CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH AFRICA: PART II
Cape Town
December 20, 2007- January 3, 2008

The flight from Nelspruit to Cape Town is about two hours and we made it in a tiny twin prop plane. I looked out the window during the flight; after leaving the Drakensburg Mountains I saw only plains. Susan’s parents picked us up at the Cape Town airport and we drove to their house in Kreupelbosch, very close to the wine route. They kindly put us up in their home for our entire stay in Cape Town. Just outside of the Cape Town Airport we passed an endless shanty town. Later in the trip we saw more shanty towns near H0ut Bay and another in the Cape Flats. The Barneses said it wasn’t safe to walk around the neighborhood so after having some tea, Susan and I took a short walk carrying nothing with us. There were some Cape Turtle-doves giving the well-known dove call of Africa, “kuk-coooo-ku-ku.” I read a book on the deck of the Barnes’ house as it was summer in South Africa. That night we went over to Susan’s sister’s house. Her sister, Alison, lives with her common law husband, Simon. There were many guests in addition to the Barneses, Kim and her fiancée, Denesh, Susan’s very loquacious old high school chum, Helen, and her 60 year old lawyer husband, Steve, and their two kids. Kim and Denesh passed out somewhere along in the evening and Helen after drinking an entire bottle of wine played the piano for everyone while Steve filled me with his impressions of American politics (incredibly at one point stating that Reagan was our best president, a point on which I vehemently disagreed since I believe he is the second worst president). Everyone agreed that Bush is the worst president we have ever had and is a stain on America. Steve asked me what I knew about South Africa and I said that I had read My Traitor’s Heart by Rian Milan before coming, in preparation for the trip. Steve said that Rian Milan was a kook and then proceeded to explain the high crime rate to me (a topic which is covered in explicit detail in Mr. Milan’s book). The people of South Africa are very proud of their country and how well it is faring economically compared to the rest of Africa. Johannesburg is the economic capital of the area with a bustling industry based on the gold and diamond mines mostly. Alison’s son, Susan’s nephew, Christopher, asked me what Johannesburg is known for in the US and I said, for its crime. I think he was hoping I would say for its industry but everything I had read including Mr. Milan’s book indicated that Johannesburg had one of the highest crime rates in the world. Susan’s brother, Martyn and his family live in Johannesburg and despite their pride in their country live in a gated community with electric fences and a security guard. It is just the way of life in South Africa. One thing South Africa can be proud of is that everyone I met spoke impeccable English. Unfortunately they are also very obsessed with pronunciation believing of course theirs to be the superior one. This led to endless ribbing of my “American” accent. I found myself nearly unable to speak at times with shame over my philistine barbaric pronunciation most notably of “water” and some other words. I think I held my own though in the English grammar department.

December 21, 2007, after breakfast we drove a short distance to a bad neighborhood to the Rietvlei Wetland Reserve (all of these unpronouncable hideous words come from the odious Africaans language), a freshwater wetland located on the floodplain of the Diep River before it drains into the Milnerton lagoon and then Table Bay. I was nervous about taking my camera in but there was a gate with a security guard and they charged a small fee so I felt safe once inside. Cape Town is on the western side of South Africa and so I had an opportunity to see a completely different set of birds from what I had seen in Kruger and Durban. Also the weather was much better as the sun finally came out and it was actually warm. The reserve has a boardwalk through riverine habitat, reedbeds, a freshwater lake and a tidal lagoon. In the lake we saw Great-crested Grebe, Little Grebe, many Reed Cormorants, an African Darter, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and one Glossy Ibis. In the lagoon were dozens of Great White Pelicans, and Sacred Ibises. A small flock of Spur-winged Geese flew overhead and there was one lone Yellow-billed Duck on an island in the lagoon. We went into one of the hides and I saw my first Red-knobbed Coot and an African Purple Swamphen which looks very similar to the Purple Gallinule, a resident of the southern US. In the strandveldt along the paths were Cape Bulbul, Karoo Prinia, Cape White-eye, Levaillant’s Cisticola, and Red-winged Starling. There was a large flock of Common Waxbills near the museum. After passing through the building, you come to a large glass window where you can look into a pond. Perched over the pond were a Yellow Canary, one Southern Double-collared Sunbird, and a Cape Canary, and on the ground was a Cape Robin-Chat. After checking out the pond, we looked at the museum’s display case of stuffed birds and the aquarium which had some endangered toads and fish. That night Mrs. Barnes said we were once again invited to Simon and Alison’s for a briaa (South African for bar-b-que).

