South Africa – Best of the Cape
Thursday 10th to Friday 25th September 2009
AA9021
South
Africa is justifiably one of the world’s leading wildlife destinations.
It is particularly well known for the rich diversity of its avifauna:
more than 800 recorded species, a total which includes a high proportion
that are endemic to Southern Africa. This tour concentrates on the
South-Western Cape and has been specifically designed to see as many as
possible of the 80-plus endemic bird species that occur there in the
succulent Karoo and Fynbos habitats. The Karoo is an area of semi-desert
scrubland with little standing water, while the Fynbos is botanically
rich, with an enormous variety of plant species. Our itinerary incorporates many of the premier sites and venues in the Western Cape
and includes The Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, Kirstenbosch
Botanical Gardens, the West Coast National Park at Langebaan, Lambert’s
Bay Cedarberg Mountains, Bontebok National Park and De Hoop Nature
Reserve. To add a further dimension to the tour we have included a
pelagic boat tour from Simon’s Town, in search of albatrosses, petrels,
shearwaters and cetaceans. We will start and finish our tour in Cape
Town, the city dominated by the 3,300-feet high Table Mountain, and we
shall visit the Cape of Good Hope. As always in South Africa, comfort,
good food and wine await us.
Day 1: A morning flight from UK to South Africa. After arriving at
Cape Town International Airport we will transfer to Noordhoek.
Overnight - Afton Grove, Noordhoek
Days 2 - 4: Perhaps one of our
first venues will be a colony of African Penguins. Other endemic species
we should see on our first day are Cape Cormorant, Cape Bulbul, Cape
Whiteeye, White-backed Mousebird and Hartlaub’s Gull. There are many
places of interest to visit from our base in search of Cape endemics and
other South African birds. We will visit the famous Kirstenbosch
Botanical Gardens for Cape Sugarbird, Orange-breasted & Southern
Double-collared Sunbird and with some searching, hopefully the elusive
Knysna Warbler. One day will be spent visiting the uniquely beautiful
Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve where a number of endemics occur. Birds
to look out for are Grey-winged Francolin, Cape Rock Thrush, Sentinel
Rock Thrush, Cape Siskin and Cape Grassbird. Cape Gannets should be seen
offshore. Rondevlei Nature Reserve and Strandfontein Sewage Works will
also be visited where waterfowl such as Cape Shoveler and South African
Shelduck will be encountered. Cape Francolin is common and Burchell’s
Coucal, Karoo Prinia and Fiscal Flycatcher should also be seen. Time
will be allowed for a drive through Somerset West to Rooi Els, where we
will walk in search of the scarce and localised Cape Rock Jumper. A
Pelagic trip from nearby Simon’s Town is planned for Saturday morning.
Our boat will head out into the Atlantic beyond Cape Point to the
continental shelf in search of fishing trawlers. Seabirds congregate in
thousands when the nets are drawn. These could include Shy Back-browed
and Yellow – nosed Albatrosses, both Southern and Northern Giant Petrel,
Pintado Petrel, Great Shearwater, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel and lots more.
Overnights - Afton Grove, Noordhoek
Days 5 & 6: Today we will head
northwards on the coastal highway to the West Coast National Park. We’ll
pass through some interesting strandveld habitat on the way where we
could encounter Southern Black Korhaan, Black Harrier and other
interesting dry habitat birds. This large reserve has a great diversity
of habitats and some time will be spent exploring these as well as
paying a visit to a bird hide at Geelbek, which overlooks extensive
mudflats. A great variety of migrant shorebirds congregate in this area,
including Kittlitz’s, Chestnut-banded & White-fronted Plovers,
Greenshank, Sanderling, Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper. Some of the
arid region endemics such as Namaqua Sandgrouse, Acacia Pied Barbet,
Cape Long-billed, Karoo and Large-billed Larks could be encountered as
well.
Overnights - The Farmhouse, Langebaan
Day 7: Further north we’ll spend
some time birdwatching at Velddrif and the Berg River and still further
north we’ll visit Verlorenvlei, a large freshwater marsh with extensive
marginal vegetation. There will be lots of good birdwatching along much
of the route to Lambert's Bay and we should see endemic birds such as
Mountain Wheatear, Sickle-winged Chat, Jackal Buzzard, Grey-backed
Sparrow-Lark, Cape Long-billed, Karoo & Large-billed Larks, Anteating
Chat, Chestnut-vented Titbabbler, Pied Starling and many other species.
We should reach our hotel at Lambert’s Bay in the afternoon, which is
within close walking distance of the harbour,
where there is a breeding colony of Cape Gannets and Cape Cormorants.
The surrounding Strandveld is a good place to find Rufous-eared Warbler,
Yellow & White-throated Canaries and Chat Flycatcher.
Overnight - Lambert’s Bay
Days 8 & 9: Today our travels
will take us inland, through the Cedarberg Mountains where we can look
for Ground Woodpecker, Cape Sugarbird and Protea Seedeater. We also
drive through interesting semi-desert country and should get African
Red-eyed Bulbul, Cape Penduline Tit and Black-headed Canary. Our
destination is the small village of Calvinia where we stay in the
original farmhouse, now converted to a private guest house. The
Akkerendam Nature Reserve
is nearby and is one of the best places find the elusive
Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, which has a limited range. Other birds to
look out for are Ludwig’s Bustard, Namaqua Warbler and Layard’s
Titbabbler.
Overnights – Calvinia
Days 10 & 11: Heading southwards
through the arid Karoo we arrive at the historical village of
Matjiesfontein. Our hotel is situated in the heart of the Karoo and on
the second day we will make an excursion to Anysberg Nature Reserve, a
large reserve in the Little Karoo, situated in the transitional zone
between the fynbos and Karoo habitats. Consequently a good variety of
birds are present including Southern Tchagra, Dusky Sunbird, Pririt
Batis, Yellow-tufted Pipit and Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk.
Overnights – Matjiesfontein
Days 12 - 14: A pleasant drive
today through the Little Karoo and some steep mountain passes to
Swellendam where we overnight in a private guest house in the village
named Roosje van der Kaap. From here we visit the nearby Bontebok
National Park which was proclaimed in 1960 to protect the Bontebok from
extinction. Large-billed, Agulhas Long-billed and Agulhas Clapper Larks,
Blue Crane, Grey Tit, Karoo Scrub Robin and Bokmakierie are species we
should see. We will also visit the De Hoop Nature Reserve, a large
reserve on the coast, which supports the only breeding colony of the
endangered Cape Vulture in the region. Namaqua Sandgrouse are plentiful
and other endemics include Southern Boubou, Grey-backed Cisticola and
Cape Longclaw. Time permitting we will drive to a nearby forested area
known as Grootvadersbos. This is an entirely new habitat and we should
have a chance of getting Forest Buzzard, Knysna Woodpecker, Olive Bush
Shrike, Forest Canary and Cape Batis. If we missed Victorin’s and Knysna
Warblers at Kirstenbosch we can endeavour to call them out at this
venue.
Overnights – Swellendam
Day 15: A leisurely morning, followed by birding en route to Cape Town, before driving to the airport to catch our overnight flight to the UK, where we arrive on Day 16.