Jo'burg to...... (1 Viewer)

Oops forgot we saw a Pergrine yesterday

384 Peregrine

Thanks Mike, the finfoot was certainly a great surprise, and after we thought we'd run out of chances.

Today we picked up another Nissan Micra from Budget car rental. It cost more to get the cover letter required to take the vehicle over the namibian border than we expected. An extra 100 quid. Ouch. We did have time this afternoon to potter down to the bottom of the cape, and a few more birds trickled in.

Our first stop was Kommetjie, where there were spectacular numbers of terns on the rocks just off the beach. I figured over 1000 Common Terns, not quite so many Greater Crested Terns and a few Sandwich Terns. I spent a little while going through the smaller terns, hoping a late Antarctic might stand out with a red bill, but alas no. 3 Bank Cormorants were picked out among the greater numbers of the other 3 cormorant species, one close enough to see it's white iris. There were lots of African Black Oystercatchers and a few Blacksmith Plovers, but I couldn't locate any of the hoped for White-fronted Plovers on the beach. A Bokmakierie was a nice surprise in the scrub by the beach, neatly finishing off the bush-shrike page in the field guide!

We then headed down to the bottom of Africa, using the wildcard for free entry to the NP. A stop at Buffelsfontein turned up Fiscal Flycatcher, with Fiscal Shrike for comparison, and there were several Cape Sugarbirds and Malachite Sunbirds in this area too. Isn't it great when you hear an unfamiliar song and guess correctly what it might be and then the bird pops up and it's a new one? That's not what happened here. Isn't it also great when you can't guess what something might be, then up pops a lifer you're not expecting it to be? That's what happened here with Cape Grassbird.

The plant life on the cape is very unusual, and quite beautiful. Plenty of really smart dragonflies and butterflies too. We also saw a little group of zebra that look very different from the ones in Kruger.

385 BANK CORMORANT
386 Common Tern
387 BOKMAKIERIE
388 FISCAL FLYCATCHER
389 CAPE GRASSBIRD

looking forward to tomorrow....

Larry Wheatland said:

We also saw a little group of zebra that look very different from the ones in Kruger.

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They're a different species - Cape Mountain Zebra. The ones in Kruger are Burchell's (Plains) Zebra. Sounds like you're having a fantastic trip!

Fun with Flufftails

Today we had a special treat. Thanks to Birdforum, BF's KRS1, otherwise known as Lisle, heard we were going to be in Cape Town. He very kindly spared this morning, in spite of a very hectic week, to help us look for some of the area's specialities. We had a thoroughly enjoyable morning, and saw some birds and places we wouldn't have seen otherwise. Cheers Lisle, you're a star. :t:

The main emphasis on the day was having a crack at some of the area's toughest birds, and we knew from the start that any of them would be a bonus. Lisle knows a few spots for Red-chested and Striped Flufftails, and even a site where he has seen both these species and Hottentot Buttonquail in the same morning. It's land he has permission to be on, so would rather anyone PM'd him if wanting to know more about this site. Highlight of the day, and one of the highlights of the trip so far, was obtaining superb views of a Red-chested Flufftail. This was the only bird so far on the trip we've needed to tape out, and there's no way we'd have seen it otherwise. We had no luck with the other 2 species, but that's probably for the best, as my head would otherwise have exploded.

Other birds at that site included 2 very smart Black Harriers, including one flushed from virtually underfoot, many Levaillant's Cisticolas and Cape Grassbirds, our first Plain-backed Pipit, Cape Longclaws, and a Cape Francolin. An Osprey was seen nearby and a White-backed Duck par-burried in floating vegetation along with Yellow-billed Ducks at a small pond en route.

For the most part we were following Lisle and not paying much attention to where we were going, but one site visited was Hottentot Holland nature reserve, where wildcard was welcome. Here we had a jammy adult Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk as well as several Cape Siskin, Familiar Chat, African Stonechat, Levaillant's Cisticola, Neddicky, Yellow Bishop and Jackal Buzzard,

We also visited some farmland east of Theewaterskloof Dam, hoping mostly for Secretarybird and Denham's Bustard. No luck with these, but here we picked up one each of Karoo Scrub-Robin, Yellow Canary, Large-billed Lark, Fiscal Flycatcher, and some Blue Cranes, including a pair with a large chick.

We ended up not having much time for birding later in the day, but we did have a go at looking for the elusive Knysna Warbler at the Constantia site in Birdfinder for an hour or so late this afternoon. Not a squeak out of this bird, and little else except a few Black Saw-wings, a couple of African Dusky Flycatchers and our first Chaffinch of the trip.

