Back to Boksburg

Had a few more days at Hlalanathi and had to spend time in Royal Natal Reserve that features the spectacular Amphitheatre, considered to be the most impressive cliff face in the world and flanked by the Sentinel on the right............

........and Mont-aux-sources on the left.  The wall is over 5 km long and rises over 1200 m from the valley floor.  Hidden somewhere along it's length are the Tugela Falls, the second highest in the world.

Wanted to get to the base of the falls but a 22 km round trip would have finished me off completely so stopped and smelled the flowers.  This quilted-leaved vernonia Veronia hirsuta had a brightly coloured red and black beetle hiding amongst the flowers which was extremely camera shy.

At elevations of around 1000 m and higher one's likely to bump into this handsome fellow the buff-streaked chat - always accompanied by his partner.

Creaking Gurney's sugarbirds were flitting around the flowering Protea roupelliae but also tended to avoid the camera.  Oddly though there doesn't appear to be a common name for this species other than the generic sugarbush - though I'm sure Richard Boon will correct me.

Also showing off his breeding finery was a yellow bishop who flitting and fluffing so much a crisp picture was impossible.

Wanted to do Mike's Pass so made a fruitless trip back to Didima only to be told the road was closed so spent time wandering around the camp.

Not quite sure what they were aiming for in the design of the cottages San Chic perhaps or imitation Yak.

Decided to take a bit of a hike up the pass and came across this Arum lily Zantedeschia valida which is restricted to a very small area around these parts.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to accompany Maralyn to a friends lodge situated on Welgevonden Private reserve in the Waterberg mountains near Vaalwater.  This massive 39 000 ha reserve features the big five in a malaria free area and is hence very popular with overseas visitors who spend vast amounts of money to be pampered at one of the 60 odd lodges.  Sekgwa, the one we were staying in, was privately owned and slept at least 10.  Vehicles are left at the gate and you are transferred by a guide to your accommodation in a game drive vehicle.

The most noticeable thing on the hour's drive to the lodge was the number of rhinos, particularly in this fig tree valley, with nine clustered around one ........

..........three under another and five others scattered about.  It is one of the safest places for these not far off extinct unfortunates and they are thus custodians to many "visitors" from more susceptible reserves.  Absolutely marvellous to see them in such numbers, long may it last.

After dropping off the cases at the chalet......

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.....we were making our way back to the central entertainment area when this small leguaan sized plated lizard crossed the path and gave us the beady eye.........

............and on the game drive later we were fortunate enough to meet up with a magnificent Denham's bustard taking a sedate stroll in search of supper......

........and a while later this little bee-eater showing off it's finery in the late afternoon sun.

An early rise for another drive with the sun not yet out of bed, but due to the very dry conditions there was not much around, however...........

.........later in the day a very Familiar chat absolutely insisted on being photographed. I was then struck down by a dreaded gut bug and spent 48 hours confined to camp.

After recovering sufficiently to join one of the last evening drives we were treated to a pride of lions that were actually active and not just lazing around and soon after these two got up and strolled past within spitting distance and disappeared..........

.......... leaving us to watch the splendid sunset.

Early on the final morning our erstwhile guide Steven Mugabe (a Zimbabwean but no relative he was quick to assure us) located three young cheetah brothers which provided a fascinating diversion.  Steven was, without doubt, one of the finest guides I've ever come across, with a broad knowledge base that included the Latin and common names of virtually every tree in the reserve.

The entertainment started with this chap giving odd little mewling calls which resulted in his brother wandering in to join him and the third brother sitting someway off.  After a bit more interaction and chat ..........

..........they all sloped off presumably to try and round up a bit of breakfast.

Maralyn and I then flew down to Durban as I was presenting a talk on my travels to the local bird club - many thanks Sue and Giles for the hospitality and to all of you who came to the talk, it was most rewarding.  Back in Boksburg news came through of a black-tailed godwit at Marievale which prompted an expedition.  The bird proved elusive but was eventually located and coaxed out of it's slumber to reveal it's awesome beak and of course the black tail.  When I submitted my atlas card I promptly received a National Rarity Form as it appears none of the dozens of previous spectators had bothered - great, let me do all the work!  Not the best picture but I shall return.

And on the subject of who's got the biggest - this African snipe wasn't far behind.

Being a "Bergie"

Next move was to Wagendrift Dam, which was completely new ground.  Passed it many times but have never been into the campsite. The N3 runs just below the wall and there's usually a huge rooster tail of water belching from the base.  Arriving on Sunday I soon had the entire place to myself and apart from a couple of very determined fisherman, it stayed that way for four nights.  Determined in that they were glued to their chairs for 48 hours, without any camping gear so assume if they slept at all, it was in the car.  Picked a site under large plane trees with a view towards the wall one way...........

........and towards the mouth of the Bushman's River in the other.  Rather splendid.

Unexpected visitors were a pair of elegant Black-winged plovers - Black-winged lapwings sounds so lame!

