Introduction:

We offer a 9-day extension to take in the high-altitude grasslands of Wakkerstroom, coastal forest and thornscrub at Mkuze and St Lucia, the Drakensberg Mountains, and the midlands of Natal. This extension gives us chances at many of the South African endemics and specialties.

Important note: The extension begins in Johannesburg but ends in Durban.

Day 1: Drive from Johannesburg to Wakkersrtroom

Driving several hours through the Highveld grasslands of eastern South Africa brings us to the quaint village of Wakkerstroom, where we will spend the night.

Day 2: Wakkerstroom

The area surrounding Wakkerstroom supports some of Africa’s most threatened species, many of which are endemic to South Africa. Here we will search for the critically endangered Rudd’s Lark, Botha’s Lark and Yellow-breasted Pipit. The rolling grasslands also support magnificent endemics such as the striking Southern Bald Ibis, elegant Blue Korhaan, and dapper Buff-streaked Chat. The rank vegetation is also home to magical widowbirds, francolins, cisticolas, weavers, bishops and whydas. Two nights will be spent in the quiet country town of Wakkerstroom.

Day 3: Wakkerstroom to Mkuze

We will have most of the day at Wakkerstroom looking for any specialty birds that we still need. After a late lunch we hit the road and travel the 3 hours to Mkuze, dropping into a considerably different habitat, the coastal thornveld of KwaZulu-Natal. Night in Mkuze town.

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Day 4: Mkuze Game Reserve

Today we will spend a full day at one of Africa’s most famous reserves, where the White Rhino was saved from global extinction. Birding here is fantastic, and we can only hope to take in a fraction of the 400 bird species that have been recorded in this small 36,000 hectare gem. Highly diverse, this reserve comprises a wide range of habitats including pans, swamp forest, Acacia thornbush, woodland, riverine forest, and the unique sand forest. We will search for the main sandforest specials, the Rudd’s Apalis, Pink-throated Twinspot and Neergaard’s Sunbird. The surrounding bush offers a spectacular number of birds including a variety of kingfishers, barbets, bushshrikes, helmetshrikes, rollers, cuckoos, robins, bulbuls, starlings, sunbirds and seedeaters. Mkuze is also renowned as an excellent area for vultures and raptors, mostly because of the abundance of large predators in the park. While looking for birds we will undoubtedly bump into the some large mammals, including some of the park’s 15 species of ungulates, and the possibility of predators such as Leopard and an excellent likelihood of the beastly White Rhinoceros. In the later afternoon we leave the reserve and head to St. Lucia, where we spend the night.

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Day 5: St Lucia-Eshowe

Up for an early breakfast, we head straight to Lake St Lucia, a World Heritage Site teeming with water birds and bushveld birds. We shall explore the swathes of forests that skirt the lagoons edge, in search of Green Malkoha, Woodward’s Batis, Southern Banded Snake Eagle and Brown Scrub-Robin. Other target birds include Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Pink-backed Pelican, White-eared Barbet, Gorgeous Bush-Shrike, Narina Trogon, Woolly-necked Stork, Grey Waxbill, Grey Sunbird, Crested Guineafowl, Green Twinspot and Trumpeter Hornbill. St Lucia also has a good selection of mammals, and likely species include impressive Hippopotamus, Common Reedbuck, Burchell’s Zebra, Blue Wildebeest, Waterbuck, Vervet Monkey, Bushbuck and the tiny but exquisite Red Duiker. In the afternoon we heading to the coastal forests and mangroves surrounding Richard’s Bay. On the face of it Richard’s Bay is a fairly ordinary looking place, but the reality is that it is loaded with top quality birding opportunities. We will visit open pans at Thulazihleka where we might see the scarce Lesser Jacana as well as the localized Brown-throated Weaver and Pale-crowned Cisticola. We will surely see African Jacana as well as White-backed Duck, Whiskered Tern, Osprey and a variety of weavers, widows and water birds. We will also keep a keen eye on the countless waders, terns egrets, herons and other water birds that occur in this diverse lagoon. We will take a shot at locating the retiring African Finfoot before heading to our accommodation in Eshowe. Overnight in Eshowe.

Day 6: Dhlinza

Dhlinza forest is endowed with South Africa’s largest and most impressive canopy walkway. One of the key specials at this forest and our main target for the day is the globally endangered and legendarily cryptic Spotted Ground-Thrush, a bird with an uncanny ability to blend with the leaf litter when it is not moving! But Dhlinza has another mega-special, Delegorgue’s Pigeon, as well as a host of other great forest birds such as Narina Trogon, Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Forest Weaver, Black-headed Oriole, African Goshawk, Green Twinspot, Terrestrial Brownbul and many other forest birds. Overnight Eshowe.

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Day 7: Umlalazi to Underberg

In the morning we’ll head straight to Umlalazi Nature Reserve where we’ll look for a bunch of forest birds as well as the local specialty species, before heading off to Underberg for our assault on the Lesotho Drakensberg the following Day. Overnight Underberg.

Day 8: Sani Pass

This morning we head up the incredible Sani pass to 3482 m a.s.l (11,400 feet), the highest mountain pass in southern Africa. Here we enter the mountain kingdom of Lesotho (remember your passport as it is a different country!). Here we search for the many specials of the high Drakensberg. Near the base of the pass we will search the Leucosidea scrub for Bush Blackcap and Drakensberg Prinia, African Yellow Warbler and perhaps the skulking Barratt’s Warbler. Higher up, where the grassland is dominated by Proteas, we seek Buff-streaked Chat, Gurney’s Sugarbird, Cape Rock-Thrush and Grassbird. High still, we will search for the magnificent Bearded and Cape Vultures, Drakensberg Siskin, Orange-breasted Rockjumper, Sentinel Rock-Thrush, Cape Bunting, Layard’s Warbler, Southern Grey Tit, Fairy Flycatcher, Sickle-winged Chat, Rock and Mountain Pipits, before heading down the mountains before nightfall. We will see some interesting and bizarre mammals today including the specialized Ice Rat, Chacma Baboon and Rock Hyrax, colloquially known as the Dassie, and with luck some larger ungulates such as Eland, Mountain Reedbuck, Grey Rhebok and the agile Klipspringer. We overnight in Underberg.

Day 9: Xumeni Forest and Midland Grasslands to Durban

The morning will be spent at Xumeni, a marvelous block of Afro-montane forest, which offers our best chance to sample some exciting afro-montane specials. Amongst the residents here are Bar-throated Apalis, Blue-mantled Flycatcher, Starred and Chorister Robins, Yellow-throated Warbler and the ever-so-secretive Buff-spotted Flufftail. We hope to have good luck with the retiring Orange Ground Thrush, and to see some of the few remaining pairs of the recently split Cape Parrots that breed and roost in this forest. In the afternoon we drive through the midland grasslands and look for Wattled Crane, Long-crested Eagle, and anything else we haven’t already seen. Creighton is an excellent area for Oribi, and hopefully we can find this increasing scarce grassland antelope. On our January tours, we may also try for the rare Blue Swallow. Its habitat is rapidly disappearing and it is nowhere else more apparent than here, where the only breeding pair in the district survives in a soccer pitch-sized grassland sandwiched by pine plantations. It is a magnificent bird, and if we are very lucky we should get superb views of these magical and scarce creatures. In the late afternoon we head to Durban where the tour finishes.