Birding in the Western Cape
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As I mentioned on the general planning page, if you you do nothing else when you come here, you must book up a trip on a Cape Pelagic, I've been on several pelagic trips off the UK coast and I can honestly say that I would not want to go on any more after this one. This will be the highlight of your stay .... I can almost guarantee it! There are a number of firms that run them off the Cape, but I went with Anne Albatross, who employ some of the best guides in the country; among them, Peter Ryan, Phil Hockey and, on my trip, Ian Sinclair, the prolific writer of African field guides. In the space of a few hours I had 15 "lifers", including 6 Albatross species. You must allow 2 days to cover this trip though as the weather around the Cape can be unpredictable and the trip is sometimes cancelled until the second day, as it was in my case.
I made the mistake of only allowing 8 days in Western Cape. When I return it will be for at least 2 weeks to pick up on the prime species that I missed first time round and visit the many reserves that I should have gone to. I got sucked into the aura of the Cape and didn't do as much birding as I had hoped. Ok, if you go this far for a holiday you must visit the Cape of Good Hope and admire the view from the top of Table Mountain. I did spend 4 amazing days away from Cape Town though.
After getting off the plane and picking up my car I drove north up the N7 to Piketburg and then west to the sleepy little settlement of Aurora. This was where the fun really started and the tarmac ended. A mile out of Aurora I took a right turn up into the mountains, 17Kms along a stony unmade track and an hour later I was at my destination. Mountain Mist, 2500ft up in the Piketberg mountains, is mentioned in birding guides but it is doubtful if it would ever become a mainstream holiday destination .... and just as well. This, I was told, was the prime site for seeing Protea (Canary) Seed Eater and Ground Woodpecker. The area below the radar station was very productive. The resident pair of Verreaux's Eagles kept me entertained on the first evening and a flock of Cape Siskin in the pines outside my cabin window woke me up early the next morning. By 11:00am I had seen 6 endemics and 2 near endemic South African species, but the Seed Eater was proving elusive, until I walked up towards the radar station. I stayed an hour in the blazing sun before getting my reward. After the sightings of Orange-breasted Sunbirds and Cape sugarbirds earlier in the day it was all a bit anti-climatic.
I spent the afternoon exploring the area below my chalet. There are San cave paintings here and an impressive gorge, but my highlights were a beautiful male Malachite Sunbird and a young adult Booted Eagle that I was told was attempting to nest in the area. That evening the weather closed in and at times I felt the wind was going to hurl me and my cabin into the gorge. I did eventually get to sleep, which was just as well as I had a very early start the next morning.
I had planned to visit the West Coast Nature Reserve, but my hosts Andrew and Anne had suggested a trip to Elandsbaii, through the Sandveld instead. It proved to be an interesting excursion and well worth the effort. The road is nothing more than a dirt track covered in sand but easy to drive on .... slowly; I had to get on the verge and stop at times though to let the speed mad locals through. The flowers in the Sandveld really caught my eye; to see a field of sand covered in daisies is quite amazing. Large billed (Southern Thick-billed) Lark, Cape Longclaw and Bokmakierie were three endemics seen before I reached the town of Redlinghuis. From here the road skirts a wetland area known as the Verlorevlei all the way to the coastal town of Elandsbaii. This area was very productive and the elevated position of the road afforded excellent views, but I had to be careful where I parked the car at times as this road was very busy with large timber lorries travelling far too fast. An African Marsh Harrier was one of the highlights and there was an assortment of waders and ducks along the route. At Elandsbaii I had my first sighting of Cape Gannets and the endangered African Black Oystercatcher. I also saw a sizable flock of Greater Flamingo.
My last few hours at Mountain Mist were spent trying to locate Ground Woodpecker. I heard them call a number of times but they proved frustratingly elusive. Today was to be my adventure day into the Little Karoo so I had no time to search further. Although the bird count at Mountain mist is only 89 species I still think it is well worth a visit, but perhaps not for the 3 nights that I spent there. Most of the resident species could be found in one complete day of birding.
Leaving Mountain Mist, I head back to Piketberg and across the N7 towards Porterville and beyond. The seemingly impenetrable wall of mountains to the east is only breached through the mightily impressive Mitchell's Pass. I saw a pair of Verreaux's Eagles here, soaring round the crags a full 1000 feet above me. This is Glen Coe, but on a far grander scale. Just beyond the pass is the town of Ceres, a good place to fill up with fuel and provisions for the rest of the journey. Where I am heading you certainly don't want to be short of fuel, food or drink. The next filling station is just a matter of 265Kms away in the town of Calvinia. I'm not going that far though; my destination is a picnic site in the middle of this semi arid desert called Katbakkies. Beyond Karoopoort the tarred road turns to a dusty track that heads north into the Little Karoo. 38 kms away is a sign post pointing west along another track; it reads "Kagga Kamma/Op-Die-Berg". A few miles down here the track passes through a gorge where another track on the left leads down to the Picnic site. There are a few concrete tables and benches here and a rudimentary toilet that you would only want to use in a dire emergency.
