The Trip
click pictures for a higher quality version

Summary

These are the results of a 3½ week trip to South Africa. We spent two weeks in the Western Cape area (Cape peninsula – Bontebok, De Hoop, Overberg – Nature Vallei – Karoo NP – Tanqua Karoo – Paarl) and 1½ week in Kruger and surroundings (Dullstroom – Blide river – Kruger NP – Polokwane). The trip was excellent with many highlights and a total of 412 bird species and 148 species new. The many additional mammals, dramatic scenery and the culinary highlights made this an unforgettable trip.

Highlights

· The Cape Rock-Jumper at Rooi Els became the bird of the trip.
· The luck of a fly-by Wattled Crane at Dullstroom.
· 13 species of lark including the range restricted Agulhas Long-billed Lark.
· The many fantastic colorful highlights: Crimson-breasted Shrike, Chorister Robin-Chat, Crested Barbet, Purple-crested Turaco to mention only a few.
· Aardwolf during a night drive in Karoo NP was the most unexpected mammal. Black Rhino was a close second!
· A recently born Giraffe in Polokwane Game Reserve.
· The many mammals in Kruger NP including Lion, Leopard, White Rhino, Roan Antelope but also Giraffe, Elephant etc. As a matter of fact Kruger was a six day succession of highlights.
· The dramatic scenery of the Cape peninsula, Swartberg Pass and the marvelous coast at Nature Valley.
· The tranquility of the cottage at Paulshoek in the middle of the Tanqua Karoo NP.
· The excellent food and wine in Paarl.

Some of the photographic highlights (don't forget to check the slideshow!):

Dips

· Ground Woodpecker was the biggest miss of the trip, partly due to gale force winds at good spots like Sir Lowry’s Pass and Swartberg Pass.
· Blue Swallow was apparently not yet back at the remaining breeding spots in South Africa, maybe due to a very cold season.
· Carmine Bee-eater was expected but nowhere to be found in the north.
· A whole bunch of the karoo specialties (Karoo Eremomela, Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, Black-eared Sparrowlark, Grey Tit) eluded me.
· The skimming of my bank account for about € 8000,- in George.

Strategy

This was an unguided trip. Since the bulk of the trip reports found on the internet nowadays are of guided trips, often even unmentioned, I thought I better start mentioning this. Compared to guided trips in the same area I estimated that a guided trip is about a factor 2 more efficient, meaning that you could do the same as I did in half the time. So when time is a limiting factor a guided trip is a good option. Birding Africa (www.birdingafrica.com) has an excellent portfolio of trips around Cape Town and custom trips are easily arranged.

When time is not a limiting factor there is no need to do a guided trip since pretty much all species including the tricky targets can be found independent. Information on prime birding spots is abundant. Key to a successful birding trip is the unprecedented bird finding guide by Cohen, Spottiswoode and Rossouw: South African Birdfinder (2006).

The first part of the trip around Cape Town was not previously planned. This gave us the freedom to choose our next destiny every last minute. For example: going to Karoo NP was first decided in Oudtshoorn the day before. It is a great way of travelling with the ability to stay in inspiring parks and leave early from parks that didn’t live up to the expectations. But it is not the best strategy to find as many targets as possible; luckily that was never our goal.

The second part was under a bit more pressure of time, having only 10 days to do Kruger and at least a fraction of the highlands. And in retrospect six days Kruger are by far not enough to thoroughly enjoy the whole park. For us it was more a gentle introduction that will obligatory be followed by another visit in the (near) future.

Itinerary

Most areas visited are extensively described in Cohen et al., 2006. For means of easy reference I included the page number of this excellent bird finder between [] in the itinerary below. Click on the date to go to the story day by day.

14-10: Cape Town Airport – Noordhoek – Kommetjie [32]
15-10: De Hel (Constantia Greenbelts) [30] – Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens [28] – Simonstown [35] – Cape of Good Hope NP [33]
16-10: De Hel [30] – Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens [28] – Silvermine – Noordhoek beach
17-10: Sir Lowry’s Pass [39] – Rooi Els [40] – Hermanus – Swellendam
18-10: Swellendam – Bontebok NP [68]
19-10: Bontebok NP [68] – Overberg [65] - De Hoop NP [65]
20-10: De Hoop NP [65] – George – Knysna – Nature’s Valley [74]
21-10: Nature’s Valley [74]
22-10: Nature’s Valley [74] – George - Oudtshoorn
23-10: Oudtshoorn – Swartberg Pass [48] – Karoo NP [96]
24-10: Karoo NP [96]
25-10: Karoo NP [96] – P2250 [60]- Tanqua Karoo NP [62]
26-10: Tanqua Karoo NP [62] – P2250 [60] – Skitterykloof [59] – Gydo Pass – Ceres - Paarl
27-10: Paarl – Paarl Bird Sanctuary [42]
28-10: Paarl – Paarl Mountain [42] - Paarl Bird Sanctuary [42]
29-10: Johannesburg – Dullstroom
30-10: Dullstroom [171] – Lydenburg – Mysty Mountain [176] - Sabie – Graskop
31-10: Graskop – Blyde River Canyon [176] – Abel Erasmus Pass [177] - Graskop
1-11:   Graskop – Mt Sheba [172] – Pilgrims Rest – Kruger NP [191]- Pretoriuskop [194]
2-11:   Pretoriuskop [194] – H2-2 – Afsaal – H3 – S114 – Skukuza [192]
3-11:   Skukuza [192] – H4-1 – S30 – Mlondozi dam [194]– S122 – H10 [194] – H1-3 – Satara [195]
4-11:   Satara [195] – S100 – S41 – S90 – S92 – Olifants [198]
5-11:   Olifants [198]– H8 – H1 – Mopani [198]- H13 – Punda Maria [196]– S59
6-11:   Punda Maria [196] – S60 – H1-8 – Pafuri [195] – S63 - Punda Maria [196]
7-11:   Punda Maria [196] – S59 – Polokwane - Polokwane Game Reserve [183]
8-11:   Polokwane – Zaagkuildrift[168] - Johannesburg

Up