December 22, 2007, it actually was hot, probably reaching 94 degrees. In the morning Susan and I went to South Africa’s national botanical garden, Kirstenbosch. The gardens are gated and well manicured so it was safe to bring my newly repaired tripod (Ihad smashed the tripod to pieces in Kruger on the last day and miraculously Mr. Barnes had been able to repair it) and video camera. From the gardens one can hike up one of the many trails into Table Mountain National Park where the gardens give way to the wild indigenous fynbos, a type of vegetation found nowhere else on earth that consists of fine low growing plants and flowers, especially the national flower, the protea. We walked up the fynbos trail in the garden and immediately found a family of Cape Francolins pecking on the ground. Sombre Greenbuls were calling incessantly from the trees and a Cape Robin-Chat scurried along the ground. We sought refuge under a tree and found it full of Cape White-eye, Cape Batis, Cape Canary, and Malachite Sunbird. Kirstenbosch is a good place to see raptors soaring and that day we saw one of many Steppe Buzzards we would see during our stay. We continued our walk around the gardens and saw African Dusky Flycatcher, Karoo Prinia, Cape Rock Thrush, Olive Thrush, White-backed Mousebird, and in the outlying areas Orange-breasted Sunbird and Southern Double-crested Sunbird. At the border of the gardens we saw some people descending from one of the trails to Table Mountain called Skeleton Gorge. It looked inviting and I asked Susan about it. She said it was too dangerous, that her family had told her not to go up there because we would be mugged.

After Kirstenbosch we returned to the house in Kruepelbosch and then took a walk around a small neighborhood park, Die Oog which looked like Die Dog on first inspection. Susan said it wasn’t safe so we only took our binoculars in. It’s a small park with a pond and some shrubs and pine trees. We saw lots of Guineafowl, Egyptian Geese, Reed Cormorant, Cape Weaver, and Southern Red Bishop. Later in the day Susan took us to a place where she had spent many hours as a teenager sulking and thinking she said, a winery called Groot Constantia. The winery allows you to walk around their vineyards and grounds at your own risk. Susan said it wasn’t safe and we could only take binoculars and no cameras. It was another excellent spot for raptors with a clear view to the sky. Although the vineyards were a monoculture holding only pigeons, the surrounding areas were forested and full of birds. Soaring above we saw another Steppe Buzzard but also another very similar looking raptor that I studied very carefully to make out the pale greater and median coverts identifying it as a Forest Buzzard. In the vineyards we found Speckled Pigeon and in the forested area Common Fiscal and an up close look at the beautiful African Paradise Flycatcher which would have made an excellent photo if I had only had my camera. It was very frustrating to always be looking behind me to see if a criminal was lurking who might get my binoculars and/or camera.

December 23, 2007, we got up early and drove the long drive to the south-western most point of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope National Park. After entering the park we passed a huge expanse of fynbos. We pulled over at a rocky beach on the Atlantic side and got out to have a look. Ostriches were feeding in the low coastal scrub and then a flash of color caught my eye—the endangered African Black Oystercatcher! We walked down to the shore and had a better look. While we were admiring it I noticed a very pale plover walking on the narrow shoreline—a White-fronted Plover. We continued driving to the turn off for Cape Point. We parked and hiked up to the lighthouse where we had expansive views of both the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Wave upon wave of cormorants flew past but I couldn’t find any interesting pelagic birds which you can supposedly see from this vantage point. Nevertheless the expansive view was majestic and reminded me of Point Reyes minus the disgusting noisome dairy farms. After enjoying the view we climbed back down past the hordes of tourists to the parking lot where we found a Cape Bunting hopping around. We drove down to the Cape of Good Hope and there were more hordes of tourists. We stood out on the rocks and saw large roosts of Swift Terns, Cape Cormorant, Bank Cormorant, White-breasted Cormorant, and at least one Crowned Cormorant. After squeezing in between tourists for a picture next to the Cape of Good Hope sign we turned around and headed back down the coastline in search of shorebirds which we never found. A Rock Kestrel perched on a rock near the ocean allowing us to get very close to it. We also saw yet another Steppe Buzzard flying overhead. We pulled over at one pull out and I was surprised to see a Parasitic Jaeger fly over. There were many Cape Gulls and some Hartlaub’s Gulls and mixed in with the many Swift Terns were a few Sandwich Terns. In the scrub were some Grey-backed Cisticolas singing away along with some Karoo Prinias and lots of Cape Wagtails on the beaches. We turned off at the Circular Drive and finally we found Cape Sugarbirds with their long streaming tails and big bills for extracting nectar from the sugarbushes. The fynbos was dotted with protea bushes all the way to the horizon. We stopped at a Marine Reserve and found some Sacred Ibises, another White-fronted Plover, and a Kittlitz’s Plover. There was a flock of Cape Canaries eating in the grass along with one Brimstone Canary. Before leaving we glimpsed a Water Mongoose hustling back into the scrub. While driving back toward the park entrance a striped mouse crossed the road and we passed a family of Baboons which are common in the park.

