October 31, No Halloween Celebration Here!

No mention of Halloween anywhere around here today!  We walked around and above the olive groves this morning before breakfast.  There was a little pond along the main road to the guest farm before we started up the trail above the olive grove.  We stopped and birded there a few minutes until I got stung on my forearm by a honey bee for no apparent reason.  More bees began to land on me and in my hair, so I made a run for it back to the guest house reception area, where I removed the stinger and the receptionist put a special salve on it.  After 3 hours there was no pain or throbbing or swelling!  It was a 5 hour drive to our next destination in Stellenbosch, where we're staying at a very small winery.  Scenery along the way just before we got to Stellenbosch was spectacular - small valleys of vineyards with huge rocky mountains surrounding the entire area.  Our drive included a 4 km long tunnel through one of these mountains!!  Mari (my sister), you would have freaked out!!

Photos are scarce today with all of the driving!  First one is a Three-banded Plover at the pond where I got stung, the olive grove with accommodations beyond from the escarpment, looking the other way from the olive grove towards Karoo NP mountains.

October 30, What a Show!!

We arrived at Karoo NP around 6:30 this morning and immediately began the roughly 45 km drive up and around Klipspringer Pass, taking us close to 7 hours.  We FINALLY had a Bustard sighting this morning - a brief glimpse of it on the ground, and then watched it fly up and away, showing us it's characteristic wing markings.  Nice to finally see a Bustard; would hate to guess how many hours we've put in searching for one!  As we approached the top of the pass, I noticed one of the Verreaux's Eagles sitting on top of the rock ledge, so we got out at the overlook to take a peek.  That's when the show began!!  It left its perch, flew over just above us giving us views close enough that we could see its eyes and every detail of its feathers, then flew below us in the canyon so that we could see its distinct white back markings.  Then we realized that it's mate was sitting on the rock ledge across the canyon.  We had a 15 minute show, with both birds soaring above and below us or sitting on the rock ledge across the canyon.  And to impress upon us how large this eagle really is, a Rock Kestrel began swooping down on one of them, looking like a little song bird in size - which it isn't!  We found a number of new birds today, including a Lark, Canary, and Cuckoo.  This was our last full day of birding in South Africa, as we head off to Stellenbosch in the wine country tomorrow to spend our last two days before heading home.

First 2 photos are the Karoo in early morning, the next 3 are of the Verreaux's Eagles on top of Klipspringer Pass, Yellow Mongoose, another Mountain Zebra (they're SO pretty), Brown-hooded Kingfisher that landed in the tree right above us.

October 29, Success! and Heat at Karoo National Park

There are beautiful landscapes to be seen around every corner in South Africa - except for maybe the 200 km drive between Graaff-Reinet and Beaufort West.  😊  It was an extremely flat straight stretch of highway with no mountains in view on our drive this morning.  But once we reached Karoo NP just outside of Beaufort West, the beauty was back.  And the high temperatures continue.  Our lodging for the next 2 nights is at The Olive Grove Guest Farm, about 15 km away from the National Park and the city - in the middle of nowhere.  We arrived early and our room wasn't ready yet, so they upgraded us to a chalet instead - with full kitchen, living room and 2 bedrooms.  Not a bad deal!  We then drove back to the park and spent the afternoon, after talking with a couple of the young friendly guides about where to go to see various things.  As soon as we began climbing up over the pass the guides told us to drive for a chance at Verreaux's Eagle, we had two birds in sight soaring low.  Success at last!!!!  We saw these two birds several other times as we drove higher, and had them sitting on the rocks at the top of a ridge.  As we left the park this evening and headed back to town to refuel, we drove into a dust storm like we've never experienced.  It was short-lived thankfully.  Then as we headed back out to the guest farm after refueling, we were treated to an amazing sunset.  So MANY experiences in one day in South Africa!!!

Photos are of a Red Bisop and then a White-throated Swallow on our early morning walk in Graaff-Reinet, 2 views of The Karoo NP, 3 different flowers in the park that you wouldn't even notice if you didn't look close, a very hot Klipspringer (it's panting), the Verreaux's Eagles in the air and also on the ridge top.

October 28, HOT Again At Camdeboo National Park

Decided to get an early start in the park looking for Bustards and Eagles as the temperature was quite warm yesterday.  Glad we did, since it reached 101* before 3:00 today.  We birded and did some walking until shortly after noon - then we called it quits and enjoyed our air conditioned room until 4:30, when we went back to bird the park until dinner time.  No Bustards or Eagles again today; I told Tom they don't exist.  We DID find a cute little Rufous-eared Warbler first thing though, and drove up to the Valley of Desolation viewpoint for outstanding views of the area.  Also had two Mountain Zebras walk right by the car, and had some other mammal run in front of the car that looked like it was part dog and part antelope - don't know that we'll ever get it figured out since we weren't able to get a photo.

