pm. Here we heard from the Dutch lady behind the counter that the reserve would close at 5pm! So, “speed-birding mode switched on”! Well, this was taken a bit too literally as the wind was very strong, so it was funny to see Great-white Pelicans plus all regular species of both Ibises and Egrets rocketing overhead. There were no less than 8 observation huts within 1 km so this was really speed-birding at its best. Goliath Heron was a rarity for the West but gave very nice views from one of the huts. A swimming Darter was also cool, as well as a well-hidden Purple Swamphen. Yellow-billed Duck, Cape Teal, African Marsh Harrier, Red-knobbed Coot, Reed Cormorant and Little and Great Eared Grebes completed the list. A Small Grey Mongoose was briefly seen. We managed to exit this nice sanctuary at five-ish and decided to take a brief look at the Strandfontein Sewage Works. We scared a large flock of Barn Swallow and Banded Martin who were resting on the asphalt. But, we had scooped up all wildfowl at Paarl already and we couldn’t stand the smell of the sewage works anymore, so we returned. Driving back to Clovelly we shortly stopped at the beach, as we could “use” some more beach species. Fantastic strong winds gave nice views and foam was flying over the highway! I took a brief look at a small lake on the beach and discovered two new species for the trip: Sanderling and White-fronted Plover. Target accomplished! We dined at Olympia’s Café which was really nice, no frills, good food, nice views over the beach & boulevard. A power cutoff gave the evening a special twist but was well coped with by the personnel. October 26th: Transfer Cape Town - Johannesburg Woke up at 6am and we had an early morning walk at Silvermine Creek again. Brimstone Canary was a new addition. Common Fiscal and Southern Boubou were also present. While driving to Cape Town we had to take a detour due to roadworks in Kalk Bay. So we took Rhodes Drive and made a stop there, from where we had perfect views over various Southern Right Whales. Both the whales and the weather were brilliant. At the airport everything went smooth and while waiting in the departure hall we saw a hunting Peregrine Falcon outside. We flew with Kulula airlines which was good & cheap, after a 2 hour flight and a bumpy descend and landing we were at Johannesburg! Within 15 minutes we had our luggage and were waiting outside for my uncle to pick us up. Our first bird for the “east” was a Long-tailed Widowbird spotted from the highway. House Sparrow and Starling were #2 and #3… We enjoyed a lovely dinner in the garden of my uncle and aunt and noticed the completely different atmosphere

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compared to the Western Cape: hot and humid. October 27th: Midrand Today was a “sabbatical”, i.e. washing clothes, doing some shopping and enjoying the environment. We birded the garden of my uncle and aunt plus the Kyalama Estate Gardens in Midrand and saw Red-chested Cuckoo, Dark-capped Bulbul, Common Fiscal, Fiscal Flycatcher, Southern Red Bishop, Southern Masked Weaver, Grey Lourie, White-throated Swallow, African Palm and White-rumped Swifts, Pied Kingfisher, Fulvous Duck, Cape Sparrow, Cattle and Little Egret, Lesser and Greater Striped Swallows, African Hoopoe, Black-collared Barbet, Karoo and Olive Thrushes. October 28th: Midrand to Nylsvlei My uncle and aunt, i.e. John and Marleen Broli, are keen birders themselves and in the months before we had agreed upon a 10-day itinerary from Johannesburg via Kruger Park to Wakkerstroom. We headed off on the 28th at 3pm bound for Nylsvlei. We took the highway and saw some species while driving, including Steppe Buzzard, Woodhoopoe spec., African Grey and Southern Yellow-billed Hornbills, Ostrich, Cape Glossy and Burchell’s Starling, Crowned Plover and the unique Hamerkop. We arrived at the Nylsvley campground just before dusk, after installing ourselves in the cottages we decided to do a short walk before dinner. Good choice. To our big surprise we encountered a Giraffe! Lots of new birds were present: Crested Francolin, Black Flycatcher, Fork-tailed Drongo, a family of Arrow-marked Babblers, Burchell’s Cuckoo, Fiery-necked “good-Lord-deliver-us” Nightjar, Spotted Flycatcher and Black-collared Barbet. October 29th: Nylsvley + transfer to Kurisa Moya We picked up the pre-arranged guide at the gate and with him we visited two huts in the reserve. The guide was not very experienced but OK. The first hut we visited was looking out over a lake in the northeast of the park and this delivered lots of herons (including Goliath), all egrets including Yellow-billed Egret, plus Jacana, White-winged Tern and Black Crake. The second observation hut we visited was less interesting, but two African Fish-eagles feeding on prey were nice. Of course, being in a new birding area added lots of new species to our list, of which the more special birds for us were Green Woodhoopoe, Black-chested Prinia, Pin-tailed Whydah (beautiful birds), Long-billed Crombec, European Bee-eater, White-browed Sparrow-weaver, Magpie-shrike, Crested Barbet, Brown Snake-eagle, Rufous-naped Lark, Lilac-breasted Roller, Violet-backed Starling and Diderick’s Cuckoo. We encountered lots of other interesting animals too, mainly mammals: Warthog, Slender Mongoose, Impala, Black-backed Jackall, Hare, Tsetsebe Antelope, Vervet Monkey, Leopard Tortoise and Monitor (spec.). We left Nylsvley early in the afternoon and continued driving northeast towards Kurisa Moya (via a town called “Iraq”). Not knowing what to expect, it was like arriving in paradise actually. Pristine, beautiful surroundings, nice and simple rooms and a nice reception by David, who would be our guide for the next days. No electricity is available there, only gas, but that just adds to the great atmosphere. Upon arrival, we managed to do a short walk before sunset to see some great (OK, and tiny) birds like Swee’s Waxbill, Red-backed Mannikin, African Bluebilled Firefinch at the feeding table in the garden. Along the way, Cape Batis, Forest and Streaky-headed Canaries, Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher, Olive Bush-shrike, Willow Warbler were new while Southern Boubou and Southern Double-collared Sunbird were “old acquaintances” from the eastern cape. October 30th: Magoebaskloof Today, David would guide us on a very productive trip through the Magoebaskloof. So, unfortunately I do not have exact locations of this day. In brief, we woke up at 4:30am which was necessary to visit a well-known but small roost location of Cape Parrot in the middle of the forest. Lots of other birders/ birding tours were present as well. The parrots were very vocal (which is the nicest description for the noise they produce) but as soon as the light was good enough to view them, they flew off. So, be early! Other birds in this forest were a nice surpise for us, as we had

