Marievale Bird Sanctuary

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Reitvlei Nature Reserve

 Reitvlei Nature Reserve lies in the high grasslands which surround Pretoria. It is 41 kms from our house here in Burkea Park. It is virtually the last remnant of grassland habitat within the city of Pretoria. It extends over 4,800 hectares & has a bird list over 300 species. It has been re-stocked with game, which used to live here before humans took over.

Most of the reserve looks like this.

Believe it or not, one is still in the city limits here!

There is also a huge vlei in the middle of the reserve.

Delana & I visited on 25th January & I went again on 27th. It has over 30kms of roads & tracks & is a delight to slowly drive around. It has some special birds, which are difficult to find, but it s a lovely day out & an easy trip from our home here.

Where there are dams, there is usually & bird hide

 & sometimes a picnic site nearby.

A pair of Southern Pochard on the dam.

Red-knobbed Coot

Whiskered Tern

White-throated Swallow

Common Reed Warbler

One of several really nice bird hides.

There are fantastic vistas from this hide.

One of the picnic sites near a dam.

The very scenic Otter's Bridge.

White-throated Swallow

They nest under the bridge.

Some of these small provincial parks put some of the national parks to shame in respect to facilities for visitors. Kruger in particular could be with a lot more hides & platforms, to scan the surrounding areas.

Plains game are common in this reserve.

Black Wildebeest a common high altitude species.

White Rhino

They have recently been re-introduced 

to the highveld.

Orange-throated Longclaw is common 

in highveld grasslands.

Zitting Cisticola

A very common species in the 

long grass of the highveld.

This is how far away this species is!

Wailing Cisticola

Cape White-eye

Female African Stonechat.

Male

Quailfinch

Long-tailed Widowbird

Female Long-tailed Widowbird.

Male Fan-tailed Widowbird

Male Red-collared Widowbird

Red Bishop

A very common bird, of both the vlei

 & grasslands

Red-billed Quelea

African Pipit

Fiscal Flycatcher

Cape Glossy Starling

We are very lucky to have this reserve quite close to our house. If we can, we will make it a regular birding location for us. Till the next time......

Mabula Game Reserve

 On 19th January we drove north along the N1 to Bela Bela. So far so good, then we hit the roadworks on the minor road. It took us nearly one & half hours to get the last 40 kms! However, we did arrive at our villa in Mabula Game Reserve early afternoon. The villa was exceptional both in its location & its interior. The view from the villa is stunning!

We enjoyed an early dinner & turned in as all of us were tired. The next morning some of us had a lay in & we spent most of the day in & around the villa. 

African Green Pigeon

Black-collared Barbet

Familiar Chat

Bush Squirrel

Saleh, he is a birder!

Plains Zebra

Lots of foals around.

Red Hartebeest

Eiland

Good numbers of Eiland are in the reserve.

Blesbok

Impala

Blue Wildebeest

Baby Blue Wildebeest

Black-backed Jackal

Young Black-backed Jackal

White Stork

White-faced Whistling Duck

Water Thick-knee

Amur Falcon

Male

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

Groundscraper Thrush

One of the things one can't do is self drive, so we had to wait for our evening game drive at 16.30 hours. Our driver & guide proved to be excellent & we all enjoyed the next few hours. We saw a wide variety of plains game & as dusk approached 3 Amur Falcons showed themselves. 

The roads are good & empty 

of other tourists!

The landscape is quite varied.

There are only six Elephants in the reserve

& here they all are!

Hippo out in the open.

Gemsbok

Quite common in this reserve.

White Rhino

Young Warthogs

One of the 12 Cape Vultures we saw.

European Bee-eater

Striped Kingfisher

Spotted Flycatcher

On 21st January we were up early for our early morning game drive. It proved to be a very pleasant morning with a good variety of birds & game seen. One of the good things about Mabula is the number of White Rhinos they have & they all have horns! 

In the hot tub!

The rest of the day was spent around the villa.

White Rhino

Giraffe

Young Giraffe

Southern Pied Babbler

On 22nd January Delana & I went to the shop outside the reserve. This was a good excuse for us to drive ourselves out of the reserve. It is 19kms each way & we took it slow to bird along the way. It was a very nice drive.

Bushveld Pipit

Recently fledged.

It is not often one gets such close views.

Calling for its parents.

African Wattled Lapwing

Blue Wildebeest with twins.

Hybrid Tsessebe/Blesbok 

Baby Tsessebe

Sable

Baby White Rhino getting a scratch!

Mummy's turn!

A large family of Warthog

We found two male Cheetahs having some downtime!

What a great sighting!

Yet more Rhinos!

We saw an incredible 23 Rhinos today!

A nice Water Monitor was by the side of the dam.

We also came across a herd of 18 Sable.

Female Lesser Kestrel

Amur Falcon

We saw 14 of these great little Falcons.

Lilac breasted Roller

Plain-backed Pipit

African Pipit

The final stop of the day was a small dam.

And the stop really paid off!

On the far side of the dam 

we spotted a Dwarf Bittern!

It's the best I could do with the combination of

fading light & distance.

The next day the light was fantastic!

Today we visited a new area in the north 

of the reserve.

It was a very scenic area.

On the 24th January we again went with Jacques, this time to the north of the reserve. We saw a lot less game than on previous days, but we did see some nice birds.

Giraffe

Warthog

Levaillant's Cuckoo

Pied Kingfisher

Sunbathing.

Woodland Kingfisher

European Bee-eater

Immature Swallow-tailed Bee-eater.

Adult

Tinkling Cisticola

This is a very localised & scarce species

 throughout it's range.

Scaly Weaver

We then re-visited the dam& the Dwarf Bittern

was again present, but very distant.

Terrible photography, but it is a Dwarf Bittern!

The Abu Dhabi family.

Saleh, my grandson.

Then it was all about packing & leaving this beautiful villa. It had been an excellent five night stay & we would definitely go back to Mabula. It was also great spending time with Clare, Ahmed & Saleh. 

On the way to the airport!

On the aeroplane, going back to Abu Dhabi.

Delana & I were back in the Pretoria house. It is a bit like indoor camping, as we have sold all our furniture!

In the afternoon we went on a game drive with Jaques. It turned out to be an excellent drive, with some great mammals & birds seen. The first bird we saw on the drive, was a recently fledged Bushveld Pipit. It gave really great views. This is often a species that is difficult to locate & even more difficult to photograph!