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Drakensberg Golden Gate & The Sani Pass A Greentours Trip Report 2nd to 15th February 2013 Led by Paul Cardy and Callan Cohen Daily Accounts by Callan Cohen with input from Paul Cardy. Systematic Lists compiled by Paul Cardy, with much information from Callan Cohen. Days 1 & 2 Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd February Arrival and travel south After our arrival at Johannesburg airport, our main aim for the day was to drive southwards over the highveld grasslands to the foothills of the Drakensberg. Of course, we managed a few flora stops along the way. A verge near a fuel stop held the peachy Jamesbrittenia aurantiaca. A later stop near a road cutting and then on the plains of the Golden Gate National Park brought our first ground orchids: Habenaria falcicornis ssp. caffra (sometimes split as its own species). The endemic antelope Blesbok and Black Wildebeest grazed on the plains. The scenery was very dramatic today and we soon began to encounter the cream and orange sandstone cliffs that characterise the lower reaches of the Drakensberg. Our next three nights were at the same hotel in the Golden Gate NP, with amazing views into sandstone cliffs and a river valley. Day 3 Monday 4th February Up into the Drakensberg An early highlight was a Mountain Pride butterfly pollinating a Kniphofia in the hotel grounds. This large satyrid with huge eye spots is attracted to the colour red (one of the few insects that can see red) and is the unique pollinator of a suite of red-orange montane flowers. We spent most of the day heading up the highest road in South Africa in order to access the Drakensberg alpine flora. The weather turned out to be very misty, but that did not dampen our spirits as the flora was exceptional. Highlights were 14 species of ground orchid including Sopubia cana, Dierama dracomontanum, Eucomis autumnalis, Moraea brevistyla and Helichrysum spiralepis. Some of the orchids included Satyrium longicauda, Satyrium parviflorum (Green Devil Orchid), Schizochilus flexuosus, Disperis renibractea, Disperis tysonii and Disa fragrans. Paul, master of the picnic lunch, chose to lay out of huge spread a few minutes before an unexpected and sudden hail storm! Back at lower altitudes, we watched bright yellow and lime Foam Grasshoppers and Black Wildebeest. Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 1 Day 4 Tuesday 5th February Into Lesotho Today we again took a packed lunch and did a long day trip into the border country of Lesotho. Here a tarred road ascends over 3200m and we followed it up, stopping along the way. Dramatic landscapes with basalt cliffs and pointed skylines extended in every direction. We headed all the way to Oxbow had some great highlights today too, including a diversity of endemic Helichrysum species, slopes of stunning Kniphofia caulescens, Phygelius capensis along a stream, Galtonia viridiflora, and Brownleea macroceras. The Machacha Brown butterfly was locally common. Returning to lower altitudes, we found the hooded, orange Gladiolus dalenii. Day 5 Wednesday 6th February Golden Gate to Spionkop to Giant’s Castle Today we explored the lower reaches of Golden Gate National Park and were rewarded with very close Secretarybird, eye-level Bearded Vulture, and Gladiolus papilio, Gladiolus crassifolius and a big population of the showy Disa cooperi. Our lunch visit to the lower altitude Spionkop Nature Reserve gave us a chance to see many African mammals, including Eland, Giraffe, Impala, Warthog, Burchell’s Zebra and Yellow Mongoose. The landscape here, with its acacia trees and kopjes, was different to that we had encountered before and had a sense of Angola-Boer War history as one of the most memorable battles of the war had been fought on the hill above us. In the afternoon we headed back inland towards the Drakensberg, making some excellent roadside stops for the endangered Southern Bald Ibis, scarlet candelabra Brunsvigia undulata, Galtonia candicans and the endemic damselfly Mountain Malachite, before settling into our rest camp for the evening. Day 6 Thursday 7th February Giant’s Castle We spent a full day here, doing a loop walk from the rest camp to the Bushmen-painting cave. The weather was excellent and the views of the top Drakensberg peaks from our accommodation (set on the edge of a river valley in scrub forest) were dramatic to say the least. The clear waters of the river were fringed in places by riparian forests, but the habitat was mostly open grassland. Highlights here included some good asclepiads: Riocreuxia torulosa and Schizoglossum atropurpureum. Disperis tysonii was a pink orchid among the grasses, while Disperis fanniniae was in the forest understory. Gems in the mossy forest were Stenoglottis fimbriata (mainly on rocks) and Plectranthus grallatus. The green orchid Habenaria dregeana was just on the edge of the path. The tour of the cave paintings was very informative too. In the later afternoon we drove a little way towards the gate where we enjoyed