Dear all, I will try to do something that is new for me: copy text into this thread a little by little, instead of making a word document available containing the whole trip at once. So here is a general intro + the first day. This also leaves me a little more time to hopefully complete the rest of the writing in a timely fashion.
Niels
Southern Africa August 2011
In August 2011, we spent two and a half weeks in Southern Africa (we were a small group of three, all interested in mammals but me the only true birdwatcher). The majority of the time was spent in Inyanga Safari Lodge, located in Grietjie Natural area just south of Phalaborwa, South Africa; three nights were spent in Hotel Kingdom, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. There were several private reasons we chose to spend that much time in just one location instead of traveling around; this report is aimed at helping those who may have similar reasons to not move too much.
Inyanga Safari Lodge is a small place with a maximum of 14 guests at any one time. It is located in a private nature reserve (Grietjie Nature Reserve) adjacent to the Kruger national park, separated by the Olifant river but not separated by a fence; the fence is on the other side of the reserve, to make sure that the animals of the combined area (often called Greater Kruger) does not spread to areas they are not welcome. The lodge itself consists of a small piece of land surrounded by a fence (no, we did not want the lions to stand waiting outside our door, outside the fence is better, even though warthogs were more likely to become a problem). The lodge contains an outdoor dining area, a deck with view of a pond that is just outside the fence, and the living areas (plus a swimming pool which looked nice, but the weather was way too cold). When we visited, there was another group the first week, but the second week we were on our own.
Our package included all air travel, lodging, all meals while in Inyanga, and meals morning + evening at Kingdom Hotel, and a number of excursions, game drives, etc. We added a couple of outings, including one day where we rented a car and drove ourselves. Which extras are added of course depends on what you want to pay for. Everything was arranged through Inyanga Safari which can be contacted through the web, using either http://www.inyanga-safari.com/ (in English) or http://www.inyanga.dk/ (in Danish).
We saw 28 species of mammals and about 190 species of birds, of which about 165 were new to me – I had never been to Africa south of the Sahara.
Field guide was Sinclair et al. Birds of Southern Africa, while for mammals we had both Stuart and Stuart Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa and The Kingdon pocket guide to African Mammals. Soon after getting to South Africa, we purchased the Kruger NP Map and Id booklet (Tinker). We also had a copy of a bird site guide (Cohen et al. Southern African Birdfinder), but got only a little information from it; we would have had more use of it if traveling more independently. Reports and advice from other people traveling the same area collected through www.Birdforum.net and the South African Birding Trail provided the rest of the information we used.
August 4. We had left Copenhagen (Denmark) the previous afternoon, and via Frankfurt and an overnight flight, we arrived in Johannesburg airport around 7 am. The first new species was visible already while taxiing in; it was Helmeted Guineafowl, which I have seen elsewhere before, but always where they would have been escaped from captivity; it was nice to get tickable ones (and I was unaware of just how many of these would be seen on the rest of the trip). After getting the suitcases and checking in on the last leg of the flight, a few more birds were seen through the airport windows, among which a grey-headed gull was the most important one (not seen again on the trip); four African Sacred Ibis were not bad either.
After a couple of hours and some brunch, we flew on in the tiny plane serving Phalaborwa with arrival just on time (around 1pm). The Airport held the first of many Laughing Doves and a Black-collared Barbet, was built with very nice art and architecture, and our welcoming committee was waiting for us: Christian who managed the lodge and Johan who was our guide and professional hunter.
Just outside the town, a kettle of Marabou Stork was in the sky was showing the way to a site where I believe a local butchery deposited waste, with Hooded Vultures, Cattle Egret and one Sacred Ibis around. We had a short stop there, but the next stop was inside Grietjie Nature area when a lone Elephant was standing very close to the road. We all went berserk with the cameras, our first wild mammal in ZA and our first wild Elephant anywhere! A Waterbuck and some Impala were seen shortly after, both very common animals around there.
Shortly after, we arrived at Inyanga, the lodge that was our home for the next 13 nights. We settled in, walked around for a bit watching such novelties for us as Blue Waxbill and Orange-breasted Bunting; we soon discovered that Red-billed and Yellow-billed Hornbills were among the birds most often seen, so they will be ignored from here on (after recent splits, both would have the prefix Southern). We were then asked if we wanted to join the other inhabitants of the lodge at the nearby river (Olifant River) for a little more viewing. The obvious answer was yes, so we saw Warthog, Hippos, Nile Crocodiles, Burchell’s Coucal, White-fronted Bee-eater, Vervet Monkey, and what I later decided was Reed Cormorant, and in addition enjoyed a glass of bobbling wine with the sunset. Driving back to the lodge netted Giraffe, Bushbuck, Rock Hyrax (only one for the trip), more Waterbuck, and 2 African Buffalo. We got the first taste of the good food we would get used to and retired for an early bed: there was a bit of sleep to catch up on from the overnight travel.
