Friday 26 October 2018

South Africa part 2 - St Lucia and Durban

Having completed the first part of our trip, we left Wakkerstroom and began the four and a half hour drive to the coast. The only notable birds were a Black Sparrowhawk circling over a plantation near Piet Retief, plus a Yellow-billed Kite, an African Marsh Harrier, and a couple of White-necked Ravens. After grazing the border of Swaziland, we turned south, pausing briefly at the Mkhuze village (where there was a large Village Weaver colony). I had hoped we might have time to visit Mkhuze game reserve itself, but decided this would have to wait for another visit. So we pressed on, arriving in St Lucia mid afternoon.


Black Sparrowhawk
A long drive...
Swaziland on the left
Approaching the coast

St Lucia is a small town on the edge of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a World Heritage Site on South Africa's east coast, supporting coastal dune forest, savanna and wetland habitat. And its sub-tropical climate of course brings a different range of birds and mammals... The town itself is relatively touristy, but most of this is built around the natural environment, and we liked the place despite the chain restaurants and the relatively large numbers of people compared to Kruger. 

The last few miles down to St Lucia
Caution - hippos crossing

I kicked things off with an hour in the hotel garden and adjacent streets, seeing a Woolly-necked Stork overhead, several White-eared Barbets, several Lesser Striped and two Wire-tailed Swallows, a White-rumped Swift, at least one Brown-throated Martin, a few Yellow Weavers, an African Dusky Flycatcher and two Black-bellied Starlings. A party of twenty Banded Mongoose and three Natal Red Duiker made up the mammal contingent. 


White-eared Barbet
Yellow Weaver
African Dusky Flycatcher
Banded Mongooses on the back streets of St Lucia
Natal Red Duikers
Our hotel

That evening, we had a night game drive into the Western Shores area of the reserve. This was a bit disappointing, not helped by some heavy rain - although being out in the open in the middle of a lightning storm was pretty spectacular. We did see a few mammals, with several Southern Reedbuck, a few Wildebeest and Hippos, a Buffalo and two Scrub Hares; the only birds were four Spotted Thick-knees. We also got our eyes in spotting chameleons. 


A Flap-necked Chameleon

The next day I had two hours before breakfast walking the iGwalagwala Trail, near our hotel. This area of coastal scrub was very productive, although as usual not knowing calls was frustrating. My morning's list included single Yellow-billed Kite and Little Sparrowhawk, a pair of Tambourine Doves, three or more Livingstone's and two or more very exotic looking Purple-crested Touracos, a couple of Striped Kingfishers, one Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, several Terrestrial Brownbul parties, a few Yellow-bellied Greenbuls, a number of smart looking Red-capped Robin-chats, two Yellow-breasted Apalises, two Southern Boubou, a Grey-headed Bushshrike, single Olive and several Collared Sunbirds, and four female Thick-billed and at least two Dark-backed Weavers. Best were two of this area's specialities, in the form of two Rudd's Apalises and a Woodward's Batis, along with a Spotted Ground Thrush and a Buff-spotted Flufftail, the latter dashing across the path just at the moment that I looked back over my shoulder, and the former being another sought-after speciality species. Red Bush Squirrel was a new mammal. 

The iGwalagwala Trail
Yellow-billed Kite
Red-capped Robin-chat
Woodward's Batis
Collared Sunbird
Livingstone's Touraco
Purple-crested Touraco
Yellow-bellied Greenbul
Red Bush Squirrel

We then drove up the coast to Cape Vidal, seeing Rufous-naped Lark, Black Saw-wing (what's not to like about an all-black swallow), Red-breasted Swallow, African StonechatCroaking Cisticola, Fiscal Flycatcher, Crowned Eagle, Black-chested Snake Eagle and Grey Sunbird. Mammals were a bit sparse, but we saw small numbers of the usuals (Burchell's Zebra, Wildebeest, Buffalo, Impala, Warthog), a few Kudu, Chacma Baboons, Vervet Monkeys and Samango Monkeys.


Driving north to Cape Vidal
African Stonechat
Looking west
A Kudu
Samango Monkey


Cape Vidal itself is a wide and wild bit of beach, and whilst we enjoyed lunch, I bagged a couple of White-fronted Plover, a party of Swift Terns, a sub-adult Cape Gannet offshore, and an African Fish Eagle, whilst the Grey-headed Gulls were very friendly/hungry. 


The beach at Cape Vidal
White-fronted Plover
Grey-headed Gull
Swift Terns

On the drive back to St Lucia, we took the Grassland Loop track, adding one each of Long-crested Eagle, Collared Pratincoleand Burchell's Coucal, a couple of Southern Black Flycatchers, two Rosy-throated Longclaws, and at least three African Pipits. A Southern Reedbuck was the most notable mammal.


The Grassland Loop

Long-crested Eagle
A dung-beetle doing its thing
Southern Reedbuck

Back in St Lucia, we had a 3pm 'Sunset Hippo Cruise' up the St Lucia River booked. Whilst the hippos can be seen from the main bridge into town, it was pretty cool to see them up close from a boat just a foot above the water's surface. Birds included Southern Brown-throated Weavers nesting in the reeds just upriver from the bridge, one Great White and c.50 Cattle Egrets, two African Fish Eagles, at least two Caspian Terns, a pair of Trumpeter Hornbills which flew across the river, a Banded Martin and an African Reed Warbler. Hundreds of Little Swifts over the bridge were impressive. 