Photos are of a Rufous-eared Warbler, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, our close encounter with a Mountain Zebra, a real close encounter with another Karoo Korhaan, the view of Graaf-Reinet from the overlook at Valley of Desolation, 2 more views from the overlook of beautiful rock formations, Baboons that Tom ran into while hiking, 

October 27, Heading Southwest to Graaf-Reinet

Thought we might have a longer day of driving today, but we arrived at our destination just before noon.  Our wonderful hostess at our luxurious guest house (Queen Manor Boutique) in Graaf-Reinet got us settled in right away, told us where we should go to lunch (great recommendation), and then we headed off to Camdeboo National Park - just a 5 or 10 minute drive away.  We spent a very fun and exciting 3 hours there, viewing a couple new birds and several new mammals.  There were birds and mammals everywhere!  We'll return there tomorrow morning about 6:00 and try for some of the birds that have continued to evade us.  Graaf-Reinet is one of the nicest towns we've visited so far - and we had no worries walking the half-mile to the restaurant our guest house hostess recommended for dinner.  WONDERFUL dinner; lamb shank for me that melted in your mouth, and a trio of meat fillets (beef, ostrich, springbok) for Tom.  We made reservations for tomorrow evening.  😊   It continues to amaze us that eating out at a very nice restaurant can be so inexpensive - our total bill this evening was probably about $35, which included a bottle of very good South African wine and a tip.  Most bottles of South African wines run $6-$10 - and they're some of the best there is!

Photos are of some sort of antelope we saw on the way to Graaf-Reinet, Black-shouldered Kite, a monitor lizard that is about 3' long,  our "mystery" Scrub Robin - Kalahari or Karoo, mountain zebras, Karoo Korhaan,  Rock Kestrel, Ostrich family, Red Hartebeest.

October 26, Looking for Crowned Cranes and Bald Ibis

We departed Walkerbouts Guesthouse in the Drakensburgs around 9:00 this morning with all kinds of helpful suggestions from the staff on where we might find some of the larger birds we missed yesterday.  It took us 3 hours to drive the 60 km gravel road out, all the while looking for cranes, ibis, and raptors - not a bit of luck.  Aliwal North is our overnight spot tonight on our way southwest to the Karoo area, and when we arrived at the Inn we were directed to a little restaurant on the river for refreshments and a snack.  We began by sitting outside on the deck overlooking the Orange River, but within 5 minutes the wind came up and it began thundering in the distance.  We spent the next hour inside the restaurant watching an amazing lightening show while it poured buckets - they had a similar storm last night that took out the town's internet service until about 4:00 this afternoon.  The grounds of the Inn is quite birdie, so Tom has had fun getting photos of some of them.

Photos are of a sign in the lobby that is SO true, Walkerbouts Inn, from our morning walk around Rhodes, Springbok, Jackal Buzzard, the outrageous male Widowbird, African Hoopoe, Speckled Pigeon.

October 25, What An Adventure!!!

We began our adventure at 6:00 this morning by going up the pass towards the ski resort - NOT the one we had intended!!  The gravel road became ridiculous, absurd, outrageous and bizarre as we climbed straight up the mountain at such a steep slope they had paved it to give one a glimmer of hope of making it.  We stalled out at a very sharp corner that was gravel; parked the car for an hour or so while we walked up the road and birded and contemplated how we were going to get back down.  While I worked on calming myself down 😕 I found a warbler that is scarce here - Barratt's Warbler - and one that we would NOT have found had we not drove up the "wrong" pass.  I had the passing thought that perhaps this would be my very last life bird........... But Tom climbed in the car and successfully drove it down the extremely steep section - and I WALKED down.  So, onward to the pass we had intended to drive up.  Along the way, we found many of the Drakensburg specialties, but of course, missed some too.  We found so many Drakensberg Rockjumpers that we lost track of the number.  Sentinel Rock-thrush, Ground Woodpecker, Drakensberg Prinia, Drakensberg Siskin were a few of the other new ones.  One of the other highlights today was seeing a Red Meerkat (yellow mongoose) with it's fresh hare kill.  So now we're back at the guesthouse waiting for 7:00 dinner and listening to thunder and watching flashes of lightening - glad the weather waited for us to come down off the mountain!

Photos are of Tom beginning down the very steep road (wondered if this was the last I'd see of him)(photos do no justice to the extreme grade of this road!), had to show 2 views of the Drakensberg Rockjumper, Red Meerkat, Drakensberg Siskin, Malachite Sunbird on a red hot poker (apparently native here?), Sickle-winged Chat, Sentinel Rock-thrush, Ground Woodpecker, 3 flower photos, a view of the road as we headed down with it running right along the ridge and around the conical peak and back down the other side, the next 2 are our view from the top of the 8000' pass (notice the roads down below).