We took a different route home along the Atlantic Ocean and the dramatic coastline. We stopped at Seaforth Beach and walked to the shore but it didn’t seem very safe so we only looked at the colony of African Penguins roosting there.

December 24, 2007, we awoke to stormy weather. Susan had assured me before we left that it did not rain in Cape Town in summer. We drove way out to Milnerton Beach looking for the Rietvlei Wetlands Reserve. We saw a sign for it but the only trail was right along a noisy highway. We walked along with rain threatening the entire time. Some Blacksmith Lapwings were huddled along the banks of the Diep River. On the other side was a golf course and on an island some Egyptian Geese were roosting with Little Egret, Grey Heron, Cape Gull, and Hartlaub’s Gull. The wind was picking up and the rain was coming down just as I noticed a Common Greenshank along the bank. The thunder claps were getting closer and closer and the storm was obviously headed right for us so we raced back to the car. Just before reaching it lightning struck not 50 meters away. We dove into the car just before a down pour. We had to eat our lunch in the car parked in front of Milnerton Beach hoping the storm would pass over which it eventually did. Susan didn’t want to get out but I convinced her to walk along Milnerton Beach with me. It cleared up and we could see Lion’s Head, a familiar landmark in Cape Town, back-dropping the beach along with Table Mountain. A man on the beach saw us struggling to take a self-photo and offered to get one of us both with the mountains as a back drop.

December 25, 2007, I had been dreading this day. In my entire life I had never missed a Christmas with my own family and I was not looking forward to spending this one without them. After breakfast we took a short hike in Toklai Forest. Susan said it was dangerous and so she wouldn’t let me bring my camera. There were several people in the forest walking their dogs and it seemed safe enough to me. We found a Steppe Buzzard eating a mouse in a tree and saw a Chaffinch, an introduced European species that has become established in Toklai. After our short walk we packed up our presents and went to Simon and Alison’s for the festivities. We opened some presents and then had a briaa outside under the canopy. It was superb weather and I enjoyed being outside on Christmas Day. After dinner everyone opened crackers which are wrapped items that you pull apart making a popping noise. Inside is a little present and a note with some witticism on it. There were no pumpkin pies but Mrs. Barnes had made some miniature mince meat pies. The kids swam in the pool and there was a lot of drinking involved. In the evening instead of having dinner we had the Christmas pudding. After the Christmas pudding we had to watch the queen’s speech on TV. Her speech was a whole lot of bullocks. Following the speech, during which I believe Mrs. Barnes stood with her hand on her heart, Simon took everyone up to Cecilia Forest for a short walk in the woods. Some native cork trees were growing at the entrance but mostly it was planted with non-native pine trees and so we didn’t see many birds, just Cape White-eye, Common Chaffinch, and African Dusky Flycatcher. After our walk we settled back under the canopy but incredibly it began to downpour and we were forced back inside the house.

