'A' is for Aardvark

Aardvark at Mokaikai

How many of my children's books started with A is for Aardvark...

It has taken us decades to see this enigmatic nocturnal animal, night drives in the Karoo National Park came up empty handed, as did years of visiting the Kruger National Park.

So we were on the afternoon game drive at Mokaikai this weekend with our hosts June and Ross as well as with Howard and Jenny when we all had clear views across the grassland plain of an aardvark! What makes the sighting even more unique is that we had been talking about how challenging it is to see aardvarks and of the group on the vehicle only Howard had seen one before. He had just mentioned that in winter they are sometimes crepuscular when we realised that the creature we were looking at in the last hours of the afternoon sun was this highly priced mammal.

B is for Birding from the Bath.

Go Away Bird from the bath at Mokaikai

A singular pleasure of a Lodge experience must be the space created around the bathroom and its interaction with nature on its fringe.

I now have a bird list from the bath - early morning calling of a Freckled Nightjar, then rowdy Crested Francolins, as the sun was rising the visitors were prinias, waxbills, an oriole, go away birds, sunbirds, hornbills, drongos, camaropteras (still bleating), calling Ring-necked Doves, Crested Barbets, confiding male Mocking Chat...

A gentle way to bird and along with morning coffee and a rusk, does not get any better (except of course that Aardvark).

The Red-crested Korhaan on the grassland plain at Mokaikai

Finding the Mangrove Kingfisher

I managed to pry myself away from the TV  for some winter birding in balmy Kwa-Zulu Natal. This was no mean feat as July in South Africa is for making time to watch Wimbledom, Tour de France and of course, this year the awesome FIFA 2010 World Cup which has been a real treat. My family's blood has run orange for a month and today is crunch time.

My Big Year in 2009 evolved organically through the year with no real planning about rarities or specials. I realised too late that I had missed out on finding the Mangrove Kingfisher when it winters at Umlalazi on the North Coast. I had been so close too when I was at Tinley Manor in July last year. When Martie invited me back for some time at the beach my immediate thought was this bird that had not make my list!

Mangrove Kingfisher

Junior Gabela agreed to meet us at dawn and we made our way to the mangroves of Umlalazi. It was a fresh, crisp morning and I could feel the familiar rush of adrenaline that comes with the anticipation of birding in a beautiful place. And so did Fred, he was thrilled to be out on 4x4 tracks again. Mangroves are fascinating plants and are an important part of the KZN estuarine ecology. They live in silty soils in waterways that are salty with little available oxygen, conditions where most other plants would die. We waited quietly in a few spots with no luck. Flocks of starlings did fly-by's as did African Green Pigeons and then eventually Junior saw a bird pop out of the bush and it sat in the open for us, a wonderful lifer to start the day.

We watched the bird crouch behind the grasses in the mud and realised the dark 'tip' to the huge red bill was mud as it digs for crabs.

The last time I saw mangrove swamps was in the Daintree in Australia with Inel and Shawni. Mangroves grow on sheltered shores around most of Australia. They are most plentiful in the north where the large trees form dense forests on shore lines, river banks and estuaries. It was here that I had one of my birding highlights, seeing the Papuan Frogmouth sitting in the fork of a mangrove at dusk. Its the largest of the Australian Frogmouths and I nearly whooped with joy at seeing my first ever frogmouth.

The larger leafed tree on the left is the Black Mangrove with its air roots coming out of the swampy water. And below is the smaller leafed White mangrove.

We ended the day with 3 lifers, the briefest of glimpses of Broad-tailed Warblers in the long grasses around Ongoye Forest. And then onto Amatikulu for our second attempt for the Swamp Nightjar which I had dipped on during the Big Year. We flushed it with ease and had a good view before in went to ground again. So my plan to get to 700 birds on my Southern African list has made some progress - 6 to go!

A Day "In the Saddle"

One of our annual pleasures is following the Tour de France. For our day in the French Pyrenees we decided to find some of the 'cols' that the tour will ride this year. Its their 100th anniversary in the Pyrenees and there will be four days of riding in this beautiful part of France.

Of course our views were of snow capped peaks and in some places still lying a metre deep next to the road. These are two of the mountains we traced - the Ax 3 Domaines and then the Col des Ares, and we only just made it through, although we could not get through the Col de Portet d'Aspet.

Does not look steep - but wow, impressive gradients! Look forward to lying on the couch under a quilt and watching the cyclists tackling these glorious mountains. On our way home now......