Tag Archives: Peter Koos Swanepoel

The Art of Lurking

Park, watch and listen. The creatures will come, almost anywhere. That’s my theory (I have many). Take coffee.

See this pic of one of my stakeouts? There are lots and lots of creatures watching me and listening intently, methinks. So I counter-lurk, waiting for them to make a move or a chirp. I do this regularly. The theory hypothesises thus: As you drive or walk in nature, all the creatures think, Hark! A dangerous predator approacheth. The most dangerous one, in fact. So they keep tjoepstil, duck behind a leaf or a branch, a bush or below the grass, depending on where they find themselves and how big or small they are. And freeze. You then hove into view making a helluva racket – and that’s when you’re tip-toeing and not talking. Once you’re safely past they give a giggle (interpreted by ethologists as an ‘all-clear’ signal which correctly interpreted says “intruder’s gone”) and carry on with their daily business. This explains why you can go on a long ‘birding walk’ and see buggerall; then in camp over a cold beer you can be mobbed by flocks.

Phabeni Gate and upper Sabie River area

As Jess was studying for her nature guide course online exam, holed up in our room at Sleepover, where we found good wifi signal, I went for morning drives, entering the Kruger through Phabeni Gate nearby. In the park, Jess prefers to keep moving – ‘it’s called a Game *Drive* for a reason, Dad’ – so this is my chance to practice my gentle lurking skills. By doing one of my patented lurks: Sort of Game ‘Parking.’ Saving diesel.

Forgot my coffee the first morning, so bought a cuppa from this mobile caffeine pusher at the gate. Thutty five South African Ront, followed by his salesman patter, ‘It’s usually forty Ront, but you are my first customer this fine morning.’ It was indeed a fine morning, so he got R35 plus a R5 tip.

Soon a Dark Chanting Goshawk started chanting on the uppermost twigs;

a Slender Mongoose stared at me briefly after crossing the road to the left; a Grey Duiker and tiny fawn dashed across the road to the right – I wondered if something was chasing them; nothing appeared; Redheaded Weavers were nesting in the untidy grassy nests, a Sabota Lark started singing.

Goshawk, Weaver & Lark

Brubru, Black Flycatcher, Rattling Cisticola, Southern Black Tit, Fork-tailed Drongo, Cape Turtle Dove, Blue Waxbill, Golden-breasted Bunting, Crested Barbet, Grey Hornbill, Bulbul, Gorgeous Bush-shrike, Emerald-spotted Wood Dove; Here’s a Black-crowned Tchagra, thanks to xeno-canto.org

At my next stakeout, within earshot of the Sabie river, a big Boer Bean Schotia, an Apple-leaf in flower, and a Marula were the trees I could identify. Green Pigeon, Red-eyed Dove, White-bellied Sunbird, Violet-backed Starling feasting on berries, Burchell’s Starling, Greater Blue-eared glossy Starling, Fish Eagle, Black-bellied Starling, Marico Sunbird. And a juvenile Martial Eagle being escorted off the premises by a Drongo.

~~oo0oo~~

Once Jess tagged along and we drove the right bank of the Sabie. We* saw more animals, tis true, including these, plus impala and nyala.

*We – Jess slept for more than half the drive!

~~oOo~~

audio from xeno-canto.org – thank you – a wonderful site

tjoepstil – dead quiet

There, Dad!

Jess is an amazing spotter. She has spotted two snakes in trees, one snake I had missed on the ground and once in Shingwedzi campsite she said, Dad, a snake just fell out of that tree! If it had been anyone else I’d have laughed and said, ‘Pull The Other One,’ but being Jess, I knew a snake had just dropped out of a tree.

Now she said, Dad, there’s a warthog in that tree! and of course there was, and now she was trying to get me to spot the leopard that had put it up there.

There, Dad! His ear flicked! I stared and stared through my Zeiss binocs. I double- and triple-checked I was looking in the right place. We carefully tracked the rock, the branch and the twig where she was looking, but each ear twitch and each I can see his spots through a gap in the branches had me thinking, the wind has stirred a leaf, or she’s seeing dappled sunlight.

After thirty minutes of focused peering and Jessie’s exasperation at Dof Dad: ‘Omigoodness Jess, a leopard just sat up! Right there where you said!’

