Birding & Safari in South Africa

October 6 - 14, 2005


Since long time ago, South Africa is one of the destinations where I strongly wanted to go. Accordingly my OZ friend, it is easy to see over 200 species within a week in the country. Because the African continent is physically remote from Asia, my knowledge on South Africa had been quite limited. Three of us, my colleague Mr. U, my wife and myself had discussed about our destination prior to last year. My wife, Emi, pointed out the notoriously poor security in Johannesburg when we decided to go to South Africa. So, we decided to skip J'burg as much as we can do. We originally planned to go to Cape Town at first before going to the Kruger National Park. However, as our time was limited, we decided to focus on northeastern part of South Africa only. In the same time, we also decided to ask a local birding guide. After contacting a few companies, we decided to ask the Indicator as they provided a more tailor-made tour. Emi requested to visit a private game lodge. So, two of us made a reservation in Ngala in Timbavati while we did not want to be in clouded game drive in Sabie Sand.


October 6-7 Kota Kinabalu - Kuala Lumpur - Johannesburg - Genius Loci


Departure time of our flight is 19:15. Around the time, traffic is always congested and slow in Kota Kinabalu. We spent about 40 minutes to go to the airport, though it takes normally 15 minutes. Our flight was Boeing 777, which is normally comfortable to seat. My seat is somehow very spiky as the seat is crushed. Any big man seated before?

In Kuala Lumpur, we had 4 hours for our transit. There is now a paid lounge in the satellite terminal. Although it charges moderately expensive (RM 75.00 = approx. US$20.00), it is certainly convenient to spend time in the airport.

The flight to Johannesburg was nearly full. Wide variety of nationalities, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Indonesian and Indian, are on the board. After about ten hours, we landed on the Johannesburg International Airport. Johannesburg was very cold. The temperature was about 10 degree Celsius! It should be in the late spring or early summer. At the airport, we met with Etienne from the Indicator. After we exit from a spiky gate of the car park (because of security), Etienne firstly took us to a petrol station. Did he need to fill up petrol? The station is a good spot to see a Capped Wheatear and a flock of Red-headed Finch, which were feeding on the grass. Yes, it is a good start of birding. The wheatear suddenly disappeared into the burrow, then appeared after a few minutes. It seems the burrow is the nest for the wheatear.

Between Johannesburg and Pretoria, most of the natural habitats were cleared while wide variety of alien species, such as willow, eucalyptus and poplar, are planted. Most of the lands are used for agricultural purposes, mainly for maze.

Before we headed toward Genius Loci, Etienne dropped in a wetland complex. After going into a minor road, we immediately found a wide variety of species. Blacksmith Lapwing is a striking black and white plover, though we found that it is very common later. Several Pin-tailed Whydahs were seen along the bush. Etienne told us an interesting story about the whydah. Whydah is an aggressive species, which even kills host bird's chicks. It even never happens in cuckoo, which is famous as a parasitic bird group. An unfamiliar looking yellowish bird was a Bokmakierie. The olive yellow plumage makes me a bit difficult to imagine as a member of shrike. Wind is so strong and makes us feel cold. It is like middle of the winter! In the wetland, we saw a flock of Greater Flamingos, several species of shorebirds and ducks. African Stonechat is similar to our stonechat in Japan, but is more handsome. The highlight in the wetlands was a Grass Owl. After Etienne flushed it, the relatively large owl flew towards us. So, we were able to see the heart shaped white face. Another impressive species was Long-tailed Widowbird. The male's long extended tail feather reaches about 40cm. Can you imagine how they fly? Orange-breasted Waxbill and African Quailfinch are both shy. They flushed then hid into the bush without perching on an exposed twig.