Might not have any internet for a while after tonight, but our general plan is to head quite quickly up to the north of Namibia before it gets too wet, and come back down more slowly, leaving many of the SW cape endemics till after we get back.

390 Glossy Ibis
391 CAPE FRANCOLIN
392 RUFOUS-CHESTED SPARROWHAWK
393 WHITE-BACKED DUCK
394 Osprey
395 PLAIN-BACKED PIPIT
396 BLACK HARRIER
397 RED-CHESTED FLUFFTAIL
398 KAROO SCRUB-ROBIN
399 YELLOW CANARY
400 LARGE-BILLED LARK
401 Avocet
402 {Chaffinch)

Wonderful trip Larry. Entirely envious. Not sure you could ever have a better one.

Larry Wheatland said:

Cheers Lisle, you're a star. :t:

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No worries folks! Was great to meet you, and to be able to help you get one of the best looking birds in the region - in my view anyway I couldn't resist going back for another look at the Fluffy after my meeting yesterday afternoon. It even did a couple of runs down that felled tree - awesome. A snap attached to show how bloody great these Flufftails are!

Cheers,

L

Woops - forgot the photo!

Astonishing shot!

MKinHK said:

Astonishing shot!

Click to expand...

Thanks MK! Patience and perseverance another attached, not quite as focussed or sharp but shows why they're called Flufftails!

Leaving Capetown

Great photos Lisle, nice one!

We'd been doing so atrociously so far for ducks, that a trip to Strandfontein sewage works was in order on our way out of town. Note that the place is signposted on the main road as False Bay Ecology Park. Lagoon D in Birdfinder was an instant hit for the diving species, in spite of the crippling wind making viewing conditions far from favourable. I'd very much recommend a scope for this site. There were lots of Black-necked Grebes, at least 30 Southern Pochard, and eventually we picked out a male and female Maccoa Duck. The lake opposite, and several other lakes had hundreds of Cape Shoveler and Cape Teal. I was particularly charmed by the silvery latter. The other 2 target ducks proved more tricky. We only found one Cape Shelduck, which was on the shallow P2 lagoon, along with the only Great White Pelican we saw. Lisle had recommended the small well vegetated M1 lagoon as our best bet for Hottentot Teal, and I'm really glad he did, because it meant that I didn't give up searching for them in this area, and eventually 2 swam into view. This area was also best for Red-billed Teal.

Other species seen that morning at Strandfontein included 1000's of Greater Flamingos, Spur
-winged and Egyptian Geese, Yellow-billed Ducks, Crested Coot, Avocet, Greenshank, Black-winged Stilt, Cape Francolin, Little Grebe and African Pipit. I heard Lesser Swamp and Little Rush Warblers, but the wind made looking for reed-bed passerines hopeless.

Before leaving town we popped in to visit Lisle who was packing to leave the country. Luckily for us he had no further use for some items we were short of,. Life's been a whole lot easier lately with Lisle's generously donated frying pan and chopping board, though we haven't managed to make the spotlight work yet.

We had a quick unsuccessful look for Black Sparrowhawk on our way out of town, then drove north, eventually stopping at Lambert's Bay, En route we picked up 2 Southern Black Korhaans by the side of the road about half way between the N7 and Lambert's Bay, and our first Capped Wheatears. We stayed 2 nights in the Lambert's Bay municipal campsite.

We spent the first morning driving the recommended dirt road south for 11km, including through the toll gate and on to the salt pan recommended in Birdfinder. Cape Sparrow was very common, as were (at last) Cape Bulbul, Yellow Canary, Karoo Prinia, Southern Double-collared Sunbird and Karoo Robin-Chat, all in the low scrubby strandvelt. Grey-backed Cisticola far outnumbered Levaillant's Cisticola here. A couple of roadside Spotted Dikkops were nice, as were a single Cape Long-billed Lark, our first White-throated Canaries, a Southern Grey Tit, Cape buntings, African Pipits, Cape Longclaws, Bokmakieries and White-backed Mousebirds. The pan itself was unexpectedly good, as it can sometimes be dry, but we had it good, with a fine selection of close waders. The light is best in the morning. A big surprise was that the commonest wader here was Chestnut-banded Plover, with about 30 birds present, along with handfuls each of Kittlitz's, Ringed, and White-fronted Plovers. There were also plenty of Little Stint, and a few Curlew Sandpipers and Sanderling. Some Red-capped Larks fed round the pan's edge, and plenty of hirundines zoomed over, including as usual, zero Pearl-breasteds.