The second night while partaking of a beverage on the "patio" a little sliver of new moon crept over the horizon and painted a path across the water.

Out walking one morning I noticed some activity around the pole of an 11 kV line and closer inspection revealed a red-throated wryneck obviously feeding chicks secreted in the nest cavity.  That hole must have taken some excavating by these close relatives of woodpeckers.

Where the river enters the top end of this extensive dam is another reserve called Moor Park which is mostly inaccessible but has a lot more in the way of animals.

On the way down to the picnic site found a lovely Natal bottlebrush Greyia sutherlandii in stunning bloom.............

..................and underneath it a very smart species of ground orchid which may be Eulophia ovalis.

Next stop was Mountain Splendour in the Champagne valley with a magnificent view of Cathkin Peak as a backdrop.

On another snap visit to Boksburg I stopped at the view point at the top of Oliviershoek Pass and was struck by the very different colours of Kilburn Dam in the foreground and Woodstock in the hazy distance. 

The reason was soon apparent as Sterkfontein was so full from the recent snowfalls that water was backfilling Driekloof Dam which supplies the pumped storage scheme, so water from Woodstock wasn't required.  This was further confirmed a few days later when on a shopping trip to Berville, I noticed that the canal between the Woodstock and Kilburn was totally dry.

A few days later I visited the Monk's Cowl section of the massive Ukhahlamba Drakensberg National Park and bumped into a very obliging female Cape batis who was more intent on preening than worrying about me.

Also found some Southern shell-flower trees Bowkeria verticillata in bloom but unfortunately it was too early and the flowers ween't open.

The gigantic massif of Champagne Castle tends to make one feel rather insignificant.

On an Atlassing sortee to a nearby valley I came across a group of canary-like birds that required some serious sleuthing to eventually work out that they were female and juvenile black-throated canaries.  Where's the black throat? Look veeerrrry carefully!

One of the very few places where white-winged flufftails occur is in the reserve surrounding the Ingula pumped storage scheme near Ladysmith and as Birdlife Midlands had organised an outing there, I decided to go - though the chance of seeing this mythical beast was zero.  The reserve is mainly grassland with scattered wetland patches but the wind was howling so hard that there was very little to see and nothing to hear.  Beautiful part of the country nevertheless.

Took a drive to Cathedral Peak and Didima and found this interesting creature eyeing out weaver nests for breakfast.  The African harrier hawk or gymnogene specialises in raiding nests and has a specially adapted leg joint that enables it to hook out eggs and chicks from virtually anywhere.  The apparent crest is caused by the wind ruffling it's neck feathers and the bare facial skin turns pink when the bird is excited.

Always a pleasure to see bald ibis and this one was wandering around a water feature at Didima Camp.

Ever onwards to Hlananathi near the Royal Natal and a magical view from the camp towards the Amphitheatre.

On my first walk found a recently burned area that was smothered in little bushes of the Berg barleria, Barleria monticola and they, in turn, were pasted with dozens of their delicate blue blooms.

While strolling through the grassland I became aware of a lot of spitting and hissing coming from the region around my feet and looking down found that I'd almost trodden on a little night adder and it was livid.  I only had my phone with me so tried pointing in the general direction and snapped off a few shots blind, as the sun made viewing the screen impossible.  Well it wasn't happy about that either and was now hissing and striking viciously at any approach.  Guess when you're only 300 mm long you have to have a lot of attitude to survive.  I backed off and sent the pics to my computer, then the hunt was on.  I blew them up as much as possible and methodically searched and eventually - bingo.  It's actually coiling back to launch another strike, not the greatest picture but look at those beautiful markings.

Went shopping in Bergville and decided to come home via Woodstock Dam and found the most of the roadside paperbark acacias A. sieberiana were covered in little cream balls. And I still refuse to acknowledge Vachellia!

As mentioned before Woodstock is one of the feeders for the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme and is actually a fairly impressive size.

On one of the branches a bridge gets you to the other side...........

...........and under the bridge - a substantial colony of South African cliff swallows, which was a hive of activity.

When I arrived on site a resident pair of greater striped swallows showed an enormous amount of interest in the van and on several occasions have actually flown inside when I was lying down. Seemed to rather like the toaster but unfortunately was only able to get a shot of one perched on the door.  Have been hearing a totally unrecognisable call in these parts for a while now and it's source was finally traced to these guys.  It's a long, high pitched and drawn out weeeeoooow that was not mentioned in any of my books.  Eventually located it on the Sasol app. but I'm sure this is a new addition to their repertoire as I've had lots of dealings with them going back 30 years and have never come across it before.

Zipped into the next valley to do an Atlas card and found a place I last visited nearly 40 years ago The Cavern Resort with this as the backdrop.

Also took a stroll around Rugged Glen, which is slightly closer to the magnificent Amphitheatre.

Must have got too close to a pair of Levaillant's cisticolas nest as they became very agitated and started swearing at me. They have something in common with black mambas in that when they open their mouths all you see is a black maw, but luckily no fangs.