Knysna and the Coast (5/6)

We left the Battlefields area and travelled back to Johannesburg to catch an internal flight to George on the south eastern coast. The flight was two hours, the distance to drive from the Battlefields to George would have been over 800 miles. The normal projections of the world on a map really distorts the true size of the countries. South Africa looks to be about the same size as the UK. It is actually over five times bigger. It was a good decision on my part not to self drive the holiday.


Our hotel was in Knysna on the Indian Ocean coast. A beautiful area and much more affluent than the countryside that we had traveled through so far. The hotel grounds were less extensive than I had become accustomed to but it was only a couple of minutes walk down to to the Knysna River estuary and an early morning walk gave me a good selection of birds.

Grey Heron

A Grey Heron, a bit of a disappointment, but on the other side of the tree a Black-headed Heron, much more satisfying.

Black-headed Heron

On the water front, Sacred Ibis, Kelp Gull, Yellow-billed Duck, Reed Cormorant

Sacred Ibis

Yellow-billed Duck

Kelp Gull

Reed Cormorant

There were also a good assortment of birds in the bushes and on the jetty.

Speckled Mousebird

White-throated Swallow

Cape Bulbul

Cape Wagtail

One from Home - Common Sandpiper

Red-wing Starling

Fiscal Flycatcher

African Dusky Flycatcher

Sombre Greenbul

Black-backed Puffback

We had an organised trip in the afternoon that I was looking forward to. It was a boat trip across the estuary to the Featherbed Nature Reserve. The estuary was OK but the nature reserve was a bit of a disappointment. I thought I would have the chance to wander around taking pictures of the birds. Instead it was an organised walk along a set path. I hardly saw a bird at all.


                               

African Black Oystercatcher

   

Cape Cormorant

Sacred Ibis and Whimbrel

there is always a story about the one that got away. In this case it was a Black-headed Oriole. My first ever Oriole of any kind. I followed the song for about half an hour without seeing the bird. It finally appeared in the top of a tree for a few seconds. I got the shot but of course it had its back towards me and kept its head in a shadow. Not much of a picture but I like it.

Black-headed Oriole

Next the Capetown area.

Swaziland and the Battlefields (4/6)

Being the fourth in my series of blogs on the South Africa Tour. This covers from leaving the Kruger, the trip through Swaziland with a stopover at Pigg's Peak, and then back into South Africa for a visit to the Battlefields area.

This first day was mostly given over to travelling. It is 530 km from Hazeview down to Dundee and the Battlefields Country Lodge, where we were to stay for a couple of nights. We also had a fortuitous, at least for me, three hour stop over just north of Piggs Peak in Swaziland, when the coach broke down. We just made it to the top of a steep hill, to a craft centre and small restaurant, giving what must be some of the best views in Swaziland. Cold beer, great views and Sunbirds in the garden bushes, was OK with me.

Collared Sunbird  Male

Amethyst Sunbird

Southern Double-collared Sunbird

Probably the female of the Southern Double Collared Sunbird 

White-bellied Sunbird

We arrived late at the Battlefields Lodge but next morning I was up early to explore. The grounds were like a green oasis in a rather flat and bleak landscape. That is perhaps being a bit unfair given that it was the end of the dry season in the area and there were still a lot of interesting looking birds flying out there. The ones not flying were the Ostriches, lots of them, but unfortunately these were crossbred farm animals.

A Pied Starling in the early morning light proved to be a bit of a challenge to my photographic skills but a fly over of a pair of Grey-crowned Cranes was a welcome sight.

Pied Starling

Grey-crowned Cranes

Perhaps the most interesting to watch were the Helmeted Guinea Fowl. Headless chickens have nothing on these. They seem to spend the whole day chasing each other round in circles or running up a small hill for what seemed to be the sheer joy of being able to run back down again.

Helmeted Guinea Fowl

Common Fiscal

This species got its name in honour of the fiskaal -- a taxman associated with the Dutch East India company. The fiskaal, who wore black and white whilst doing his job, collected year end (fiscal) taxes, viciously praying on people's money and leaving them hanging "out to dry".

Like all shrikes the Common Fiscal impales its victims on thorns, leaving them "hanging out to dry" until it is hungry. The species is also known as Jacky Hangman, Fiscal Shrike, and along with all other shrikes, the Butcherbird.

Red-billed Quelea

Speckled Pigeon

Cape Weaver

All these species were seen around the lodge gardens. I only saw one new bird on the trip out to look around Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift. About a mile from the Rorke's drift we passed  a few Bald Ibis feeding by the side of the road. I had a choice, walk the mile back to get a picture or do the tour of Rorke's Drift. I chose the tour, for me, it was one of the highlights of the holiday. I thought I might get a picture on the way back out but of course the birds had moved on by then.



The journey to George, Knysna, and then on towards Capetown continues in the next couple of blogs.

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.