Exploring around the campsite and the river mouth in the heat of the day produced a similar selection of waders minus the Chestnut-bandeds, some Greater Flamingos, a couple more Spotted Dikkop, an African Reed Warbler, Wattled Starlings, and a Lesser Honeyguide. We also visited the Cape Gannet colony in town for the fabulous experience of being close to around 19,000 Cape Gannets. Little was added in the afternoon, except a fair few Lark-like Buntings back down the main road, and a Grey-backed Sparrowlark on the track south of town.

Next morning we packed up early and headed back to the N7, taking a detour back south to the site recommended for Protea Canary near Clanwilliam in Birdfinder. The site was easy to find, a dry gorge with streamside vegetation in the bottom. Here we met another couple of birders on the same mission. We split up and we connected with a Protea Canary whilst they had a Fairy Flycatcher 100m away. Unfortunately neither group connected with each other's finds, and the others had to be on their way before too long. We continued to bird the gorge for an hour or so longer, and eventually caught up with Fairy Flycatcher and a fair few other birds. The place was great for canaries. Although we only saw the one Protea, we also saw Yellow, Cape, Streaky-headed and White-throated Canaries and a Cape Siskin. Brimstone Canary is also mentioned as occurring here, but an at first confusing surprise was 2 Damara Canaries, or what I assume must be Damara Canaries given the lack of any information in the field guide of what anything other than a male looks like. These birds resembled the female Black-headed Canary illustration in my field guide, but the breast was a much paler peachy wash, and the head pattern was like the male Damara Canary if you replace the black with light grey, and retain the white areas.

I also eventually got views of a skulking singing Little Rush Warbler, plus Karoo Thrush, Malachite Sunbird, Cape Bunting, Familiar Chat, Cape White-eye and Grey-backed Cisticola. At about 11.30 am we figured it was time to start hot-footing it northwards.

403 Black-necked Grebe
404 SOUTHERN POCHARD
405 CAPE TEAL
406 CAPE SHOVELER
407 MACCOA DUCK
408 Great White Pelican
409 CAPE SHELDUCK
410 HOTTENTOT TEAL
411 CAPPED WHEATEAR
412 SOUTHERN BLACK KORHAAN
413 CAPE BULBUL
414 GREY-BACKED CISTICOLA
415 CAPE LONG-BILLED LARK
416 WHITE-THROATED CANARY
417 CHESTNUT-BANDED PLOVER
418 WHITE-FRONTED PLOVER
419 Ringed Plover
420 Little Stint
421 Sanderling
422 Curlew Sandpiper
423 RED-CAPPED LARK
424 SOUTHERN GREY TIT
425 WHITE-BACKED MOUSEBIRD
426 AFRICAN REED WARBLER
427 LARK-LIKE BUNTING
428 GREY-BACKED SPARROWLARK
429 PROTEA CANARY
430 DAMARA CANARY
431 LITTLE RUSH WARBLER
432 FAIRY FLYCATCHER

Springbok to the border

Forgot to mention a group of Meerkats on the track south of Lambert's Bay.

We drove on as far as Springbok, seeing little of note on the way except a fair few Southern Ant-eating Chats and a few Southern Pale Chanting Goshawks. We had intended to stay a couple of nights at Goegab nature reserve, but our plans were somewhat thwarted as the whole reserve is closed for refurbishment. We plumped for staying just one night in the nearest campsite, back towards Springbok, as a base to explore the local area. A wander around the boulder-strewn scrubby hillside at the back of the campsite in the evening yielded a group of Cape Penduline Tits, great views of 3 Ground Woodpeckers, a pair of Lanner Falcons, 2 Fairy Flycatchers, 2 Crombec, Mountain Wheatears, and numerous Cape and Lark-like Buntings. I was mainly hoping to find Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, but had no luck with that.

