Back to the city

 The day before I left Bonamanzi, I took a drive through Hluhluwe and Mfolozi and  just after Hilltop Camp got stuck behind someone who was driving very erratically.  When he put on brakes I decided to overtake but on moving into the right lane, whoops.......

......three young males were blocking the road.  A very rare sighting in Hluhluwe as the bush is so thick.  Later in the Corridor between the two parks, a healthy herd of about 30 ellies....................

.............and headed up towards Coronation Gate, an old dagga boy giving that 1000 yard stare!

Just before Mpila Camp Madonna and child, not a bad start.

The black monkey thorns Senagalia burkeii - black refers to the bark - were just coming into leaf which turned them a delightful shade of lime green.

Ever seen rhino Siamese twins?  Really great to see there are still some present in what was the site originally set aside for their preservation when last their numbers came perilously close to extinction.

Always great to welcome the yellow-billed kites back from their winter rambles north of the Equator.

Returning to Hluhluwe, even though a vast area is still pristine, mans presence is visible more and more on the borders, with the inevitable conflicts and incursions that will ultimately lead to invasion, which I hopefully will never see. 

Back in Kloof, a friend invited me round for lunch and her charming indigenous garden was an absolute bird magnet.  A thick-billed weaver made good use of the pliers attached to it's head to open sunflower seeds......

......while Cape white-eyes used the bathing facilities....................

.................and green twinspots made certain that the seeds displaced from the feeder didn't go to waste.  Unfortunately the males weren't very obliging but the females are almost as pretty.

Back in the Turner's marvelous garden, I was awoken one morning by a string of Piet-my-vrous which announced the presence of a red-chested cuckoo.  Ask any birder just how difficult this noisy bird is to find and you''l appreciate how astonished I was to see him in the almost bare branches of a large croton.

 A few mornings later it was the turn of not one, not two but three Narina trogons all trying to outdo one another.

While at Bonamanzi, I found a dead example of the sand ivory and asked the owner for==] permission to get a sample of the heart wood for Richard Boon.  He happily lent me his chain saw and I managed to get a reasonable size piece which I have since sanded.  Though the outer layers have been thoroughly bored by insects the inner ones show a range of colours that are most pleasing.

In nearby Hillcrest is the reserve that rekindled an interest in birds in the late 80's, Springside.  It is also where we held a memorial gathering for Jo and a visit is basically compulsory.

While birds are not plentiful there are always things of interest.  First up a minute bronze mannikin disturbed by my presence flew up into a fig tree.

Next a wild pomegranate Burchellia bubalina with a more orange colour................

.......than usual.  Perhaps because it was in the shade.

Overhead a lone woolly-necked stork gaining altitude on a thermal...............

..............which was also assisting a common buzzard, with it's distinctive black-white-brown under-wing pattern.

A favourite spot of ours was a bench by the river which sports a variety of trees that would be ideal for adventurous youngsters to climb, but unfortunately very few people are even aware of it.

Have probably passed this rock many times without noticing it until today, because a ray of sunlight penetrated the canopy and drew attention to it's minute forest of moss.

I kept having to retake a picture of this Doll's powder puff Cyanotis speciosa as it was blurred. it took a while to realise that the petals of the flower are tiny filaments, hence the name.

The black-eyed Susan Thunbergia alata is one of our more famous exports........

.........with dieramas also being popular, this one with an attendant, extraordinarily coloured beetle.  Another photo that took a long time as the long grass-like stems were "blowin' in the wind"!

The Grassland clerodendron C. triphyllum, has a weirdly shaped flower and prominent stamens of and the scientific name presumably refers to it's three petals.

Driving into Durban there were areas of the median which had a smoky blue hue, which I assumed were Wood's aristea  A. woodii and I eventually found a field of them in a little grassland reserve nearby.  Quite a sight.

Also visited Pigeon Valley where the type specimen of Delagorgue's or as it's now known eastern bronze-naped pigeon was shot, hence the name.  The pigeons are no longer in residence as they did not take kindly to urbanization but the area also affords protection to some towering specimens of Natal elm Celtis mildbraedii. which is extremely rare in the wild.

There are some impressive specimens of the fluted milkwood Chrysophyllum veridifolium, whose name is almost as convoluted as it's trunk.

An invite from cousin Sue and her husband Giles saw me overnighting at the swish Dunkirk Estate on the north coast, where I awoke to this scene and a plethora of bird calls.

There are a pair of robins that could be nesting near the caravan and one morning I heard a peculiar noise that I thought could be a bulbul, but there were a few extra notes thrown into the mix.  It eventually got close enough to actually see one of them and it's beak was moving .  Red-capped or Natal robin-chats are notorious mimics but I'd never before heard this particular noise and when I went out to get a photo all was revealed.

A little stray had been hanging around for a week or two and it was so thin that I started leaving out scraps.  Directly under the robin sat Skwag, as she has now become, positively drooling at the prospect of a robin breakfast.  The bird makes the sound whenever she is around and it's obviously a warning to it's mate.

Couldn't resist and though he wasn't driving, he looks like he'd take it terribly seriously!

Took a ride down to the beach near Virginia and found the spot where I tried unsucessfully to learn how to kite board.  Appears to be no shortage of people who have cracked it though!

Bona final

On my way to St Lucia on a laundry run, I was stunned to see this massive black monkey thorn Senegalia burkei smothered in blossom which had transformed it virtually overnight.

