Here you go Sal
Johns text - copied and pasted . (I'll try the photos now !)
This will be a summarised report, basically because there is far too much to write about that covers the time we were in South Africa, which was from Nov 9th - 29th 2009. To cover it all in any detail would probably become boring to read to most of you. There were three of us on this trip. David, Ivan & myself. David's daughter lives in South Africa and David has an apartment there as well, including having a car & trailer as well which was used throughout for the travelling and camping we did.
This trip report will have links to pages of photos and as there were so many photos taken it will become a work in progress for a while whilst I cover all of them.
The weather news wasn't good as Ivan & I received a text from David (who was already in the cape Town area) that said "Massive gales with torrential rain for 36 hrs. More forecast, Pelagic unlikely" Thankfully upon our arrival at Cape Town the rain had stopped and it was occasionally sunny, although very windy.
Nov 9th. After our long flight from Heathrow via Abhu Dhabi, (where we found a bird in the Terminal that was new to us (it was a White-cheeked Bulbul) then a connecting flight from Joberg to Cape Town it was decided to go to Stranfontein to do the first day's birding.
On the way to Stranfontein we were treated to a roadside grass verge that had Hadeda, Sacred & Glossy Ibis & Blackl-headed Heron feeding close to the road. This was in a built up area and really surprised two of us (David is a regular visitor and is used to it) but that was only the start of three weeks of surprises. Stranfontein was a good place to start our birding and many lifers were found, mainly wildfowl but included other birds such as Darter, Y B Kite, African Marsh Harrier & many more.
Nov 10th. The day of the Pelagic and we chose a very windy day that gradually got worse and worse until it was aborted about 2 hours early due to very rough seas. We were being tossed about like rag dolls and it wasn't the most comfortable of situations with which to watch this superb spectacle of seabirds. Sadly I had to get down from the higher deck as I couldn't photograph anything. If I tried I either got one of the other birders heads in the way or if I stood up I was in danger of being tipped overboard so I went to the lower deck where I was on my own.
This had two effects. One, I couldn't hear the guide on what birds were about and two the huge waves were actually going higher than the boat which caused the birds to disappear out of view. Added to that I was hanging on for dear life and you can see the problems I was having. Hence I missed a few lifers and year birds. I did get Shy, Yellow nosed & Black-browed Albatross as well as White-chinned and Pintado Petrel but I missed out on the Southern Giant Petrel & Great Shearwater plus a few others that my friends saw.
The actual Pelagic was aborted early because the conditions were getting too severe and we arrived back at Simonstown just before 2pm after a very lumpy ride back.
As we were back so early it was decided to move onto Boulders Beach after the African Penguins. It felt surreal watching these penguins just sitting under bushes or out in the open at the side of the boardwalk but it was well worth the visit. Whilst there a few more new birds entered the log such as Black Oystercatcher and Lesser Double-collared Sunbird.
The end of Nov 10th was horrendous with a fierce gale and torrential rain sweeping the Cape, with a lot more forecasted for nearly a week, so it was decided on the morning of the 11th to pack up two days early (we had planned for four days in the Cape). Our next recognised stop was for Garingboom but we managed to find an area that was free of the bad weather at Karoo N.P and so we made a one night camp there.
Nov 11th.
On our drive to Karoo we added a few new birds to the trip with Blue Crane (Lifer) Black-shouldered Kite, Red-eyed Bulbul (Lifer), Ostrich (Lifer) &Black Crow (Lifer) &Southern Red Bishop (Lifer).
By late afternoon we had camped up at Karoo NP under a fine blue sky and warm temperatures. We had spotted a pool not far from the visitors centre and decided to finish off the day around there and also a short drive up one of the tracks. The pool was fairly productive with Southern Red Bishop, African Marsh Warbler, Southern Masked Weaver plus quite a few Greater-striped Swallows that were using the pool for drinking on the wing. On the short drive we found a few lifers such as Rufous-eared Warbler. Mountain Chat, Familiar Chat & White throated Canary.
Nov 12th
Karoo N.'P.
We woke up to a tremendous dawn chorus. Birds were everywhere. I had spread a little bird seed not far away from the tents and not long after it started to get light quite a few birds came down to feed on it. Amongst them was the stunning Southern Red Bishop. Many others came down such as Cape Sparrow, Cape Wagtail, Laughing Dove, Red-eyed Bulbul, Southern Masked Weaver, Cape Turtle Dove &Red-winged Starling, It soon became evident that most of them were not afraid of humans as not long after they were all over the camp. Even on our breakfast plates then picking up bits we had dropped right by our feet. This was a real treat. After a while we had a walk around the camp and found a few more lifers and year ticks such as Rock Martin, Cape White-eye, Fiscal Flycatcher, Karoo Robin, Karoo Thrush, White-backed Mousebird, Cape Robin-chat, Fiscal Shrike, whilst above us was White-rumped Swift & Booted Eagle. We decided to do a dive on one of the tracks for about three hours before packing up for our drive to Garingboom. Birdwise it was not that productive but we did add Ludwigs Bustard, Sicklewinged Chat, Southern Ant-eating Chat and the beautiful Pale-chanting Goshawk to the ever growing list.
Our trip to Garingboom was a long one but it did produce one lifer (Verraux's Eagle) and one trip tick (Kestrel) on the way. We arrived there quite late but still found a few Lesser Kestrel on the final approach track plus we managed one lifer as we arrived as a Crested Barbet was pointed out to us by the owners.
Nov 13th
Garingboom B&B
What an amazing day. The Griesel's own the place and his wife, Riette offered to take us on a two / three hour drive around their huge farm for a donation to the Raptor Fund they help support. This turned out to be about five plus hours as there was so much to take in. I can highly recommend staying at Garingboom and using Riette as a guide. She is a brilliant guide and knows her territory like the back of her hand. Here is a link to their web site.
http://www.garingboom.co.za/
We ended up with an incredible list of birds here, including a Juv Pale-chanting Goshawk, Double-banded Courser, Namaqua Sandgrouse, Namaqua Dove, Kittlitz's Plover, Cinnamon-breasted Rock Bunting, Quail Finch, Clapper Lark, Northern Black Korhaan, Desert Cisticola, Capped Wheatear, Kimberley Pipit, Red-capped Lark, Spike-heeled Lark, Plainbacked Pipit, Blackchested Prinia, Buffy Pipit, Yellow Canary, Tink-Tink Cisticola, Eastern-paradise Whydah, Blue Crane, Ludwigs Bustard & Secretary Bird. In the buildings area we had a pair of Redthroated Wryneck and a Fiscal Shrike with young of the Western Race. Also around the buildings and trees were Speckled Mousebird and on the railings around the swimming pool a couple of White-throated Swallow.
There is a small bird hide over a pool about a mile from the complex so I made my way there in this beautiful weather and spent a couple of leisurely hours just sitting there watching the birds, mainly Southern Masked Weavers, Red-eyed Bulbuls, and Red-billed Quela's but I also added Orange-throated Longclaw, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting & Three-banded Plover to the list whilst there. On the way back to the complex I also added Neddicky as well.
That was it for Garingboom as we were to leave at about 04.30am the next day for sani.
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