Four Parks and a wedding (Part 3) – Mountain Zebra

May 30, 2014 Don Reid 1 Comment

The Story so far…

Parts 1 and 2 covered our visits to De Hoop Nature Reserve and Camdeboo National Park. The latter was enjoyable from many points of view, not least having the small tented camp virtually to ourselves, but our overall impression was that it did not have the “feel” of a National Park, probably due its relatively small size and being in close proximity to the town of Graaff-Reinet. Our next destination – Mountain Zebra National Park, on the other hand, proved to be everything we look for in a major National Park and has the potential to become a major tourist attraction, especially when the current plans to extend it, and eventually have a protected area running from Camdeboo all the way to Mountain Zebra, come to fruition.

Getting there – Monday 28 April 2014

The park lies west of Cradock in the Eastern Cape and we reached the main gate off the R 61 road around 4.30pm, giving enough time for an unhurried drive of the remaining 12 kms to the main rest camp before the camp gates closed at 6 pm. On the way we had sightings of African Spoonbill, alone in a large pond, Familiar Chats and Ant-eating Chats at regular intervals and old “Fumanchu” aka Scaly-feathered Finch in small groups looking almost too small and cute to survive in an environment such as this. White-browed Sparrow-Weavers were chattering in small flocks not far from their scruffy looking nests, but a real surprise awaited as we found a Secretarybird perched in the top of a tree, perhaps on a nest.

White-browed Sparrow-Weavers are plentiful — **White-browed Sparrow-Weavers** are plentiful

Secretarybird perched in tree, Mountain Zebra NP — **Secretarybird** perched in tree, Mountain Zebra NP

We had only ever seen Secretarybirds on the ground, usually striding through long grass in search of a tasty lizard or snake (their scientific name sagittarius serpentarius hints at this dietary preference), so had never imagined them taking to a tree. My Roberts birding app mentions that they do indeed nest on top of thorny trees and pairs may roost on a prospective tree for several months before using it to build a nest – so I suppose in this instance it was simply getting ready to roost for the night. And that answers a question that has no doubt troubled you for a long time….

The landscape we travelled through was quite different to any other National Park we knew and we looked forward to seeing more of it the next day

The chalets were a welcome sight with comfortable beds and all the necessary facilities for self-catering. A fireplace meant we could make a wood fire for the cold evenings and enjoy a glass of red wine in the small lounge.

The chalets have a small stoep with braai

Tuesday 29 April – exploring the Park

Up early-ish for a game drive on the Rooiplaat Loop, starting with a steep climb up to a plateau where the views stretched forever.

Looking down at the rest camp from the plateau

The grassy slopes were home to several Sickle-winged Chats, flying between low bushes, wings flicking as they landed.

Blue Cranes seemed very much at home in the long wheat-coloured grass while overhead White-necked Ravens cruised the skies emitting their raucous cries.

Blue Cranes at home in the grass, Mountain Zebra NP — **Blue Cranes** at home in the grass, Mountain Zebra NP

Blue Crane, Mountain Zebra NP — **Blue Crane**, Mountain Zebra NP

Back at the rest camp, I added Streaky-headed Seedeater and Neddicky, both frequent visitors to the bush adjoining the camp roads, then a Chinspot Batis paid our chalet a visit and Pied Barbet called from a distant tree. Southern Double-collared Sunbirds kept busy as usual, twittering (the real kind, none were bent over cellphones) loudly and flashing their brightly coloured plumage in the midday sun.

The camp has a large swimming pool which the grandkids tried but the water was just too cold for their liking nevertheless the walk there was pleasant and a Rock Agama stood guard at the gate.

Later we took a short drive to the nearby picnic spots, set amongst big shady trees, the one with a formal swimming pool and the other with a rock pool fed from a mountain stream – both looked extremely inviting and perfect for a late morning brunch visit. Sadly time caught up with us and we didn’t get around to trying this out.

Leonardii Mosselbayi discovered at the picnic spot - clearly expanding their distribution to the Eastern Cape — Leonardii Mosselbayi discovered at the picnic spot – clearly expanding their distribution to the Eastern Cape

a Hoopoe in the late afternoon sunlight made a nice picture

On the way there a large flock of Pied Starlings made themselves known and at a large dam a lone Brown-hooded Kingfisher sat in the shade on a convenient branch, waiting for a meal opportunity to pass by – which despite its name would be a grasshopper or suchlike rather than something fishy.

On the way back a small herd of Buffalo caused a mild traffic-jam, one which is a lot easier to bear than the dreaded City kind.

Who, me? African Buffalo, Mountain Zebra NP

Back at our chalet a braai on the stoep made a nice end to the day, with the call of a Spotted Eagle-Owl in the distance adding to the atmosphere.

