We flew out to South Africa with British Airways on 12 August, arriving at Johannesburg’s O. R. Tambo international airport at 9 AM. Our short connecting flight to Durban with South African Airways was on time and we arrived just after lunch and were met by our guide for the next 12 days, Dylan Vasapolli. Dylan took us to his substancial 4×4 vehicle and we drove to the Gateway Country Lodge in Umhlanga where we to stay for a single night.
After we’d checked in and settled into our room we went for some late afternoon birding in the Umhlanga Nature Reserve, which was close to our hotel. There were plenty of birds about and we got good shots of three species of weaver Grosbeak, Spectacled and African Golden. Other birds of the region we saw included Cape Wagtail, Southern Boubou and Cardinal Woodpecker. Above us we had a Crowned Eagle fly over.
We started 14 August by driving south down the coast from Durban to the Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve, which is a spectacular river gorge lined with dense coastal brush and forests. On the River Mzimkhulwana we saw Reed (Long-tailed) Cormorant and Yellow-billed Duck.
In the wooded areas we had good views of Mouse-coloured Sunbird, Bar-throated Apalis, Grey Cuckooshrike, Greater Double-collared Sunbird, Cape Batis and Crowned Hornbill.
There were lots of primates in the reserve, including Vervet and Blue Monkeys (Samango sub-species).
In the late morning we left the park and started our journey inland towards Underberg, following route 2, but stopping a couple of times to see birds in fields by the road, including Grey Crowned-cranes and Hadada Ibis.
Before our next birding stop we had lunch at the restaurant of the ANEW Resort Ingeli Forest Kokstad.
After lunch we visited the Weza-Ngele Forest conveniently located just next to the resort. It’s famous for the rare Cape Parrot, which unfortunately we didn’t see during our visit, although there were other good birds around, with the Knysna Turaco being a particularly good sighting.
We then spent the rest of the afternoon driving to Underberg, where we were staying for two nights at the very comfortable Cedar Gardens.
