Polokwane to Cape Town
Cheers Dave, great to hear from someone in SA :t:
POLOKWANE GAME RESERVE and the TRAIN to CAPETOWN
So with all our stuff packed away in little Dusty, we were free to continue on our way back towards Pretoria after our morning birding in the forest. We'd planned to spend a couple of nights chilling at a spa campsite at Bela-Bela, and Nicky had noticed that getting there involved going pretty much straight past Polokwane Game Reserve. I quickly checked the site in Birdfinder, and was instantly dead keen on spending a couple of hours there to break up the journey, even if it would be just in the heat of the day.
We tried using our wild card upon arrival at the reserve, but there was some confusion and it was declined. I think there's a chance we were blagged into paying about £6 when we didn't have to, but I'm not sure. The reserve is meant to have a one way system, and you're not allowed out of your vehicle except at certain points because there are rhinos about. Once through the barrier we headed outbound on the rhino trail, and were hoping to find somewhere shady to stop for lunch. We quickly came upon a small waterhole, and I started looking at the White-faced Tree-Ducks and Blue Waxbills. We looked into seeing if we could find a bit of shade under the acacias lining the track and that's when we noticed that there were 2 rhinos right by the side of the track, maybe only 30 metres ahead of us. They seemed quite happy in the shade there, and we figured we could be in for a long wait before they moved. We had no option but to turn round and head back to the entrance and try a different route. We then got quite lost, but luckily this is a small reserve, where you can't be more than 12km from the entrance. We ended up at an education centre that wasn't on the map, before we finally found a shady spot for lunch.
While munching away we spied our first White-browed Sparrow-Weavers, and a little party of Burnt-necked Eremomelas passed by, as did some Arrow-marked Babblers, a Willow Warbler and a Spotted Flycatcher. Some Lesser Striped Swallows were enjoying a small nearby puddle. After lunch we randomly drove around the tracks in the reserve, and considering the time and the heat, ended up with quite a haul, including a displaying Short-clawed Lark, which is the reserves star bird by virtue of it's restricted range. We had an incredible purple patch where the lark appeared, when every time we started the engine to attempt to move the car, more birds would pop up making us turn the engine off again. We had Marico Flycatcher sitting next to a Kalahari Scrub-Robin, a gang of Scaly-feathered Finches, a cracking female Violet-eared Waxbill, Black-chested Prinia and Ashy Tit all pretty much in the same place. Elsewhere, other birds included 2 more Marico Flycatchets, a Black-faced Waxbill, Swainson's Spurfowl, Rufous-naped Lark, Streaky-headed Seed-eater, Cape Sparrow, Groundscraper Thrush, Red-chested Cuckoo and Cape Glossy Starling. Shortly before leaving the park we stopped to admire a warthog for quite a while before noticing that there was a stationary Spotted Dikkop standing right behind it. Several other goodies are possible at this reserve, and an early morning would doubtless turn up far more than we managed during our brief visit.
The time spent camping at Forever Warmbaths wasn't too fruitful birdwise, but we enjoyed our stay there, and needed the rest. We did have a couple of White-crested Helmet-Shrikes in the trees around our tent, as well as White-browed Sparrow-Weavers, an African Paradise Flycatcher nesting above us, and the edge of the compound had White-winged Widowbird and Levaillant's Cisticola. One of the lakes even had Black Crakes and African Jacanas, as well as a Black-headed Heronry and big numbers of nesting Cattle Egrets. We sent Dusty to the car wash at Bela-Bela, and returned him home at Pretoria. Bless him.
On Nov 22nd we set of for Capetown. Loaded down with tons of baggage, we walked from the 1322 Backpackers to Hatfield train station, and got the Gautrain to Johannesburg Park station. We then went across to the main station and headed for the Shosholoza Meyl train, which we'd prebooked for less than £50 each. The train sets off at 10.30am and arrives about 1pm in Cape Town the following day. We had our own compartment, and the journey was most comfortable. I also found the birding comparatively easier than some other long-distance trains, because you can look directly through an open window and the train would often go slowly, or stop in half way decent spots for birds. This meant some of the birds seen were very identifiable.
After leaving the sprawl of Jo'burg, we passed through mostly flat grassland/farmland. This produced lots of Long-tailed Widowbirds and Helmeted Guineafowl, a fair few feral Ostrich, a few large groups of South African Cliff Swallow, and as we got further out, more than a hundred Lesser Kestrels, concentrated in loose groups. An Amur falcon was a special treat though, at a point when the train stopped for a while, and even more of a treat for me was a count of 15 Northern Black Korhaan. As the evening approached some of the korhaans seemed to like standing on top of anthills. 2 Southern Ant-eating Chats were identified, and dams close to the track yielded a Yellow-billed Stork and my first Red-billed Teal among a big flock of White-faced Tree-Duck.
When we woke at dawn the scenery had changed, and we were passing through rocky hilly country studded with short shrubby plants and patchy grassy areas. Pretty much the first birds seen were 2 flying Karoo Korhaans, presumably flushed by the train. There were Namaqua Doves, Rock Kestrels, a Verreaux's Eagle, African Pied, and even introduced European Starlings. A couple of Malachite Sunbirds appeared at a station, and Rock Martins started appearing. As we got nearer to Capetown there was more wheat and wine country as well as a few plantations and what I assume is Karoo Scrub. Steppe Buzzards were common, and there were Jackal Buzzards, and if the underwing coverts can be relied upon, a Forest Buzzard too. Bird of prey highlight for me though was 2 Southern Pale Chanting Goshawks. We passed many small dams, and one had a big concentration of maybe 60 Blue Cranes. A few scattered pairs of Blue Cranes were also seen in the wheat fields. Other dams had Greater Flamingos, and the trip's first Great Crested Grebe. Other birds seen from the train that morning included Cape and Pied Crows, White-necked Raven, Yellow-billed Kite, Southern Red Bishop, Pin-tailed Whydah, Cape and House Sparrrows, Purple and black-headed Herons, an African Fish Eagle and a (Cape) Kelp Gull on a lamp post as we pulled into Cape Town. As with any train jouney there were of course a fair few birds in the 'hmmm, better leave that one' department too.
346 BURNT-NECKED EREMOMELA
347 WHITE-BROWED SPARROW-WEAVER
348 MARICO FLYCATCHER
349 ASHY TIT
350 KALAHARI SCRUB-ROBIN
351 SCALY-FEATHERED FINCH
352 VIOLET-EARED WAXBILL
353 BLACK-CHESTED PRINIA
354 SHORT-CLAWED LARK
355 BLACK-FACED WAXBILL
356 SPOTTED DIKKOP
357 NORTHERN BLACK KORHAAN
358 AMUR FALCON
359 Lesser Kestrel
360 SOUTHERN ANTEATING CHAT
361 RED-BILLED TEAL
362 KAROO KORHAAN
363 (Starling)
364 SOUTHERN PALE CHANTING GOSHAWK
365 Great Crested Grebe
366 Greater Flamingo
367 Kelp Gull