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brief views of Knysna Lourie and Narina Trogon! Our decision not to visit Knysna (I admit, with pain in my heart) on the east coast to save time definitely paid off here, I did not expect them here! Other birds were, summarized, African Olive-pigeon, Emerald-spotted Wood-dove, Chorester Robin-chat, African Emerald Cuckoo, Square-tailed Drongo, Jackall and Lizard Buzzards and views and looks of Orange Ground-thrush singing up high in a tree, observed by telescope from the main road through the reserve. So keep listening! David knew a good location to try for Bat Hawk which we of course had to check out. The bird was not on its’ standard location, but after a good search David retraced it and we got good views through the scope. What a gem!

Cape Parrot Bat Hawk Green Twinspot

We drove further on via Tzaneen where at the town’s edge is a well-known location for Black-backed Puffback, Magpie Mannikin and Bronze Mannikin which we saw all. White-browed Robin-chat and Thick-billed Weaver were also present here. Back at Kurisa Moya we thanked David for the tour and had lunch and a brief sleep. We walked the forest path downwards from the lodge, at the forest on the left (downslope) we first heard and after considerable waiting and searching finally saw two Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk who breed in the area. At the first serious corner left we took the smaller path to the right (up) and spend some time in this area, which consists of scrub, some open space and if you look good there are some feeder points on the ground for songbirds. Long-crested Eagle, Grey Cuckooshrike, Amethyst Sunbird, Speckled Mousebird, Steppe Buzzard and European Bee-eater were seen here. Not many songbirds (understatement) but that was due to our timing at the hottest time of day I suppose. In the evening after dinner (bring your own food!) David guided us for a small “owl” walk which delivered the sound of 2 males and 1 female African Wood Owl. October 31st: Kurisa Moya – Kruger NP (Punda Maria) Femkje and I went out to the songbird feeders again at 5:00am, the same ones we visited yesterday afternoon. Finally some action took place and we were happy with the Green Twinspot, Swee’s Waxbill and African Blue-billed Firefinch which appeared here. Especially the first species are really skulky and shy, so keep your eyes on the spot and don’t get distracted by other movements in the bushes, otherwise you’ll miss them. Fortunately, John and Marleen arrived a bit later and could also spot the birds. Other notable species here included Cape Batis, Yellow-eyed Canary, the inevitable Common Fiscal and Crested Flycatcher. Another very noisy birding group arrived, so we backed off to the accommodation, had breakfast, said goodbye to David and hit the road at 9:30am. My uncle had to return to Johannesburg for business so we drove via Pietersburg to drop him at the rental car location at the airport. We parted ways and the three of us had a long drive towards Kruger NP. Gradually the landscape became more barren. We arrived at the Punda Maria gate of Kruger NP at 4pm, got out of the car and where hit by a wall of heat/ moisture/ thick air. Wow! Welcome to Kruger! We arranged the formalities and already on the drive to the Punda Maria settlement we saw lots of mammals: Impala, Kudu, Elephant, Buffalo (lots!), Steenbok, Vervet Monkey, Warthog and Chacma Baboon. Birdwise seen it was also great, lots of new stuff flying

