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Our first week-end away was a great success and I'd like to thank Cynthia, Johann, Gerhard, Gavin and Anthea for joining Adel and I on this adventure up the West Coast.
We left Franschhoek on Friday afternoon and found ourselves in the little town of Elands Bay a few hours later. Part of the road towards Elands Bay is dirt and we were taking it slow. We stopped to have a look at a group of Black Headed Herons and were thrilled to pick up two brand new birds for our life lists, the Grey-backed Sparrow Lark and the Karoo Lark. Always worthwhile stopping along the way.
The Verlorenvlei is large and lush, full of reeds and we immediately spotted quite a number of birds. We went for a walk after unloading the cars and looked forward to our first days birding the next day. We had a lovely braai that night.
Early the next morning we were up, even though some of us hadn't slept due to a goods train that passed our window every few hours with up to 450 trucks and 12 engines! We took a walk to the vlei and the beach and the mist was hanging low on the ground, giving the area a soft, peaceful feel. We spotted birds like Yellow-billed Egrets, African Spoonbills, African Black Oystercatchers, Pied Kingfishers, Giant Kingfisher, White-fronted Plovers and much more on our walk.
After the walk we jumped into the cars and went off in search of Vensterklip where there was a purpose-built hide over the vlei. There were not too many birds to be seen but in the distance we could clearly see a large number of Great White Pelicans. On our way back to the cars, we discovered that the ladies room was well equipped with a piano and Cynthia took the opportunity to give us a song.
We drove on to Rocherpan and found 2 lovely hides with pans teeming with birds. We spent a couple of hours observing them and identifying them. We saw Greater and Lesser Flamingos, Caspian Tern, Curlew Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Great White Pelican, South African Shelduck and a very special bird, the African Snipe, amongst others. A total of 41 different species were spotted there.
We had our lunch under the shade of some trees and then moved on to the beach and had a wonderful time in the ice cold water as it was a very warm day. Anthea found a "kelp horn" and demonstrated how to blow it. The girls were triumphant with the boys struggeling to get the hang of it. A large cluster of cormorants were spotted on the beach with the Kelp Gulls and 4 African Black Oystercatchers were close by. Common Terns were flying past us all the while.
We headed home for a bit of a rest and round of "What can you tell me about that Bird?" which Andrea won. Cynthia, in the meantime was busy in the kitchen and produced a beautiful new bird which we immediately named the "Grape eyed Fantailed Melon Bird (Melanomus Cynthii)" and we all enjoyed the refreshing fruit.
Leaving the others to rest, Robyn, Adel, Cynthia and Gerhard went off in search of mussels for supper. It was reported that just below Baboon Point, there were many rocks with plenty mussels. Unfortuantely, it was harvest moon and the tide was quite high so Adel and Cynthia had quite a task trying to reach the bigger mussels and not get washed into the sea by the tide. There was one narrow escape during which the huge wave overtook them both and ripped the bag of mussels out of Adels hand. Fortuantely the bag was retrieved a little distance away with mussels still in them.
We went back to the house to collect the rest of the team and headed out to the San Caves which have quite a lot of rock art for sundowners. A concrete structure juts out of the side of the mountain and by all accounts, it was a radar station used during WWII.
To the right of the structure is the cave and we had a steep, slippery climb to reach it. Once there, we were intrigued by the many paintings in reasonable condition. We opened our drinks and had a great time relaxing with the setting sun behind us.
Adel and Cynthia had noticed that the tide had now subsided and decided to have another go at collecting more mussels. We all went down to the rocks and took advantage of the Harvest moon which hung in the sky as the sun was setting, giving good opportunities for photos.
Dinner that night was mussels, expertly prepared by Cynthia, Andrea and Adel, braaied meat and salads, followed by roasted coconut marshmellows.
Sunday morning saw us up early once again and off for a last walk around Elands Bay. On return we packed up and headed out to Lamberts Bay stopping off to see the famous Muisbosskerm restaurant where we didn't eat.
On reaching Lamberts Bay, we headed off to the harbour and over the causeway to Bird Island. Along the way we found huge rocks with hundreds of gulls and terns and cormorants breeding on custom made platforms. The big hide on the island is designed to blend in with the surroundings and has a top and underground viewing area.
It was the first time we had seen Cape Gannets and there were thousands of them. Many babies were seen in all stages of life. Some Kelp Gulls and African Sacred Ibis were seen trying to raid nests or look for scraps inbetween the birds. The Gannets stood tightly-packed together, all facing away from the sun with their mouths agape. They are very large, gangly birds and had a hard time taking off and landing which was quite commical to watch.
On the way back over the causeway we found a number of schools of little fish all bunched together, which the birds clearly had not discovered yet.
From Lamberts Bay we made our way home on the N7, stopping over on the Piekernierskloof Pass at the Piekernierskloof Lodge for a light lunch in their ladies bar which was wonderfully air-conditioned. It was another scorcher of a day. After lunch, we said our farewells and each made our way back home. The end of a wonderful weekend and hopefully the first of many for the Birdlife Berg River club. Next time, we hope you will join us.
