Kruger National Park (3/6)

The three night stop at Hippo Hollow gave us two days for Safaris in the Kruger National Park. Our tour included prepaid ranger led safaris in ten seater open sided vehicles. Better for taking pictures and bringing you closer to nature. Very close to nature in fact. Twenty five feet from a lion with no sides on the vehicle makes you realise just how much you are relying on the ranger. I don't think it would be allowed at Longleat or Woburn!

Ranger led was the best way to go for our limited time in the park. The rangers keep in touch by radio and any sighting reported had us speeding off to join the twitch. We saw a lot more than I expected -  Elephants, White Rhino, Lion, Water Buffalo, Hippo, Leopard, Cheetah, Crocodile, Hyena, Zebra, Giraffe, Warthog, Baboon, various monkeys and a large assortment of antelope.

The rangers are good and they are focused on delivering a product to their customers, that is sightings of all the big mammals. It was an experience and worth doing but to be honest I would have rather spent the time birding. Fortunately on the first day we had a ranger that was interested in birds. When I asked a question, he pulled out the most thumbed bird guide I have ever seen from under his seat. He took the time to search out birds for me and stopped so that I had time to take a picture. Not as much time as I would have liked but then I was the only birder on the vehicle.

White Rhino with Red-billed Oxpecker

I looked at the big animals but I took very few pictures of them. I preferred to keep the long lens on in case a bird showed up. That meant that I had too much lens on for most of the animal shots. A 100-400 zoom is probably the best lens to take for general Safari pictures.

Marabou Stork, Blacksmith Lapwings, and a Water Thick Knee

If I was driving myself around I might have waited for a better shot when the Marabou Stork stopped preening but at least I got the three Blacksmith Lapwings and the Water Thick Knee into the shot.

There were some really stunning colourful birds about

Lilac-breasted Roller

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill   (Flying Banana)

Southern Red-billed Hornbill   (Flying Chilli)

Helmeted Guinea Fowl

The Guinea Fowl was far to close for me to get a picture but I did get to see them later in the trip.


There are a large number of different birds of prey in the reserve although I didn't get to see many of them. There are also the usual scavengers.

Wahlberg's Eagle

Bateleur

Juvenile Bateleur

Hooded Vulture

White-backed Vulture

This Red-billed Buffalo Weaver seemed to be nest building underneath the White-backed Vulture nest.  Although reading up on them, it seems as though the Buffalo Weavers would have been there first, building a large shared nesting colony with the vulture building on top of them

Red-billed Buffalo Weaver

I managed a distant shot of a Striated Heron (Green-backed) and would have liked to have got a bit closer but it was not really a good idea.

A rather large Nile Crocodile

Striated Heron (Green-backed)

Magpie Shrike

African Green Pigeon

Arrow-marked Babler

Laughing Dove

Speckled Mousebird

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Fork-tailed Drongo

Greater Blue-eared Starling

Water Thick-knee

I nearly missed this African Fish Eagle as it flew over my head and disappeared into the distance. Just managing to grab a record shot as it went. A real missed opportunity for a good shot. I did miss a Yellow-billed Kite and a good few other birds.

African Fish Eagle

I didn't see any of the Kruger big six birds - 

Lappet Faced Vulture

Southern Ground Hornbilll

Pel's Fishing Owl

Saddle-billed Stork

Martial Eagle

Kori Bustard. 

I only managed to see a few of the 477 birds on the Kruger list (517 if you include all the rare vagrants). Nor did I see my one target bird, the Secretary Bird, but I did have a great time and I would love to go back and spend a week birding the park. Maybe one day.

Hippo Hollow (2/6)

Next stop on the South African Tour was at Hazeview just outside the Kruger National Park. We stayed at the Hippo Hollow hotel which is about six mile from the Phabeni Gate entrance to the park. Arriving at the reception you get the impression that this is going to be a great place to stay.

We didn't see any Crocks in the grounds but there was one Hippo in the lake when we arrived and there were Hippos grazing on the lawn during the evening. Birding around the hotel was great. They have a large lake, lawns going down to the Sabi River, and plenty of trees and vegetation to attract the birds. We stayed three nights giving us two days for safaris into the Kruger. I have split this into two blogs, the first for birds seen around the Hotel area and the second for those seen in the Kruger Park.

It is difficult to describe the birding. Everything is different and for me, with one or two exceptions, every bird was new. The real surprises were the Egyptian Geese and Cattle Egrets which were probably the most common birds seen during the holiday.


The hotel lake proved to be a great attraction to the birds as well as to me. I have never seen a Purple Heron in the UK and from what I hear they are secretive and difficult to approach. This one was the complete opposite. I approached slowly but it took no notice of me. Perhaps it was aware of the electric fence topped with razor wire that stopped me getting any closer. Still getting this full frame on a 400mm lens left me feeling very happy

Purple Heron

Other regulars around the lake included a couple of African Wattled Lapwing, a Malachite Kingfisher, and an African Pied Wagtail.

