October 5-27, 2024 with Terry Stevenson & Tarry Butcher
This tour is a great introduction to the fascinating biomes that make up Southern Africa. We covered about 3000 miles in an action-packed three week trip comprising of two main sections. First we focused on the Western Cape fynbos area and drier Northern Cape Succulent Karoo with an added bonus of a Pelagic out to the southern continental shelf. The second part of the trip begins in Durban, making our way north into the spectacular Drakensberg Mountain range before heading east up the coast through coastal forests, highland grassland near Wakkerstroom and a few nights in the famous Kruger National Park. The trip was a great success with a total of 466 bird taxa, several great Herps and an impressive Mammal list.
Starting in Cape Town we spent a full day visiting Rooi Els and Stoney Point along the eastern side of False Bay. Lots of great birds were seen, with Cape Rockjumper, Cape Sugarbird and African Penguin standing out above the rest. We also had an awesome view of a Southern Right Whale and calf on the drive back to Cape Town. Making our way north through the rugged Cape Mountain range we changed our focus to the drier Karoo, spending an afternoon along the famous R355. With the recent good rains that fell most of the small pans and dams were full, leading to a surprising number of waterfowl. This explosion of waterbodies made birding a bit tougher than expected but we still found target species such as Rufous-eared Warbler, Karoo Chat and Karoo Prinia. Moving further north into the dry Karoo we spent a day in the Brandvlei area in search of endemics. These hot dry conditions are always challenging but we finally connected with Red Lark, clearing seeing the pendulum display flight. Other good birds for the area were Namaqua Sandgrouse, Chat Flycatcher, Karoo Long-billed Lark and Karoo, Ludwig's and White-quilled Bustard.
During a quick stop at Lamberts Bay to visit the Cape Gannet Colony before making our way south to the West Coast National Park, we found Cape and Cape Clapper Lark, Black Bustard, Black Harrier and nice looks at the endemic Bontebok. Back in Cape Town weather conditions were calm enough to get out to sea for a full day pelagic. An awesome day out at sea, with 5 species of Albatross, a very co-operative Southern Royal stealing the show. Also large numbers of Petrels, Shearwaters, Gulls and Terns. A very successful day out at sea with lifers for everyone.
The second leg of the trip started with an exciting day trip into the Drakensberg Mountains and up into Lesotho. We started the day with a cold wind and low hanging clouds but this improved as we climbed higher into Lesotho. Lunch was spent at an amazing view point with Drakensberg Rockjumper in the back ground. Ground Woodpecker, Bearded Vulture and Mountain Pipit were the other highlights, but not to forget the cute Sloggett’s Ice Rat, always a crowd favourite. Over the next few days we made numerous small stops at Marutswa Forest, Umlalazi Nature Reserve, Dlinza Forest, St.Lucia and Mkuze Game reserve, gradually adding to the list. The highly endangered Cape Parrot one of the main highlights. Spotted Ground-Thrush with a recently fledged chick, singing Brown Scrub-Robin and foraging Purple-Crested Turaco were other highlights. Mkuze Game Reserve was great for mammals, with fantastic views of Burchell’s Zebra, Common Giraffe, Impala, Warthog, Hippo, Nyala, Kudu and a surprising Black Rhino. This year we were wiser, with no rambunctious Vervet’s to deal with.
The highland grasslands of Wakkerstroom are another important stop because of the large number of endemics in this area. Unfortunately, again the weather was not on board, with a light drizzle for most of the day, but we made the best of the birding in between showers. Pink-billed, Eastern Clapper, Rufous-naped and Eastern Long-billed lark were seen well and we got distant views of Secretary Bird, Blue Bustard and displaying Denham’s Bustard. Pulling a hat out of the bag we managed success on the final morning with Yellow-breasted Pipit and great wetland birds before leaving for Kruger National Park. Mammal sightings were great from the start with Nile Crocodiles, Spotted Hyena in the road and a Leopard in a tree with an Impala kill, Klipspringer, Dwarf Mongoose, White Rhino, Black-backed Jackal and numerous Elephants. Birding was best around the camp grounds with Lower Sabie being the best, over-looking the river.
The last few days were spent in the afromontane forests of Magoebaskloof and acacia bushveld near Polokwane. Orange Ground Thrush, Narina Trogan, Red-chested Flufftail and Black-fronted Bushshrike were the stars in the forest, with Crimson-breasted Gonolek, Pearl-spotted Owlet and Violet-eared Waxbill taking honors in the bushveld. Over all a fantastic trip.
Terry and I would like to thank everyone involved, and we are looking forward to seeing you on the trail in 2025.
Tarry.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/280572
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/saf24TRIPLIST.pdf
Tarry Butcher