The next morning's birding was a little frustrating, because although the surrounding countryside was effectively empty scrubby rocky desert, it's all fenced off and you're not meant to tresspass, so we were restricted to roadside birding. We mainly birded the dirt road that continues past the road to the reserve entrance, and had a fair bit of joy. A tame group of Spike-heeled Larks in the road got the ball rolling, followed by numerous Karoo Chats and a few Dusky Sunbirds. 2 cracking Ludwig's Bustards then flew over and eventually landed where there were 5 more. We scoped these birds for some time before moving on, picking up Verreaux'x Eagle, White-throated and Yellow Canariesand a little group of tonguetwisting Karoo Eremomelas,

We returned to camp, packed up, and headed north, stopping for a Greater Kestrel before taking the road westwards to Port Nolloth. A group of c30 Bradfield's Swift along this road were still there when we returned later. Sadly, one had been hit by a vehicle and was alive when we found it but didn't make it. My main reason for going to Port Nolloth was to look for the intriguing Barlow's Lark. By the time we reached Port Nolloth I'd seen 2 Karoo Larks. One back on the N7, and one at the suggested stop 5km before Port Nolloth, where the local Karoo Larks are to be studied before tackling the Barlow'l Lark/hybrid situation at the Barlow's site round the corner. We then found the fence line referred to in Birdfinder, on the road north out of Port Nolloth, but things have changed. Port Nolloth has expanded northwards since the book, and the coastal dune area south of the fence line is now fenced in. I ponced about on the edge of the road for a while, and then, noting that the gatehouse to the fenced in area seemed abandoned, and that there was an unfenced roadway entrance into the area along it's south side, I wandered in. It was the heat of the day, but during my stomp around the dunes I had decent views of 3 Karoo-type larks. Birdfinder mentions that Barlow's is common here, and that hybrid Barlow's/Karoo occur, but aren't common. Maybe a few years have changed the situation, or I was unlucky, but all my larks had variably streaked flanks, so I'm going to call them Karoo Larks. After my 3rd streaky-flanked lark, I returned to Nicky in the car and we abandoned operation Barlow. We weren't up for heading a good way north and on unsealed roads to look for 'good' Barlows. My duneside stomp did however produce a smart Rufous-eared Warbler, Cape Penduline Tits, Tractrac Chats and Cape Long-billed Lark. Back towards Port Nolloth the Damara Tern pan was dry, but we had a Caspian Tern and a Grey-headed Gull on the sea.

We went back to the N7, and headed north through the crazy barren landscape to the Namibian border crossing on the Orange River, which went smoothly.

433 CAPE PENDULINE TIT
434 SPIKE-HEELED LARK
435 KAROO CHAT
436 LUDWIG'S BUSTARD
437 DUSKY SUNBIRD
438 KAROO EREMOMELA
439 GREATER KESTREL
440 BRADFIELD'S SWIFT
441 KAROO LARK
442 RUFOUS-EARED WARBLER
443 TRACTRAC CHAT
444 Caspian Tern
445 Grey-headed Gull

If you're heading to De Hoop at all on this trip then you'll connect with Pearl-breasted Swallow along with plenty of other hirundines.

Thanks Jacana, all being well we will be visiting De Hoop later. As for the swallow though..I'm a bit behind with the report

Here are some more pics from SA: Hottentot Teal, Chestnut-banded Plover, and Cape Gannets

Southern Namibia

It was mid afternoon when we crossed the Orange. We camped overnight at Amanzi Trails, which is on the Orange, about 13km from the border crossing. We were the only guests at this lovely spot, where the owners are into birds and have made a list of birds seen on their stretch of the river. They were keen to tell me that Freckled Nightjar and Spotted Eagle Owl are regularly seen in the camp, and I'd be very unlikely not to see the nightjar, which sits in the same spot by a light every night. Except that night. But at least I got to hear it.

Orange River White-eyes were abundant, and watched over us setting up camp. It was a while of listening to bulbuls whilst putting up the tent before it clicked that I should be looking at them, because they'ed now be Red-eyeds. Karoo Thrush, African Hoopoe, Cardinal Woodpecker, Pied and Malachite Kingfishers, Black-throated Canaries, Bradfield's Swift, Lesser Swamp and African Reed Warbler were all conspicuous round the camp. It wasn't until after a fair bit of searching the next morning however, that I got a good look at a Namaqua Warbler, a few of which were calling in the riverside reeds. We felt very welcome at this good value, beautifully located campsite, and it was a shame that we had to press on the next day.