African Wattled Lapwing

Malacite Kingfisher

African Pied Wagtail - it takes a while before you notice the different markings

Dawn was the best time to be out but I always left the river to last. It was the dry season and the water level in the Sabi River was low but then I am not sure how much water Crocks need, so I wasn't taking any chances.

Reed Cormorant

This Reed Cormorant was one of the early morning visitors, again posing nicely for front and side views -

Reed Cormorant

and I had good views of this Black Crake before it disappeared into the reeds on the opposite side of the river.

Black Crake

It was difficult to stop birding. Everywhere I looked there was something new. I could tell that Sue was getting agitated over breakfast so I decided to put the camera down and spend a peaceful half hour enjoying breakfast with her . Good idea but then this turned up. I disappeared at speed, upsetting the coffee on the way.

White-fronted Bee-eater.

The hotel gardens gave plenty of other opportunities and we also paid a visit to a reptile park just down the road. Fortunately for me there were more birds than reptiles with over two hundred weaver nests around the site. If you spot any thing wrongly labelled, please let me know.

Difficult to see but a Black-collared Barbet

Kurrichane Thrush

Golden-tailed Woodpecker

African Golden Weaver

Black-eyed Bulbul

Tawny-flanked Prina

Village Weaver

Common Waxbill

Yellow-fronted Canary Crithagra mozambica  - I think!

I have a few other record shots taken around the hotel but record shots is all they are. Nice to have but they don't really make the grade for publishing on the blog. Most are more colourful versions of our LBJs, fast moving, difficult to photograph and difficult to identify. The only ones I was sure of were the Yellow-breasted Apalais, Cape White Eye, Red-breasted Swallow and Brown-throated Martin. I just wish I had spent a bit more time recording the Swallows, Swifts, and Martins during the tour.

One poor shot that does gain a place though, is this Purple-crested Turaco. He woke me every morning and called continuously but I couldn't locate him. He stayed high in the trees in dense cover and in any glimpses I had, he always had his back to me. On the final morning just as we were about to leave I got the shot. Low light levels and a long way off but I got it. Probably more pleasing than all the other pictures I took on this holiday.

Purple-crested Turaco - plus the usual branch

Kruger National Park to follow.

Indaba (1/6)

I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks. I have been away in South Africa on a "see it all in two weeks tour". We thought about driving ourselves around but the distances involved are huge and with me wanting to stop every time we see a new bird, progress would have been slow. On an organised tour using coaches and internal flights you get to see a lot more of the country but can't always do exactly what you want. Best of all you get to sleep while someone else does the long distance driving.

This was a touring holiday not a birding holiday but I can usually rely on a couple of hours birding before breakfast, whilst Sue prepares herself to face the day. We also like Botanical Gardens and then there are the few photographs grabbed here and there, in gardens and on rubbish tips, whilst I wait for Sue to exit from yet another souvenir shop.

There is so much that I could write about the country - the scenery, the people, the contrast between rich and poor, but this is a birding blog so I will steer clear of other issues.

Hadeda Ibis

The itinerary for most of these trips are similar. A day in Johannesburg, the Kruger National Park, Swaziland, the Battlefields area, then fly down to George for the Garden Route, the Winelands and a couple of days in Cape Town.

Researching the hotels before we went the first night in Johannesburg at the Indaba Hotel looked really promising. The hotel has its own garden bird list with 110 birds listed and cross referenced to the Sasol Birds of South Africa. There is also the Montecasino Bird Gardens just a few kilometres away with a lot of free flying birds using the gardens. This was going to be one of the highlight of the holiday

Just one problem. we had a 20 hour delay at Heathrow. We arrived at the Indaba at six o'clock in the morning and were scheduled to leave for the Kruger at nine o'clock. My days birding had just disappeared. Most people probably slept. I managed a couple of hours birding, a shower, and a quick breakfast, before we had to move on. Not ideal but better than nothing.

Black-eyed Bulbul

A confusing bird to start off with. One of the most common and easily seen but what to call it? Black-eyed Bulbul or Common Bulbul  Pycnonotus barbatus or should I be calling it Dark-capped Bulbul Pycnonotus tricolour or perhaps one of the other common or binomial names given to it across Africa. Black-eyed I like.

Blacksmith Lapwing (old name Blacksmith Plover)

Cape Sparrow

Karoo Thrush

Fiscal Flycatcher

Grey Lourie  (Go Away bird)

Myna

Red-headed Finch

Red-headed Finch (Female)

Red-eyed Dove

Speckled Pigeon  (Rock)

Fly over Sacred Ibis

Southern Masked Weaver

Southern Masked Weaver - nest building

At least I got a few pictures. Also seen but not photographed or perhaps I should say photographed but pictures really poor, Pied Crow, Cape Starling, Laughing Dove.

Some  of these pictures were taken in low light levels so are on a high ISO setting but they are a good start for my Africa collection.


Further Blogs on the South Africa trip to follow.