a display of flowering Protea roupelliae and the attendant Malachite Sunbirds and Gurney’s Sugarbirds. Day 7 Friday 8th February Giant’s Castle to Howick The following morning the weather was excellent again and we did a similar but shorter loop and managed to add some species including Moraea brevistyla and Moraea trifida, Gomphostigma virgatum “ River Stars”, along the river, Crassula vaginata and a few patches of the very striking Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 2 Hesperantha (ex Schizostylis) coccinea. Birding was excellent with the endemic Bush Blackcap responding well. The large, endemic satyrid Bush Beauty was in flight. Productive roadside stops on our way south to Howick included the geophytic Pelargonium luridum in flower, and banks of Watsonia densiflora. Day 8 Saturday 9th February Howick to Sani This morning we explored the Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve near Howick. It was a chance to see some more wildlife (Burchell’s Zebra was especially obliging!) and experience some lower altitude grasslands. The Howick falls themselves were also very spectacular, the river plunging over huge dolerite cliffs. Interesting flora here included Kniphofia buchananii and the showy pea Pseudarthria hookeri. We also saw a good selection of birds (Amethyst Sunbird, Thick-billed Weaver, Lazy Cisticola, etc.), and butterflies including Actizera lucida and Hyalites esebria. We had an especially exciting afternoon in an indigenous forest on our way south to Sani. Here, a flock of the endangered Cape Parrot flew into a tree just above our heads! Also here in the glades were the butterflies Emperor Swallowtail and Large Sprite. A selection of excellent flowers such as Littonia modesta, Begonia sutherlandii and Crocosmia aurea were overshadowed by the incredible find of the scarce and local “old man” ground orchids Huttonaea fimbriata and Huttonaea pulchra! What an afternoon! Our accommodation for the next three nights was a country guest house, set in fantastic gardens. Day 9 Sunday 10th February Up Sani Pass! Today was another exciting day: we would board 4x4s and take the rough and rugged road into the mountain kingdom of Lesotho in search of more alpine endemics. The day did not disappoint! As we headed up the pass, we moved through different zones of flora. Highlights were many and thanks to Stuart’s local knowledge included Pterygodium magnum, Protea dracomontana, Disa cephalotes, Corycium dracomontanum, Brownleea galpinii, Eucomis schijffii, Gladiolus ecklonii, a huge patch of Dierama dracomontanum, Pterygodium cooperi, Glumicalyx goseloides, Diascia anastrepta, Dianthus basuticus – and yet another Huttonaea, this time the much larger-flowered Huttonaea grandiflora! Drakensberg Rock-jumper was the highlight of the birds, which also included close Gurney’s Sugarbird, Sentinel Rock-Thrush, Drakensberg Siskin, and Streaky-headed Seedeater. The very top of the pass was rather cold and windswept and Lesotho border formalities were spent in the company of sheep, a Sloggett’s Ice Rat, and a herder with a hat made from Black-backed Jackal fur. After lunch and a quick look at Rhodohypoxis baurii, we headed slowly back down the pass. Day 10 Monday 11th February Natal midlands Today we explored a variety of wetlands, grasslands and woodlands at lower altitudes. One seep near a roadside had a striking display of Nerine appendiculata and some more cryptic Habenaria filicornis. At a special private reserve, Blue Swallow (and Wahlberg’s Eagle) flew swiftly overhead while bright pink Disa nervosa flowers were in the open grasslands. Our picnic lunch was set in Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 3 the woods along a large river and below cliffs. Here Knysna Turaco was the bird highlight, dropping down onto the road in front of us to bathe. Butterflies were plentiful here too and included male Mocker Swallowtails. Turraea floribunda was a showy riverine tree with cream flowers. A Cape Fig, Ficus sur, was in flower and was swarming with parasitoid wasps with very long ovipositors trying to parasite the fig wasps themselves. A late afternoon visit to another forest was good with Impatiens hochstetteri and giant yellow trees Podocarpus latifolius. An optional evening excursion a short drive from our accommodation revealed a very localised species of chameleon, the Natal Midlands Dwarf Chameleon! Day 11 Tuesday 12th February Underberg to Port Edward An early morning birding drive had a number of highlights including very close Jackal Buzzard, White Stork, male Long-tailed Widows displaying, Red-throated Wryneck and Grey-crowned Crane. Later, we headed south, driving for much of the middle of the day to the coast at Port Edward. Nerine angustifolia was an especially good roadside stop. In the late afternoon we went for a short stroll in a completely different habitat. Here a deeply-incised gorge revealed grey sandstone cliffs, much closer in geology to those of the Cape Flora to the far west.

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