Told you; said matter-of-factly.

~~oo0oo~~

Kruger Daze

Hot days, windy days, rainy days, cooler and even some cold weather. At first we could only snare four nights in the Kruger Park. Letaba, Skukuza, Satara and Pretoriuskop camps. One night each as we were asking for ‘any available space for tonight? ‘ Later we left the park to spend six nights just outside Phabeni gate for strong wifi and aircon for Jess as she wrote online exams; Then back into the park for two nights in Lower Sabie camp and our last night at Crocodile Bridge camp. That was the first time we’d stayed in those lovely camps. Now the only camps we haven’t yet stayed in are Malelane, Orpen and Pafuri Border Camp. We’ll get to them one day.

Lots of eles, huge herds of buffalo, plenty antelope and the most predators I’ve seen over such a short time. Three lion sightings, a dozen hyena sightings including three dens with pups, two leopard sightings, four Slender Mongoose, two Dwarf Mongoose. One hyena was going Hnngnng! then looked at us and said, Do You MInd?!

Jess said, ‘There’s a warthog in that tree Dad.’ Um, Jess, warthogs have cloven hooves and can’t . . Where?

warthog in tree 2
warthog in tree 1

So we searched for a leopard. ‘I see him, he’s flicking his ear,’ said Jess. Thirty minutes later I finally saw him when he sat up!

At last I also see it!

At Skukuza a last-minute cancellation got us a chalet instead of camping, to Jessie’s delight. AND it was a brand-new bungalow, which Terry Brauer had told us about just a day or so before!

Two days later, 100km south of the first leopard: ‘There! Walking to the right!’ Jess again:

In the shop at PretoriusKop a lovely friendly lady takes my payment and says, “I recognise you guys, you were here two years ago.” Wow! Or did the till show we’d last purchased there two years ago? Anyway, friendly!

~~oo0oo~~

Teachers Rock

‘Pee two-by-two,’ said their teacher, standing at the door, not wanting to enter the gents. They heard, but were too busy staring at the ancient pale fella who had pushed ahead of them with apologies to them and their teacher. I was BUSTING, two coffees over budget.

Hordes of preschoolers in green t-shirts on a Kruger Park outing, each one cuter than the next. The girls were queueing next door. Three could finish pee-ing, staring at me from knee-height while I stood sighing with relief. One engaged me in earnest conversation while we both aimed at the porcelain. I caught ‘granpa’ mkhulu and ‘elephant’ ndlovu, so I just nodded and agreed. I’m sure it was complimentary.

You’re a star, well done!  I said to teacher as I left. She grinned and told the next four to go in, trying in vain to get them to pee duets, but they carried on going one at a time. Obviously soloists.

As I left another teacher was taking their pics one by one in front of the huge bronze bust of Oom President Paul Kruger!

Teachers are under-rated.

~~oo0oo~~

The image is kids from Skukuza primary school on a litter cleanup day – thanks, Citizen newspaper

Mfolosi Day Trip

This time we must remember to take photos, Dad! Especially one of us in a recognisable place – a nice backdrop. Right, Jess.

Lots of eles, including one herd heading north in a long straggling line through the bush, crossing in front of us twice, thanks to a dogleg in the road. I counted fifty, but Jess, who hadn’t counted, said, No Dad, there were about fifteen! So I said OK there were forty. Luckily I took a video of one of the batches moving past – added below.

We give eles lots of room, as Jess is very cautious of them. Even at a good hundred metres a few of the young males gave us the Hey! Watch Yourself! ear shake.

Lots and LOTS of warthogs, all happily covered in mud. One sounder had longer crests/manes than usual – and light, like blonde – looked like Rod Stewart as a quintuplet. Seven square-lipped rhino; One mama with a small calf crossed right in front of us – no photo!

Surprisingly, a number of birds considering the stiff breeze that blew all day. We considered taking lunch in the car, but Sontuli picnic site is sheltered, so we used the last available table. Good to see a number of people having lunch there, parking an assortment of very capable and well-modified 4X4 vehicles with raised suspension and knobbly tyres next to the Fiat Unos that keep them humble.