Wednesday 30th April – last day

The last day of our short stay, so an early morning birding and game drive was in order, this time taking the route along the Kranskop Loop, but part of the way along the road was under reconstruction and I had to turn around. Views across the park were even more magnificent than the previous day and I stopped several times to take them in. Sometimes I’m tempted just to bear such views to memory and not spoil the moment taking photos, but hey, I’ve got a blog to think about, so I “forced myself” to take a few record shots.

Along the stretch that I was able to access, and despite a few construction lorries passing in both directions, birding was good and game plentiful, with some lovely sights of Kudu, Mountain Zebra, Springbok and Red Hartebeest.

Look at my horns! Kudu — Look at my horns!
Kudu

Mountain Zebra, in the Park created for them

Special birds in the grasslands, such as Eastern Long-billed Lark and Plain-backed Pipit made the birding exciting, with a sighting of a Verraux’s Eagle on a mountain-top radio mast a bonus. White-backed Mousebirds made up a “full house” of all the mousebirds (adding to the Speckled and Red-faced Mousebirds already ticked earlier in our visit).

After lunch we covered the open plains along the Ubejane Loop not far from the main gate, stopping at the pans and dams along the route. There we found Spoonbill again, patrolling the shallows with its typical stooped posture, constantly sweeping the water with its unique spatula shaped bill to pick up small organisms. Nearby SA Shelducks showed off their handsome plumage, while Black-winged Stilts busied themselves prodding the mud along the shallow edges.

Nearby a family of Ground Squirrels entertained us as they pranced around close to our vehicle, waving their long bushy tails every now and then – do they know how cute they are I wonder? Crowned Lapwings found the short grass to their liking as well.

Ground Squirrel (Xerus inauris), Mountain Zebra NP

This part of the park also held a number of Gemsbok which reminded us just how handsome these antelope are with their long straight horns. A couple of them were in a frisky mood, chasing each other around.

On the way back a pair of Pale-chanting Goshawks drew our attention as they defended their territory vigorously against a lone Pied Crow invader and soon saw him off.

What a nice Park!

The Mountain Zebra National Park has a lot going for it, not least the magnificent scenery and sweeping views across the valleys and plains that give it a real “Out of Africa” feel. It probably won’t satisfy the “Big five at all costs” visitors but will provide enough interesting sightings to keep the nature enthusiast happy during a 3 or 4 day stay – longer if you just want to relax in the pleasant surroundings.

The rock formations are a feature of some parts of the park

I swear this meeting is like a bunch of monkeys

Next stop Addo Elephant National Park!

Holiday Trips

Four Parks and a Wedding (Part 2) – Camdeboo

May 14, 2014 Don Reid 1 Comment

The Story so far

Having “done” De Hoop and the wedding that took us there, we spent time at our home in Mossel Bay until Saturday 26th April 2014, when we took to the road again, this time to Camdeboo National Park which lies close to and almost surrounds the town of Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape province.

Camdeboo NP map — Camdeboo National Park

Graaff-Reinet

Graaff-Reinet is full of historical buildings, being the fourth oldest town in South Africa – in years past we made a point of booking a night or two in the town when on our way to the Southern Cape, but more recently we have limited our stops to a lunch or snack and coffee at the popular Polka cafe, which also has an array of bric-a-brac which women love to browse – and it’s a good place for the trainee women (aka the granddaughters) to spend some of their pocket-money.

Getting there – Saturday 26 April 2014

Leaving around midday in light rain, we took a slightly longer route from Mossel Bay, via Robinson Pass, Oudtshoorn and the small town of De Rust, where we stopped for a good coffee at the coffee shop followed by our padkos (a lovely South African word and habit, literally “road food”) of home-made chicken buns – padkos is always best when eaten by the side of the road in the shade of a big tree. Just after De Rust a right turn took us onto the R 341 which links the N 12 and N 9 National roads, then on to Graaff-Reinet with no further stops, as it was getting near to gate-closing time. After a fuel and fast-food stop (sometimes we cheat) we arrived at Camdeboo National Park with 15 minutes to spare and enjoyed our Steers burgers in the communal area before getting ourselves organised in our homely tents – compact living but cosy and equipped with a small fridge, kettle etc. Canvas is a poor insulating material so the night was cold outside and inside the tent, but the beds were comfy and a duvet and fleecy blanket kept us nice and warm both nights – with the exception of the obligatory middle of the night toilet excursion.

Camdeboo NP - entrance — Camdeboo NP – entrance

Camdeboo NP - Nqweba dam — Camdeboo NP – Nqweba dam

Camdeboo - Lakeview tented camp — Camdeboo – Lakeview tented camp

Sunday 27 April

Canvas is also not effective at sound insulation so you hear everything going on close by, which is a bit worrying when the creepy-crawlies get moving at night but only a pleasure when the morning chorus wakes you up – I lay in bed in the dawn hour “ticking” a few in my mind, including Cape Robin-Chat with its happy tune, Brown-hooded Kingfisher sounding excited, Pied Barbet calling nasally, Bar-throated Apalis “chipping” loudly as it moved through the bush and Hadeda Ibis doing its “bird with a fear of heights” imitation.