December 26, 2007, Boxing Day, a national holiday, Susan and I got up early and drove back to Toklai Forest. Before reaching the parking area we passed a band of criminals huddled on the side of the road. One of them approached the car and I rolled the window up because I just knew he was going to snatch my binoculars and ruin my vacation. We made it past the band of criminals and parked the car. We started walking up the path toward Elephant’s Eye, another Cape Town landmark on Table Mountain. A black man was walking a little ways ahead of us and I was nervous but it turned out he was a park ranger. The trail ascends rather steeply, about 2100 feet, up to a sort of cave that looks like the eye of an elephant from far away. On the way up we saw another Steppe Buzzard and Rock Kestrel. We passed through expanses of fynbos some of which held Cape Grassbirds and colorful fields of blooming wildflower and proteas before reaching the cave. From the Elephant's eye we could see all across Cape Town all the way to the sea. We saw dozens of beautiful Orange-breasted Sunbirds in the fynbos. After enjoying the views of Cape Town, all the wildflowers, and the sunbirds we continued hiking upwards toward Constantiaberg. As Susan topped the summit a man greeted her dressed in flip flops and shorts. It was windy and cool that day and he was dressed completely inappropriately. I wasn’t sure if he was a criminal or just crazy but I wasn’t sticking around to find out. I had brought my camera against Susan’s advice. I turned back down the mountain but then fearing for Susan went back up and got her. We ran back down without ever reaching the beacon. We stopped about half way down and had lunch with all of Hout Bay for our view. We hiked down toward the Atlantic side and then back around toward Elephant's Eye. When we got back to the final ascent for Elephant's Eye a helicopter swooped down right in front of us and lifted down a gurney for a hiker with a broken leg. The helicopter hovered as long as it could and then had to circle and come back to drop down a rescue worker. On the way back down the mountain we again passed the black ranger. He glared at us; I think he knew I had feared him for his blackness earlier. I’m sorry I did but it’s a fact that 90% of the crime committed in South Africa is committed by blacks. I know it is because of the tremendous gap between rich and poor but I had to be practical while there and weigh my odds of being mugged carefully.

December 27, 2007 was the birthday of Evan, Martyn and Bonnie’s son, who was turning four and Bonnie had planned a birthday party for him at Alison’s house at 2:00 PM but we got up early and drove to Kirstenbosch for a hike before the birthday party. We walked through Kirstenbosch to the start of Skeleton Gorge. This trail goes straight up a steep gorge to the top of Table Mountain. There is a cable car that goes to the top as well and virtually everyone in the family had advised me that I should take the cable car up. This would have been absolute anathema to me and the antithesis of what I am all about. No, we were going to hike up some 3500 feet to McClure’s Beacon with commanding views of all of Cape Town and down to both oceans. The fog started to come between the peaks but it was mostly a sunny day with incredible views all around. There were many other hikers also on holiday and it seemed unlikely that we were in any danger whatsoever. Not too long up Skeleton Gorge we heard the unmistakable song of the much sought after Knysna Warbler. We also saw some more Cape Batises and Cape White-eyes in the trees above the creek. While relaxing on a rock to have lunch I spotted a small family of Ground Woodpeckers nearby also congregating on a rock. Time was running out and Susan made me run down the bone crunching Nursery Ravine back to Kirstenbosch. Despite pounding my knees all the way down in record time we were still 45 minutes late for Evan’s birthday party. Alison chastised Susan for her lateness. It was around this date that I began checking my calendar each day counting how many days were left before I could return to my own country. At the party Martyn and Bonnie gave Evan a transformer that turned into a Humvee. I was mortified. Did Bonnie, who earlier had complained to me about people (presumably Americans) and their big SUVs, not know that Humvees were the very symbol of American profligacy and excess?

