Tag Archives: Eastern Highlands

Aberfoyle

On the way north to Aberfoyle near the Mocambique border we enjoyed one of Dave’s signature tea stops: Chair and table out under a big tree; hebcooler and Stanley flask out; Soon lovely tea and a snack. While we were enjoying our break, Jess said, Dad there’s a bird. I brought her binocs and she got a good view of a beautiful Pytilia in among the miles of tea plants. Hey, she said, That was actually quite cool! Her first bit of interest in what we had been doing all along. Also her last.

Roadside Cafe David
Melba Finch -Pytilia – wikipedia

We booked into one of Aberfoyle’s self-catering cottages a couple k’s above the lodge. A great option, quiet and comfy – and Jess could stay on the lodge veranda while we went birding. Here too we had some solid downpours where we were glad we had some solid corrugated iron overhead!

Jess’ lodge stoep waiting station
downpour

On the way down to the lodge we got a great view of Swynnerton’s Spurfowl, the local tuxedo-morph of the Red-necked Spurfowl. At the lodge the Red-throated Twinspot posed dutifully so even my sedate, patience-testing little camera could get reasonable shots. Resident birder Morgan Saineti then took us straight to the very rare Lesser Cuckoo he had discovered. I got a good view, but no chance of a picture. It was most certainly a cuckoo, but was it a Lesser? Yes, cos I believe Morgan as he has showed it to a lot of good photographic birders. I got good views of Green-backed Woodpecker, Singing Cisticola and Green Twinspot. The Blue-spotted and Tambourine Wood Doves sat still; My camera tried its best…

Here’s a lone Zambezi Indigobird in miles and miles of tea where there should be grasslands.

Whattapleasure to be taken by Morgan to where he knows his birds hang out . .

~~oo0oo~~

Pungwe B Power Station

We needed a place to stay. Aberfoyle’s cottages were full and we were not going to pay Aberfoyle Lodge prices. Dave, as he usually did, found the solution: You can camp at Pungwe B power station – and only US$5 a head! Boy, I like prices like that.

We had traveled south to get down the mountain. As we headed east across the Honde Vally we saw the falls we’d hiked to a few days prior: Mutarazi Falls and its twin – the Muchururu Falls.

Red arrow = Mutarazi
both falls – waterflow more than we saw

The road to the power station was quite rugged and steep. Beautiful, and – birds along the way. On the way there I got a pair of Red-throated Twinspots. On the way out, Dave got a Black-winged Red Bishop. New to me in southern Africa – I had seen one in Malawi under ‘interesting’ circumstances decades before.

The weather was fair; The weather was foul; We had sunshine and we had a few torrential downpours that got the stream roaring. They’re used to rain in the mountains – check the roof for the outdoor braai.

Once again a communal shelter came to the rescue – we could cook and eat in dry comfort. We did ironically have a little power outage as we sat in the power station, but they soon fixed that.

And outside our loo with a view, Hooligan’s Robin sang his heart out.

Cossypha heuglini – The White-browed Robin-Chat, thanks xeno-canto.org

And here I have to admit the camper canvas seemed to have sprung a tiny leak and the mattress was ever so slightly damp! Jess may dispute my downplayed description of the problem! She was a star as ever, simply getting on with life.

Two nights here and now on to the famous Aberfoyle that every keen southern African birder has read about.

~~oo0oo~~