Morning all,

Much better weather for game viewing since later yesterday. We had a great symphony of calling birds this morning which include grey-tit flycatcher, Jameson's and African firefinches, black-headed oriole, crowned hornbill, red-capped- and white-browed robin-chats, Yellow-breasted apalis and listen carefully to distinguish between similar calls of black cuckooshrike and Brubru. Good sightings were again red-faced cisticola, lesser honeyguide at the lodge, collared sunbird, african green-pigeon, Klaas's cuckoo and an immature fork-tailed drongo assaulting one of our our guests!

We encountered one nice herd of buffalo up close and personal and also saw dozens of giraffe. Also found some incredibly large leopard tracks in the Msunduze on the south-western boundary of ZRR.

Good morning all,

Short drive yesterday afternoon delivered some good sightings. Quite a few buffalo with some very young calves were encountered. Birds of note were black cuckooshrike, golden-tailed woodpecker, African pygmy- and striped kingfishers all while being serenaded by calling green-backed camaroptera, red-faced cisticola, grey-tit flycatcher, african paradise flycatcher, black-headed oriole and black-and brown-crowned tchagra's.

The Msunduze is flowing so thought has to go into possible routes as it is not crossable at the moment. Morning drive was very nice though. Lots of game including red duiker and plenty of common reedbuck. The amount of Kudu at this time is also something to behold. Birding again excellent. Heard lazy cisticola, olive sunbird, black cuckoo and saw plenty of african green-pigeon, green wood-hoopoe, common scimitarbill, black-bellied- and violet-backed starlings, lesser honeyguide, white-crested helmetshrikes and european bee-eaters. Raptors that were seen are Steppe buzzard, Wahlberg's eagle and a nicely perched yellow-billed kite.

Hi all,

Birding good for some twitchers this afternoon. Jacobin's, Diederick's, black and Klaas's cuckoo all seen together with black cuckooshrike, black-bellied starling, african firefinch, dusky indigobird, crowned hornbill, brown snake-eagle and spotted eagle-owl. Mammals did not disappoint either. We had one clear if only fleeting glimpse of a young leopard emerging from a drainage hole just before light started to fade. Lots of giraffe and some solitary male buffalo seen by guests on district road.

This morning started off lovely with the weather being cool but overcast. The first part of the game drive was quite which later on saw the same. Nothing too exciting but never the less was relaxing, and the guests that joined us were full of jokes which helped not having that needed second cup of coffee.We stopped off in our river bed which is situated just below some breath taking rock faces that have been cut away over many years. Included in this game drive we saw Nyala, Impala, warthog and a little steenbok that dashed away before we could all get a good view of it. Then just before the lodge a Crowned Hornbill being mobbed by a Fork Tailed Drongo. Just another way of starting of a day;-)

sightings by: Riley and Johaan

written by Jocelyn Vivier , December 11, 2010

Golden Pipit (Tmetothylacus tenellus)

The Golden Pipit, is this is an extremely sought after bird for most Southern African birders with only a handful of records.

This particular Bird is a Vagrant to South Africa, and for the Southern Africa bird “listers” this is a top bird for the collection.

The Golden Pipit was first seen on Monday, 06 December 2010 @ 10h25 by Dominic, Patrick Rollinson and Andre Bernon, who were birding in the Area. There is a Web site for Rare Birds that anyone is able to subscribe to, in order to be Alerted when one of these rarities is located. Dominic, Patrick & Andre phoned through to Trevor Hardaker at the SA Rare Bird News to report their sighting.

On the 11th of December 2010. Ryan, Jocelyn, Clive, Mathew and Thomas Vivier joined a few other "twitchers" from the Zululand Rhino Reserve; to go and find the elusive Golden Pipit.

With GPS Co-ordinates and Directions, the group set off at sunrise to find this Special bird.

On entering the Pongola Nature Reserve the excitement grew as we were not quite sure if this bird would still be around. With no mates in the area he could very well leave at any time. Had we left it for too many days after the First sighting recorded to see it? With much anticipation we noticed many more birder in the Pongola Nature Reserve also heading to see it, we turned round the first corner and then at the next saw a vehicle stopped and knew we were in the correct place. We all bailed out of the vehicle, binoculars, Camera’s and Scope attached to any limb that could carry it, and were showed by the Generous birders who were already there as to its whereabouts. There is was, even more Amazing and Beautiful than any bird book could describe or illustrate. We felt like this bird looked nothing like a Yellow Throated Long claw.

We were told to get there early in the morning so that we were able to get a sight of his displays. We were very fortunate to him displaying, flying from tree to tree and trying to chase any other birds away from his display perches.

This will truly be a memory that I and everyone will keep with us forever. We need to encourage more people to start looking at the Amazing birdlife around them, and taking note. Birding has to be the most rewarding Hobby that I could have ever given myself, and it had also brought to my attention, how many birds are affected but the choices humans make on a daily basis. I have been fortunate enough to see birds that are on the verge of extinction, and possibly have a hand in helping them.

From the Vivier Family - Happy Birding!!

Hi everyone,

PM Game drive was great. Good sightings of elephant breeding herd and large bull feeding on fruiting figs. Herd of about 40 buffalo in the Msunduze. Black-backed jackal with pups also seen again. Birding good- dusky indigobird, eastern nicator, gorgeous bush-shrike, african green-pigeons, European and little bee-eaters and nesting bateleur all obliged with good sightings. Rain also brought out some Natal hinged tortoise. Plenty of Waterbuck at the hide and on game drive. Hide was a little quiet today as we were there a little late but we still found a large water monitor basking in the sun on the path into the hide.

We started this particular game on a cloudy overcast day not expecting much at all but were later on amazed by what we saw. This time of the year we usually use the plain areas where there is usually more game because of the fresh shoots sprouting out from the newely burnt grass. Coming down to the plain, we heard a cheatah kill called in so we moved across to the spot as soon as possible, but on the way there we saw elephants breaking branches and large heards of plain game including Buffalo. So now trying to get thruogh all this craziness we finally got there. Whilst watching the two cheatah feeding on what seemed to be a Common Reed buck a massive 'Dagga Boy' or Cape Buffalo came in for inspection. As the buff came closer the two cheatah started hissing, at this point the buff ran at the two cheatah swinging his horns but the cheatah just bolted out of there. Another crazy thing happend whilst this was happening, a large elephant bull which looked like the one we saw earlier came out the bush about 80 meteres away and crossed the field. We basically just sat in the one spot and watched the whole reserve come to us. It started getting dark so we proceeded on home only to be held up for almost half an hour by another heard of buffalo. As we say here 'Another Horrible Day In Africa'. 

Hello,

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