December 28, 2007, we went to meet an old school mate of Susan’s she had reconnected with. We were supposed to meet a lady named Emma and her girlfriend, Silvery, and their friend, Peter, for lunch at Glen Cairn, near Hout Bay. We tried to get some early morning birding in before our lunch appointment. We started at Rondovlei Wetland Reserve where we saw a Booted Eagle fly over. From the blinds we saw the same Spur-winged Geese, African Darter, and Yellow-billed Ducks from before but we also found a Cape Shoveler, a new bird for the trip. We weren’t finding anything else new so we left and drove to the Cape Flats to look for the waste water treatment plant which, allegedly is a magnet for birds. Cape Flats is a very poor section of town and it was the one time in Cape Town where I felt real fear. We rolled the windows up and locked the doors while stopped at stop lights (called robots in SA). Dozens of black men stood aimlessly on the side of the road not even trying to hawk magazines no one wanted but just standing idly. We finally found Strandfontein and I was very grateful that it had a gate and security guard who wrote down our names. We drove into the Strandfontein wetlands and immediately came to large flocks of ducks and finally after weeks of searching, my first ever Greater Flamingo. In the wetlands we found Southern Pochard, the lovely chocolate brown Maccoa Duck, Cape Teal, Red-billed Teal, Black-winged Stilt, hundreds of Pied Avocets, and more Blacksmith Lapwings. In the grassy area around the pond we found an African Pipit foraging, but we could not find any shorebird flocks with anything other than lapwings. We ran out of time and ended up about 30 minutes late to lunch which was uneventful. After lunch we drove to Boulders Beach. We walked out to the rocks where the African Penguins were busy copulating right out in the open. They let us get very close to them. It was quite windy and so we left and drove to Noordhouck Beach. We parked and were greeted with a sign advising us not to bring our valuables as there had been many muggings there. A Black-shouldered Kite was perched near the parking area. I gave it only a passing look, wrongly assuming it was the same species as our White-tailed Kite. I took no video of it, only learning upon returning from our trip and consulting my North American Bird Guide that it was a completely different species. There were no other birds on the beach or in the lagoon and it was very windy so we left. Next we drove up Chapman Peak Road to Hout’s Bay. This road is literally carved out of the rocky cliffs overhanging the ocean. It looks very similar to California’s Big Sur. We stopped at some pull outs and enjoyed the amazing views.

December 29, 2007 we drove to Toklai Forest and parked. Like many of the hiking areas in Cape Town, there was a black man with an orange vest who presumably was there to watch our car. We always tipped the car parkers a Rand or two. We hiked up the steep trail to Constantia Nek, six miles round trip, to Victoria Dam. At first the trail passed through non-native grassland bordered with pine trees. I wasn’t expecting to see anything but there were dozens of Neddicky (Neddickies?) perched right out in the open beside the trail singing away. Little Swifts soared overhead. The pine tree area had been partially cleared of the pine trees by the National Park in order to allow the native fynbos to move back in. As we ascended we did finally get back into the fynbos where we saw yet more Orange-breasted Sunbirds, Cape Sugarbird, and Cape Grassbird. As the trail leveled out we looked for a place of refuge from the sun as it was a scorching day. I said I imagined Mrs. Barnes at home melting under the table. A family of “coloreds” (this was considered a perfectly legitimate word in South Africa to refer to the descendants of the white people who landed in Cape Town and mixed with the blacks) were under the only trees on the trail. So we turned back after making it to Victoria Dam. The trail was full of more proteas and wildflowers, the only one of which I could identify being an Felted Everlasting. We found a Cape Robin-chat and an African Olive Pigeon on the way down and at the bottom another African Dusky Flycatcher. Nearly at the bottom Susan received an SMS from Martyn saying he was keen on seeing her and that he and his family were in Kirstenbosch. (This was typical Barnes behaviour which required minimal planning). If he had sent a message 20 minutes earlier we could have descended into Kirstenbosch but since we were nearly at the car it made more sense to drive to the gardens and pay to get inside. We found them escaping the heat under a large tree. We joined them and had our lunch there. We saw more Cape White-eyes, Olive Thrush, Cape Francolin, and Sombre Greenbul. It was quite hot that day; I would say around 95 degrees and when we returned to Kreupelbosch the first thing out of Mrs. Barnes’s mouth was “it’s so hot.” Mr. Barnes was happy as a lark watching cricket on TV.

December 30, 2007, we decided to go back to Strandfontein Water Treatment and Zeekoevlei Wetlands since our trip two days previous had been truncated by the need to meet the My Face lady. In addition to the birds we had seen earlier we also saw the one and only South African Shelduck of the entire trip plus two Hottentot Teals right by the car. We didn’t stray too far from the car at first because Susan was afraid we would walk into a Cape Cobra. I wanted to see one but not with its mouth dangling from my knee. We came across two birders walking along the road and felt easier about getting out. While standing by the car we saw an African Marsh-Harrier fly over the wetlands. We finally found a shorebird flock but it was way out far away from us and without a spotting scope we were unable to make out much except for a possible Little Stint—not exactly the view I was hoping for of this life bird that is so hard to differentiate from our Western Sandpiper.

