With the first and second parts of our trip now behind us, a Black-headed Heron at King Shaka Airport bid us fairwell from Durban, and we were then on a two-hour Mango Airways morning flight to Cape Town for the third and final leg. We enjoyed spectacular views of a snow-clad Lesotho shortly after take-off - somehow difficult to reconcile with the heat of Kruger we'd been experiencing just a few days earlier.
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| Looking towards Lesotho |
After an uneventful flight, we picked up our new hire car and drove to Hout Bay, a small town just south of Cape Town, at the base of the Cape Peninsular. The only birds of note on the drive were 15 Greater Flamingos taking off from a river by the motorway. Arriving in Hout Bay, a Malachite Sunbird was the first new bird, whilst a couple of capensis Cape White-eyes and Speckled Pigeons were in the garden of our pleasant accommodation.
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| Hout Bay |
We decided to take advantage of the bright and clear weather and head straight out to Table Mountain. After almost bailing because of the massive queue (which you can partly jump by going onto their wifi and buying tickets online), we enjoyed the cable car up to the top, complete with rotating gondola. At the top, several very tame Orange-breasted Sunbirds were the first Cape region endemic for my list, added to which were lots of Red-winged Starlings, and a Peregrine, plus the odd Familiar Chat, Cape Robin-chat, and White-necked Raven. Some obliging Rock Hyrax (I prefer their Afrikaans name - Dassies) were entertaining, sunbathing on the the rocks. Back at the bottom, a female Cape Sugarbird showed well in the fynbos. We then headed the short distance to Camp's Bay, where we had a meal watching the sun set over the south Atlantic.
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| The cable car up Table Mountain |
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| Looking south |
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| Cape Town, Robben Island to the left |
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| A Red-winged Starling admiring the view |
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| Orange-breasted Sunbird |
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| A female Cape Sugarbird |
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| Dassie |
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| Sunset from Camp's Bay |
The next day I was up early for what I was hoping would be a highlight of the trip - a pelagic out of Simon's Town, with Cape Town Pelagics. This was, in the event, a slight anticlimax... by which I mean it was still brilliant, but not as good as perhaps I was hoping. We also finished an hour and a half early, having steamed 13 miles south of the Cape of Good Hope in search of a trawler which was apparently out there. The sea was very lumpy, and having crashed our way out, the trawler proved to be a tanker, so there was no big aggregation of pelagic seabirds. We then crashed our way 13 miles back into shore - which was fairly exhausting. I don't get sea-sick, but had some taken some anti-sickness pills just in case, which I think proved to be the right decision (as one person was violently ill and didn't look like they enjoyed the trip at all...).
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| Looking back towards the Cape of Good Hope - a smooth start |
On a more positive note, as we rounded the Cape on our way out, there were huge numbers of Sooty Shearwaters (1000s) just offshore, and we saw c.100 White-chinned Petrels, c.10 Shy Albatrosses (my first albatross), a few Cape Gannets, plenty of Cape Gulls and Cape Cormorants (the latter streaming our of False Bay in the morning), and two Sub-antarctic Skuas, neither of which I saw well. Added value was provided by cetaceans - a breaching Humpback was fantastic, and a bucket-list moment, although it disappeared as soon as we'd seen it, but two Southern Right Whales just off the Cape were more co-operative. A super-pod of Large-beaked Common Dolphins (100s and 100s) was an incredible sight, as they surrounded the boat.
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| Seabird melee |
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| Seabird melee |
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| Sooty Shearwater |
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| Sooty Shearwaters |
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| Southern Right Whale |
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| Southern Right Whale |
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| Breaching Humpback - awesome! |
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| Shy Albatross and White-chinned Petrel |
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| Shy Albatross and White-chinned Petrels |
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| Shy Albatross |
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| White-chinned Petrel |
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| Large-beaked Common Dolphins |
Returning towards Simon's Town, Bank, Crowned and White-breasted Cormorants on the rocks made it a four-cormorant morning (and five species for the trip), although these were eclipsed by my first ever wild penguins, with around 50 African Penguins on the sea off their colony at Boulder's Beach. An African Black Oystercatcher, a Rock Kestrel and a couple of Hartlaub's Gulls, plus lots of Cape Fur Seals, completed things.
