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Natural Highlights of South Africa 1 – 15 October 2018

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Natural Highlights of South Africa 1 – 15 October 2018 Tour Report South Africa – Natural Highlights of South Africa 1 – 15 October 2018 Cape gannet Southern right whale Lion Pied kingfisher Compiled by Geoff Crane 01962 302086 [email protected] www.wildlifeworldwide.com Tour Leaders: Geoff Crane Day 1: Arrival & Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens Tuesday 1 October 2018 The group was met at Cape Town’s International Airport and transferred through to Hout Bay for a chance to freshen up after their long overnight flight. We saw helmeted guineafowl, Egyptian goose, Hartlaub’s gull, rock dove and African sacred ibis on the way to the lodge. Once refreshed and replenished, we drove up Chapman’s Peak Drive for our picnic lunch. The wind had picked up, so we had a shortened windy picnic. From our vantage point that overlooked the bay and beach of Hout Bay we could see a Cape fur seal in the waves by the beach and water ‘twisters’ being whipped up off the ocean. After our lunch we drove through to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, which was protected to some extent from the wind. We took a slow walk through the gardens up to the protea section and then back through the gardens via the tree canopy walk – the Boomslang. We had great views of orange-breasted sunbird and southern double-collard sunbirds on the yellow pincushion flowers; Cape Sugarbirds were also seen, Cape francolin, Cape robin-chat, Hadeda ibis, sombre greenbul, karoo prinia, southern masked weaver, red-winged starling and Cape white-eye were seen and some good photos were being taken. We also saw a spotted eagle owl sitting on a nest and a very brave striped mouse, which was close to the owl’s nest. We had some time at the information centre, gift shop and coffee shop so that some of the group could buy their postcards and new field guides. A few of the group took the opportunity to visit the glass house / conservatory that houses a selection of plants from the semi-arid areas of South Africa. We had an early dinner at Hout Bay’s local fish restaurant, followed by an early night. Day 2: Rondevlei Bird Reserve & the Cape Peninsula Wednesday 3 October 2018 It was still very windy, but not a cloud in sight. We first went to Rondevlei Nature Reserve, where we spent the morning going through the various hides. Rondevlei Nature Reserve is in the heart of Cape Town. It has always been a naturally occurring wetland and is still rich in bird diversity. We watched the many birds from the five hides and two observation towers and we admired the rare Cape Flats flora from the pathway. Waterbirds were well represented with over 40 species seen in our two hours here, notably the South African shelduck, yellow-billed duck and two out of range Hottentot teals. Other birds seen here were speckled pigeon, laughing dove, red-eyed dove, pied crow, common moorhen, red-knobbed coot, water thick-knee, three-banded plover, blacksmith lapwing, Levaillant’s cisticola, karoo prinis, Cape white-eye, kelp gull, African fish eagle, African marsh harrier, little grebe and a pair of great crested grebes. There were a series of island reedbeds, which were providing a safe haven for breeding birds. Black-headed heron, grey heron and purple herons, little egret and cattle egret, glossy ibis and sacred ibis, reed cormorant and white-breasted cormorant were all busy either building nests or feeding chicks. Just before we left we found a beautiful Cape dwarf chameleon by one of the hides. The African penguin colony at Simon’s Town was very crowded but we still managed to spend an hour here. The African penguins were going about their morning routine – which does not entail much! The penguins were just coming out of their three-week moult so there were downy feathers everywhere. In addition to African penguins, we saw African black oystercatchers on the rocks offshore and Cape wagtails searching the beach for sand hoppers. We then continued to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. En route to Cape Point we had our picnic lunch at Miller’s Point. Here we did some botanising – lachenalia, gladiolus, babiana, erica, oxalis and mesems were all well represented. After lunch we drove to Olifantsbos, in the Cape of Good Hope Reserve, stopping to see the green snake-stem pincushion. This sprawling ground pincushion has the wonderful botanical name of Leucospermum hypophyllocarpodendron subsp. hypophyllocarpodendron. We watched an enormous leopard tortoise making short work of a purple 01962 302086 [email protected] www.wildlifeworldwide.com flowering vygie. En route to Olifantsbos we found a Cape mountain zebra and a little further on some Bontebok antelopes. A