We returned to Kreupelbosch to spend time with the Barneses but after a while decided to take a walk at Groot Constantia. We felt more comfortable taking our cameras this time now that we had seen all the other people on holiday, all the car parkers, rangers, and helicopters. Cape Town was making an obvious and concerted effort to make it safer for the holiday. South Africa will be hosting the World Cup in two years and I guess they see all the work they need to do to clean up their tarnished image as a crime capital. We walked through the vineyards and immediately saw a Yellow-billed Kite fly right over our heads. Because it was finally a warm sunny day, many raptors were flying on the thermals. We also saw more Steppe Buzzards and I believe at least one of the raptors was an immature Jackal Buzzard. There were dozens of butterflies and lots of Cape Turtle-Doves and then when we passed from the vineyard into the forested area we started seeing all kinds of other birds too including our first Swee Waxbill, a pretty little bird with a gray head, black chin, red bill, green back and wings and red rump. We had a moment of anxiety when a group approached but they were just tourists just like us chancing a mugging for a fine day of hiking.

December 31, 2007, I don’t like new year’s eve; it never leads to any good at all. We had a social obligation at 11:30 because Susan had arranged to meet her best friend from high school, Dom, where they were staying in Cape Town, for lunch. In the morning we drove back out to Milnerton to look again for Rietvlei since our earlier attempt had been thwarted by the rain and lightning. Mr. Barnes said that we had not driven far enough the first time. The directions I had downloaded from the internet before our trip were very vague and we had a hard time finding it. Susan did all the driving in Cape Town since I was too terrified to drive a stick shift sitting on the wrong side of the car and driving on the wrong side of the road as they do in Cape Town. I saw a sign that said “Rietvlei” so we turned and finally bumbled our way to the reserve entrance. There was a gate and a guard and a small entrance fee which was reassuring of its safeness for photography and walking around without being mugged. We parked and began walking toward the bird blind and saw some black and white birds with very long tails in the trees. We had to consult the bird book to determine they were Pin-tailed Whydah birds, an exciting find so late in the trip. Again we had little time on account of our approaching lunch date. As we approached the blind Susan spotted our first ever African Spoonbill, a bird I had been searching for for nearly two weeks. Near the blind some shorebirds were on the mud flat but they were mostly birds we had already seen elsewhere, Black-winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Blacksmith Lapwing, and Common Greenshank. We went into the blind even though we were now out of time and right away I spotted a Lesser Swamp Warbler in a reed bed right next to my window. Susan called me over to her window and pointed out the much sought after Curlew Sandpiper! We had to reluctantly leave the blind. As we left a flock of birds flew over sounding remarkably similar to our cranes at home. Susan said they were cranes but I was unconvinced because I had not come across this bird while constantly thumbing through the bird guide every day trying to figure out what everything was. However, later I realized they were indeed Blue Cranes. I had just overlooked them because they were on the same page with the Secretarybird, a bird we did not get to see in Kruger because our guide was obsessed with elephants, and I had been overlooking that page since they were only located on the dry savannahs of the eastern side of the country and not in Cape Town. We were now seriously late but it had been an exciting morning of new discoveries. We had a nice lunch with Dom, her sister, her husband, and her three darling daughters and then left them for their own obligations. Before returning home we stopped at a fancy beach on the Atlantic Ocean called Llandudno Beach. It was packed with people swimming and sun bathing. We walked down to the water which I was keen to check out as Susan’s family had said repeatedly about how cold the water was. I went in up to my knees (I had on shorts) and it was cold but not nearly as cold as the icy Pacific back home. We drove from Llandudno to Hout Bay where we walked along the beach. I didn’t like it because a polluted river flowed into it and it smelled bad because it was close to a pier and marina.

We returned in the evening to Simon and Alison’s for the new year’s celebration. Nearly everyone fell asleep around 10:30 PM but Simon woke everyone up near the stroke of midnight so they could all embrace and kiss. This was very strange as they had shown virtually no outward display of affection up to that point. I was unprepared for the offered kisses. I looked up in the sky to see Orion upside down pointing his arrow directly at us.