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around with as highlights: Golden-breasted Bunting, European and Lilac-breasted Rollers, Magpie-shrike, Yellow-billed and African Grey Hornbills, Red-headed weaver, Red-billed Buffalo-weaver, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow. At the accommodation, we could see thunderstorms approaching and in front of it the White-rumped Swift and Little Swifts flew low overhead and were very vocal. We managed to start up a little braai in the dark just before the storm would hit us. While “braai-ing” I saw a shadow approaching and suddenly a Large Spotted Genet was sitting a few meters from us. Very cautiously we picked our cameras and after 5 minutes the cat moved away, as swift as it had appeared. November 1st: Kruger NP: Punda Maria – Pafuri – Sirheni Kruger NP crash course: the more north you go, the less tourists and mammals, but the more bird species you will encounter. The more south you go, the less dense the vegetation becomes, the more “standard safari-tourists” you’ll encounter and the bigger the camps become. Of course, also the character of the landscape varies so in the south you’ll definitely encounter unique bird species which are harder to find in the north. An example is the species distribution of Hornbill. We drove in five days from north to south with all accommodation pre-arranged by my family. You’re only allowed to step out of your car inside the “camptowns” which are fenced and guarded. So, I was very glad that my aunt’s car had a sunroof as this allows you to pick up and follow, especially raptors, way better. All campgrounds we visited were excellent for birding. Outside the towns, only at some guarded parking places you’re allowed to leave your car, this is clearly signposted. The gates around a town are closed at night and are opened in early morning, approximately when the first indication of day appears at the horizon. Don’t always stick to the main road. The unpaved roads are slow but can be highly rewarding, especially in early morning when you’re the first car around. Being early is rewarding, temperatures can be very high during the day. Hence we drove through the gate of Punda Maria already at 4:30am that morning. The visibility was already quite OK while we were driving through piles of buffalo excretion. Good morning Kruger! The mammals had made an early start too: Buffalo and Elephant were present in large numbers, next to Nyala, Eland, Tsesebi, Burchell’s Zebra (crazy sound!) and Kudu. Not that many birds this time, but we almost got a startled Kori Bustard through the windscreen. Wow! Others: Lilac-breasted Roller, Red-crested Korhaan, Swainson’s Francolin (category: “abundant=understatement”), Red-billed Hornbill and Wahlberg’s Eagle. At 6:15 we arrived at Pafuri picnic spot. We got out the car as it’s allowed here and enjoyed the nice scenery, but birdlife was surprisingly timid. Soon enough Frank, the guard of the parking spot here, appeared. Next to being guard, he’s a good and enthousiastic birdwatcher. He showed us around and that delivered 30 species most of which were new for the trip. Highlights: Black-throated Wattle-eye (what a beauty!), Broad-billed Roller, Grey-backed Camaroptera, Hamerkop, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Yellow-bellied Greenbul, Tropical Boubou, African Fish-eagle, Puffback Shrike, Blue-gray Flycatcher, the first of many African Pied Wagtails, both Lappet-faced and White-backed vultures, Giant and Brown-hooded Kingfishers, Black Snake-eagle, African Hawk-eagle, Emerald-spotted Wood-dove. “Not bad” for a three hours’ birding! At the other bank of the river, a single bull Buffalo was impressive. A herd of Elephants came in for a drink and the river was sprinkled with Nile Crocodiles and Hippo’s. We thanked Frank with a decent tip) and left for the three-country point “Crooks Corner” where RSA, Mozambique and Zimbabwe meet. Infamous as smuggler’s heaven, now it is a quiet lookout point over the Limpopo and Luvuvhu rivers who congregate here. Already at 9:30am it was quite hot here. Long-billed Crombec, Little (superb!) and White-fronted Bee-eaters, Red-billed Firefinch, Common Waxbill, Black Cuckooshrike, Diderick’s Cuckoo and yes, an African icon flew over: our first Bateleur! We returned to Pafuri for lunch (B.Y.O., but braais are available!) and this drive produced (return trip): African Cuckoo-hawk (at the open spaces, they breed in the area), both Greater Blue-eared and Meves’s Starlings, Goliath Heron, Green Wood-hoopoe, Blue Waxbill, plus Namaqua, Red-eyed and Laughing Doves.

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Birdlife was considerably lower at Pafuri during lunchtime, but you’ll always scoop up something interesting in these areas, you just have to spend time. Black-headed Oriole gave nice views and sounds, Yellow-billed Oxpecker was also new for the trip. This should be a good spot for daylight sightings of Pel’s Fishing Owl, but we didn’t succeed. We left in early afternoon to try for Arnott’s Chat near Klopperfontein, without success. But, at a small water pond we had Three-banded Plover, Woolly-necked Stork and Spur-winged Goose. We now headed south and soon encountered the first Purple Roller, what a beautiful bird species that is! We stopped whenever we saw something nice and this car-birding produced further Retz’ Helmet-shrike, Arrow-marked Babblers, Southern Black Tit, Cape Glossy Starling and White-throated Swallow. Mammals: Giraffe, Warthog, Waterbuck, Elephant (abundant). A Water Monitor was also present at a pool. The best strategy to see wildlife (also birds) is to always check the drinking ponds/ pools/ basins. If there is nothing present, wait at least 5 minutes. All life concentrates around the water. We arrived at the quiet Sirheni Bush Camp at 4pm where we would spend the night. It is situated at the inside of a river bend and nearly all accommodation lies at the river side. After checking in, we discovered there were two observatory huts a few meters from our accommodation so we checked them out. African Openbill, Jacana, Three-banded plover, Darter, Green-backed Heron (high numbers), Goliath Heron, White-faced Duck, African Spoonbill and Great Egret were present along the river. African Paradise Flycatcher (beautiful bird) and Black-headed Oriole caused a slight delay of my preparations to lighten up the braai. Dusk fell with the sound of Hippo’s and Nile Crocs contributing to the rustique but mysterious atmosphere. Was that the sound of a Lion? Goodnight… November 2nd: Kruger NP: Sirheni – Shingwedzi – Letaba Of course we had to make an early morning walk in this small and beautiful camp. Waking up at 5am, this produced Water Thicknee, Pied and Malachite Kingfishers, African Green Pigeon, African Paradise Flycatcher, Red-headed Weaver, Yellow-billed Kite, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Hooded Vulture, Cardinal Woodpecker, Lesser Masked-weaver, Greater Blue-eared Starling, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow and a breeding colony of Red-billed Firefinch. We failed to see the resident leopard which is regularly seen at the dam (regular = at least twice a week). Please note that in RSA and especially Kruger a “dam” also refers to the reservoir/ waterbody itself, not only the wall. Via some minor roads we drove onwards to Shingwedzi. Almost immediately after we left Sirheni we had a female Double-banded Sandgrouse sitting next to the road. Beautiful bird, we couldn’t discover the male though. Once we hit the asphalt we saw our first male Lion trying to hide between the bushes right next to its kill, supposedly a Buffalo. Superb! At Shingwedzi we tried for Palm Trush at the palms but in vain. We continued to the Kanniedood-dam, stopped at the hut but also drove hence-and-forth the road along the river. On and near the river we saw Grey-headed Bush-shrike, Yellow-billed and Marabou Storks, Malachite Kingfisher, African Hawk-eagle and African Hoopoe. Waterbuck, Reedbuck plus the inevitable Nile Crocs and Hippo’s were also observed. Another “African icon” soon appeared as we saw a Secretary Bird out in the field. These birds are huge! A beautiful Tawny Eagle was present at Grysbok waterhole. We arrived at Mopani camp in the afternoon and enjoyed the beautiful location. Looking out over the lake we saw African Fish-eagle, Black-winged Stilt, Giant Kingfisher and Collared Pratincoles. Then, southbound again... On the bridge over the river Letaba you’re allowed to exit the car and so we did. What a temperature! Here we saw Bateleur, Black-crowned Tchagra and Steppe Eagle. In late afternoon we arrived at Letaba. Again, we were placed in a magnificent accommodation with nice views over the river. As we had arrived quite late we could just manage a 5-minute walk before it was dark, but this produced some new species like the beautiful Saddle-billed Stork and the dramatically less beautiful Marabou Stork. While “braaiing” in the dark several African Scops Owls started to call.

