South Africa sept/oct 2014 (1 Viewer)

PeterBird said:

Tuli Botswana
From Mapungubwe we drive to the Platjan Border Post, where we are picked up for our stay in the Kwa Tulu Private Game Reserve in Botswana, in a small tented camp on an island in the Limpopo river. No electricity, no cell phone coverage, but a feeling of being truly out in the bush. There is only one game drive vehicle, so when the 4 young Americans already staying there deccide they want to do a walk with the ranger in the morning, we ask if he can drop us off first at a hide in the reserve. We spend a couple of hours there, with no-one else around for miles. Elephants, kudus, and impalas come to drink at the artificial waterhole and quite unexpectedly, a leopard shows up for a drink, too. A magical moment. Birds around the hide include: Cinnamon- and Golden-breasted Bunting, Blue Waxbill, Namaqua Dove, Cape Starling, Lilac-breasted Roller, Red-billed Quelea, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow, Ostrich and Red-billed Buffalo-weaver.
At the camp we see Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Pied KIngfisher, Black-headed Oriole, Blacksmith Lapwing, White-backed Vulture, Black Stork, Arrow-marked Babbler, Green Woodhoopoe, Crested Barbet, Lilac-breasted Roller, Broad-billed Roller, Grey Go-away Bird, Meve's Starling, Dark-capped Bulbul, Groundscraper Thrush, Black-backed Puffback.
On the game-drives we see a leopard three more times, so an amazing total of four sightings in four days. Further birds on the game drives include: Gabar Goshawk, Kori Bustard (even in flight, which is a magnificent sight) Verreaux's Eagle, Spotted Eagle Owl, African Fish Eagle, Martial Eagle, African Hawk Eagle, Brown Snake-eagle, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Little Bee-eater, White-fronted Bee-eater, European Bee-eater, Purple Roller and Namaqua Sandgrouse.
1. Leopard
2. African Hawk Eagle
3. Purple Roller
4. Kori Bustard in flight
5. Golden-breasted Bunting

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Bananafishbones said:

5 incredible species depicted here Peter, wonderful. :t:

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PeterBird said:

Sorry about the delay, but here is the final part of our trip. The last stay was Tlopi tented camp in Marakele NP. Stunning scenery and a nice location overlooking a lake, where various animals came down to drink during the day. Tlopi is situated is the so-called Big Five part of the park. Actually we did not see too many animals at all in the three days we spent there, though our close encounter with some White Rhinos was special. In and around the camp we saw birds like: Natal Spurfowl, Wattled Lapwing, Lesser Stried Swallow, Reed Cormorant, Pied Kingfisher, Red-billed and Yellow-billed Hornbill, African Fish Eagle, Tawny-flanked Prinia and Black Crake.
A 12 km drive took us to Lenong Viewpoint at an altitude of some 1300m. The drive was steep narrow and scary, but the resulting views were rewarding. Also we found some nice species there: Cape Rock Thrush, Mocking Cliff Chat, Buff-streaked Chat, Cape Bunting, Cape Grassbird, Verreaux’s Eagle, Cape Vulture and Rock Martin.
The lower regions of the park brought Southern Red Bishop, Black-headed Oriole, Shikra, Common Myna, Red-faced Mousebird,Southern Pied Babbler, White-browed Scrub Robin, Southern Boubou, White-crested Helmetshrike, Bearded Woodpecker and Crimson-breasted Shrike.
The four weeks produced 227 species, of which 40 were lifers for me. As before, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip. In retrospect, it might have been better if we had come a month or so later, as many summer visitors had not returned. Even so, we saw quite a lot and I was happy to come back with a satisfying collection of photos. Thanks for taking the time to read the report and, for those interested, the trip photos can be found on: http://peterdehoog.smugmug.com/Travel/Zuid-Afrika-2014/

1. Shikra
2. Cape Grassbird
3. Red-faced Mousebird
4. Black Crake
5. Rock Martin

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