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| Cape Fur Seals and Cape Gulls |
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| Bank Cormorants |
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| Crowned Cormorants |
Turning the early finish into a positive, I stopped to do some fynbos birding on the way back to Hout Bay, visiting Jonkersdam just west of Glencairn. This seemed like a productive spot, producing frequent Karoo Prinia and Southern Double-collared Sunbirds, a couple of Cape Siskins, two Cape Buntings, two Common Waxbills, a Rock Martin, at least three Cape Grassbirds, a Cape Bulbul, a couple each of Malachite Sunbird and Cape Robin-chat, and a pair of Cape Sugarbirds. A Painted Lady and what I think was an Angulate Tortoise provided some non-avian interest. Back in Hout Bay, there was a touch of the familiar with a Little Egret and Chaffinch.
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| The path at Jonkersdam |
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| Southern Double-collared Sunbird |
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| Cape Grassbird |
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| Karoo Prinia |
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| Angulate Tortoise |
The next day, as our Great White Shark cage diving trip was cancelled due to the heavy seas (and the backup day was also subsequently cancelled - the biggest disappointment of the trip), we amended our plans. I had a short walk before breakfast at Del Hel in Constantia, just up the road from Hout Bay. This wooded valley produced lots of Olive Thrushes, a pair of Olive Woodpeckers, two pairs of very smart little Swee Waxbills, a couple of Yellow Canaries in the pines by the road, and an African Olive Pigeon, unfortunately only in flight. In addition, a Spur-winged Goose flew over. Unfortunately, I couldn't locate any Knysna Warblers in the time available.
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| Olive Woodpecker |
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| Olive Thrush |
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| Swee Waxbill |
We then headed to Boulder's Beach, back over near Simon's Town, enjoying the spectacular coastal road known as Chapman's Peak Drive en route. Boulder's Beach was a fairly surreal experience - African Penguins nesting in the coastal scrub and loafing on the beach, in blazing sun, with tourists wandering around on board walks amongst them. A Cape Batis and a Fiscal Flycatcher were the only other birds of note, and a Four-striped Grass Mouse was the only mammal.
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| Noordhoek beach, at the southern end of Chapman's Peak Drive |
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| Welcome to Boulders |
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| African Penguins |
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| African Penguins |
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| African Pelican |
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| African Penguin |
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| Chillin' on the beach |
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| Youngsters in their artificial burrow |
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| Popular penguins |
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| Popular penguins |
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| Unexpected hazards |
Continuing on, we made our way down through Table Mountain National Park, seeing Familiar Chat, Karoo Prinia, Fiscal Flycatcher, Common Fiscal, Orange-breasted Sunbird, Jackal Buzzard and several Ostriches, along with several Bontebok and Chacma Baboons. At the Cape of Good Hope there was a Rock Kestrel (with a couple more elsewhere) and two super-smart African Black Oystercatchers, with four Southern Right Whales just offshore. We didn't bother to queue up to get our photos taken with the 'Cape of Good Hope' sign...
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| The interior of the Cape of Good Hope |
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| Southern Right Whales close offshore |
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| African Black Oystercatcher - stunner |
We had lunch in a nice little bay at Olifantsbos, where there were 100s of Hartlaub's Gulls, lots of African Sacred Ibises, a few Kelp Gulls and two or three African Black Oystercatchers feeding on kelp on the strandline. There were also streams of Cape Cormorants flying past, along with several Swift Terns, and two Cape Wagtails. A quick stop at the visitor centre on the way back out produced my first Cape Spurfowl, as well as Bokmakierie, Cape Wagtail, Cape Robin Chat and Malachite Sunbird.
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| Mainly African Sacred Ibises |
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| Cape Cormorants |
The following day we turned north, visiting West Coast National Park. This place is famed for its display of wildflowers at the right time of year - and that time was now. Unfortunately we had picked a cloudy day, and the flowers were mainly shut up, although there was still a hint of their splendour. However, there was still plenty to see. Starting with mammals, the undoubted star was a Caracal, the third cat species of the trip and one I didn't think we'd see. This was initially just sitting in the road, and from a distance I wasn't sure what it was... but as we got closer, the penny dropped, and I tried to position the car for a photo. I then had one of those nightmare moments where my camera refused to take a shot, and then another car came the other way. This stopped too, but too late, pushing the Caracal off into the adjacent low scrub. The other car drove off, but we lingered, and I decided to get out. Fortunately, the cat was stalking parallel with the road, and I had some glimpses of it before it vanished deeper into the strandveld vegetation. One of the best moments of our trip.