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November 3rd: Kruger NP: Letaba – Satara After waking up, I first chased the Red-necked Francolins, Southern Yellow-billed Hornbills and Tree Squirrels from the braai. Apparently, they liked the braai as much as we did! The morning walk on the campground again delivered 2 Saddle-billed and 2 Marabou Storks, but in addition to this also some Collared Pratincoles, a Malachite Kingfisher and 2 Water Thicknees, all at the river. We then headed for Mantambeni bird hide by car. The kind of tourists that you always fear start to appear from here, apparently this is the northern border of their range. Nevermind, we had Greater Painted Snipe, White-throated and White-browed Scrub-robins, Collared Pratincole, Brown-headed Parrot, Red-billed Firefinch, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Woodland Kingfisher, Bateleur, African Hawk-eagle, Tawny Eagle, Groundscraper Thrush and White-fronted Bee-eater here. Also, the lake was completely covered by water hyacinth, an invasive species. This gave some funny moments as the Hippo’s randomly surfaced with the hyacinths still on their head. The Jacana’s imperturbably continued foraging on the hyacinths on the heads of the Hippo’s. A large herd of Elephant appeared for a drinking session with some youngsters between them.

Double-banded Sandgrouse Martial Eagle We returned to Letaba for a belated breakfast. While checking out at the reception, we added Yellow-throated Petronia and Red-headed Weaver to our “Letaba-list”. On the road again we saw Violet-backed Starling, White-bellied Sunbird, Wattled Starling, Red-billed Oxpecker, Burchell’s Starling and Cardinal Woodpecker, before we arrived at Olifants Camp. We arrived there around 10am, it was already blazingly hot at this time of day. Olifants lookout is situated on a hill, overlooking the Letaba river for miles and miles, which makes it a perfect viewpoint for raptors. In theory. We didn’t see a single one, i.e., not a feathered one… An American tourist approached me as he saw I had a scope with me. Apparently, on a particular rocky spot on the river’s shore a leopard was observed approx. one hour ago. He couldn’t retrace it, and I decided to leave the shade, get out in the heat to have an even better viewpoint. And then, for 1 full second, I saw the Leopard, as quickly disappearing as it appeared. Wow! As nobody else had a chance to see it we waited for quite some time but eventually gave up. Wasn’t it a sunstroke? No, definitely not… Sorry! Hopefully there would be another chance… Back to birds: Chinspot Batis, Arrow-marked Babblers and Meves’s Starling were present around the lookout. From now on I switched places to the back of the car with the ladies placed in front. The south is better for mammals than birds anyway… but almost immediately I was proven wrong: 2 Kori Bustards appeared on the road and then tried to defeat of gravity. They’re definitely not built for flying but a funny sight anyway! We continued south until we met a group of Lions resting in the shade. It appeared that their specialism is “being very good in doing absolutely nothing”. Well, not a bad idea actually, with these temperatures. We encountered our first herds of Wildebeast in this vicinity as well, as well as some Ostriches. Hyena were also present, they took a bath in one of the waterholes with some Zebra’s anxiously waiting for them to leave so they could take a drink. After a long drive we reached Satara (which even has a tiny airstrip) in the afternoon. Behind the reception/supermarket/restaurants, you can see a waterhole which even has a webcam. We