Another photo missed by staring-in-awesome-wonder was a gathering of vultures on a wide sandy beach on a bend in the Black Mfolosi River, sunning and sand-bathing. Joined by Woolly-necked Storks, Pied Crows, Blacksmith Lapwing and Yellow-billed Kites.

– same stretch of river, different visit –

Also saw buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe banging heads, baboon, impala, nyala and kudu (only one); Went on a detour in search of cheetah, sent by an excited lady on her own in a bakkie who said we couldn’t miss them. The spot she thought the group of four cats would obligingly wait for us was about twenty minutes away. But Jess wanted to go so of course we did. The friendly lady hadn’t nailed them down so they’d felt free to wander off. Still, nice drive on a road we don’t usually use as it’s an entrance route from the western Gengeni gate which we have only exited twice to explore the interesting Ulundi to Melmoth road.

More birds seen and heard: Tawny-flanked Prinia, Green-winged Pytilia, Fork-tailed Drongo, Fiscal Shrike ‘hangman,’ Black, Ashy & Dusky Flycatchers; Rattling Cisticola, Rufous-naped Lark, Brubru, Chinspot Batis, Klaas’ Cuckoo, Indian Myna at the Nyalazi gate, Greater Honeyguide, Scimitarbill, Black-crowned Tchagra, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Blue & lipstick Waxbills, Village Weaver; Emerald-spotted Wood, Cape Turtle & Red-eyed Doves; Crested Francolin, Bateleur, Cattle Egret, Gorgeous & Orange-breasted Bushshrike; Dark-capped Bulbul, Yellow-bellied Greenbul, Yellow-fronted Canary, Mocking Cliff Chat, Burchell’s Coucal, Speckled Mousebird, Egyptian Goose, African Hoopoe, Hadeda Ibis, Pied Wagtail, Redbilled Oxpecker, Petronia, Cape glossy Starling, White=throated Swallow;

Note to self: Rather get Jess to take the selfies and ussies! And remember the backdrop/background!

– Mfolosi Ele Procession –

How Hard Can It Be?

Dad, I can’t think what to have for our third supper camping. Don’ wurrie Jess, I’ll do the first night, you just do two suppers. What’ll you do Dad? she asked, maybe regretting opening her mouth. Don’ wurrie Jess, I have a plan.

Her query had reminded me that our cottage came with three stainless steel braais, two built-in, and three braai grids, and two huge bags of charcoal – not your garage forecourt size – and eight plastic-wrapped bags of braaihout.
I packed the grid, a bag of braaihout, fahlahter, safety matches, and two T-bones. I was going to become a brauer. How hard could it be?

At Bonamanzi there’s a built-in brick braaiplek, no grid. I go scouting the sixteen sites, only two occupied, and find a grid, collecting twigs as I go. At dusk I set the well-packed pyramid-shaped pyre alight and stand back watching the blaze with satisfaction, marveling at how easy this is and how okes gaan aan about their secret and foolproof ‘methods,’ etc and blah blah.
When I have glowing hardehout coals – and admittedly still a bit of flame, I’m hungry so I sandwich the Spar-marinaded vacuum-packed very thinly-sliced bargain T-bones into my nifty snap-shut stainless steel braai grid that came wif the cottage, and plop them on top of the camp grid over the red hot coals. With a bit of flame.

I’m attending them noukeurig when the other camper drives in in the dark and I make the mistake of shouting across my coals, How was your drive? Turns out he thinks he should tell me.

He bustles over and tells me. I didn’t catch his name but if it isn’t Earnest it should be. Great detail about how their drive was not good, no elephant. Then where he’s from and what his 4X4 is and which one he actually wanted to buy (Nissan Pathfinder / Nissan Patrol) and how – exactly how – he built his own camper trailer on his parents farm and what he kitted it out with with his own hands and how although the trailer was old, the wheel bearings were still shiny silver when he took them apart. Also the pros and cons of a gazebo.

I’m shuffling and he’s getting into his stride and I’m polite. A fatal combination, which brings Jess with a torch to say, Dad you’ve burnt the meat!

