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Day Guiding and Tours:
We also offer variety of pesonalised guided
tours (day trips or longer), our guides being among the region's
most experienced birders. This includes set tours or an individually
guided day or two in search of your most wanted species. Itineraries
include these possible day trips around Cape Town:
Sample day trip itinerary:
Tanqua Karoo Day (Cape Town - Ceres - Tanqua Karoo - Cape
Town)
The parched brown expanses, aloe-lined escarpments and lonely
isolated hills of the Tanqua Karoo provide an apt setting
for such fine and sought-after dry western endemics as Karoo
Eremomela, Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, Namaqua Warbler and
Fairy Flycatcher, among many others.
The steep, rocky slopes and dense acacia thicket of the small
picnic site of Skitterykloof (sometimes called Katbakkies)
offers fine and varied birding. These slopes are also legendary
as the most accessible site in the world to see Cinnamon-breasted
Warbler. Familiarity with this species' call is absolutely
essential, as it is otherwise almost impossible to locate.
A reticent and little-known inhabitant of arid, rocky hill-slopes,
the Cinnamon-breasted Warbler is peculiar enough to have been
accorded its own genus. Its behaviour most closely resembles
that of shy and diminutive rockjumper, bounding about sun-baked
boulders and calling fervently before inexplicably disappearing
for long periods.
Other species that we hope to encounter here are Black-headed
Canary (nomadic) Southern Grey Tit, Layard's Titbabbler, Mountain
Chat and Grey-backed Cisticola. Pale-winged Starlings regularly
overfly the valley, and Ground Woodpeckers sometimes hurl
invective from the ridges. As ever, it is worth keeping an
eye skyward for the likes of Black and Booted Eagles and Rock
Kestrel. The acacia thicket in the picnic site is usually
alive with birds, even at midday. The essentials here are
Fairy Flycatcher and Pririt Batis (p. 00). Other interesting
birds of this habitat are Pied Barbet, White-backed Mousebird,
African Marsh Warbler (summer), White-throated Canary and
Cape Bunting.
Emerging from the hills and onto the semidesert plains of
the Tanqua Karoo, one enter a whole new habitat for birds
- where almost everything is an endemic! We'll take the R355
to Calvinia, notorious as the longest road in South Africa
uninterrupted by a town (250 km in all). Common birds of the
relatively moist scrublands just north of the road fork are
Pale Chanting Goshawk, Karoo Lark, Karoo Chat and Yellow Canary.
We'll also search for Karoo Eremomela. A co-operative breeder,
it occurs in small, agitated flocks that remain constantly
on the move, thoroughly gleaning low bushes before the birds
follow each other onwards. Other typical birds of this habitat
are Karoo Lark, Karoo Chat, Rufous-eared Warbler and Grey-backed
Cisticola.
As we head north bushes are few and far between and the ground
gleams with the mineral patina of the desert pebbles. This
is classic Tractrac Chat country: birds are most often spotted,
as they flush near the road and display their white rumps
as they fly a short distance to perch, again on a fence or
low bush. Spike-heeled Lark is also regularly seen. From this
point on, we'll keep alert for Black-eared Finchlark, a nomadic
species found throughout the Karoo and which often moves around
in flocks. While driving, you are likely to spot the conspicuous,
all-dark males fluttering over the road, although they invariably
land frustratingly behind the bushes by the time you've stopped
the car! It is worth keeping an eye out for pairs of superbly
camouflaged Karoo Korhaans. Pale Chanting Goshawks are reasonably
common throughout the Tanqua Karoo, and Greater Kestrels frequently
wander into the area. If we are lucky enough to visit after
recent rain, you will see that pools forming close to the
road invariably attract South African Shelduck, drinking flocks
of Namaqua Sandgrouse and irruptive seedeaters such as Lark-like
Bunting. We'll also search for Namaqua Warbler in the watercourses.
Formerly classified as a prinia, this species has recently
been assigned its own genus, Phragmacia, picturesquely named
after its habitat of mixed Phragmites reeds and Acacia thicket.
It is a much more secretive bird than the similar Spotted
Prinia, but every bit as noisy. If we're really fortunate,
we may even spot a Burchell's courser on the plains in some
of the areas where we've seen them in the past.
Accommodation:
Over years of birding experience in the area, we have selected
a handful of birder-friendly guest houses and lodges along
the route which we can recommend. The accommodation is selected
on the level of service and hospitality, country charm, the
fantastic settings and adjacent birding opportunities. We
can book accommodation from Cape Town to the Kalahari, and
a few highlights from our collection are included on the pages
of this site. Go to Cape Birding Route > Accommodation
for more.
Costs:
Please contact
us to cost your personalized trip.
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