5th February 2022 - Home eventually

 We had been told that our hotel stay/food etc was covered until we needed to leave for the airport at 3.15. The next morning we found the restaurant and had a really lovely breakfast with lots of choices. Meeting up with some of the others we were told we would have to pay for lunch etc. so that took a bit of sorting out with a very helpful lady at check in. We thought we would go for a walk and see if there were any birds but were advised it wasn’t safe so we had to make do with some grassy grounds round the hotel, with a backdrop of planes coming and going at the airport.

We spent most of the morning on a video call with the BOC meeting before having lunch, rejoining the BOC and then collecting our luggage and heading for the airport. We sailed through the temperature checks and queued at the Virgin desk, which was who we were now flying with, we had had been told, eventually. All went well until our tickets were checked and for some unfathomable reason, I was booked on a flight for today, but David was booked on the flight tomorrow. The check in lady couldn’t understand why but couldn’t change the flight because it had been made by BA so we then toured the airport looking for the right desk, where we could get the flight changed. We only had an hour and the airport was large. Eventually we managed to get it changed and we then raced back to check in with 10 minutes to spare. 

The flight back was smooth and uneventful, apart from the passenger next to me losing his glasses. We eventually arrived back at 7.15 am on a chilly Sunday morning. 

4th February 2022 - The trip Home

 We had a lazier start to the day with breakfast and then went for a walk round the area. We had excellent views of a Stork, found a group of pin-tailed Whydah and came across a skulky pair of thrushes which took a while to see clearly and didn’t give good photos. We walked down to the Golf Course for lunch, avoiding the gun toting guards, and then returned to finish packing and head for the airport for a 3.15 flight to Johannesburg with connections to Zurich and then onto London. We had spent some time filling in the Locator/health declarations for Switzerland and London.

Check in went smoothly and we went through into departure. Watching the display and our flight was delayed but due in in time for us to catch the connecting flight to Zurich and onto London. The arrival time got later and later and it became obvious that we would miss our flight. An announcement came over the tannoy asking us to return to the check in desk, urgently. As David had gone to the loo it was a bit of a fraught few minutes trying to find him. We then went back through security to the desk. ‘You’re going to miss your flight’ was the comment! We were then offered a direct, British Airways flight later in the evening, which we accepted, returned back through security and watched the arrival time of our flight get later and later. Eventually it became obvious that we weren’t going to catch the BA flight either. We returned back through security to the desk where there was a queue of customers all missing connecting flights. One couple were on a flight to Miami for a cruise, one was a worker on a cruise ship and had to get to Italy to catch his ship.

In the middle of all this was a man who had come to collect his wife who was on the incoming flight so she was texting him the situation with them sitting on the plane for 4 hours and eventually being taken off and put on another plane. 

Our luggage was brought back to check in and we were given the option of booking into a hotel in Durban and flying out the next day, or going to Johannesburg and booking in there. We chose to stay but we’re then told there were no rooms available so we had to rebook onto the flight and we were told we would be met at the airport and taken to a hotel for the night. They also said we were booked onto a direct flight to London the next day. 

We eventually left Durban around 11.30 but not before the airport Security had to be called to remove a couple of drunk men who were sitting behind me, and managed to hit me on my head several times with the flying fists and arms.

Arrival at Johannesburg was around 1.00 am on the Saturday. There was no one there to greet us and no idea where we should go. We managed to find a kiosk and demand help, they said they had phoned upstairs and promptly closed the kiosk! Finally a man showed up and escorted us to some mini busses which took us to a nearby hotel where we eventually booked in around 1.45. We were taken up to our rooms and… one of them hadn’t been cleaned! We had to go back downstairs and re book in. We entered our rooms, I changed into my pyjamas and fell into bed at about 2.00am.

3rd February 2022 - Back to Durban

 Another early start, with all our luggage, had us heading out to the Marutswa Forest to try and find Cape Parrot, unfortunately unsuccessfully, but we did see African Olive Pigeaon, Terrestrial Brownbul, Speckled Mousebird, Amethyst and Malachite Sunbirds, African Firefinch and Forest Canary. We had breakfast at an abandoned visitor center, which seemed a real shame as the views were amazing. 

 

We then headed to the Mkomazi Valley. The gate was locked so Aldo had to drive down to the Center for the key so we spent some time searching the grassland area opposite. We manage to hear Fan-tailed Grassbird and saw Swee Waxbill, Lazy Cisticola, Black-Saw-wing and House Martins. There were a couple of nice plants in flower but it was a bit lumpy and we had to negotiated the slope carefully. 

Aldo returned with the key and we drove across the slopes to a viewpoint - we had  and eventually we saw at least two, one adult and one juvenile, Blue Swallow feeding along the valley and round the trees.

 We also found an amazing cricket species. We then made our way down the valley to Highover, a South African Natural Heritage Site for lunch. The first car managed to see Purple-crested Turaco but it had gone by the time we stopped. We did have Natal Spurfowl which crossed the road, and around the center we saw Green Wood Hoope, Black-headed Oriole, Cale Starling, Thick-billed weaver and Golden-breasted Bunting. 

After lunch we began the long journey back to Durban. We stopped at the Mkomazi River were we had great views of Crowned Eagle in the trees as well as Greater Striped Swallows on the wires. 

Arriving back at Afra Lala we checked in as we weren't leaving until tomorrow. Had we known that the trip would be back at the time it did we could have got a flight home this evening. As it was we had an extra day before our late afternoon flight back home. Some of the group were taking part in the extension so there were 8 of us for dinner - we returned to the Golf Course and had another lovely meal. 
 

Sani Pass 2nd Februaury 2022

We had an early start, met our local guides, Stuart and Aldo, loaded up the vans and headed towards the Sani Pass to Lesotho. We had a couple of stops along the road, one stop found Southern Boubou, Bokmakierie, African Yellow Warbler, Bush Blackcap and Swee waxbill, but the highlight was a Red-throated Wryneck, which sat up in the top of a tree and gave reasonable views. We stopped for breakfast at a riverside area, Mkonazana in the Drakensberg Park. We scanned around and eventually managed to see Half-collared Kingfisher as well as Cape Batis, Olive Thrush, Fiscal Flycatcher, Brimstone and some Cape Canaries and Streaky-headed Seedeaters. There were also a couple of butterflies and damselflies in the vegetation.
After breakfast, we headed towards the pass. The scemery was greta and there were lots of flowers, mainly various Kniphofias giving a splash of colour. Along the river we saw a couple of African Black Duck and on the boulder in the meadow were a pair of Ground Woodpeckers. Before we gor to the Border area, we stopped and Stewart brought a sack out of the van - he opened the neck and releaded a Rinhals Spitting Cobra from the sack. It settled on the ground and gave excellent views before moving off through the vegetation toward some rocks. On the way up we had good views of  Karoo Prinia, Wailing Cisticola, Cape Rock Thrush, Buff-streaked Chat and Cape Bunting with brief views of Horus Swift. Just before the border post we found our first Drakensberg Rockjumper, which gave great views as it fed among the rocks, and we also had Cape and Bearded Vultures flying over. We also saw Mountain Reedbuck and Grey Rhebuck as we travelled higher.
We had to stop at the Lesotho border and take a PCR test. While we waited for the results we looked around the bushes with a few birds flitting about. One of our group tested positive so he had to travel back to the accommodation while the rest of us carried on up. Once we got to the top, around 9,100 feet, we found a different set of birds among the Karoo-type vegetation. We managed to see Layard's Warbler, Sentinel Rock Thrush, Mountain Wheatear and Yellow Canary. We also got good views of Slogget's Vlei Rat which were abundant around the buildings at the top. We stopped for lunch in a mini quarry where Dom found a Clicking Stream Frog and we saw Fairy Flycatcher, and heard and saw unexpectedly numerous Mountain Pipts. There were a couple of encounters with sheep and goats and their herders. The young lads are sent off for the summer to care for the flocks as they roam around the mountains.
We stopped for a drink at the Sani Top Chalet, the highest pub in Africa. We had more views of the Vlei Rats and Drakensberg Rockjumpers before making our way down again. On one of the hairpins we encountered a man with a load of wood - quite a trek. We did manage to get fleeting views of Barratt's Warbler as well as some lovely flowers.
We spent the rest of the day birding around Himmeville with Grey-crowned Crane, White Stork, Jackal Buzzard, Ant-eating Chat, Quailfinch and Red-collared, Fan-tailed and Long-tailed Widowbirds. We then returned to our Lodge for a lovely meal. Afterwards we checked for bats but only got the same as the night before - we also walked round with the thermal camera and found a couple more  Raucous Toads. 

 

Heading for Himmeville. February 1st

 We had an early start with tea and biscuits, loaded our stuff into one of the two vans and set off. Our first stop was by some grassland in the Karkloof area, where we spent much of the morning. There was a Long-crested Eagle sitting on a post and over our heads was a flock of Southern Bald Ibis. As we watched, they came down in a field so we drove along to a track off the road and stopped to scope them. Among the Ibis were a few Hadeda and a Black-wing Lapwing. Martial Eagle, Jackal Buzzard and a Honey Buzzard flew over. We had Drakensberg Prinia in the hedgerow and lots of Red-collared Widowbirds. We then drove along a gravel track into a timber area and stopped to scan around. Here we had good views of Neddicky, African Firefinch, Dusky Indigobird, Golden-breasted Bunting and Black Saw-wing. A Cape Grassbird was calling in the scrub but wasn't seen. A Double-collared Sunbird was heard in a small cleared area, so some of us walked closer and eventually managed to see the bird feeding among the flowers. 

We then drove further into Kwa-Zulu National Park and arrived the main site for the morning, Benvie Gardens. We had our breakfast with birds calling around us and then a walk around the grounds among the trees. We found Woolly-necked Stork, Olive Thrush, African Paradise Flycatcher, Black-headed Oriole, Forest Canary, Bar-throated Apalis and Cape Batis among others. As we began to walk back an Orange Ground Thrush was found and I eventually managed to see it skulking in the bottom of the bushes. 2 Crowned Eagles displayed above the our heads, viewed through the tree canopy.

After a quick lunch we moved on towards the Drakensbergs, going further inland and up in elevation. We travelled a gravel track and stopped at a dam just outside Himmeville and scanned across the water. Here we saw Cape Shoveller, South African Shelduck, African Spoonbill and African Wattled Lapwing. Slightly obscured but visible were a pair of Grey Crowned Cranes. Unfortunately, the 'usual' Wattled Cranes were absent.

Further along the ttack we stopped and scanned across the fields where there were many Long-tailed Widowbirds, performing their entertaining display flights. Other birds here were Yellow-crowned Bishops, Pale-crowned Cisticola, Pin-tailed Whydah and African Stonechats.

We then drove on to our accommodation which was set out in large lawns with a view across to some lakes. We settled in and then went for a walk round. Dinner was in the restaurant and the food was delicious. On the step up to the accommodation we found a Raucous Toad and a walk round with the bat detector located some Cape Serotine bats but a little distance away, probably over the water at the bottom of the property grounds.