~~oo0oo~~

braai – barbecue

braaihout – barbecue

braaiplek – barbecue

brauer– barbecue deskundige

deskundige – expert, but only in pyromania

noukeurig – barbecue with focus

gaan aan – barbecue talk

~~oo0oo~~

The campsites here are lovely

Nice winter birdlist in three days:

Yellowthroat Petronia, Purple-banded Sunbird, Emerald spotted wood Dove, Red eyed Dove, Egyptian Goose, Spurwing Goose, Great white Egret, Cattle Egret, Grey Heron, Reed Cormorant, Anhinga/Darter, Greater Honeyguide, Stonechat, Rufous-naped Lark, Orange-breasted Bushshrike, Gorgeous Bushshrike, S Boubou, Chinspot Batis, Puffback, Golden-tailed Woodpecker, S Banded Snake Eagle, Fiery-necked Nightjar, Wood Owl, Fish Eagle, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Crested Guineafowl, Spectacled Weaver, Darkbacked Weaver, Green Woodhoopoe, Yellowthroated Longclaw, Eastern Nicator, Camaroptera, Yellow-bellied Greenbul, Bulbul, Fiscal Shrike, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Striped Kingfisher, Crowned Lapwing, Spotted Thick-knee, Ashy Flycatcher, Dusky Flycatcher, African Goshawk, S Black Tit, Fork-tailed Drongo, S Black Flycatcher, Black-crowned Tchagra, Pied Crow, Lipstick (don’t call me common) Waxbill, Crested Barbet, Yellow-rumped Tinker, Pied Wagtail, Cape Glossy Starling, Red-breasted Swallow, White Helmet-shrike, Burchell’s Coucal, Crested Francolin, Crowned Hornbill, Hadeda, African Jacana, 59

Homeful Again

So I sold my forever home and bought a camper. ‘Grey Nomad,’ I thought. Well, I soon found out: A Nomad I Ain’t. Also not grey. It’s gone white. Here’s what’s wrong with being a nomad: Weekends, long weekends and school holidays. Suddenly rocking up without a booking is frowned upon.

So the three years on the road turned out to be around twenty months travelling and the rest comfortably holed up at a special low-low beer-money rental in Broose’s 4-bedroom 3-bathroom beach cottage in the metropolis of Mtwalume, KZN South Coast. The only hard part about loafing on the Souf Cose was that niggling feeling that I really should be looking for a place, a home.

So, in stits and farts, I did. Nottingham Road. Fort Nottingham, Mtwalume, Shelley Beach, Hibberdene, Pennington, I looked; One place in Scottburgh was under R900k for absolutely everything I needed, two bedrooms, big deck, fully furnished, all appliances, aircon, two huge TVs, the works. Owner desperate to join his daughter in England. Pennington got a second and third look – lovely village – but the commitmentphobia held up. After much dodging, I did look at Howick, the Southern Hemisphere’s largest above-ground cemetery. I would definitely not have, but Tabbo made me promise I would, and then he died, meaning I really had to. So I went.

AmberNow, AmberThen, AmberGris 1 through 7, AmberNyet, AmberNever, Eagle something, St Johns the baptist, etc. No. Just NO. Then the town, where a number of grey-haired biddies thought, At Last a Buyer! as I praised their lovely homes and what was great about them. All true, but that did not mean I was about to reduce my savings by two to three million. Sorry. Then I had a clever procrastinating thought: Kick for touch! I asked to rent a place so I could see if I could live in Howick. No problem, I was introduced to a new tannie. She had plenty of places to rent, but ‘the daughter may be a problem,’ she said – Jess was with me by now. Thanks Tannie, You made it easier. Bye, Howick.

On to Mtunzini. Now I got serious. This is a lovely plekkie. Near all the Zolooland reserves, the forests, the coastal resorts. Great birding. Like Pennington, off the main road, so quieter. Better run than the South Coast towns, so this looked right. So I looked at homes. A lot of homes – R2.4m to R3.6m. Oh boy. Well, I’d rent out part of the property to help with an income, right? What am I thinking? Me, the world’s worst landlord.

What I should have done is go back to my checklist: 1. Spend less than the R1.99m I got for my Westville home – a target long abandoned cos of arched eyebrows as estate agents showed me better places in better locations; 2. Be as much off-the-grid as possible; 3. Have good comms – cellphone or fibre; 4. NOT behind a gate of any sort; None of the expensive homes ticked all four.

