Early in 2021, my wife Jeanie and I were invited to join a group of friends on the Pondo Trail, a slackpacking adventure from Port Edward on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, across the Mtamvuma River and into the northern part of the Eastern Cape, finishing at a small camp just north of Port St Johns. As unlikely as it seemed in the middle of a Covid wave that we’d be able to travel a year ahead, we still agreed to join the group, hoping that by February 2022 we would all be vaccinated, or immune, or both.
I did ask Jeanie for a moment of pause before we committed, while I quickly assessed the birding potential of five days away, as I always do. Leave taken from work and time away from home must always deliver some good birds. It’s one of the rules of the universe. Fortunately, that coastline represents a largely underbirded area of South Africa and while it’s mostly unknown, I surmised that the subtropical bush of southern KwaZuluNatal and the scarp forests and hilly grassland of the Eastern Cape would be excellent for birding.
This story is from the January/February 2023 edition of African Birdlife.
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This story is from the January/February 2023 edition of African Birdlife.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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EXPLORING NEW HORIZONS
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winter wanderer
as summer becomes a memory in the south, the skies are a little quieter as the migrants have returned to the warming north. But one bird endemic to the southern African region takes its own little winter journey.
when perfect isn't enough
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The late summer period naturally started quietening down after the midsummer excitement, but there were still some classy rarities on offer for birders all over the subregion. As always, none of the records included here have been adjudicated by any of the subregion's Rarities Committees.
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