Hippos lounging in the shallows
Reedbed management
Mother and calf
An impressive set of teeth
Nile Croc
African Fish Eagle
Caspian Tern
Trumpeter Hornbills
Cattle Egrets, looking towards the bridge into town


The following day we took another organised tour, this time a day safari in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi park, about an hour's drive away. This reserve is small compared to Kruger, but at 960 square kilometres is half as big again as my home district of Newark and Sherwood. It is also very picturesque, with a hilly topography, and is the place where the Southern White Rhino was saved. 


Dawn in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
Dawn in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi


This was a good day, broken with a braai in one of the picnic areas. During our safari  we saw 11 Southern White Rhinos (including a calf), reasonable numbers of Elephants, several Nyala, Kudu and Waterbuck, a Bush Duiker and the usual Wildebeest, Zebra, Buffalo, Waterhog and Impala. 

Mother, calf and passengers
Southern White Rhino
Snapping some ellies
African Elephant
Wildebeest
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
Lunchtime braai

The best birds were single Martial and Crowned Eagles, a Kurrichane Thrush (I do like a jazzy thrush...) and a White-browed Scrub Robin, along with several White-backed Vultures, a Wahlberg's Eagle, one Jackal Buzzard, four African Green Pigeons, a pair of Emerald-spotted Wood Dove, single Striped Kingfisher, a couple of African Hoopoes, frequent Dark-capped Bulbuls and ZittingCroaking and Rattling Cisticolas, a few Common Fiscals, a Black-crowned Tchagra, a few Blue Waxbills and Golden-breasted Buntings, a Square-tailed Drongo, two Little Bee-eaters, a Southern Black Tit, two Southern Black Flycatcher, a Mocking Cliff-chat and two White-faced Whistling Duck amongst other things.

Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
White-browed Scrub Robin
Kurrichane Thrush
Crowned Eagle
Southern Black Tit
Southern Black Flycatcher
A monster Water Monitor
There is always something to see by the roadside...

Back in St Lucia, a look at the mouth of the estuary produced three Yellow-billed Storks, ten Lesser Flamingos (mainly youngsters), eight Pink-backed Pelicans, thirteen African Darters, an unexpected Sooty Tern, and a selection of waders including small numbers of Kittlitz'sThree-banded and White-fronted PloversRuffCurlew Sandpiper and Black-winged Stilt, with a Cape White-eye in the scrub. A quick look at the iGwalagwala Trail yielded one new bird in the form of two Crowned Hornbills

Sharks, crocs, hippos... at least there aren't lions to worry about!
The boardwalk to the estuary
The St Lucia estuary
Crowned Hornbill

I was up early the next morning for another session on the iGwalagwala Trail, this time managing to connect with the third of this site's speciality species, Brown Scrub Robin, seeing no fewer than four including two out in the open at the entrance - not sure where these had been hiding. Also new were a party of 15 Crested Guineafowl, a Cardinal Woodpecker and a male Spectacled Weaver.  

The start of the iGwalagwala Trail
Brown Scrub Robin
Crested Guineafowl
Cardinal Woodpecker

Reluctantly, we bid farewell to St Lucia after breakfast. Once again, another day or two would have been good as there were plenty of species still to go at  - Green Malkoha, African Broadbill, Narina Trogon, Eastern Nicator, Pink-throated Twinspot... Heading south towards Durban, we detoured via Eshowe (Dlinza) Forest. This is a beautiful fragment of coastal scarp forest, with an aerial walkway and home to several speciality species. Unfortunately, with limited time across the middle of the day, I failed to connect with several of these, but did see two Cape Batis, a Lemon Dove, two Spotted Ground Thrush and a White-starred Robin, amongst other things. Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeon and Green Twinspot will have to wait for another visit. The mammal highlight was several rather crazy Blue Duikers dashing about in the undergrowth, seemingly completely unconcerned by our presence. 


The path through Eshowe
Some impressive trees
The view from the top of the viewing platform
The aerial walkway
Spotted Ground Thrush - stunner
Blue Duiker

Red-tab Policeman - a very snazzy skipper

Staying with friends just north of Durban, at Salt Rock/Ballito, I managed a visit to a small scrap of forest on the Dunkirk Estate, encircled by expensive houses and crossed by a boardwalk. The birding was surprisingly good, with three Black-throated Wattle-eyes, a male and several female Amethyst Sunbirds and a fly-over White-breasted Cormorant new for the trip; other birds included single African Paradise Flycatcher, three Speckled Mousebirds, at least 13 Bronze Mannakins, two Yellow-breasted Apalises and two Yellow-rumped Tinkerbirds. A Blue Duiker and several Bushbucks were lurking in the undergrowth. A 1st W Kelp Gull, a few Cape Gannets, two Swift Terns and a Giant Kingfisher were the avian highlights of an afternoon at Salt Rock beach. 


Forest fragment
Amethyst Sunbird
Black-throated Wattle-eye
Bronze Mannakins
Speckled Mousebird
The beach at Salt Rock
The following day we were at King Shaka Airport in the morning for our two hour flight to Cape Town for the third and final leg of our trip...

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