We arrived at the flat in Pretoria on the evening of 12th March. We had had a couple of stops, chief among them was the dropping off of the trailer at Lynnewood in the hope of selling it. We no longer need it as we have the arrival of our off-road caravan next month. We then enjoyed a quiet evening at home with some load shedding!
We think Harry Potter stays here when he is in town.
The next day we drove the short distance to Johannesburg to our bed and breakfast place in Kempton Park. Delana had found it on the internet & what a little gem it turned out to be. Eccentric & old fashioned describes it nicely! We loved it! The reason we were staying over was because we were going to a concert at the nearby Emperor's Palace.
The road to Tonteldoos!
It is fairly remote here,
so called in at The Starks
for a tankard of ale!
On 14th March we drove to Dullstroom & on to the tiny hamlet of Tonteldoos, where we would stay for the next three nights in a chalet on the funnily named Wooly Bugger farm. It turned out to be a lovely place to stay, with decent birding on your doorstep.
The view from the front of the chalet.
Birding from the veranda was quite good.
A very comfortable place
to stay.
View from the back of the chalet in the evening .
Malachite Sunbird
Several individuals had come down
from the highlands & were feeding
around the chalet.
Levaillant's Cisticola
The next morning I was up early birding around the dam & nearby grasslands. I recorded a decent 43 species including a calling Little Bittern from the reedbeds. Presumably they are breeding here.
We then drove to Dullstroom & on to the De Berg road just to the north of the town. This road eventually meanders up into the high altitude grasslands & is great for some specialized & rather local species. We recorded Amur Falcon, Banded Martin & Buff-streaked Chat among a good variety of high altitude species.
Once we reached the high altitude grasslands we recorded Denham's Bustard & both Wing snapping & Pale-crowned Cisticolas.
We continued the drive by driving further north & circling around & returning on a parallel road that traversed some productive farmland. We saw a further 9 Amur Falcons, 31 European Bee-eaters & quite a few Ant-eating Chats.
On 16th March we spent most of the day at Verloren Vlei Nature Reserve. What a place this is! This is very much an unappreciated gem, with next to no visitors. We spent most of the day here driving the normal circular route & saw no one. The open vistas are magnificent, the wildlife interesting (although not used to cars & very skittish) &the birding has some localized species. We really enjoyed our time here & will definitely return soon.
On the drive back to the chalet came cross these locals who were really stuck. Their clutch had gone, so I towed them back home to the farm where they were working.
The next day were enjoyed a leisurely morning around the chalet, before packing up & driving back to Sabie Park. It had been an excellent little trip away from the heatwave that the lowveld was experiencing.
