Ken Borland

The Muzi Pans are an area of freshwater wetland in the KwaJobe community’s land, close to the Mkuze River. There is a small community centre and rondavels are busy being spruced up to offer accommodation practically at the water’s edge.

The community liaison is a pleasant chap called Themba, but we were basically free to walk and drive as much as we could along the Fever Tree lined pan.

Perhaps we were too late in summer or perhaps the water level had not dropped enough (probably a combination of the two), but there were no rarities about and we had to content ourselves with a lot of the usual suspects.

The African Jacana were particularly noticeable defending their territories and flying to-and-fro with their long legs dangling. There was a large flock of Spurwinged Goose on the pan and a few Whitewinged Tern in full black-bellied breeding plumage.

Our best sightings were Purple Heron (close to shore), a single Purple Gallinule, lots of Bluecheeked Bee-Eater swirling overhead, Pinkbacked Pelican and a fairly distant Malachite Kingfisher.

Away from the water, there is some good birding to be had in the acacia woodland and we saw Browncrowned Tchagra, Redbilled Quelea and Southern Boubou.

The community still use the pan a great deal for their daily needs, even with a pod of Hippopotamus grunting contentedly away less than a hundred metres from shore, but it is hoped they will see the worth of maintaining its reputation as a prime birding spot.

I’m sure they also derived some entertainment from watching my wife and I clamber and fall, in ungainly fashion, up and down the banks on the side of the main road!

Sightings list

Cattle Egret

Little Egret

African Jacana

Pied Kingfisher

Yellowbilled Duck

European Swallow

Spurwinged Goose

African Pied Wagtail

Purple Heron

Blacksmith Plover

Whitewinged Tern

Little Bee-Eater

Purple Gallinule

Forktailed Drongo

Glossy Starling

Spottedbacked Weaver

Whitefaced Duck

Black Flycatcher

Emeraldspotted Wood Dove

Browncrowned Tchagra

Redbilled Quelea

Speckled Mousebird

Southern Boubou

Blackeyed Bulbul

Laughing Dove

Common Myna

Tawnyflanked Prinia

Bluecheeked Bee-Eater

Hippopotamus

African Darter

Reed Cormorant

Egyptian Goose

Pinkbacked Pelican

House Sparrow

Great White Egret

Grey Heron

Yellowbilled Stork

Malachite Kingfisher

Brownhooded Kingfisher