I’ve an idea Jess! Let’s procrastinate; kick for touch! So we rented a lovely 4-bedroom 3-bathroom wooden cottage at the edge of town bordering the forest for five months. All the while lovely kind Dee, KZN’s most patient estate agent stuck by me, patting me on the head and saying moenie worry nie.

In the end I did what I always do: Ignore the checklist and go cheap, eventually buying a lovely small pozzie on leased land for R1m and I’ll show you the pros and I’ll ignore the cons. It was cheap; It has great solar power – one 6KVA and one 3KVA; It has two water tanks; it’s fully furnished, all appliances, lots of toys; it was cheap; a small garden rigged for automatic micro-irrigation twice a day. All I have to do is rip out the azaleas, columbines, daffodils, daisies and other weeds and plant the right stuff; Also get rid of a mess of flower pots, hanging and earthbound, many garden gnomes and two concrete table and bench sets out of four. And as I mentioned, not expensive.

It is lock-up-and-go. OK, it’s behind a gate in a caravan park, true. I can’t have it all, but I can have savings in my pocket! Two out of four’s not bad. And I don’t have to shop for anything! I hate shopping, and there’s more than enough stuff here for a lifetime. Goodness Ntuli and Strongman have stayed on working one day a week each and have taken a bunch of excess stuff home with them. Willie from Sondela Second hand Stuff Store brought a trailer and carted away two fridges, a deep freeze, a tumble dryer, a bed/couch, sundry other stuff and gave me some cash.

So we’re settling in to our new log cabin and loving it. Jess is thrilled, which helps a lot; the small place has four aircons and nine mounted fans – a clue to what summer will be like in Zululand! Three TVs and a jacuzzi which delighted Jess. One drawback she really didn’t like was the poor comms. FINALLY! she said in desperate relief, when we got fibre. It took ALMOST THREE WEEKS, Dad! We’ve elected not to hook up the satellite dish – it can sommer sit there as a status symbol.

Oh, and Jess got a lovely, relaxed, unfazed welcome.

~~oo0oo~~

Six beers, Five guys

Driving back from Kruger Park we were listening to Jessie’s music. She plays a mixed bag including some sixties n seventies favourites of mine. She also plays some Country & Western which is not my best, but Beer Never Broke My Heart is a hoot and always gives us a laugh. Long Leg, High School, Beer Never Broke My Heart I would belt out until I learned it was actually Long neck, ice cold beer never broke my heart!

Then she played a new one and my ears pricked up at the first line: 

Six beers, five guys - (A Long Way - by Luke Combs)

Hey Jess, I said, That Reminds Me Of My (slightly misspent) Youth!

Raiders of the Lost Saab

Pssst, I don’t really think our youth was misspent. Stephen Fry nails it when he says, Education is the sum of what students teach each other between lectures and seminars. Certainly I got my best education in high school outside the classroom from Steph, Pierre, Larry, Tuffy, Fluffy, Lloyd, Gabba and others; and often after the sun had gone down.

~~oo0oo~~

Jess took the feature pic of the sunset in front of my nose as we drove south through the vrystaat. Visible is the duct tape holding up the window, necessary as the windy-windy mechanism had gone phut. Took a long while, but I eventually found a replacement window mechanism – not easy when its a seventeen yr-old model. Seems they don’t keep all car parts for that long, I dunno why.

~~oo0oo~~

Shingwedzi Camp KNP

We took the eastern vlei route northwards, from before Mopane camp – the road less travelled. Lemme check the map: It’s the Nshawu waterholes route and leads past the Grootvlei dam and Shibavantsengele viewpoint on the Mocambique border. I loved it. Some open plains and vleis for a change from dense Mopane trees and Mopane scrub. Many herds of zebra and wildebees, some waterbuck, a few impala, and a few huge ele bulls…

zebras on the grassy plains

Also Chestnut-backed Sparrow-lark on the gravel roads and flocks of Wattled Starling (some in full wattle).

chestnut-backed Sparrow-lark
zebra walks past a wattled starling

At Shingwedzi, a Hamerkop, a juvenile Little Sparrowhawk hunting, Green Woodhoopoe, Golden-tailed & Bearded Woodpecker, Red-billed & Yellow-billed Hornbill, Arrow-marked Babbler, and a noisy early morning Hooligan’s Robin (actually White-browed Robin-chat),

little sparrowhawk juvenile
green wood-hoopoe

A Rock Monitor Lizard came to visit Jess at the chalet. She told it to footsack in ruder language than that.