So the 3rd of December saw us heading for Fish river Canyon, apparently the next largest after the Grand. This was mostly through such incredibly barren mountainous terrain that we found ourselves repeatedly saying 'wow' and 'mental' during the drive, which was mostly on very good gravel road. It was scorchingly hot when we pulled into the Ai-Ais campsite, which provided a shady oasis and sprinkled lawns for the birds. There were loads of Pale-winged Starlings all over the picnic area, and a superb Acacia Pied Barbet among them, eating fallen dates. Plenty of Mountain Wheatears, White-throated Canaries, and of course, Southern Masked Weavers too. A late gotten-onto flyover stork was either Black or Abdim's. From Ai-Ais we pressed on after lunch to the simpler Hobas campsite. There were few birds along the way, but we did pick up a Chestnut-vented Parisoma, a Fawn-coloured Lark and a couple of Black-breasted Prinia. The overnight stop at Hobas produced Pririt Batis and Orange River White-eye, while Familiar Chat, Karoo Scrub-robin and Baboon were rather unshy around the tent. Brubru and the Latakoo form of Fiscal Shrike were also knocking about.

Off on our way then to Keetmanshoop, once more on a gravel road through some stunning scenery. Before we hit the tarmac we encountered 2 Karoo Korhaan, Chat Flycatchers, a Karoo Long-billed Lark, several Southern Pale Chanting Goshawks and a (Bradfield's) Sabota Lark. Eastbound on the tarmac road before Keetmanshoop we stopped for a small party of Namaqua Sangrouse on the verge, which provided superb views, but ran off before Nicky could get any pics of them. A flock of around 20 Stark's Lark by the side of the road took the trip's list of new larks to an incredible 15 species (and we've missed a fair few!). Scaly-feathered Finches also started appearing.
At Keetmanshoop we stocked up in a supermarket and hit the main north-south road. Our plan was to overnight at Hardap Dam, and on the way there we bumped into Grey-backed Sparrowlarks, and a stop to check out more Stark's Larks also produced Chat Flycatchers and a Desert Cisticola. Pulling into Hardap Dam we were greeted by Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters and the news that the dam's camp site was closed as the dam was being repaired. We decided to press on to Rehoboth, and witnessed our first Sociable Weaver haystacks on the way. The people running Amanzi Trails had informed us that there was a nice campsite by a dam to the west of town, and that is where we ended up that night; camping at Lake Oanob.

The Lake Oanob campsite is in acacia woodland on the rocky surround to a lake. It had a couple of goodies to sample, most notably at least 5 Ruppell's Parrots and a Crimson-breasted Shrike. Also around were Burnt-necked Eremomela, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Common Scimitarbill, Kalahari Scrub-Robin, Sabota Lark, Marico, Scarlet-chested and Dusky Sunbirds, Chestnut-vented Parisoma etc.

We set off next morning for the Daan Viljoen reserve, c20km to the west of Windhoek. The drive produced our first Monteiro's as well as Yellow-billed Hornbills, and some birds that we're familiar from Kruger, eg Lappet-faced Vulture, Burchell's and Cape Glossy Starlings and Lilac-breasted Roller. I'd noticed a newspaper headline in the supermarket mentioning a decline in international tourism in Namibia. Judging by the cost of camping in some of their nature reserves I'm not surprised! This was our first taste of it, and we've since discovered that others are also twice the price of Kruger, for less facilities. Groceries in general are a bit more expensive than SA too. Having said that, our 2 night stay at Daan Viljoen was rather rewarding on the bird front, and you can walk around and bump into Giraffes and Zebras to boot.

The camping area is by the edge of a small dam, which was rather rammed with waterbirds making the most of this shrinking water body. 3 Ruff were notable on the wader front, and there were maybe 100 Red-billed Ducks, silly numbers of Moorhens, Reed Cormorants, African Darters, Night, Striated, Grey and Squacco (1) Herons, and Hammerkop. The lawn around our tent was visited by White-browed Sparrow-weavers, Mountain Wheatears, Great and Southern Grey-headed Sparrows, a Long-billed Pipit and Familiar Chats. At one point when dozing, I was woken up by a Familiar Chat landing on my big toe! 3 small birds with bright red bills and reddish legs were seen very well but my field guide won't let me know if this means they're Red-billed Queleas or Shaft-tailed Whydahs. Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters and Lilac Breasted Roller added colour to our camping spot too, a male Shaft-tailed Whydah came down to drink, and I finally caught up with Pearl-breasted Swallow among the visiting hirundines. 2 chasing Black Cuckoos was an unexpected whoosh through the camping area too, a change from the ubiquitous Didericks.

