For the second year in a row we spent a week in Kruger National Park in October, this time spending 6 nights in Olifants rest camp in the northern part of Kruger, with one night stop-overs at Berg en Dal  and Pretoriuskop rest camps on the way there and back respectively.

 

The Road to Mopani

Mopani lies north of Olifants with Letaba camp and Mooiplaas picnic spot en route – it’s a great option for a longer outing from Olifants camp and we chose to do it on the Monday of our week-long stay.

Setting off at around 8.30 am, we initially set our sights on Letaba camp – the first 9 km to the main H1 road was quiet and set the tone for large parts of the day.  The veld has taken a severe knock during the past few years of drought or poor rainfall and is non-existent in places, while the trees are mostly bare at this early stage of Summer and the earth is parched to a grey/brown colour.

In these conditions, the rivers which still have small pools of water and the waterholes stand out as oases of life, with concentrations of game and bird life gathering at these spots. The Olifants river is one such oasis and once you reach the H1 road to Letaba, the great river runs alongside it for a few kms, albeit at some distance.

Nevertheless the road was still close enough to make out Yellow-billed Stork (Nimmersat), Goliath Heron (Reusereier), Pied Wagtail (Bontkwikkie) in the river itself and an African Hoopoe (Hoephoep) closer to the road amongst dry leaves which matched its brown colouring.

The next 20 kms to Letaba runs through very arid habitat and my atlasing effort in the pentad that it encompasses resulted in just two species in half an hour’s slow driving – a Brubru (Bontlaksman) and a Yellow-billed Kite (Geelbekwou).

By this time Letaba’s Mugg and Bean was beckoning us for a mid-morning coffee which we enhanced with a shared Date and Nut Muffin (M&G’s muffins are formidable so even sharing one means you each get a decent portion).  Brown-headed Parrots (Bruinkoppappegaai) made their presence known in the overhanging trees as we relaxed on the Letaba stoep with its wonderful view of the Letaba river.

After our coffee break, the next stop was the bridge over the Letaba, where you can alight from your car in the demarcated area and look for game and birds in the river bed. We were rewarded with several birds including Saddle-billed Stork (Saalbekooievaar), Ground Hornbill (Bromvoël), Great White Egret (Grootwitreier) and African Openbill (Oopbekooievaar).

A lone European Bee-eater (Europese Byvreter), clearly a bit earlier to arrive in Southern Africa than the majority of his kind, brightened up our birding and was also the only one we saw during the week.

The next stretch to Mooiplaas picnic spot was a longish one, initially running next to the Letaba river with short approach roads leading to and from the river at regular intervals, well worth investigating each one as the game and bird life often gathers in the river bed, enjoying the relatively lush habitat.

Spoonbill (Lepelaar), Great Egret (Grootwitreier), Marabou Stork (Maraboe) were all present and hawking White-fronted Bee-eaters (Rooikeelbyvreter) added their flash of colour to the scene)

Leaving the river behind, we travelled through bush Mopane habitat all the way to Mooiplaas, with a couple of strategically placed waterholes providing some relief from the rather monotonous, arid landscape. Malopenyana waterhole had attracted flocks of Namaqua Doves (Namakwaduif) and Chestnut-backed Sparrowlarks (Rooiruglewerik), quenching their thirst along the water’s edge.

Mooiplaas picnic spot is another veritable oasis, surrounded by trees and with a thatched, pinnacle-shaped roof over the central picnic area. Immediately we were entertained by the comings and goings of a variety of bushveld birds, with accompanying song, and our spirits lifted as we enjoyed a simple brunch of tea and buns.

The trees were busy with Orange-breasted Bush Shrike (Oranjeborslaksman), Black-backed Puffback (Sneeubal), Red-headed Weaver (Rooikopvink) and all three common Hornbills – Southern Red-billed, Southern Yellow-billed and Grey (Rooibek- Geelbek- en Grys-neushoringvoëls)

A short drive further took us to Mopani camp for a brief visit and some light Bird atlasing from the deck overlooking the dam which is a feature of this camp. On the opposite shore I could make out Grey-headed Gull (Gryskopmeeu) – a new species for my KNP list, African Jacana (Grootlangtoon), White-faced Duck (Nonnetjieseend), Collared Pratincole (Rooivlerksprinkaanvoël) and Goliath Heron.

On the game side, there was enough to satisfy us outside the extremely arid stretches and the Mopane-dominated parts, with all of the regular animals sighted and as a bonus we had a good sighting of several Tsessebe, one of the rarer antelopes in Kruger, near Mopani camp.

Our next short trip was from Olifants to Timbavati picnic spot – more about that in the next post