GIF of a monitor lizard near Jessie
yellow flower shingwedzi
blue flower shingwedzi

Rescued! After eight days of blissful peace I started worrying. I remembered the long spanner I need to free my spare wheel from under the bakkie is in the camper in Pretoria. A flat would leave me stranded. I approached a sensible fellow Ford Ranger driver who is headed out on a wilderness walk tomorrow and he rescued me in a jiffy. Now I have a dusty spare wheel inside the cab where I can get to it, the nuisance of its bulk almost guaranteeing I won’t have a flat.

Jessie followed the route of this weevil, calling me across to photograph it. She then bravely also took pics with my camera’s super-macro. In my pic you may notice the bugs eyes are wider cos there was a lot of wheezing in getting down on my knees.

A pair of Bennett’s Woodpeckers foraged right outside our chalet.

bennet's woodpeckers on the ground
Bennet's woodpeckers on the ground 2

That’s it. After ten lovely nights in Kruger we’re on our way home.

~~oo0oo~~

Olifants Camp KNP

We followed the right bank of the Letaba south-eastwards towards Olifants camp, driving with the flow then hit the left bank of the Olifants, flowing even browner and more strongly. Now we’re driving against the flow, the confluence of these great Lowveld rivers somewhere behind us.

Four ‘Thunderbirds’ crossed the road (Ground Hornbill), three of them flying up into trees; new antelope seen: Kudu and Nyala.

Twenty five eles came down to drink below me as I drank coffee at the Olifants camp restaurant while Jess had a nap in our chalet. Five wandered back into the bush while the big Ma led the others, including smallies, across the wide and swiftly flowing Olifants river. Lovely to watch the crossing. Every now and then a little one would disappear underwater and the rest would wait till they found their footing and emerged again, trunk held high.

Tracking & Signs of the Wild

Signs of carnage on our stoep! A kill? Looks like a big eagle caught an old grey and white goat and plucked out all it’s fur.

Oh, hang on, cancel that. I just remembered Jess gave me a haircut. She cuts the parts I can’t see. Back there. Behind me.

~~oo0oo~~

White-bellied Sunbird, Paradise Flycatcher, African Firefinch, Kurrichane Thrush, Bataleur, Marabou & Saddle-Billed Storks, Fish Eagle, Wahlbergs Eagle, Goliath Heron, House Sparrow, Brown-crowned Tchagra,

Yellow-bellied Sand Snake spotted by Jess in camp.

Letaba Camp KNP

We’re back in the Kruger Park as we wait for our camper to be de-rusted. Staying in chalets, to Jessie’s delight.

Late afternoon view across the Letaba from the restaurant stoep.

Restaurant Scops owlet – right above one of the outdoor tables.

Four kingfishers. Here’s the Woodland:

The Letaba eles and squirrels and monkeys were all well-behaved. The daughter not so much when I said Hey, Smile! in the elephant museum.

Lots of tree squirrels in camp. One darting across my path looked different. Turned out to be a Dwarf Mongoose living under the spreading root mass of a palm tree.

Owls: Verreaux’s Eagle, Barred, Pearl-spotted, Scops. Doves: Red-eyed, Mourning, Laughing, Ring-necked, Green Pigeon. Kingfishers: Grey-headed, Woodlands, Pied, Brown-hooded. Storks: Openbill, Marabou, Saddle-Bill. Barbets: Crested, Black-collared. Herons: Grey, Goliath, Striated.