January 1, 2008. What better way to start the new year than to find new birds. We drove again to Reitvlei Wetland Reserve. It was very windy. There were many of the same birds from our previous visit. Susan pointed out a nuclear power plant across the wetland. After lunch beside the fresh water lake where people were water skiing, we walked along the marsh and finally found the smallest kingfisher in South Africa there—the beautiful Malachite Kingfisher, which is only 13 centimeters. After enjoying the huge flocks of geese, ducks, ibises, and flamingoes we left and headed to the waterfront. I had been dreading this part of the trip as well, the present buying stage. The waterfront is much like Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, a big tourist attraction full of shops and no birds but feral pigeons. We did see some Southern Fur Seals basking in the sun. Then it was all shopping.

January 2, 2008, Susan and I ran 1.5 miles around the neighborhood and then Susan and her parents took Martyn and his family to the airport. I stayed at home finishing one of the many books I had brought to SA. In the afternoon they returned and Susan and I had Mrs. Barnes drop us off at Constantia Nek. We walked from there to Kirstenbosch where Mrs. Barnes picked us up two hours later. We didn’t see any new birds but we saw a giant tortoise and a Mongoose along the way. That evening we planned a quite evening with Susan’s parents at their house. I was reading in bed when there was a knock at the door. Simon had come by to say goodbye which I thought was very sweet of him. I had opened a bottle of wine Mrs. Barnes had given me for Christmas since it wouldn’t fit in my suitcase. Curiously Susan and I had tried the exact bottle back in San Francisco after finding it in a wine shop there. It was a 2004 Porcupine Ridge Cabernet and it was quite good.

January 3, 2008 was our last day in South Africa. We got up early and drove back out to the Cape of Good Hope. We stopped at the visitor center and were so lucky to see two Bush Bucks. We drove out to the Cape but it was very windy. We tried to climb up the trail above the Cape of Good Hope but the wind made seeing anything flying very difficult. We saw a few Dusies along the trail but not much else. We got back in the car and drove back away from the point. We saw a flash of orange and stopped the car and there was a Bokmakerie in the scrub. Next we drove back to the Circular Drive and took the Boobajain Trail to the water’s edge where we had lunch and then back up the rocks to the parking area. We saw a lot more Cape Sugarbirds and Cape Grassbirds in the fynbos. While eating lunch at the shore I noticed an unusual looking bird hopping around on the rocks. We went over to investigate and were pleased to find yet another bird to add to our South Africa total, a Familiar Chat. As we were ascending the rocks back up to the car after lunch we saw several birds fly onto the rock face so we stopped to see what they were. They were all Rock Martins but then we noticed a yellowish looking bird perched on top of a rock. After two and a half weeks I finally found a Cape Siskin, the last addition to our growing bird list. What an exciting finish to an outstanding trip. We had to leave to allow more family visiting time so we reluctantly left the amazing Cape of Good Hope. We packed up and Mr. and Mrs. Barnes took us to the airport. Alison met us there to say goodbye. I counted all the birds we had seen in Africa and it totaled an amazing 241 birds.. It had been an incredible journey to the dark continent. We said goodbye to the Barneses at Cape Town Airport and flew away to London back to civilization.