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observed it for a while with also here two bathing Hyena’s in it. The bushes and grassland next to the waterhole held incredible numbers of Red-billed Quela’s. African Mourning Dove and Red-billed Buffalo Weaver were also present here. After dinner we made a nightdrive which was according to my aunt “the worst she had ever had”. Well, the driving skills of our driver Patrick were horrendous, we couldn’t hear what he said and he didn’t stop when we asked him. Add that to >60 km/hr speeds on single lane dust roads in the dark and you’ll know it’s a recipe for disaster. But animal-wise seen, well, it could have been worse. We still managed to have some observations, many thanks to my aunt who discovered a Leopard which could be followed quite nice with the spotlights. Other mammals were Elephant, Giraffe, Steenbok, Banded Mongoose and Bushbuck (and clearly NOT a Nyala of which the driver/ guide tried to convince us with). Any birds seen? Well, a Nightjar spec. resting on the road which was not interesting enough to stop for apparently. I think the poor little animal is now buried 100 m under the sand. Surprisingly enough the guy knew his vultures when he perfectly explained the differences between 4 White-backed and 1 Hooded Vulture. Two Saddle-billed Storks topped it off. November 4th: Satara – Skukuza In the morning we drove a small loop around the Nsemani waterhole (H7-S12-S40) with Hooded and White-backed Vultures, Southern White-crowned Shrike, Red-billed Oxpecker and Little Bee-eater and a group of 15 Dwarf Mongoose as highlights. We returned to Satara, enjoyed breakfast, checked out and continued southwards. Kruger psychology: Just stop where other cars stop, there’s something out there! But, the other effect is also nice. Because, when you’re checking out that Greater Blue-eared Starling other cars will also stop near you to ask what the hell you’re looking at as they can’t see the elephant. The result of the answer “birds” is very nice: it might be a mix of disappointment/ anger showing on their faces, or they tend to be very interested, try to spot the bird in 2 seconds, are bored and immediately back off. Well, for us, stopping where others do might not deliver birds… But a Leopard, resting in a tree 30 m from the road, clearly visible, was highly appreciated this morning. Birds en route were Brown Snake-eagle, European and White-fronted Bee-eaters. Lappet-faced and White-backed Vultures + Marabou and Woolly-necked Storks sat near the remnants of an (invisible) kill. We continued to Tschokwane picnic site. Here we saw European Oriole and Speckled Mousebird. We made a detour via Orpen Dam and added Eared Grebe to the list at a waterhole just before the dam. Orpen Dam itself produced Goliath Heron, 2 Water Thicknees, Yellow-bellied Greenbul and Lappet-faced Vulture. The road to Skukuza was birdwise seen not very interesting so we arrived already early-afternoon at Skukuza, which is more a large town than a camp actually. We had lunch at one of the plaza’s near the river. When enjoying your hamburger there, look up! You’ll find Wahlberg’s/ Peter’s Epauletted Fruit Bat watching you… If you want to distinguish the species from each other, good luck, apparently (I’m not sure) it’s only possible by dissecting the skulls. The trees there host a number of birds of which Chinspot Batis, Grey-backed Camaroptera, Purple-crested Lourie and Yellow-fronted Canary were present. After a break at the swimming pool we decided to drive to Nkuhlu. Up at Nkuhlu picnic spot along the H4-1, a White-crowned Lapwing, Thick-billed Weaver and Klaas’s Cuckoo were present. African Fish-eagle was sitting close-by in the river, giving astonishing views. Driving back, we saw a glimpse of a Martial Eagle, flying, diving & disappearing near the bridge over the Sabie river. Just before gate closing time/ dusk, we were back in Skukuza. November 5th: Kruger NP: Skukuza - Wakkerstroom Last day in Kruger… We took a very early morning walk over the wooden path along the river. Who said the south is less good for birding? I did? My apologies: Purple-crested Lourie, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Eastern Bearded Scrub-robin, Yellow-bellied Sunbird, Common Waxbill, Violet-backed Starling, Spectacled Weaver, Scarlet-breasted Sunbird, Sombre Greenbul,

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Burchell’s Coucal, Red-chested Cuckoo, African Olive Pigeon, Wire-tailed Swallow, Black-collared Barbet, Speckled Mousebird, White-breasted Cormorant, Cattle Egret and White-browed Robin-chat proved me wrong. We had breakfast, checked out and almost immediately after leaving the gate we saw a beautiful Martial Eagle perched on a dead tree. And for the first time, we did not see blue skies in Kruger! Eagle-time continued with Brown-snake Eagle and Steppe Eagle also perched on trees. Immediately after the traverse of the Biyamiti river we completed the Big 5: White Rhino was foraging in the bushes and just hardly visible. We discovered it as we suddenly saw a flock of Cattle Egret in the bushes which was a bit a-typical… Birding is always useful indeed. We stopped at Afsaal which is a good spot to see the resident African Scops Owl and so we did. We had to search for it however, it was not as easy as the signs under its’ favorite tree indicate… Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Orange-breasted Bush-shrike and a Levaillant’s Cuckoo were the other species around. And so we ended our fantastic Kruger trip at Malelane gate. Just after passing the gate, you’ll traverse a bridge over the Crocodile River. We stopped and enjoyed the large number of birds here. The confusion with Levaillant’s was on hand, but this was really a Jacobin’s Cuckoo we were looking at! Great, Little and Cattle Egrets plus Green-backed, Purple, Grey and Goliath Herons made this place look like heron-heaven. Greater and Lesser-striped Swallow, lots of Pied Kingfishers, Egyptian Goose, Lesser Masked and Spectacled Weaver, White-breasted Cormorant and to top it off a beautiful Lilac-breasted Roller were the last entries on the Kruger bird list. Note: in the autumn/ winter of 2011 Kruger has suffered from extensive floodings. The long trip to Wakkerstroom was ahead of us, so we decided not to stop too much. After 5 minutes we encountered a hailstorm, the temperature dropped while the road gradually ascended through extensive pine forests. Definitely not Kruger anymore! In Badplaas we lunched at a bit obscure retreat but the food was OK. We continued along the R33 and were amazed by the chaos in Piet Retief. A Long-crested Eagle was the only noticeable bird in these surroundings. Finally, in late afternoon we reached Wakkerstroom and were reunited with my uncle John who came over for the weekend! November 6th: Wakkerstroom In Wakkerstroom, we stayed at the house that John and Marleen use as a retreat for themselves. It is also available for public rental for sharp prices. They can arrange some good guides, see references if you are interested. Today, we were accompanied with one of these guides, a very kind bloke called Norman. By using a local guide here you’ll support the community, plus it’s a very good deal as it’s not very expensive. He took us for a trip throughout the rolling hills of Wakkerstroom, one of the highest wetlands of the world. We visited the spots also mentioned in the SA Birdfinder. But it paid off to have Norman with us as he exactly knew his calls in overflying groups of larks. So, we left at 6am and immediately started birding, not knowing that we would end the tour at noon with 82 species! Quite good for a highland location, wow! Locations are hard to explain, we did not take GPS equipment with us so sorry for that. Just check the list of the birds which will urge you to include Wakkerstroom into your itinerary and book one of the bird guides there. Highlights: Rudd’s, Botha’s, Spike-heeled, Red-capped and Eastern Long-billed Larks, Buff-streaked and Ant-eating Chats, Long-tailed (abundant!) and two Fan-tailed Widowbirds, Crowned and Blue Cranes (both >20); Wing-snapping and Pale-crowned Cisticolas. Further: Yellow-breasted Pipit, Lanner Falcon, Blue Korhaan, Bokmakierie, one group of 12 Southern Bald Ibises, Whiskered Tern, Sentinel Rock-thrush, Black Stork, Black-shouldered Kite, Cliff Swallow, Banded Martin, Black-throated Canary, Mountain Wheatear, African Grass-pipit, Lesser Kestrel, Red-throated Wryneck (in the garden of the accommodation), Black Saw-wing. Mammals of interest were Meerkat and Yellow Mongoose. And then we returned. The Dutch placenames (Ermelo, Amersfoort etc.) added to the fun. And it was only noon!