Grey-headed Bush-shrike, Retz’s Helmet-shrike, Puffback, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Green-backed Camaroptera, Grey-headed Sparrow, FT Drongo, Water Thick-knee, Natal Spurfowl, Egyptian Goose, Blacksmith Lapwing, Lilac-breasted Roller, White-fronted Bee-eater, Fish Eagle, White-faced Whistling Duck, Palm Swift, African Oriole, Grey Go-away Bird, Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Violet-eared Waxbill, Indian Myna, Ground Hornbill,

Then the peace was disturbed by a flurry of phone calls where we could barely hear each other and a stream of messages I couldn’t reply to. Very poor comms. All were accusing me of getting older on April Fools Day, some using rude language like ‘septuagenerian’ is there even such a thing? Time to move camp…

~~oo0oo~~

KNP – Kruger National Park

A Flying Visit

Zeens has been and gone. She arrived Saturday, we fetched her at the Richards Bay airport and then raided Woolies. We’d heard of the big floods in Natal so it seems we feared famine or being stranded in our cottage on stilts, gazing out, trapped like whats’isname on his ark. We shopped as if we were contestants in a game show, filling a trolley with two suppers and a picnic brekker and lunch. Later we ate like barons at a banquet. Good, filling, easy to prepare food. And dessert.

Saturday afternoon we drove around Umlalazi Nature Reserve, and walked to the beach – a short 100m over the dune on a boardwalk.

Then Sunday we drove about two hours – first north, then west at the Mtubatuba turnoff to iMfolosi, as it’s now spelt.

Found our usual breakfast spot, then the big picnic spot on the Black Mfolosi river for a great lunch.

Not much game, as there’s lots of surface water and the grass is high, the bushes and trees thick with beautiful greenery. But the giraffe, zebra, wild beasts, impala, nyala, wartpigs all looking plump n healthy. Five rhino wallowing. No eles till I worked out a plan to lure them out of hiding. ‘Open the Liquorice Allsorts, Jess. Eles can’t resist the sound of the rustling of Allsorts packets.’ Jess rolled her eyes but within a minute of us chewing the sweets she said, ‘There! On that hillside!’  Just like I said, eight eles as we were leaving.

Action shot: A swallow, a butterfly and some rhino.

Our best – and unusual – sighting was a very large herd of vultures on the hoof. Over a hundred I’d guess, on the ground.

We decided it was a VAN – Vultures Annual Necrofest, something like a funeral undertakers convention, like AVBOB. After they’d done caucussing and some lobbying for more lions in the park, they were going to change into their mournful tuxedos for the dinner and ball that evening. Offal on the menu.

On the way out, an oncoming car waved to attract our attention, then pointed up to the sky. There they were, lots of them, wheeling around lazily in the thermals, doing the Nekhbet waltz at the sky ball.

Hat tip to Jess, sitting quietly in the back: We would not have spotted the vultures or the eles, as both were far away, and me n Zena were nattering about the olden daze; but Jessie’s eagle eyes did.

Another big supper, a good night’s sleep, followed by a Jessie breakfast and then we had to take Zeens back to the metropolis of Richards Bay already. She came in on a 30-seater, but as Jess and I left, a short 737 flew in, so I think Zeens left in a bigger plane.

We were lucky with the weather – not too hot for us, tho Z felt the heat and humidity. We stuck her in the aircon’d room so she got good sleeps. And she’s always welcome – she’s kind to Jess!

~~oo0oo~~

What’s That Noise?

Twice I heard it coming from the forest in front of my deck. A deep rough short growl. Some sort of animal. Maybe bushbuck can growl too, not just bark? I thought.

Both times a pedestrian was walking past at the time, so maybe it was humans weirdly clearing their throats?  Dunno. Mystery noise.

Later around sunset, sipping red wine and scanning around with my binocs I spotted a Palm-nut Vulture right on top of a tall Douglas Fir. Yay! I love it when birds sit still. Time to show off my little camera’s zoom.

The Palm-nut Vulture Gypohierax angolensis is a real Mtunzini special and I hadn’t seen one yet in the seven weeks we’ve been here.

Reading about it on my Roberts Bird Guide app, I suddenly realised that strange call I’d heard this afternoon may have been the vulture!
They say, “Call: Deep grah, ahrrrrr call, also grog-grog-grog notes,” so probably.

Told Jess about the bird, showed her the pics and described it’s call. Bladdy terrible child said:
Ah, like you when you’re clearing your throat.

No supper for her. Oh wait, she’s cooking tonight . .

~~oo0oo~~

Mother Mary Call

Tell me where you’re staying again.

