Atlasville, 6 Jan 2006
Our daughter has been visiting from the UK with her fiancé, a South African whom she met in London. We got back yesterday with my wife from 3 nights in the northern Kruger Park. We made a spur of the moment decision to fit in few days up north in the Park before my wife and I head off in a few days time for our annual timeshare week at Ngwenya Lodge. We were lucky to pick up cancellations through the Parks Board reservations system, but couldn’t get 3 nights at one camp as in the middle of the holiday season the Park is full. However, to get 1 night at Shingwedzi rest camp and 2 nights at Sirheni Bushveld Camp, our favourite camp in all of Kruger, exceeded our expectations.
So we set off early on 2nd January and headed via Machadodorp, Lydenburg, Ohrigstad and the Abel Erasmus Pass, to the Phalaborwa Gate of Kruger Park. As on our previous visit in October we headed straight for Letaba camp stopping only at Sable Dam where 3 of the summer migrant waders were present – Common Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper. At the Letaba restaurant/cafeteria with its superb views along the Letaba River we quickly added Marabou Stork, Little Egret, Great Egret, Goliath Heron and Yellow-billed Stork, while a small flock of Collared Pratincole moved around one of the sand bars in the river. Inevitably there were elephant in the river too.
Leaving Letaba we headed north on the main tar road towards Mopani, but turned off onto the S50 gravel road towards Shingwedzi. Now in mid-summer it was hard to believe the dustbowl veld conditions we had experienced on this road just 3 months before, as this shot of some impala shows. Once we reached the Shingwedzi River the vegetation was so lush that you could miss an elephant just 10 m away. Close to the Nyawutsi Bird Hide I photographed Kori Bustard and Temminck’s Courser, but was unable to get a decent shot of the relatively uncommon Broad-billed Roller sitting atop a tree just outside the entrance gate to Shingwedzi rest camp.
We had arrived only 30 minutes before gate closing time, so it was straight to reception to find out which bungalow we were to stay in and then only unpack the absolute necessities as we’d be off to Sirheni in the morning, early. I always aim to be first in the queue as the camp gates open. I have lost count of the number of times I have come across lion lying in the middle of the road – tarmac retains the daytime heat better than the surrounding veld and provides a good place to sleep, or so I have been told – and when I have disturbed them they get up, amble into the bush and lie down again well hidden from the next vehicle that comes along! So it’s a case of ‘the early bird catches the lion’.
It would have to be a very roundabout way to get to Sirheni, which lies just 35 km NW from Shingwedzi, as we only wanted to arrive late in the afternoon. So first we headed back down the S50, the way we had come from Letaba the previous day, but only as far as Dipeni where the road leaves the river. Then we turned around and headed back towards Shingwedzi, taking in all the loops and viewpoints on the way back. First birds of the day were both summer visitors, Red-backed Shrike and Common Sandpiper. At least they were out in the open. It was probably one our most disappointing drives along this stretch, but then the vegetation was so thick – conditions normally encountered only in late summer – that seeing anything was rather difficult. Even so the bird list stood at 36 when we got back to Shingwedzi, but all very common species, except for another very elusive Broad-billed Roller.
Next we headed down the main tar road towards Mopani, turning off onto the S144 gravel road. At the Dzombo West waterhole we saw a flock of about 40 very noisy Wattled Starling. Leaving the waterhole to turn back onto the main gravel road we almost ran into a bull elephant so well hidden in the thick bush that we only saw him as he broke cover. Back on the S144 we drove past a huge flock of several thousand Red-billed Quelea taking up every inch of space on several adjacent trees, before arriving at the Tihongonyeni waterhole. As I mentioned in my post about our Kruger trip in October, this is one of the most reliable spots in the Park for seeing tsessebe and again we were not disappointed. The tsessebe had company too, an elephant cow, although we couldn’t help but see this one, and a pair of White Stork and some Amur Falcon.
Then on to Mopani Camp, which has a splendid view out over the Pioneer Dam. After refreshments at Mopani it was back up the main tar road to Shingwedzi. Fairly uneventful apart from a distant – binoculars distance – several days old carcass around which White-backed Vulture were milling along with a single Lappet-faced Vulture, and a very patient African Hawk-Eagle sitting in a nearby tree. A little further on, we saw a circling Black-chested Snake Eagle.
Along the Mphongolo Loop from Shingwedzi to Sirheni we encountered a small group of Nyala. As with the Shingwedzi River drive the vegetation along the Mphongolo Loop was the thickest we have ever seen it, making birding rather difficult. We arrived at Sirheni nonetheless with a day total of 101 species.
Sirheni Bushveld Camp is situated in a bend of the Mphongolo River and boasts two hides, a west hide looking upriver and an east hide looking downriver. There is a resident leopard in the area that comes down to drink at the river at dawn. We were very fortunate to get the next day off to the perfect start as the leopard arrived in the just pre-dawn gloom. Our bungalow was perfectly situated to see him without even moving from the stoep (verandah).