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Black-bellied Bustard Half-collared Kingfisher Norman did a great job, we thanked him extensively and parted ways. We had a nice lunch and a bit of sleep. In the afternoon, Femkje and I decided to visit the bird hides around the lake adjacent to Wakkerstroom. But, a thunderstorm arrived, the temperature plummeted and soon everything was white, caused by hail. So we returned. Just before dusk, we saw two Crowned Cranes flying by at the accommodation before landing at the top of two pine trees. It appeared that these birds rest overnight in the top of trees, I have never seen Cranes doing that before! November 7th: Wakkerstroom Quite a dreary morning this one, with mist and/or rain. Nevertheless, we set off early in search of some lifers, for which Norman had told us some spots. At our first stop on the bridge over the Slang Rivier, we had a family of 3 Ground Woodpeckers! Lovely creatures, just keep your patience if you do not immediately see them, we had to wait and scan for 20 minutes until we heard a call. We could pick them up and then had great views. Buff-streaked Chat was also present here. Continuing to Zaaihoek Dam, we only saw Crowned and Wattled Plover plus Black-throated Canary. The mist came rolling in over the hills again, the visibility became poor and so we decided to return to Wakkerstroom. After breakfast, Femkje and I decided to give the wetlands near Wakkerstroom a second chance. We started at the Birdlife headquarters and birded the hides here. During our stroll to the Crane Hide, we startled a Black-bellied Korhaan. The grass was that high that the foraging bird was completely invisible in it! OK, or we were blind… It remains impressive to see these korhaans fly! Together with a Red-breasted Wryneck, these were the only birds seen here. One of the hides has an observation platform of 20 m wide, impressive. One of the other hides (I believe the Crane Hide) was less impressive as the only thing you see here is… grass. Grass, being taller than the hut itself. OK, very useful. Well, apparently it is, as this is a “reliable” location for flufftails. To add them to your list, you’ll need to obey some boundary conditions: 1) be there at first light, 2) be incredibly lucky, 3) know the call and be sharp as they’ll only give one or two calls, 4) don’t have the illusion to see them. Good luck. We didn’t try it. We continued birding the lake clockwise, passed by the station (= platform) of Wakkerstroom and hit the asphalt road again. On the corner to the right, leading into Wakkerstroom, we parked the car at the roadsides and scanned the wetlands. Suddenly our attention was attracted by a conspicuous call: a juvenile Spotted Eagle-owl was perched on a tree just 5 meters from the road! I continued scanning the wetlands with the scope, Femkje took a little stroll over the road and soon enough returned, running: she had seen an African Snipe! We couldn’t relocate it unfortunately. Other birds here were Half-collared Kingfisher, Brown-throated Martin, Red-billed Teal, Bokmakierie, Cape Longclaw, Steppe and Jackal Buzzard, Black-shouldered Kite. We returned to the Mahem cottage and saw Common Starlings in town, plus a Red-breasted Wryneck in the cottage of the garden itself.

