Whilst watching the juvenile White-tailed Eagle at Amberley Wildbrooks on 11th December 2010, Chris Glanfield quietly announced he was looking for people to join him on a trip to South Africa. Being extremely un-savvy on all things foreign birding, I foolishly expressed instant interest. Months later, the two of us were on our way to what was to be my first foreign birding trip outside of Europe.
After a very successful tour of the Western Cape and the Tanqua Karoo, we flew north to Jo'burg and were soon to hit the Drakensberg Mountains - this was without doubt my best few days of this excellent trip, and hence why I've recounted the memories here.
15 November - It was a gruelling long drive from Jo'burg down to the base of the Sani Pass, and we were fairly exhausted by the end of the day. However, we were set for a few days of solid birding over the next two days with our local guide (sadly the name I can't remember).
On the morning of the 16th November 2011, a quick walk around the grounds of the Sani Lodge revealed a superb
Red-throated Wryneck singing atop a tree. We started the descent covering a range of good-looking habitats. Our first stop revealed several species that we'd been unlucky with in the Western Cape, the highlights being a male
Cape Rock Thrush and a
Red-chested Cuckoo - the latter's song to me is the most distinctive on the continent. Other notables on the now steep ascent was a calling
Red-winged Francolin, that somehow we managed to flush as we scrambled up the steep mountainside - its red wings proving to be very distinctive. Despite several good stops, one that particularly springs to mind was one that produced a beautiful
Gurney's Sugarbird, a
Buff-streaked Chat, a
Barratt's Warbler,
Ground Woodpeckers and our first
Horus Swifts.
As we were starting to clear the treeline, a notable find of a
White-throated Seedeater was the guide's first record for the area. Now well and truly above the treeline with just rocky grassy slopes on either side, the Lesotho border-crossing was looming just ahead, and birds started to get ticked off thick and fast. The endemic
Drakensberg Siskin were found in small flocks, and many
Sentinel Rock Thrushes were also encountered.
After clearing the border-crossing with ease, we were now in the small country of Lesotho. I had certainly never envisaged that my first ten countries would involve Lesotho, but I'm glad it did as the birds were sensational. I had one big target for this area, and with half the name containing 'Drakensberg', it was without doubt that this would be our only chance of finding it. Thankfully, it only required two more turns in the road before we found our target, the brilliant
Drakensberg Rockjumper. We found a few pairs along this mountain road as they conspicuously bounced around the boulder-striven hillsides. To claim our other targets though meant trapesing over the grasslands rising above us. Despite the strain on our lungs, our two targets were found with ease -
Mountain &
African Rock Pipits were typically rather dull, but the former I seem to remember was quite a striking bird.
We scoped some distant cliffs where a couple of
Cape Vultures were circling, and we lucked in with a pair of
Lammergeiers, with one even taking to the air and showing reasonably well - a class bird! Watching the shepherds walking the terrain was also quite a remarkable sighting, no doubt spending many days/weeks up here at a time. As we had seen all that we had come for, we retreated the mountain much quicker than we had ascended. With few stops, we reached the lower villages where our next target was wanting to be found. With our guide's help, we quickly found a group of
Southern Bald Ibises, and a 'Tree' Snake of some kind also astounded us on the rapidness of its climbing capabilities.
Our last port of call was Pevensey Road. Among the throng of different Cisticolas that were all very confusing, we found some lovely
Grey-crowned Cranes,
South African Cliff Swallows and a fantastic pair of
Banded Martins.
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Lower Sani Pass -
Cape Grassbird here
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| Gurney's Sugarbird |
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| Malachite Sunbird |
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| Drakensberg Rockjumper |
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| Sentinel Rock Thrush |
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| Drakensberg Siskin |
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| Looking back down the Sani Pass eastwards |
The next day was even more productive with a series of critically-endangered birds found in various areas. As we drove to our first sight of Marutswa Forest, we spotlighted all of the electricity poles hoping for the eyeshine of a Cape Eagle Owl, though we failed on this rather successfully. However, standing in the correct position at a clearing within Marutswa Forest, with light slowly gracing the surroundings, sounds of the extremely rare Cape Parrot echoed around the immediate vicinity. After a tense wait, a distant dead tree revealed an individual
Cape Parrot perched high up. Staying in situ for around a minute, we obtained reasonable scope views, and then watched the bird fly down the valley and out of sight....a major relief. We then walked the trails of the adjacent forest hearing a couple more Parrots, but more importantly the song of the
Orange Ground-Thrush. The forest was thick, and at times, impenetrable. Approaching from above, we found a way down to an unlikely viewing area of a large tree with its canopy somewhat in view. With the song still emanating from this canopy, it took plenty of neck-wrenching to finally observe the bird as it sang away, ignoring our desperate viewing attempts.
It had been a brilliant first few hours of the day, but for me at least, the best was still to come. Probably my main target before leaving home was to see a Blue Swallow. These charismatic birds spend the 'African winter' months within the heart of Africa. During the summer months they move south and a few pairs are still to be found in South Africa, though Swaziland remains their breeding epicentre. Anyway, our location was Highover, maybe three hours to the west of Durban. As we reached the top of the ridge, we hit a fogbank and prospects were looking grim. Extensive searching of the fields revealed a
Common Quail and a striking
Broad-tailed Warbler. However, a passing Hirundine flock aroused our interest straight away as a female
Blue Swallow was among them. All birders however desire the male with its ludicrously long tail streamers, and with our patience, we found a male
Blue Swallow flying around in the distant mist. It was a brilliant moment and along with the previous day's Rockjumper, a firm favourite for the trip.
As we returned to our dropped off vehicle to continue our journey up to Wakkerstroom and soon to be without our guide, he diverted to a valley in order to view a pair of
Wattled Cranes - a grand finale.
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| Wattled Cranes |
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| Common Quail |
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| Broad-tailed Warbler |