On this, our second and last full day in the Park, we headed north, joining the main tar road at the Babalala Picnic Spot where the bird list got off to colourful start with African Green Pigeon, Violet-backed Starling and Greater Blue-eared Starling. But not before I’d added my first lifer of the trip just short of Babalala when a Harlequin Quail scuttled across the road. A little way up the tar road we saw Little Swift, a bird I’ve not seen that often in the Park before and then at Nkovakulu waterhole a circling Martial Eagle. We stayed on the main tar road bypassing Punda Maria camp until we reached the Luvuvhu River, turning right to Pafuri Picnic Spot.
The picnic spot is right on the Luvuvhu River and always a good place for seeing numerous crocodiles. What was the first bird that I saw as I got out of the twin-cab? A Broad-billed Roller – so much for not very common, but again it eluded me as I still hadn’t taken the camera off the rear seat before it flew! Wandering around quite happily between all the parked vehicles was an Emerald-spotted Wood Dove, and I added Southern Yellow White-eye, Collared Sunbird, Black-backed Puffback, Grey-backed Camaroptera and Willow Warbler to the day’s list. From Pafuri we continued east to Crook’s Corner, the most north-easterly point of the Kruger Park open to visitors, at the confluence of the Luvuvhu and Limpopo Rivers, another area where you are almost guaranteed to see Nyala. This is the triple-point junction at which South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique meet. Upriver on the Limpopo you look across into Zimbabwe, while downriver both banks of the Limpopo are in Mozambique. Here I added Red-billed Firefinch, Long-billed Crombec, yet another Broad-billed Roller and overhead a circling flock of African Palm Swift.
From Crook’s corner it was back out to the main tar road and head back south, turning off this time on the S61 gravel road towards Punda Maria. Stopping at Klopperfontein Dam we were treated to Spur-winged Goose, White-faced Whistling Duck, Knob-billed Duck and Southern Carmine Bee-eater. I haven’t yet mentioned that this is the time of year when every herd of large mammals you see has young ones with them. At Klopperfontein we were treated to this young Chapman’s Zebra. Further south on this road we added White-winged Widowbird, Purple Roller, European Bee-eater and Red-breasted Swallow, before turning back onto the tar road, again giving Punda Maria a miss. This was simply due to time constraints as otherwise we would definitely have included Punda. Last stop was at the viewpoint at the top of Dzundzwini hill, which offers a great view eastwards towards Mozambique some 30 km away.
On the road back in to Sirheni we picked up Jacobin Cuckoo, Bateleur and for me the bird of the trip so far a Spotted Eagle-Owl. Back at Sirheni I had just enough time before sunset in the two bird hides at the camp to add Red-faced Cisticola, Orange-breasted Bushshrike, Water Thick-knee, African Paradise Flycatcher, Common Waxbill, Black-headed Oriole and White-rumped Swift. Similar to yesterday the day list clocked in at exactly 100 birds.
On the final morning the plan was quite simple. Head south from Sirheni to Letaba and then out of the Park at Phalaborwa, calling in at all waterholes, viewpoints, picnic sites and camps on the way. We headed out of the camp as the gates opened a few minutes before sunrise and almost immediately our headlights picked up a Square-tailed Nightjar sitting in the middle of the road. Once on the tar road just north of Shingwedzi we added Golden-breasted Bunting, Magpie Shrike, Grey Go-away-bird and Woodland Kingfisher. Although it was too early for the shop and cafeteria at Shingwedzi to be open we nevertheless headed in to the camp as the filling station would be open and we could fill up for the long drive home. We could have waited until Mopani, Letaba or even Phalaborwa. Best decision I ever made as standing in the shallow Shingwedzi River along the 1 km of access road to the camp was my 2nd lifer of the trip, a juvenile Pallid Harrier. At the same point I also got a good shot of a Diederik Cuckoo. At the filling station itself a pair of Red-winged Starling were scruffling around in the leaves under the bushes around the perimeter of the forecourt, while scurrying around between the pumps, oblivious to almost everything was a Smith’s Bush Squirrel (aka Tree Squirrel).
After a quick drive through the camp and out of the ‘back’ gate to the low-water causeway across the Shingwedzi River to see what we could see – not too much actually – we headed back out to the tar road and continued south. Within 30 minutes I was adding my 3rd lifer, a Lesser Spotted Eagle. Then on the access road to the Pioneer Dam at Mopani a Dusky Lark. From there all the way to Letaba, where we stopped, and on to Phalaborwa nothing new was added to the trip list until 2 km short of Phalaborwa Gate when a Rufous-naped Lark put in an appearance.
All in all a trip list of 168, including 3 lifers.