My usual routine while waiting the two hours required to complete the wash, dry and fold was to walk in the forest on the edge of the village.  Unfortunately there wasn't much happening apart from this dear little yellow-rumped tinkerbird belting out his four syllable song...............

....................and the September bells Rothmannia globosa in glorious profusion. The Latin or Greek names are not meant to be patronizing by the way, but rather a brain exercise to try and retain my all too tenuous grasp of them.

Decided to return via the  Mfolozi/Hluhluwe game reserve which turned out to be an error of note as the road from Mtubatuba to the gate is being rebuilt and the stop/go sections were an absolute nightmare.  The blood pressure level returned to normal on finding this majestic beast taking the waters to cool off.

A nearby stump is obviously just the right height for some serious scratching!

The road up to hilltop camp was awash with common wild pears Dobeya rotundifolia with prodigious masses of bloom that were just starting to die off and, in the valley, the Hluhluwe river was flowing fairly strongly.

Back at Bonamanzi the woolly caper bush Capparis tomentosa was scenting it's surroundings with one of the most gorgeous aromas I've ever sampled.  Quite why no-one has thought of bottling the stuff is beyond me. 

Here is another example of the joys of bird photography.  This is an African firefinch, an amazingly pretty little fellow that spends a lot of time hopping around on the ground looking for seeds.  Problem is it it's hyperactivity which never ceases ..........except when it's parked right behind a fence.

Have featured Burchell's coucal before but never one indulging in this behaviour, raising the feathers on it's rump to a) warm up and b) to dry off.  They spend their mornings foraging down low in thick undergrowth and often get soaked by dew.

Also in flower at present are the wild gardenias of which there are a number including this savannah gardenia Gardenia volkensii whose flowers are scented but not as powerfully as the nursery variety.

The longitudinally ridged fruit feature raised white spots which give the appearance of a very bad case of acne.  Many locals will leave trees growing close to their homes as they are believed to ward off lightning.

Another glorious sunset at Dinizulu Dam.

Driving back from reception one morning I crossed paths with raptor which I struggled to identify as it wasn't being terribly cooperative and this was the best picture I could manage.  The next day I heard the unique ticky-to-you call of a cuckoo hawk but only caught a glimpse of it as it flew off and a penny dropped.  Closer inspection of this photo proved it conclusively even though the boldly barred breast was invisible.

Later the same day driving through thornveld, a pair of yellow-breasted apalis were flitting about in a leafless tree and the male stopped long enough for my best ever portrait of these pretty, cute creatures.

While pondering the reasons for the lack of sand ivory saplings, I speculated that they might be heavily browsed and to test the theory I collected a few branches and offered them to one of the camp nyala.  He showed immediate interest when I dropped them on the ground and wandered over from 20 m away and polished off the lot - end of speculation!

On yet another early walk I noticed this kurrichane thrush trying his best to woo the ladies......

...................and this little grey tit-flycatcher was busily going after breakfast.  Unfortunately the best picture left it without a tip to it's beak - will have to keep trying.

A few nights later the new moon was seen chasing Jupiter. 

On another visit to St Lucia, I took a stroll along the beach to see what was happening at the tern roost and there I woke whimbrel that was snoozing on one leg............

................found a grey plover not quite out of breeding plumage............

.....................and a sleepy greenshank, not sure what these guys got up to last night.........

..................and masses of great crested and Caspian terns.  Only found out recently that what I knew as a swift tern with it's bright yellow beak, is now a great crested - just to keep me confused!

Next to the board walk to the beach are masses of lagoon hibiscus H. tiliaceus which sported leaves that Eve would have been proud of.

An additional surprise greeted me when I tried to log yellow weaver onto an atlas card as it is now known as an eastern golden weaver, will it ever stop?  Interestingly both males and females (below) were feasting on the fleshy parts of the seeds of what I assumed to be a Natal cycad Encephalartos natalensis.

Near the staff quarters at Bonamanzi is a mighty sausage tree Kigelia africana, though the name is misleading and polony tree would be more apt.  Everything about the tree is out-sized including the wondrous scarlet flowers, which are very popular with the antelope when they drop.

The roof of the ablution block is home to a colony of bats who make a lot of noise shuffling about just before they emerge in the evening.  This African goshawk was present many times when a bed-time snack was required and the first time I noticed it, I mistook it for a bat hawk.  Seen here perched on a branch right above the exit, it proved to be very adept at snaffling bats in flight, not surprising as it is a forest species and specializes in catching birds on the wing while dodging branches and trees.

It was inevitable that I would eventually meet some of the bigger residents while out walking and I was making my way back to the bakkie looking at trees, when I happened to glanced up the road.  I snapped off this very hasty shot before turning tail and heading in the other direction and it doesn't show that there were two of them in line astern! While trying to work out the next move I decided to turn and see if they were catching up, whereupon they both slammed on brakes and one went left and the other right and just melted into the forest.  As the bakkie was past where I'd last seen them, it was a very quite, cautious and nervous walk back to it.

This spectacular fever tree forest was a favourite place for a stroll and the was always something to be found.

A yellow-bellied greenbul in the riverine vegetation...................

.......................a southern black tit pecking a seed pods looking for larvae, they must be able to hear them moving as they always appear to be successful......................

......................a dark backed weaver whose Afrikaans name is "bush musician" for the lovely melodies they produce..................

....................and a group of little bee-eaters, which is their name not a description.  Think the fellow on the right is saying: " You're both wrong, he went that way".