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| Caracal |
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| Caracal |
In addition we encountered several herds of Eland, several Mountain Zebras and Bontebok, two Wildebeest, and a few Springbok; I suspect that many, if not most of these were (re)-introduced, but I may be wrong. On the smaller side were a few Dassies, and number of Cape Fur Seals were offshore.
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| Eland, with the road to Geelbek behind |
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| Mountain Zebras |
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| Bontebok |
The birding was good, and as ever, I could have done with more time to catch up with a few more of the local specialities. However, new birds included frequent Karoo Scrub Robin, along with
several groups of White-throated and Brimstone Canaries, several Grey-backed
Cisticolas, White-backed Mousebirds and Bar-throated Apalises, and single
African Rail, Karoo Lark and White-throated Swallow.
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| Karoo Scrub Robin |
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| White-throated Canary |
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| Brimstone Canary |
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| Grey-backed Cisticola |
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| Karoo Lark |
But perhaps best of all were up to six Black Harriers – these are absolute stunners; a black-and-white harrier, for which West Coast NP is a real strong-hold. Surely up there as one of the best looking raptors in the world.
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| Black Harrier with Geelbek behind |
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| Black Harrier |
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| Black Harrier |
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| Black Harrier |
There was a good selection of other stuff on offer in the
park’s terrestrial habitats. Amongst the ‘Capes’ were Bulbul, Spurfowl,
Longclaw, Robin Chat, Bunting, Sparrow and Weaver, added to which were Karoo
Prinia, Southern Double-collared Sunbird, Bokmakierie, Common Fiscal, Pied
Starling, Malachite Sunbird, Levaillant’s Cisticola, Common Waxbill, Helmeted
Guineafowl, Rock and Brown-throated Martins and Pied Crow. And loads of
Ostriches! A Jackal Buzzard and several
Black-winged Kites and Rock Kestrels were the only other raptors in addition to
the Black Harriers.
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| Cape Bulbul |
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| Cape Bunting |
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| Common Fiscal |
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| An Ostrich family |
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| A distant Ostrich |
Another hide, overlooking the Langebaan lagoon at Geelbeck was
productive, with a good selection of Palearctic waders in the form of lots of
Whimbrel, Grey Plover and Black-tailed Godwits, several Greenshank, Avocets and
Black-winged Stilts, and two Terek Sandpipers. A couple of Blacksmith Plovers
were less familiar. In addition, there were c.100 Lesser and c.30 Greater
Flamingos, one Sandwich and a couple of Caspian Terns, a number of Hartlaub's Gulls, the odd Little Egret and Grey Heron, and the first two Cape Teal of the trip.
Sir Lowry’s Pass was the first destination the following
day. This site features in a book I was given a couple of Christmases ago by a
well-meaning in-law, entitled the ‘Top 100 Birding Sites of the World’.
However, far from being an amazing site, this is where things began to unravel... Unfortunately, the
weather at the top of the pass was poor, windy with low cloud. Having
managed not to get killed crossing the busy road to access the path to the
north, things got worse. Despite Cape Town being in the
clutches of a terrible drought, it started to rain, and to top it off, the first kilometre or
so of habitat had recently been burnt.
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| Sir Lowry's Pass - no birds here... |
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| Sir Lowry's Pass |
With time against me, I bombed out. No Cape Rockjumper, no
Ground Woodpecker, and heard-only
Victorin’s Warbler. Birds were very thin on the ground, but I did at least see
my only Neddicky of the trip, along with a party of Cape Siskin, two or three
Cape Grassbirds, and a couple of Orange-breasted and Malachite Sunbirds. But
not much else… By the time I returned to the car I was pretty much soaked
to the skin, requiring a change of clothes. Some non-birding time was then in
order, so we visited Stellenbosch just to the north. Several Cape Canaries were
in trees in a town centre park, and to the south of the town, two beautiful
Blue Cranes were in a grassed field (much closer but more fleeting than encounters in Wakkerstroom), with three Great White Pelicans nearby.
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| Stellenbosch |
Heading back towards Hout Bay, we detoured via False BayNature Reserve. This site comprises a lake and waterworks and surrounding
habitat, and again, merited more than the hour or so I could give it. There
were swifts and hirundines in abundance, with lots of African Black Swifts,
several Little Swifts and at least one Horus Swift, and plenty of White-throated
Swallows and Rock Martins, several Brown-throated Martins, two Barn Swallows, and at least two huge Greater Striped Swallows.
