Ken Borland

The lovely male Coqui Francolin at Ezemvelo

It’s a wonderfully counter-intuitive part of nature that fields that have been ravaged by fire are often vibrant oases of life … and my visit to Ezemvelo Nature Reserve once again proved this.

The reserve, situated 74km due east of Pretoria, just past Bronkhorstspruit, had obviously done their winter burning quite recently and stretching far to the right as you drive into Ezemvelo were burnt fields full of wildlife … and some interesting birds.

Without the new grass springing up, and the burnt seeds and carrion now exposed, I’ve no doubt that the area would have just looked like the old farmland around the reserve. But my eyes were inexporably drawn and kept busy by the cavalcade of life on the right, while the only thing of interest on the other, unburnt side of the road, was a treed ridge which didn’t hold anything.

Lovely Capped Wheatears were darting about the burnt fields like livewire sentinels, while the lack of trees didn’t bother the Fiscal Shrikes, who were using both high and low perches to hunt in areas where the visibility of their prey had greatly improved. The Forktailed Drongos were able to use telephone poles in the absence of trees.

Two Blackbacked Jackals were plodding along in mischievous fashion, obviously on the lookout for any bits of “braaied meat” left behind.

A stately Kudu emerged from some trees close to the road and there were no fewer than nine species of antelope present, as well as many Warthog (especially near the Wilge and Sterkfontein rivers), a Vervet Monkey, Plains Zebra and a Yellow Mongoose.

The overall colour was still the usual drab yellowish-grey of the Highveld winter, and some pink rondavels did break up the monotony, but the colour really wasn’t to my liking!

Fortunately, there was a wonderful splash of colour amongst all these muted tones with a Whitefronted Bee-Eater swooping into view.

The thicker grass down by the Wilge River produced a Spikeheeled Lark and a herd of Eland on the hillside above, while some female and young Waterbuck tried to hide themselves as well.

Then it was time to ascend back up the hill and through the old regenerating farmlands – now there were burnt fields on both sides of the road …

I was enjoying the whirring white wings of the Anteating Chats when there, right next to the road, appeared the cute little Coqui Francolin male with his orange head and striped belly. I’ve only seem them before in the Kruger National Park, maybe once or twice, so it was a marvellous, lengthy sighting.

Longbilled Pipit and a rambunctious Eastern Clapper Lark striding about were other good sightings before I departed.

A pair of Red Hartebeest in the burnt fields - note the fresh green grass coming up!

Sightings list

Crowned Plover

Capped Wheatear

Common Ostrich

Blesbok

Springbok

Blue Wildebeest

Fiscal Shrike

Forktailed Drongo

Blackbacked Jackal

Kudu

Red Hartebeest

Warthog

Vervet Monkey

African Stonechat

Blackeyed Bulbul

Rock Pigeon

Reed Cormorant

Helmeted Guineafowl

Black Wildebeest

Blackchested Prinia

Egyptian Goose

Cape Turtle Dove

Eland

Spikeheeled Lark

Southern Black Flycatcher

Waterbuck

Redeyed Dove

Cape Wagtail

Giant Kingfisher

Pied Crow

Plains Zebra

Fantailed Cisticola

Orangethroated Longclaw

Longtailed Widow

Gemsbok

Anteating Chat

Southern Masked Weaver

Arrowmarked Babbler

Whitefronted Bee-Eater

Brownhooded Kingfisher

Longbilled Pipit

Yellow Mongoose

Coqui Francolin

Rock Martin

Laughing Dove

Grassveld Pipit

Eastern Clapper Lark

Blacksmith Plover

In true Borland fashion, a 75km jaunt in search of the reputed home of the Black Coucal turned into a massive two-hour journey on dirt roads!

The info I had suggested Mkuze Falls was a short distance west of the N2 highway, but the truth is the place is damn remote! You actually have to take the road to Ithala and Louwsburg, which is not tar, despite what the maps tell you, and then turn south towards Nongoma on another dirt road, before about 5km of tar brings you to the Mkuze Falls turnoff.

No wonder they have an airstrip and a helipad at the fancy game lodge there – most of their clients will just fly in!

Anyway, it was fun enjoying some new territory and the scenery was great heading into the hills and bushveld of Zululand, making a change from the coastal floodplain I’m more familiar with.

The highlight of the drive there was another Lizard Buzzard, and this one flew across the road, prominently displaying his big white rump.

We talked our way into the lodge, saying we wanted to collect brochures …. the Blue Steed (my VW Polo) looked rather out of place at the ornate front door, covered in dust and spewing forth two almost dustier, dirtier Borlands. (It had been a long day, we’d been to Muzi Pans in the morning). Obviously my shirt also had a hole in it …

But Lauren suggested rich men sometimes dressed down, so we should be okay …

The Mkuze Falls Lodge certainly has a wonderful setting, high on a hill overlooking the falls and river.

On the way out, I mounted the dam wall where we had a drink and a bite to eat. The habitat certainly looked ideal for Black Coucal, but there have to be places that are easier to reach to find him!

On the way back to Bonamanzi, we saw Redbilled Oxpecker on the cattle and two large snakes on the road – the Olive Grass Snake and the Southern African Python.

Sightings list

White Helmetshrike

Blackcollared Barbet

Emeraldspotted Wood Dove

Southern Greyheaded Sparrow

Pintailed Whydah

Blackeyed Bulbul

Crested Francolin

Lizard Buzzard

Laughing Dove

Impala

Blue Wildebeest

Tawnyflanked Prinia

Rattling Cisticola

Pale Flycatcher

Warthog

Goldenbreasted Bunting

Redbilled Oxpecker

Speckled Mousebird

Olive Grass Snake

Southern African Python

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

A Square-Lipped Rhinoceros & her calf in Hluhluwe Game Reserve

It’s always sad going back to a place and discovering that it has become an awful tourist trap and a rip-off. