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.