We’re in Mtunzini in a lovely wooden cottage on stilts in a forest. Lots of birds, Mom.

Well, be careful of the elephants.

Our forest doesn’t have elephants.

Good. The last time I saw elephants in a circus in Harrismith we sat in the high seats back from the circus ring. One of the town’s awfully fancy ladies walked in and sat in the front row at ring level. She was wearing her hair piled up high and her dress cost as much as a small car. Tickey the clown came in carrying two buckets of water. He threw one in the ring, wetting the sawdust, then threw the 2nd bucket straight at fancy madame, who shrieked and dived to the side. It was filled with confetti!

…

Next, we discussed cellphones and telephones:

At 95 Stuart the phone table was a converted hatstand. On the plot outside town – Birdhaven – the phone was fixed onto the wall. I kept a chair next to it to sit on while chatting.

Mrs Rogers from the forestry* phoned one day. You know Mrs Swanepoel, she said, We use this party line as a business phone, and your kids are on the line all the time! Terribly sorry Mrs Rogers. It won’t happen again! And I took away the chair so you kids couldn’t stand on it to reach the phone!

Seems I had a deprived childhood.

…

*(actually the pine plantation – plantations are not forests!)

Hold My Beer!

When Aitch and I were dating I got invited to a farewell party in Westville. Mike Coppinger and Jumbo Williams were leaving for Zambia to hop onto the Zambezi and kayak their way to the Indian Ocean and they needed a bunch of fellow kayakers to drink them on their way.

We met there after work and it was a festive opskop with a lot of hooligans in a well-stocked pub. After a few pints I took control of the situation and demonstrated who was in charge by casually suggesting to Aitch that we leave my car there and she drive me home at the end of this excellent jol as I could see it was going to be a big one. Then she could give me a lift back to my car in the morning.

Well . .

She looked me dead in the eye and ordered two beers. Proceeded to say Me Too whenever I had another, something she really was not actually equipped to do. Soon she was rather wobbly and as I had also had a few, we decided to call a taxi and leave both cars behind.

Gave me a hard time that one for the full twenty six years I knew her.

~~oo0oo~~

Proper Order Restored

After two years and nine months of sad stoeplessness, order has at last been restored. I have a stoep, a LaZboy, my coffee and my binoculars in place again as they should be.

Aaah

~~oo0oo~~

stoep – porch, patio, deck, veranda

And: My coffee got an upgrade – and a Narina Trogon is hooting as I sip n scribble.

And now a Bronze Caco is going creep and a Bush Squeaker is going sweep. Paradise.

And now even guest beds! OK, now it’s getting a bit worrying ..

Nearly three weeks on my stoep and here’s the birdlist:

Eastern Golden Weaver, Dark-backed Weaver, White-eared Barbet, Dark-capped Bulbul, Hadeda, Hamerkop, Yellow-rumped Tinker, Palm Swift, European Bee-eater, Puffback, Red-eyed Dove, Yellow-bellied Greenbul, Redcapped Robin-chat, Purple-crested Turaco, Purple-banded (or Marico) Sunbird, Olive Sunbird, Emerald Cuckoo, Klaas’ Cuckoo, Trumpeter Hornbill, Gorgeous Bush-shrike, Narina Trogon, Yellow-billed Kite, Burchell’s Coucal, Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Woolly-necked Stork, Sombre Greenbul, Amethyst Sunbird, Bronze Mannikin, Green-backed Camaroptera, Crowned Eagle, Speckled Mousebird, Southern Boubou, Red-backed Mannikin, Tambourine Dove, Green Malkoha, Diederik Cuckoo, Spectacled Weaver, Crested Barbet, Violet-backed Starling, Black-bellied Starling, African Goshawk, Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Lesser Honeyguide, White-faced Owl?, Black-collared Barbet, Cape White-eye, [Scaly-throat HG being fed by GT Woodpeck!], Fiery-necked Night jar, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Wood Owl, Grey Waxbill, Collared Sunbird, African Fish Eagle, White-faced Whistling Duck, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Palm Nut Vulture, Crested Barbet (heard), Lipstick (don’t call me common) Waxbill, Yellow-streaked Greenbul,

At the lagoon: Common Ringed Plover

Now we can explore