The famous Mkhuze Game Reserve is about 125 km north of St Lucia and our drive there on 20 August marked the start of our journey inland away from the coast and towards our final destination of Johannesburg. The reserve covers an area of 400 square kilometres in northern Zululand and contains rivers, areas of woodland, grassland and rocky ridges. The park is remarkable for its range of habitats that draw in a wide variety of birds and mammals.
We arrived at the park in the late afternoon of 20 August and stopped to photograph some birds and mammals while driving to our accommodation. Beside the road we saw Crested Francolin and Cape Starling, while in the trees we had Pale Flycatcher and Cardinal Woodpecker.
Within the reserve we stayed in a chalet to get easy access to the reserve early the following morning. As there are very limited dining facilities within the reserve, Dylan kindly prepared BBQs on the two evenings we stayed there.
On 21 August we had a full day in the reserve and saw a remarkable number of bird species, along with plenty of mammals. Some of our favourite bird photos from the day were of Golden-breasted Bunting, Southern Cordonbleu, Southern Red-fronted Tinkerbird and Purple-crested Turaco.
The reserve has an excellent hide that gives almost 360 degree views across a watering hole where many mammals and birds can be seen coming down to drink. Amazingly, we had the hide to outselves when we visited and we could dash from side to side as different animals appeared.
Birds drinking at the water’s edge beside the hide were a big draw for us and we took lots of photographs of the beautiful Common Waxbill, Emerald-spotted Wood-dove, Green-winged Pytilia and Southern Cordonbleu.
On 22 August we did more birding around the outstanding Mkhuze Game Reserve before moving on to Wakkerstroom further inland. During the morning birding session we inevitably saw many of the birds that we’d encountered the previous day, but new additions for our trip list were Lesser-striped Swallow, African Dusky Flycatcher, Striped Kingfisher and Bearded Scrub-robin.
The afternoon was spent driving to Wakkerstroom, which is a village in an area of farmland and wetlands renowned for its many bird species.