family troop of Chacma baboons was also seen. The birds at Olifantsbos were feeding frenetically on the sand hoppers. We had glossy and sacred ibis, little egret, Cape spurfowl, grey-headed, Hartlaub’s and kelp gull, African black oystercatchers, common tern and sandwich terns. Around the car park we saw the ‘noordpol’, Euphorbia caput-medusae. The flower heads always twist around on the plant so as to face north, hence its Afrikaans common name. It is also called ‘Medusa’s head’ as it looks like a head of snakes. We saw many different plants that it would be impossible to list them all, but some of the highlights were the Salvia aurea with its brown flowers, the pink spikes of Watsonia humilis and the Albuca cooperi with its ground hanging flowers. At Cape Point we walked up to the old lighthouse. The wind had abated a bit and we had panoramic views across the whole of False Bay and the Boland Mountains beyond. We had good views of Cape siskin and nesting Cape cormorants from the viewpoints at the end of Cape Point. Cape bunting, house sparrow, Cape white-eye and red-winged starling were seen on our walk back from Cape Point. We had a fleeting glimpse of a striped mouse as it ran across our path and good views of the Cape girdled lizards as they sunned themselves on the sandstone rocks. We also saw a skaapsteker snake, a few Cape skinks and an angulate tortoise. We stopped to have a good look (and smell) at the wild rosemary Eriocephalus africanus and the cancer bush Sutherlandia frutescens. We drove back to Hout Bay via the Atlantic coast road and the famous Chapman’s Peak Drive. We had a quick stop to watch a Cape dune mole-rat cross the road and then again for a few photos of the dramatic coastline. Once back at the lodge we all had a well deserved drink, whilst we filled in our various check lists and we then went out for a wonderful dinner in Hout Bay at a local restaurant. Day 3: West Coast National Park Thursday 4 October 2018 We had a slightly earlier start this morning so as to maximise our time up at Langebaan Lagoon and the West Coast National Park. We set off through Cape Town in perfect still sunny conditions. We stopped a few times for photos arriving at the Abrahamskraal waterhole in the West Coast National Park by 10am. This waterhole is the only fresh water in the park and so attracts a large diversity of birdlife. Namaqua dove, Cape turtle dove, brown-throated martin, greater-striped swallow, white-throated swallow and barn swallow, African spoonbill and purple gallinule were seen here. There was a constant stream of passerines coming to the waterhole to drink. Streaky-headed seedeater and yellow-romped widow were a few to mention. We had our picnic lunch at the coast at Tasseskraal, where we watched the terns and gulls dodging the crashing waves. The Cape gannets and cormorants were flying off shore and the African black oystercatchers were on the rocks. Langebaan Lagoon is an internationally recognised reserve for migrant waders; the tide was receding as we arrived an we walked out to the main Geelbeck hide. Once we were installed in the hide, we saw grey plovers, ringed plover, Kitlitz's plovers, white-fronted plovers, curlew sandpiper, little stint, bar-tailed godwit, marsh sandpiper, common sandpiper, sanderling, greenshank, whimbrel, Eurasian curlew and ruddy turnstone, pied avocet and black-winged stilt. A pair of South African shelduck gave us a fly past and we saw both species of flamingo, great white pelican, African black oystercatcher and Caspian tern. We also saw ostrich, black-shouldered kite and yellow-billed kites, steppe buzzard, rock kestrel, African marsh harrier and the endemic black harrier during the course of the day. 01962 302086 [email protected] www.wildlifeworldwide.com Day 4: Hermanus & the southern coast Friday 5 October 2018 We left Hout Bay in good time and set off along the spectacular coastline out of False Bay to the Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens. We stopped at the little hamlet of Rooiels. Here we watched a troop of Chacma baboons before we continued to the Botanical Gardens, where we took a short walk through the gardens. This area has one of the densest concentrations of fynbos in the Western Cape. The ericas, pincushions, restios, pelargoniums and proteas were looking beautiful. We saw a few new birds here including the brimstone canary, common waxbill and African dusky flycatcher. After our tour of the gardens we continued following the coast through Kleinmond to the town of Hermanus. Hermanus’s reputation as the world’s best land-based whale watching site, was held up to the test! We arrived to find a number of southern right whales just offshore. We had our picnic while watching the whales and after a while we saw a number of whales breaching.
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