Yellow-breasted Apalis
Pied Avocet
Arrow-marked Babbler
Black-collared Barbet
Bateleur
Cape Batis
European Bee-eater
Little Bee-eater
Southern Carmine Bee-eater
White-fronted Bee-eater
Southern Red Bishop
Bokmakierie
Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver
Cape Bulbul
Dark-capped Bulbul
Cape Bunting
Cinnamon-breasted Bunting
Golden-breasted Bunting
Black-bellied Bustard
Forest Buzzard
Jackal Buzzard
Steppe Buzzard
Green-backed Camaroptera
Brimstone Canary
Cape Canary
Yellow-fronted Canary
Common Chaffinch
Familiar Chat
Levaillant’s Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Cloud Cisticola
Grey-backed Cisticola
Red-knobbed Coot
Bank Cormorant
Cape Cormorant
Crowned Cormorant
Reed Cormorant
White-breasted Cormorant
Burchell’s Coucal
Black Crake
Blue Crane
Cape Crow
House Crow
Pied Crow
Black Cuckoo
Diderick Cuckoo
Jacobin Cuckoo
Klass’s Cuckoo
Levaillant’s Cuckoo
Red-chested Cuckoo
African Darter
African Morning Dove
Laughing Dove
Lemon Dove
Namaqua Dove
Fork-tailed Drongo
African Black Duck
Comb Duck
Maccoa Duck
White-faced Duck
Yellow-billed Duck
Booted Eagle
Lesser-spotted Eagle
Long-crested Eagle
Martial Eagle
Steppe Eagle
Tawny Eagle
Verreaux’s Eagle
Wahlberg’s Eagle
Great Egret
Little Egret
Yellow-billed Egret
Yellow-bellied Eremomela
Jameson’s Firefinch
Common Fiscal
African Fish-Eagle
Greater Flamingo
African Dusky Flycatcher
Ashy Flycatcher
Fiscal Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
Cape Francolin
Grey Go-away-bird
Spur-winged Goose
Cape Grassbird
Little Grebe
Sombre Greenbul
African Green-Pigeon
Common Greenshank
Southern Ground-Hornbill
Spotted Ground Thrush
Helmeted Guineafowl
Grey-headed Gull
Hartlaub’s Gull
Cape Gull
Hamerkop
Black-headed Heron
Goliath Heron
Purple Heron
Brown-backed Honeybird
Greater Honeyguide
African Hoopoe
Red-billed Hornbill
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
African Sacred Ibis
Hadeda Ibis
Purple Indigobird
African Jacana
Rock Kestrel
Brown-hooded Kingfisher
Giant Kingfisher
Malachite Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Woodland Kingfisher
Black Kite
Black-shouldered Kite
Yellow-billed Kite
Blacksmith Lapwing
Crowned Lapwing
Bronze Mannikin
African Marsh-Harrier
Rock Martin
Red-faced Mousebird
Speckled Mousebird
White-backed Mousebird
Common Myna
Neddicky
European Nightjar
African Olive-Pigeon
Black-headed Oriole
Common Ostrich
Pearl-spotted Owlet
Red-billed Oxpecker
African Black Oystercatcher
African Palm-Swift
African Paradise-Flycatcher
Long-tailed Paradise-Whydah
Brown-headed Parrot
Great White Pelican
African Penguin
Speckled Pigeon
African Pipit
Common Ringed-Plover
Kittlitz’s Plover
Three-banded Plover
White-fronted Plover
Southern Pochard
Drakensberg Prinia
Karoo Prinia
Tawny-flanked Prinia
Black-backed Puffback
Red-billed Quelea
White-necked Raven
African Reed-warbler
Cape Robin-chat
White-browed Robin-Chat
White-throated Robin-Chat
Cape Rock Thrush
European Roller
Lilac-breasted Roller
Purple Roller
Common Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Brown Scrub-Robin
White-browed Scrub-Robin
South African Shelduck
Cape Shoveler
Magpie Shrike
Red-backed Shrike
Cape Siskin
Brown Snake-Eagle
Cape Sparrow
Southern Grey-headed Sparrow
Black Sparrowhawk
African Spoonbill
Cape Francolin
Natal Francolin
Swainson’s Spurfowl
Black-bellied Starling
Cape Glossy Starling
Red-winged Starling
Violet-backed Starling
Black-winged Stilt
Little Stint
Marabou Stork
Saddle-billed Stork
Woolly-necked Stork
Yellow-billed Stork
Cape Sugarbird
Collared Sunbird
Greater Double-collared Sunbird
Malachite Sunbird
Marico Sunbird
Olive Sunbird
Orange-breasted Sunbird
Southern Double-collared Sunbird
White-bellied Sunbird
Barn Swallow
Greater Striped Swallow
Lesser Striped Swallow
Red-breasted Swallow
White-throated Swallow
African Purple Swamphen
African Black Swift
Alpine Swift
Little Swift
Cape Teal
Hottentot Teal
Red-billed Teal
Lesser Crested Tern
Spotted Thick-knee
Water Thick-knee
Groundscraper Thrush
Kurrichane Thrush
Olive Thrush
Cape Turtle-Dove
Lappet-faced Vulture
White-backed Vulture
White-headed Vulture
African Pied Wagtail
Cape Wagtail
Icterine Warbler
Knysna Warbler
Olive-tree Warbler
Willow Warbler
Blue Waxbill
Common Waxbill
Swee Waxbill
Cape Weaver
Dark-backed Weaver
Spectacled Weaver
Village Weaver
Yellow Weaver
Cape White-eye
Pin-tailed Whydah
Red-collared Widowbird
Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove
Green Wood-Hoopoe
Bearded Woodpecker
Cardinal Woodpecker
Ground Woodpecker