Tour Narrative
After meeting at Johannesburg Airport, we flew west to Upington on the Orange River; a brief stop to stock up on supplies and we were on our way north towards the Kalahari. As the landscape changed to rolling dunes, roadside poles provided sights from Southern Pale Chanting Goshawks to massive Sociable Weaver nests. We stopped at the prominent Spitzkop for our first picnic lunch and our first birding away from the road. It was soon evident that the region was dry, but fantastic views of a Double-banded Courser made the detour more than worthwhile. Not a species seen on every tour, a Short-toed Rockthrush right by the road was the first of three we were to see on this trip.
The national park’s waterholes are always a focus of attention with superb views of hundreds of Namaqua Sandgrouse coming to drink, joined by smaller numbers of Burchell’s Sandgrouse. Elsewhere we encountered Kori Bustard, Secretarybird, several majestic Lanner Falcons, dainty Pygmy Falcons, Black-chested Snake Eagle, massive Martial Eagles at a nest, colorful Lilac-breasted Rollers and Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters, Spotted Eagle Owl, Kalahari Scrub Robin, vivid Crimson-breasted Shrikes, and clouds of Cape Sparrows. Mammals included lots of striking Gemsbok, herds of Springbok, a few Wildebeest, and an endearing bunch of Meerkats. We kicked off our “lark fest” (eventually totaling 16 species) with Fawn-colored, Sabota, and Spike-heeled Larks. Outside the park, we found several Northern Black Korhaans, a Pearl-spotted Owlet that attracted a bunch of smaller birds including Ashy Tit and Brubru, and a pair of roosting Northern White-faced Scops Owls.
We retraced our steps to Upington, where a stop along the Orange River gave us Goliath Heron, Crested Barbet, African Hoopoe, Namaqua Warbler, and Orange River White-eye before we continued to Augrabies National Park, where Golden-tailed Woodpecker and Pririt Batis were some of the highlights. Our few days in Bushmanland were blessed with great weather and our search for larks continued with Stark’s, Sclater’s, Karoo Long-billed, and the wonderful Red Lark. Other highlights included two Burchell’s Coursers, several Karoo Korhaans, Mountain Wheatear, and Karoo and Tractrac Chats.
Our drive down to Lambert’s Bay gave us Layard’s Tit-babbler, Fairy Flycatcher, Southern Gray Tit, Karoo Eremomela, Black-headed Canary, and a very red Karoo Lark; we ended the day’s driving with our usual wonderful seafood meal on the beach. We watched dawn break over the fynbos as several Cape Clapper Larks performed their strange display. They were joined by a few Karoo Larks and lots of Gray-backed Cisticolas, Karoo Scrub Robins, and Bokmakaries. After taking in Bird Island and its thousands of Cape Gannets and Cape Fur Seals, we headed on, stopping for Little Rush and Lesser Swamp Warblers, Protea Canary, a variety of shorebirds and waterfowl on the Berg estuary, and close Bank Cormorants and African Black Oystercatchers at Saldana.
The first of our two visits to the West Coast Nature Reserve produced a nice selection of fynbos birds including Gray-winged Francolin, Bar-throated Apalis, and Cape Penduline Tit. There were some flowers here as well and at the small reserve close to Darling, where we strained our eyes to pick out Cloud Cisticolas. A stop in Ceres found a pair of Giant Kingfishers, but the highlight of a very dry karoo was probably Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, which everyone managed to see.
We took a circuitous route to the Bontebok Reserve at Swellendam. Another stop in Ceres turned up a pair of African Black Ducks, then we found a pair of Cape Rockthrushes at Bain’s Kloof, a variety of waterbirds at Paarl Nature Reserve, and a flock of Swee Waxbills at Paarl Mountain Reserve. We ended the day in the Bontebok reserve with some birding around the camp followed by a hot braai and some cold gin and tonics. The next morning’s pre-breakfast wander around the camp paid off with Olive Woodpecker, Greater Striped Swallow, Horus Swift, Southern Boubou, Neddicky, and Greater Double-collared Sunbird. The road to Cape Town took us through rolling agricultural land where we found Agulhas Clapper and Agulhas Long-billed Larks right on the roadside, Blue Cranes and Stanley’s Bustards in the fields, Cape Vultures circling over Potberg, and a Lesser Honeyguide that joined us for lunch.
Our time in Cape Town was filled with birds. First came the pelagic, with Shy, Black-browed, and Indian Ocean Yellow-nosed Albatrosses, ten Soft-plumaged Petrels, both species of Giant Petrel, numerous Pintado Petrels, White-chinned Petrels, and Sooty Shearwaters. We found Cape Siskin and Grassbird not far from our accommodation, and had great views of Black Sparrowhawk on the grounds. There were Burchell’s Coucal and Black Saw-wing in the Constantia greenbelts, and Olive Pigeon, Cape Batis, and Forest Canary in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. A return visit to the West Coast gave us our sought-after target birds including Black Harrier, Southern Black Korhaan, and Black Crake, while a visit to one of the blinds produced not only the hoped for Chestnut-banded Plover but also two Lesser Sand Plovers, a South African rarity.
–Steve Rooke
Updated: October 2010