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After lunch, the four of us visited the top of the Ossewakop hill overlooking Wakkerstroom. Quite an “interesting” drive uphill, you’ll need a 4WD for it. But the weather was nice and so was the view from there. We did not visit this spot for the birds, so the Yellow-breasted Pipit here was a very nice surprise! Eastern Long-billed Lark and Jackal Buzzard were also present. We returned and had dinner at a restaurant run by “Lizzy”, where you had the impression you were dining in a museum. Good food, nice atmosphere and hence a perfect conclusion to our Wakkerstroom trip. November 8th: Wakkerstroom – Drakensbergen (Royal Natal NP) We left Wakkerstroom at 7am, bound for Newcastle. Passing Slang Rivier again, we briefly stopped and now only had a Cape Grassbird. The road to Newcastle was perfect and we picked up our reserved rental car at Avis. We said goodbye to John & Marleen and left at 9:30am, now with destination Royal Natal NP. Following the Lonely Planet, we found accommodation at Hlalanathi which looked like a big family camping from the outside. Hmmm, well... They could offer us cheap accommodation of 14 m2, or a family-cottage for a discount price of R540/night with great views on the ridge, it was low-season anyway. We decided to go for the last option, which turned out to be a good choice… …because torrential rain started on the moment we arrived at the cottage. We drove to the Visitors Centre of the park. Take the minor road behind the camping, it’s fun to drive! There was nothing to do at the Centre so we drove to the nearest town (Bergville, still quite a drive!) to do some shoppings. Bergville reminded us of the chaos of Piet Retief. We stocked up some supplies and drove back to Hlalanathi. The terrace of the cottage provided a nice shelter against the rain and we saw Black-shouldered and Yellow-billed Kites, Cape Weaver, Cape Robin-chat, Jackall Buzzard, European Bee-eater, Diderick’s Cuckoo and some Rock Doves that looked quite genuine. We had a good and no-frills dinner at the restaurant on the camping for R170 total while enjoying a thunderstorm. November 9th: Royal Natal NP Woke up at 5:30am, we saw that it was dry. So we left at 6am and at 6:15am we arrived at the NP. In the meantime, it had started raining again. We decided to wait in the car until the conditions improved, but it only worsened actually. At 6:45 we drove back to the cottage and had a decent breakfast, birded from the terrace and catched up some sleep. Despite the rain, some birds were observed, with the highlight being a group of 50 Red-collared Widowbirds who visited the garden at 11am and came very close. Other “garden birds” were Black Saw-wing, Fork-tailed Drongo, Southern Boubou, Diderick’s and Red-chested Cuckoo, Gymnogene, Rock Pigeon and Common Myna. At 3:00pm conditions finally improved so we hurried to the park entrance and started the Devil’s Hoek walk. We enjoyed the walk, as the scenery is very nice and birding was quite good as well. Bush Blackcap was shy but at least 3 individuals gave some brief good views. Other birds included Spotted Flycatcher, Cape Batis, Cape Canary, Streaky-headed Seedeater, Greater Double-collared Sunbird, Bar-throated Apalis, Forest Canary and Speckled Mousebird. Slender Mongoose and a group of Baboons were also present. We walked back at dusk and ended up in the “Tower of Pizza” near the accommodation which exactly gave us what the name promised, good stuff. Thunderstorms again illuminated the sky once we drove back to the cottage. November 10th: Golden Gate NP Rain again. We left at 6:45am. We passed the city of Phutaditjhaba (no we weren’t lost in India…) which amazed us by the sheer size of it. Mist was everywhere but we decided to take a gamble by driving up to Witsieshoek. It costs you R15 only to enter the road. Directly behind the barrier two Southern Bald Ibises were foraging in the grass. We continued but conditions worsened, the sight became less than 10 m and it started raining with some fierce windgusts. At the Y-junction (left to the hotel, right to the mountain hut) we decided to return. We did some shoppings along the main road in Phutaditjhaba and drove on to Golden Gate NP. The entrance road to Golden Gate was impressive and delivered a possible Lammergeier, Ant-eating Chat and a Secretary Bird! Golden Gate NP was way smaller than we had imagined.

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Accommodation was available but we decided to give it a try at Clarens. The town was not very attractive, we found a little supermarket and returned to the park Headquarters. We booked some accommodation there at the Glen Reenen cottages, around 1pm. Our Wild Card was valid here so we got it for R440 instead of R600. The parking place was flooded (due to rain) which was hopefully not an omen of what was to come. At 15:00, the rain stopped so we started a hike opposite of the road. Birds were represented by an impressive aerial fight between a Rock Kestrel and a Gymnogene. African Black and Alpine Swifts, Jackall Buzzard, Cape Vulture, Cape Longclaw, Sentinel Rock-thrush, Red-chested Cuckoo, Malachite Sunbird, Olive Thrush and Cape Robin-chat where the others. Blesbok, Black Wildebeast, Springbok and Mountain Rhebok were encountered throughout the day.

Ground Woodpecker Verraux’ Eagle Once returned, we bought some additional supplies for dinner at the pump station. We drove on to the Vulture feeding place to enjoy the “fantastic” sunset here, according to the Lonely Planet. It was nice indeed, but fantastic would be an exaggeration. Black-backed Jackall was present at the feeding place, but no vultures. November 11th: Golden Gate – Memel We started at 6am with splendid weather conditions. Finally! We drove the Blesbok Loop and stopped at the Langtoon dam. Burchell’s Zebra was something we did not expect here but it is its normal biotope! Grey Reedbuck and Black-backed Jackall were also present. Birds: Red-knobbed Coot, Yellow-billed Teal, Little Grebe, Black-necked Heron, Black Duck and Cape Wagtail. At Generaalskop we saw Black Wildebeast. The next “observation point” we had 3 Ground Woodpeckers, Cape Longclaw, African Black and White-rumped Swifts, White-throated and Cliff Swallows. We checked the “Vulture restaurant” and had Cape Vulture and Black-backed Jackall. At Protea’s Corner we stopped too, you look here down into a canyon and you might see Ground Woodpecker, Speckled Mousebird, Cape Canary and Jackall Buzzard as we did. We drove back to Phutaditjhaba and decided to give Witsieshoek another try. The ibises had vanished but the stunning scenery was now visible. We continued along the very, very bad road to the Sentinel (mountain hut). We got out of the car to take a small walk to see if road conditions would improve, that moment a Lammergeier flew overhead! The next nice discovery was that the last couple of 100 meters of the road were paved! At the hut, we were very glad that we had persisted as the views (and the wind…) here were simply stunning. Our Wild Card was valid so we did not have to pay an entrance fee. We started for a walk along the ridge in the direction of the top. But we wouldn’t get there as an amazing hour of birdwatching started. First, 300 meters on the path from the hut, we discovered a family of 2 ad + 1 juv Drakensberg Rock-jumpers! This was a really nice surprise, we did not know they were here. We had read the best/only spot is near Sani Pass, but we could not incorporate that into our itinerary. Buff-streaked and Familiar Chats, Sentinel Rock-thrush, Lammergeier, Red-winged Starling, White-necked Raven, Rock Kestrel, Cape Vulture,