I shall be on my own tonight, far from civilisation. The mobile doesn't work and if anything happens to the car it's a long hot walk back to Ceres. I park under a thick acacia thorn bush which very conveniently hides me from the view of anyone driving along the track. dinner is a few sandwiches, a pack of biltong and a bar of chocolate. The sun is going down and shadows creep over the rocks and vegetation. The acacias around the picnic area are very productive; within an hour I have Layard's Titbabbler, Pririt Batis, Fairy Flycatcher and a fine Southern (Lesser) Double-collared Sunbird. Cape Bunting and Southern Masked Weaver are feeding on scraps of food by the car while a White-backed Mousebird scowls in the thicket. A few yards to the east of the picnic site is a small wetland area. The reeds here are alive with churring African Reed Warblers and there are Egyptian Goose, Cape Francolin and Blacksmith Lapwing. While I try to ID the Rock Martins I'm suddenly surrounded by a cacophony of noise and birds flying in all directions. A party of 50 or more European Bee-eaters entertain for more than an hour before roosting in the Aloes on the cliffs across the track. I can still here their squawking well after the sun has set and darkness has crept in. There is the chance that I may hear Leopard and Cape Eagle Owls tonight but once darkness has descended, the desert becomes eerily silent. I find sleep in the car almost impossible.
I'm awake at first light and eager to explore this wilderness further. My main reason for coming here is to see Cinnamon-breasted Warbler. This, I was told, was the most reliable site in all of Western Cape to see them. The area west, along the dried up river bed is the most likely area to find them, but it took me more than 2 hours before I sighted one of these little LBJ endemics. They can be easily overlooked. Along the way I see Speckled Pigeon, Levaillant's Cisticola and Acacia Pied Barbet with flyovers of Booted Eagle and Pied Crow.
I have to be in Cape Town by 4:00pm so I need to be on the road soon. Instead of returning by the route I came I decide to explore a bit more of the Little Karoo by driving north a few kilometres before turning right towards Middelpos and then joining the R356 back to Karoopoort. This route was not very productive from a birding angle and in the heat of day rather debilitating. I saw only Mountain Wheatear, Karoo Lark, Lark-like Bunting, Red-capped Lark and a very intriguing Raptor sitting on a pole about 50 yards from the track. It was all white, with black specks on the wings; similar to Gyr but much smaller than Peregrine. I have no idea what it was and it flew before I could get the camera on it.
Katbakkies, although very remote, is well worthy of a visit and the Little Karoo in general deserves a lot more patient exploration than I could give it. In retrospect I think I may well have attempted the Op-Die-Berg trip back to Ceres instead of crossing the Little Karoo, but with reservations, as the route through here is regarded as 4 wheel drive only.
After slumming it last night I'm living in total opulence tonight at the Panorama Guest house, 190 metres up the slopes of Table Mountain. The view, east across the Cape Flats, to the Stellenbosch Mountains is awesome, stretching all the way down to False Bay. At 390 Rand a night this is a lot more than I would usually pay, but the service is supreme and well worth the expense. Regine, my host is a member of the local mountaineering club and has promised to take me up Table Mountain, if I should so desire. It's not an offer I can easily refuse. My first thoughts though are to ring about the pelagic trip. The sea is running too high tomorrow but my trip will go on the Sunday. Tomorrow I shall visit the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.
The best scenic route down to the Cape of Good Hope is via Red Hill, overlooking Simon's Town. From a birding angle I was not terribly impressed by the Cape reserve; my bird count for the day was very low, but I had excellent views of Southern Right Whales off Cape Diaz. This evening I dine at Boulder's Bay while watching African Penguins waddle across the road.
An early start on Sunday; I leave Panorama by 6:00am and head towards Simon's Town, parking on the pier and awaiting our guides for the day. As the Zest 2 leaves the outer harbour a Southern Right Whale does a tail flip near the pier; it could be a good omen! Soon we are sailing down the western coast of False Bay in bright sunlight, and after a photo call at the Cape we head out into the Southern Atlantic. It's not long before the first birds are seen; a party of Swift Terns scream overhead, and then the cry goes up, "Albatross!". A Black-browed Albatross wheels gently across the waves but it is quite distant. Our skipper has located a trawler and we head off towards it. Even at a distance it is quite evident that there are an enormous amount of birds here. A carpet of Wilson's Petrels on the water greets us as we close in on the trawler . It's difficult to know what to look at first as there are thousands of birds here. The predominant species are Wilson's, White-chinned and Pintado Petrels with a few Great-winged, Soft-plumaged, Black-bellied Storm and Northern and Southern giant Petrels. Of the larger birds, Cape Gannets and Shy and Black-browed Albatross are common. We also saw both Indian and Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross, although I found it difficult to separate them (thank heaven for Ian Sinclair). By far the best sighting of the day though, was a sub adult Wandering Albatross which came quite close to our boat. Among the Wilson's Petrels I also saw a lone European Storm Petrel; there were probably more but I was concentrating on the 15 "lifers" I got today. After visiting another trawler the Zest 2 heads back to Simon's Town. On our return trip we encounter a pod of more than 200 Common Dolphin and a possible sighting of a Hump-backed Whale.
We dock mid afternoon, which means there is still some time for birding. I drive to Kirstenbosch Gardens and head quickly towards the Protea garden before the sun sinks too low behind the mountain. This is by far the best place to photograph Cape Sugerbird and Orange-breasted Sunbird. To be fair though, these gardens deserve a much longer visit than the 2 hours I can spend here.