As we were a bit tired with our long hours flight, we headed toward the Genius Loci. South Africa is now in the middle of spring. We were welcomed by nearly full bloom of jacaranda trees. Genius Loci is a fairly new lodge. We are surprised with a fancy accommodation while we don't expect such a high standard room. South Africans seem to be big eaters. Although a lodge's owner told us the quantity is small, it was still very big for us. The plate size is already nearly two times what we normally have. In the garden, a pair of Red-billed Hornbills is foraging while Magpie Shrike, which has a very long tail, calls. Among a flock of Southern Masked Weavers, small number of Village Weavers and Lesser Masked Weavers join.

In the afternoon, while Etienne has an appointment, Selwyn came for us to guide. His guiding style is different from our birding style. It is a bit busy or even hecticc. While we watch something, he finds something new and tells us before he starts looking for different species. We certainly saw Violet-eared Waxbill, Black-faced Waxbill and Jameson's Firefinch. However, none of them was in clear view. Well, hopefully, we see them clearly after tomorrow.


October 8@Genius Loci (Eastern Highveld) - Dullstroom


We woke up with calls of Marico Sunbirds and Magpie Shrikes. After we had a cup of tea and a rusk, we started birding. On a power line, we found a beautiful Lilac-breasted Roller. The lilac face and breast with light blue wing is so stunning! Along the roadside, we also saw Southern White-crowned Shrike. As most of the properties are private game reserve, we sometimes saw Hartebeest and Eland. Yeah, we are certainly in Africac

Northern Black Korhaans seem to be relatively common in the region. We often heard the call and saw its acrobatic display. It flies high up and goes down to the ground. Nearby the place where we saw korhaans, we encountered a Black-sided Jackal. Although we tried to approach it closely, it disappeared into the bush soon.

We went into a private property where local birdwatchers often visit. On the large eucalyptus tree, Red-billed Buffalo-Weavers are making huge nests. It is about a size of a football. On a dead tree, we were lucky to see a Pearl-spotted Owlet. The owl seems to be active in the day time. A pair of Red-billed Hornbill calls each other with strange rattling voice.

In the farmland, we found a monitor lizard. When Etienne approached him, he ran away into a narrow space on a tyre. He seems quite angry and had been uttering a harsh call. Etienne grabbed the tail and tried to take it off from the tyre. Etienne must be a Crocodile Hunter in SA! After the ten minutes wrestling, he was finally taken off and released. The loser disappeared into the bush. We were all stupid while none of us took the most exciting scene in the tour!

There are lots of burrow, which were made by Aardvark. Aardvark is a nocturnal strange looking animal, which has powerful legs with long ear and pig like nose. The old burrow is used as a nest of other wildlife. Pearl-spotted Swallow and Ant-eating Chat are some of them.

In the cattle farm ranch, a family of Warthog was feeding together with cattle. After they found us, they started running away from us. Sorry, we may have disturbed their lunch timec.

After having lunch, we started moving south at first, then eastward. Most of the toilets in the petrol stations are locked in South Africa. It is probably because of security, or for preventing to be dirty. Etienne said, "You can find cleaner toilets with locks". Road condition in South Africa is generally very good. Even Etienne drives approx. 120km/h, many cars overtake us. Red rocky landscape reminds me Australia's outback. Diamond and copper mines, which suddenly appear in the scenery, are huge scale.

A railway along the road goes to Mapto, Mozambique. Although the railway is already electrified, accordingly Etienne, it is not fully utilized. We passed through near Belfast and headed toward Dullstroom. On the way to go to Dullstroom, we saw road signs, which show direction to London and Carolina. Where are we?

Dullstroom is located around 2,000 metre of sea level. The small highland town looks a tiny village in Europe. Along the roadside, we saw a few individuals of Jackal Buzzard. The strange name is because the buzzard calls likely jackal. It sounds interesting. A medium sized slender body bird is Gurney's Sugarbird. It strongly depends on flowers.

In the evening, we stayed a trout fishing lodge. My wife was excited with fancy interior. Due to high elevation, we needed to turn on stove in the night.


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