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| African Black Swift |
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| White-throated Swallow |
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| Looking out over the Zeekoevlei, with the back of Table Mountain beyond |
I only peeked into the
first tank at the waterworks, which held lots of Little and two Black-necked
Grebes, several Southern Pochard, good numbers of Cape Teal and Cape Shoveler,
an escaped Red-crested Pochard, and a Spur-winged Goose, plus lots of Red-knobbed Coots,
as well as Moorhen, Cattle Egret, Black-headed Heron, Spotted Thick-knee, Egyptian Goose, Sacred Ibis and Blacksmith Plover. Adjacent dry
habitats held several now-familiar species, plus a few Yellow Bishops and at
least one Little Rush Warbler. A Cape Grey Mongoose was a new mammal. We then drove back to Hout Bay via the coast road overlooking False Bay, which merged with the beach in several places.
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| Yellow Bishop |
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| Little Rush Warbler |
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| Strandfontein Sewage Works, within False Bay NR |
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| Spotted Thick-knee |
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| The beach at Stranfontein |
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| False Bay at Strandfontein |
And all too soon it was our final day. I had a pre-breakfast
excursion back to Jonkersdam in hope of a Ground Woodpecker, without luck (and Cape
Rockjumper doesn’t occur on the Cape Peninsular, for some reason). Along with a
typical selection of fynbos birds, the only new species for the trip was a
Lanner. A Cape Grey Mongoose was seen on the drive back to Hout Bay.
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| A fancy orchid |
With our flight not until the evening, we spent much of the rest of the day at Kirstenbosh Botanical Gardens. This is a spectacular site, and produced several new birds – two Spotted Eagle Owls (roosting in a tree above the ticket inspection point), a Forest Canary and two African Goshawks. Another accipiter went unidentified, but may have been a Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk.
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| Spotted Eagle Owl |
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| The gardens |
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| The gardens, looking north over Cape Town |
Added to these were several Olive Thrushes, three very
confiding Lemon Doves, three Cape Canaries, a couple of Cape Batises and Sombre
Greenbuls, several Cape Sugarbirds, three Speckled Mousebirds and a male Swee
Waxbill, plus Karoo Prinia, Cape White-eye, Cape Robin Chat, Malachite and
Double-collared Sunbirds, Cape Turtle Dove, Egyptian Goose, Cape Spurfowl and
Hadada Ibis. Another Cape Grey Mongoose was the mammal highlight, whilst a visit to the Garden of Extinction was sobering.
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| Lemon Dove |
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| Cape Robin Chat |
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| Malachite Sunbird |
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| Cape White-eye |
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| Cape Spurfowl |
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| Cape Grey Mongoose |
And that completed our trip. The eighteen days had flown by,
and everywhere we’d been we felt that we needed at least a couple more days.
South Africa is an incredibly diverse country, and the birding and mammaling is
top notch. We had absolutely no issues whilst travelling around, and never felt
unsafe.
My final tally was 326 species of bird, of which 225 were ticks; I suspect had I been birding 100% of the time, I could have pushed my trip list up towards 400 species. I'm always keen to see as many endemic or restricted-range species as possible when I visit somewhere new; of the c.37 species endemic to SA, I was in-range for 31, and saw 14, so just under a 50% strike rate. In terms of 'southern Africa' endemics/near endemics, I was in range for c.101 species, and saw 64 (so a slightly better hit rate). But hey, it ain't about the numbers... the highlights are really too many to mention, but Bateleur, Taita Falcon, Botha's and Rudd's Larks, Blue Crane, Southern Bald Ibis, Secretary Bird, African Penguin, Shy Albatross, Black Harrier, African Black Oystercatcher and Cape Sugarbird spring to mind.
The mammals were as good as, if not better than the birds; I notched up 48 species, the vast majority of which I'd never seen before, including Lion, Leopard, Caracal, African Elephant, Southern White Rhino, Hippo, Cape Giraffe, Wildebeest, Cape Buffalo, Plains and Mountain Zebras, Spotted Hyena, Meerkat, Humpback Whale...
Quite the best two and a half weeks I've ever had. I’d go back in a shot.