After this early chorus we drifted back to sleep, thinking it was still dark outside – that’s another thing about canvas, it doesn’t let light in and the window flaps were closed, so we ended up rising at the “gentleman’s hour” of 8.30am. Time to put some serious effort into birding and atlasing the camp and so I took an extended walk around the small camp and the adjoining caravan camp. The Lakeview Camp comprises just 4 tented units with a communal kitchen and ablutions – a setup we found much to our liking as it felt as if we had the whole place to ourselves (which we did save for one tent occupied by others). Importantly, the facilities are kept clean and neat at all times.

Camdeboo - Lakeview camp communal area — Camdeboo – Lakeview camp communal area

Camdeboo tent – on a sunny autumn afternoon

Camdeboo - the neat abluions — Camdeboo – the neat abluions

Camdeboo - the showers — Camdeboo – the showers

The walk produced a number of species with Cape Robin-Chat, Karoo Scrub-Robin and Familiar Chat most prominent, drawn by the quite dense bush surrounding the camp.

The call of a Pririt Batis resounded through the camp and I was able to track it down for a snatched photo.

Yellow-fronted Canary (at the edge of its range by the looks of it), Chestnut-vented Titbabbler and Southern Double-collared Sunbird (phew those are long names) were all nice additions to the growing list. Not to be outdone by the birds, Striped Mice and Karoo Bushrats inhabit the undergrowth, the latter occupying large rambling nests built of hundreds of dry sticks – as you walk around they pop up to have a look and then scurry off or dart back into their nests.

Striped Mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio), Camdeboo NP

Karoo Bushrat (Otomys inisulcatus), Camdeboo NP

After tea it was time to explore the Park by car and we soon came across Anteating Chat, Fiscal Flycatcher and Red-billed Firefinch on the way to the bird hide which is not far from the camp.

The neat hide sits at a distance from the water’s edge, which probably moves closer when the Nqweba dam is fuller. It still provided the chance to ID the few visible water birds such as Yellow-billed Duck, Cape Shoveler, Darter and SA Shelduck while the surrounding grass / bush had Black-throated Canary, Amethyst Sunbird and Bronze Mannikin to keep things interesting.

Back at the camp, Greater Flamingo were just visible through a gap in the tall reeds that block most of the view of the dam (making the name of the camp “Lakeview” a tad misleading).

I was not entirely satisfied with my bird list up to then and took a late afternoon drive to the far side of the dam, ticking Ostrich and Hamerkop along the way as I crossed a stream, with Kudu browsing nearby.

At the viewpoint at the last stop on the road I had a good view across the water, which held Black Stork and Black-winged Stilt in the shallows and Kittlitz’s Plover and the ubiquitous Three-banded Plover at the muddy edge.

Heading back to the camp in the dusk, I came across a pair of Black-backed Jackals, the one nuzzling the other as I took some photos of this beautiful species. A few minutes later the sky turned a spectacular orange-red colour as the sun set.

Camdeboo NP - Sunset deluxe — Camdeboo NP – Sunset deluxe

With just 2 nights booked, we made the most of the facilities on our second evening, braai-ing in the boma and eating out under the stars, wrapped up against the cold early winter air. That night it was colder in the tent and we slept with our woollen hats pulled down over our ears.

Monday 28 April

Our short stay was over and we set about packing the vehicles while still enjoying the surroundings, as a Fish Eagle called in the distance, a pair of Cardinal Woodpeckers made their way through the camp followed by a flock of Common Waxbills. A trilling call jogged my memory but it took me a while to realise it was a Namaqua Warbler, who remained well hidden in the denser bush.

On the way out of Camdeboo, we visited the Andries Pretorius monument near the entrance –

On the road at last, we stopped briefly to check out a Rock Kestrel before heading into town for a coffee stop at Polka cafe, then on to the other, very different, part of Camdeboo which harbours the Valley of Desolation, with its steep access roads through beautiful landscape, culminating in viewing spots that provide quite breathtaking views. The first of these looks down over the town of Graaff-Reinet way below and the second provides sweeping views across the flat plains of the surrounding Karoo, framed by the craggy peaks of the nearby mountains.

Valley of Desolation - approach road — Valley of Desolation – approach road

Camdeboo NP - Valley of Desolation — Valley of Desolation – Graaf-Reinet far below

This was also a good spot to enjoy our padkos burgers before heading back down the mountain road and on to our next destination near Cradock – Mountain Zebra National Park – which turned out to be a lot more impressive than we had expected. More of that in Part 3 of this series.