Tag Archives: Tarryn Frame

isiMangaliso

Lucky me, Jess chose St Lucia village for a three night getaway with good friend Tarryn for her birthday this year. The beautiful isiMangaliso Wetland Park is nearby, and I thought, ‘Great!’

The word mangaliso means ‘miraculous’ or ‘wondrous’ or ‘amazing’ in isiZulu, and it lives up to its billing. The tiny section I explored this time is marked on the map of the greater park in squiggly yellow: from St Lucia estuary to 20km up the Eastern Shores. I’ve been to many corners of this amazing place since my first visit ca.1965.

Birds I was looking for were White-backed Duck and Southern Banded Snake-Eagle (my main targets, I hadn’t seen them in ages); Also Lesser Moorhen; Rufous-bellied Heron; Pygmy Goose; and I saw all of those. Plus, as a bonus, Half-collared Kingfisher and Green Coucal – now Green Malkoha. I stared at these last two thru my lovely Zeiss binocs and by the time I remembered the camera they’d moved off. I’m still mainly a binocular person, not a photographer! Gazing in awesome wonder rather than recording.

The Samsung phone feature pic is on the vlei loop road, looking west across Ngunuza Vlei towards the setting sun. I turned round where the road went underwater as I wasn’t sure of the depth of the water flowing across the road. Being 2WD, lazy to deflate my tyres, and on my own, I thought best let discretion be the better part of valour! And retracing your steps is a new road anyway – you never cross the same river twice*. On the map, the vlei is south of Mission Rocks. What a joy the frog calls are all over the park after good rains.

I’ll upload pics when I get home – (done) – left my Canon to laptop cable behind! My mighty Canon is a SX620 HS. Lovely pocket camera, tragically ‘discontinued!’

Meanwhile, Gen Z was taking pics of their food. This in Mtunzini, well south of St Lucia.

~~oo0oo~~

Some more birds seen and heard: Livingstone’s Turaco; Tambourine, Red-eyed & Emerald-spotted Doves; Nerina Trogon; Yellow-throated Longclaw; Rufous-naped Lark; Rattlng Cisticola; Red-breasted & Barn Swallow; Black Saw-wing; Jacana; Black Crake; Three-banded Plover; Intermediate Egret; Dabchick (Little Grebe); Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird; Square-tailed Drongo; Hamerkop; Reed Cormorant; Darter; Spurwing & Egyptian Geese; Puffback puffing; Yellow-bellied Greenbul; Black-capped Bulbul; Speckled Mousebird; Orange-breasted & Gorgeous Bush-shrike; African Goshawk; Fish Eagle; Crowned & Trumpeter Hornbills; Burchell’s Coucal; Red-chested Cuckoo; Yellow-billed Kite; Hadeda; European & Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters; Harrier Hawk/Gymnogene; Green-backed Camaroptera; Cape & Pied Wagtails; Crested Guineafowl; Southern Boubou; Water Thick-knee; Brown-hooded & Striped Kingfishers; Wattled Lapwing; Tawny-flanked Prinia; Black-crowned Tchagra;

~~oo0oo~~

For more organised and more frequent trips into Southern Africa’s wild places, see Dewetswild. Dries De Wet recently went to isiMangaliso – he guides photographic safaris. His blogpost on his last visit is what prompted me to look for that duck and that snake-eagle.

*Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher said, ‘No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.’

Mfolosi – A Quickie

Mfolosi again. Just one night with three twenty year old lasses, Jess, Tarryn & Jordie.

– Kill Site! –

On the way up north one of my pet theories got a bit of backing evidence! When birding by car, I say, ‘Stop anywhere: There will almost always be some birds around’. Busting for a leak I stopped under a bridge on the N2 North. While sighing with relief, I spotted what looked like a black plastic bag flapping in the breeze in a small tree about 30m back; but my binocs revealed it to be a long-crested eagle staring intently at the ground a mere metre below it; then it pounced and fossicked around in the grass; when it flew up it had a plump grey rat with a shortish tail in its beak – a vlei rat, I’d guess. What a lovely sighting at a chance stop.

3 eles, 4 buff, 1 rhino + impalas on those sandbanks
– the tree that Jess hit! – or almost hit! –

In the reserve Jess took the wheel of the mighty Ford Ranger awhile on a quiet road on the far side, near the western gate; she hadn’t driven for a while, so I was pleased when she asked to. She did real well until – Murphy’s Law! – an open-top Land Cruiser came around the corner right in front of her, full of tourists and driven by a handsome tour guide, his tiny tight khaki shorts visible cos no door;

Distracted, and having to suddenly remember foot off the accelerator, clutch in, steer left and gently brake was a bit too much; so she just drove into a little thorn tree, slammed on brakes and stalled. I pretended to be peering into the thorns, some of which were inside my open window, through my binocs with keen interest!

Spot the Jessie skid marks on the gravel!

~~oo0oo~~