Atlasville, 12 March 2007
I returned last Friday from a few days at Ngwenya Lodge with my eldest son who is visiting from the UK. We travelled down via Badplaas, Msauli with its now defunct asbestos mine, the Saddleback Pass to Barberton and then on to Kaapmuiden and Ngwenya. We made three day trips into the Kruger Park and returned via Graskop, God’s Window, the Three Rondawels, Lydenburg and Dullstroom.
The Barberton mountainland was more memorable for its spectacular scenery than any birds we saw, although at one point between Msauli and Josefsdal a flock of small birds flew across the road right in front of us, flashing the black tails and unmistakeable bright red rump of the Swee Waxbill, a bird I had only seen before several times at the same spot just outside Barberton.
On our first night at Ngwenya the lights on the stoep attracted quite a few different insects, but this Brown Leaf Mantid stole the show.
For the first day in the Kruger Park we were at the Crocodile Bridge Gate at opening time and headed north towards Lower Sabie taking the Nhlowa Road (S28). The veld is incredibly dry for the time of year and we witnessed a major fire to the east of the S28 north of Crocodile Bridge. Massed just ahead of the fire front were hundreds of Barn Swallow, Cape and Burchell’s Starling, Lilac-breasted and European Roller, and Amur Falcon, all picking off the grasshoppers and smaller flying insects trying to escape the fire. A little further on we stopped, as I always do, at the Nthandanyathi Hide. However, there was very little bird activity here and we had to settle for a Vervet Monkey, an African Striped Skink and a CMR Bean Beetle. Even at the Sunset Dam at Lower Sabie, usually a hive of activity, there wasn’t too much to see apart from Woodland Kingfisher and some basking Nile Crocodile.
The day was rescued as we headed for Skukuza on the gravel Salitje Road (S30) when we saw a Leopard walking along the edge of the road ahead of us. It allowed us to pull right up alongside and then calmly sat down for a great photo opportunity including head and shoulder shots. To see just one leopard over several days on a trip to the Park is pretty good, but to see two leopards in less than hour is quite a coup. This is exactly what happened, when 45 mins later, having re-crossed the Sabie River via the high-water bridge we spotted another walking away from us through the bush. I knew that it was heading for a parallel gravel road no more than 150 m away, the turning to which we had only just passed. So I reversed, took the turning and sure enough the leopard had continued on the same path and here it was staring at us no more than 20 m away. After a short stand-off it turned and moved a bit further along still next to the road and gave us another great view as it ambled across the road.
Nothing really much mattered after those two encounters, but I did add photos of Tawny-flanked Prinia in the riverine bush next to the restaurant at Skukuza Camp and a rare (for me anyway) sighting of Shelley’s Francolin on the Nwatimhiri Road as we headed back towards Crocodile Bridge.
The following day the bird activity was again much reduced. We still ticked off most of the usual suspects on the drive up to Lower Sabie, where we added a nice juvenile Little Heron on the rocks below the low-water bridge. Heading over the bridge we continued north to Tshokwane where a Black-headed Oriole provided a photo opportunity. We decided that we would head north towards Satara stopping at the Mazithi and Kumana Dams en route. We encountered a Flap-necked Chameleon in the middle of the road on the way to Mazithi Dam, where we noted a herd of waterbuck making their way down to drink – more of which shortly. At Kumana Dam we saw Marsh, Wood and Common Sandpiper and a single African Woolly-necked Stork, but not much else, and continued up the main road to take refreshments at Satara Camp. There I photographed a Sundowner Moth caterpillar on the smooth green bark of one of the larval food plants, a Fever Tree next to the outdoor seating of the cafeteria. Returning the way we had come we arrived again at Mazithi Dam where the waterbuck were still close to the edge of the dam. They became suddenly agitated and several bolted into the nearest trees. It was a couple of minutes before we realised that two lionesses were creeping ever closer and trying to separate from the rest one of the adult females that appeared slightly lame in one hind leg. Unfortunately for the waterbuck they succeeded in isolating it and the chase began in earnest. The waterbuck charged up the slope from the edge of the dam towards our vehicle narrowly missing our rear bumper as she dashed across the road behind us. One lioness stayed to the left of the waterbuck and passed to our rear. The other lioness, at full speed, muscles rippling and eyes fixed on the waterbuck, crossed just in front of us – one of my best photos yet I think. I doubt it ended too well for the waterbuck, but as they dashed into the trees on the opposite side of the road the lioness behind us was seemingly outflanking the waterbuck and this pincer movement looked very likely to succeed.
As with yesterday’s leopard sightings nothing much mattered any more after that lion encounter. We did add a nice male Giant Kingfisher at Lower Sabie, and then an immature Burchell’s Coucal on the Nhlowa Road towards Crocodile Bridge. Shortly afterwards we were again in the area of the veld fire we had witnessed the previous morning and the larger raptors had moved in en masse looking for the likes of snakes, rodents and other small animals that had not escaped the flames. I ticked off Tawny and Wahlberg’s Eagles, Black-chested and Brown Snake Eagles, Bateleur, Hooded, Lappet-faced, White-headed and White-backed Vultures. Indeed there was one circling mass of exclusively White-headed Vultures, more together in one place than I have probably seen in total, singly and in pairs, over years of Kruger visits.
After sunset back at Ngwenya our outside lights attracted this Trident Dung Beetle.
On our final full day we largely repeated our first day route, in the vain hope that we might encounter another leopard. Stopping at the Nthandanyathi Hide we ticked off a female Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark and just as we turned back onto the Nhlowa Road we encountered a road block of the rhino kind. The adult White Rhinoceros had probably the longest horn I have ever seen. This was as good as the day got, so a largely disappointing third and last day in the Kruger Park with very few opportunities for bird photography. A few that I did manage were a pair of Saddle-billed Stork below the Sabie River Bridge, a group of White-fronted Bee-eater on the Nwatimhiri Causeway perching close to their nesting holes, Marabou Stork in flight and Water Thick-knee at the Crocodile Bridge causeway.
The night-time entertainment at Ngwenya was not an insect but a Guttural Toad.
The highlight of the trip back home was a pair of Crowned Hornbill swooping low over the main N4 highway just west of Hectorspruit. I have only ever seen this species in the eastern Soutpansberg and at Sobenghu Lodge on Lake St Lucia. It was an unexpected addition to my Mpumalanga list. While visiting all of the spectacular viewpoints along the escarpment in the Graskop area I added a Jackal Buzzard in flight at God’s Window and a Cinnamon-breasted Bunting at the Three Rondawels Lookout. Another one of those “always nice to see” birds was a Long-crested Eagle near Dullstroom, perching almost inevitably on a telephone pole.