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Jackall Buzzard and Greater Double-collared Sunbird all inhabited this beautiful place. But, the encore was the best of the (complete?) trip as Femkje picked up a stunning Verraux’ Eagle! The bird was visible for one minute and was a mere 500 m away but gave good views. I really, really enjoyed this beautiful raptor, having missed this species at several good locations on this trip, plus it was my top target species before starting this trip. Wow! What a good choice to go back to Witsieshoek! At 14:00, we descended again and decided to try to reach Memel. That was still quite a drive, but we would take the gamble. We continued to Harrismith where we got lost, but we found the R722 eventually. After Verrekykerskop, the road quality deteriorated. The surroundings were beautiful though. We arrived at 18:30-ish and found accommodation at the hotel next to the gas station. Friendly personnel there, once they heard we were birders, they offered us to arrange the key of the Seekoeivlei Reserve for the next morning. Great! November 12th: Memel – Marievale - Johannesburg – Amsterdam Got up at 5am, the weather was good. In town, we took the left turn towards Seekoeivlei (indicated with a sign). This leads up to the Western entrance, after 3 km exactly, turn right through a fence (signposted, use your key here). The path was horrible but dry so we could cope with it. Here we discovered that we had strong backlight. Horrible, in combination with the wind it was not possible to bird here. So we returned, and continued in the direction we came from the town, as we thought it would be possible to drive around the lake. NOT. No turn to the right for the next 15 kilometers so we returned to Memel. There we took the R34 to Newcastle for a short while, then the S56 to Verrekykerskop. The entrance of the reserve was only a large gate with nothing behind it, it was guarded anyways! A Blue Crane was visible in the surrounding fields. The guard warned us not to enter the wetlands with our vehicle as you need a 4WD, so we stayed at the “high” path and slowly descended heading north. Nice ponds with Yellow-billed Teal. 2 Common Quails were visible along the path. We even had a Rudd’s Lark! Cape Longclaw was common. The path was considerably flooded so we returned to Memel. Just a kilometer on the S56 we had a Blue Korhaan, beautiful bird! Well, Memel had not delivered the amount of birds we had hoped for but the area clearly has the potential, only not the infrastructure yet. Your best chances are getting info and keys at the Getaway office next to the hotel or maybe ask there for a local bird guide with 4WD. We started our voyage to Johannesburg at 11am. Once driving, we decided to give Marievale a chance, just under Johannesburg, as we had plenty of time before our plane would leave. At 1pm we arrived at Marievale. Please note an addition to the route described in the South African Birdfinder: at the stone factory, keep right. You already enter the area there. Take the first left and the parking is on your right then. A little further on, at your left, you can enter a grass path. We had lunch in the blazing heat at the parking spot and could add a good number of waterfowl here, including a lifer: Hottentot Teal. We took the “grass path” then. We stopped at a few points and at the end, in the hut, we saw Cape Clawless Otter. Some notable bird species seen at Marievale: Squacco Heron, Maccoa Duck, Goliath Heron, Little Grebe, Common Waxbill, Lesser Flamingo, Purple Heron, Long-tailed Widowbird, Brown-throated Martin, Whiskered Tern, Pied Avocet and further the usual herons, egrets and ducks. We left at 2:30 pm for the airport and arrived there at 4:30 pm. Here we heard that our 9pm flight was delayed onto 7am the next morning and we got offered a hotel night nearby, including dinner at a horrible Greece restaurant. At 4am the next morning we woke up to catch a pre-arranged 4:30am shuttle to the airport. By then, the hotel crew discovered that 300 passengers trying to catch the same flight did not fit into one single 12-person bus! Within one hour everything was arranged though. The flight with South African Airways was really nice with good views onto the Sahara, Mt. Etna

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and the Alps. We landed at 4:30pm in Munich and thanks to the excellent German ground crew we received our boarding passes for our connecting Lufthansa flight to Amsterdam within 15 minutes after deboarding the plane. At 8pm we were back in the Netherlands. Thank you, South Africa! References Callan Cohen, Claire Spottiswoode & Jonathan Rossouw: Sasol Southern African Birdfinder. A must! Buy it! Includes a pull-out map on which all spots treated in the book are indicated. By far the best bird location book in the world that I know of. ISBN 1-86872-725-4. Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey & Warwick Tarboton: Sasol Birds of Southern Africa, 3rd edition fully revised and updated (softcover, with the black harrier on front). ISBN 978-1-86872-721-6. Very useful, ideal birding field guide. Good plates and distribution maps, still compact enough for use in the field. New edition to be released soon. Afton Grove country retreat near Cape Town: very nice and rustique, good start for birding, not the cheapest around but you get high quality for your money: http://www.afton.co.za/ Lonely Planet South Africa. We hardly used this book. If we didn’t pre-booked something, we found that B&B’s were everywhere for a good price. You don’t need an LP to find them, actually, we found really nice ones without the LP. If you’re visiting cities it might help a bit. We could have travelled without it. Kruger National Park Guide & Map. Various types occur, plenty available at all shops within the Kruger Parks’ borders. It definitely pays off to buy one as the detailed maps are very valuable for birding in combination with the trip reports and books. www.capetownpelagics.com. Book your pelagics from Cape Town here. The weather is unpredicatable, so try to be in Cape Town for several weekends to have alternative dates. Expensive, but you’re a full day out at sea. Wakkerstroom accommodation. John and Marleen Broli have two houses available: Mahem and Bokmakierie. Mahem sleeps up to 9 people in 4 bedrooms. There is a living area with large kitchen and it has two bathrooms and beautiful view of the Wakkerstroom wetland. Bokmakierie has only one bedroom with 2 separate beds and a nice lounge/kitchen area and bathroom. Bed linen and towels are supplied. Restaurants and simple shops are available in town. For more information on availability and prices, you can contact them on broli@uskonet.com or have a look at the website: www.wakkerstroomcottages.co.za For recent sightings: www.observado.org Trip reports: due to the excellent South African Birdfinder we have hardly used any trip reports. Try www.travellingbirder.com (preferred), or www.surfbirds.co.uk (why has this website such nice information so badly presented?!?!). The trip reports from www.capetownpelagics.com are informative if you do a pelagic there, you see what you may encounter in a specific month.