Around the reserve there were some real goodies. I found Rockrunner to be more frequently encountered than I expected it to be, at various points around the 9km walking trail and at the dam wall. The song is a beautiful sweet yordle, and they used low branches of trees more often than I expected them to when in dry riverbeds. Short-toed Rock Thrush on the other hand, which is reportedly easy here, gave me more grief. I only ended up seeing 3 birds, all on the 9km walking trail. Red-billed Francolin was generally common, but I had no luck with Orange River Francolin. I eventually saw 2 Carp's tits, on an evening visit to the far (dam) end of the 9km walking trail, in the dense low acacia on the initial descent from that end. Other birds seen included Monteiro's, Yellow-billed and African Grey Hornbills, Common Scimitarbill, African Barred Warbler (3), Burnt-necked and (at last) Yellow-bellied Eremomelas, Augur Buzzard, African Fish Eagle, Acacia Pied Barbet, delectable Violet-eared (c10) and Black-eared (2) Waxbills, Pririt Batis, Lesser Honeyguide, Crimson-breasted Shrike, Grey-backed Camaroptera, and Pearl-spotted Owlet. Rattling was the common cisticola, but there were also a few Grey-backed of the potential split northwestern form. We drove the detour loop once, and found it very stressful in a low-clearance 2WD, grounding out a couple of times, so we didn't do it again!

446 ORANGE RIVER WHITE-EYE
447 RED-EYED BULBUL
448 FRECKLED NIGHTJAR (hd)
449 NAMAQUA WARBLER
450 PALE-WINGED STARLING
451 ACACIA PIED BARBET
452 CHESTNUT-VENTED PARISOMA
453 FAWN-COLOURED LARK
454 PRIRIT BATIS
455 CHAT FLYCATCHER
456 KAROO LONG-BILLED LARK
457 NAMAQUA SANDGROUSE
458 STARK'S LARK
459 DESERT CISTICOLA
460 Swallow-tailed Bee-eater
461 SOCIABLE WEAVER
462 CRIMSON-BREASTED SHRIKE
463 RUPPELL'S PARROT
464 MONTEIRO'S HORNBILL
465 GREAT SPARROW
466 RED-BILLED FRANCOLIN
467 Squacco Heron
468 ROCKRUNNER
469 BARRED WREN-WARBLER
470 PEARL-BREASTED SWALLOW
471 SHAFT-TAILED WHYDAH
472 AUGUR BUZZARD
473 BLACK CUCKOO
474 SHORT-TOED ROCK THRUSH
475 YELLOW-BELLIED EREMOMELA
476 CARP'S TIT

So now we're in Windhoek, and are planning to go to Etosha via the Waterberg Plateau next.

some pics: Acacia Pied Barbet, Ruppell's Parrot, desert road, Fish River Canyon

Korhaan ID

Having the wobblies with this korhaan, one of two birds seen near Hobas, Fish River Canyon, Namibia the other day. This might be range overlap zone for Ruppell's and Karoo?
seems rather pale, and maybe has paler wing covts than back, but hard to tell in desert light. Spots on back maybe indicate female? Appears to have a black mark on nape but could that just be shadow from erectile feathers? I've been assuming Karoo. but am I being hasty here? Had a black stripe on throat. Didn't see underparts from front.

any thoughts appreciated.

Karoo for me.

Enjoying your epic trip report very much! Have been to Kruger and bits of Namibia so I also get to reminisce while reading.

Andrea

Thanks Andrea thought I'd better check as the only other Karoo Korhaans so far have been two from the train where Rupells wasn't an option.

way to go, sounds like you are both having a great adventure - very inspired.

keep it coming,

Paul

Hello Larry,

i am so inspired i have decided to follow your footsteps, looking at mid jan - mid mar, when are you leaving SA.

Any tips/advice will be very welcome. I have friends in Jo'burg so gen wise i should be sorted.

go well,

Paul

peedee said:

Hello Larry,

i am so inspired i have decided to follow your footsteps, looking at mid jan - mid mar, when are you leaving SA.

Any tips/advice will be very welcome. I have friends in Jo'burg so gen wise i should be sorted.

go well,

Paul

Click to expand...

Hi Paul, thanks bro :t:

We should be around til the end of March. From the end of Jan we'll be heading east from Cape Town along the coast round to Kwazulu-Natal, and in to Drakensberg and Wakkerstroom. Be great to meet up with you. We thought of you in fact when we saw the pennant-wings displaying, and your crazy vid of the Wilson's Bird of Paradise!

Best tip is: if you're camping, buy a blow-up mattress and pump, We've just bought one and boy has it made life more comfortable.

We've just hit the Caprivi strip and had a blinding day at the sewage farm, but no time to catch up with the report at the mo.....