Photos included below (some photos in this thread are copyright my wife, Lene):
The tiny airport at Phalaborwa as seen from the tarmac
The little rondawell in Inyanga lodge containing 2 rooms of which we occupied one
Olifants river at Grietjie Natural area, a couple of km from Inyanga lodge
Photo in my birdforum gallery:
Our first elephant
Niels
Southern Africa August 2011
In August 2011, we spent two and a half weeks in Southern Africa (we were a small group of three, all interested in mammals but me the only true birdwatcher). The majority of the time was spent in Inyanga Safari Lodge, located in Grietjie Natural area just south of Phalaborwa, South Africa; three nights were spent in Hotel Kingdom, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. There were several private reasons we chose to spend that much time in just one location instead of traveling around; this report is aimed at helping those who may have similar reasons to not move too much.
Inyanga Safari Lodge is a small place with a maximum of 14 guests at any one time. It is located in a private nature reserve (Grietjie Nature Reserve) adjacent to the Kruger national park, separated by the Olifant river but not separated by a fence; the fence is on the other side of the reserve, to make sure that the animals of the combined area (often called Greater Kruger) does not spread to areas they are not welcome. The lodge itself consists of a small piece of land surrounded by a fence (no, we did not want the lions to stand waiting outside our door, outside the fence is better, even though warthogs were more likely to become a problem). The lodge contains an outdoor dining area, a deck with view of a pond that is just outside the fence, and the living areas (plus a swimming pool which looked nice, but the weather was way too cold). When we visited, there was another group the first week, but the second week we were on our own.
Our package included all air travel, lodging, all meals while in Inyanga, and meals morning + evening at Kingdom Hotel, and a number of excursions, game drives, etc. We added a couple of outings, including one day where we rented a car and drove ourselves. Which extras are added of course depends on what you want to pay for. Everything was arranged through Inyanga Safari which can be contacted through the web, using either http://www.inyanga-safari.com/ (in English) or http://www.inyanga.dk/ (in Danish).
We saw 28 species of mammals and about 190 species of birds, of which about 165 were new to me – I had never been to Africa south of the Sahara.
Field guide was Sinclair et al. Birds of Southern Africa, while for mammals we had both Stuart and Stuart Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa and The Kingdon pocket guide to African Mammals. Soon after getting to South Africa, we purchased the Kruger NP Map and Id booklet (Tinker). We also had a copy of a bird site guide (Cohen et al. Southern African Birdfinder), but got only a little information from it; we would have had more use of it if traveling more independently. Reports and advice from other people traveling the same area collected through www.Birdforum.net and the South African Birding Trail provided the rest of the information we used.
August 4. We had left Copenhagen (Denmark) the previous afternoon, and via Frankfurt and an overnight flight, we arrived in Johannesburg airport around 7 am. The first new species was visible already while taxiing in; it was Helmeted Guineafowl, which I have seen elsewhere before, but always where they would have been escaped from captivity; it was nice to get tickable ones (and I was unaware of just how many of these would be seen on the rest of the trip). After getting the suitcases and checking in on the last leg of the flight, a few more birds were seen through the airport windows, among which a grey-headed gull was the most important one (not seen again on the trip); four African Sacred Ibis were not bad either.
After a couple of hours and some brunch, we flew on in the tiny plane serving Phalaborwa with arrival just on time (around 1pm). The Airport held the first of many Laughing Doves and a Black-collared Barbet, was built with very nice art and architecture, and our welcoming committee was waiting for us: Christian who managed the lodge and Johan who was our guide and professional hunter.
Just outside the town, a kettle of Marabou Stork was in the sky was showing the way to a site where I believe a local butchery deposited waste, with Hooded Vultures, Cattle Egret and one Sacred Ibis around. We had a short stop there, but the next stop was inside Grietjie Nature area when a lone Elephant was standing very close to the road. We all went berserk with the cameras, our first wild mammal in ZA and our first wild Elephant anywhere! A Waterbuck and some Impala were seen shortly after, both very common animals around there.
Shortly after, we arrived at Inyanga, the lodge that was our home for the next 13 nights. We settled in, walked around for a bit watching such novelties for us as Blue Waxbill and Orange-breasted Bunting; we soon discovered that Red-billed and Yellow-billed Hornbills were among the birds most often seen, so they will be ignored from here on (after recent splits, both would have the prefix Southern). We were then asked if we wanted to join the other inhabitants of the lodge at the nearby river (Olifant River) for a little more viewing. The obvious answer was yes, so we saw Warthog, Hippos, Nile Crocodiles, Burchell’s Coucal, White-fronted Bee-eater, Vervet Monkey, and what I later decided was Reed Cormorant, and in addition enjoyed a glass of bobbling wine with the sunset. Driving back to the lodge netted Giraffe, Bushbuck, Rock Hyrax (only one for the trip), more Waterbuck, and 2 African Buffalo. We got the first taste of the good food we would get used to and retired for an early bed: there was a bit of sleep to catch up on from the overnight travel.
Photos included below (some photos in this thread are copyright my wife, Lene):
The tiny airport at Phalaborwa as seen from the tarmac
The little rondawell in Inyanga lodge containing 2 rooms of which we occupied one
Olifants river at Grietjie Natural area, a couple of km from Inyanga lodge
Photo in my birdforum gallery:
Our first elephant
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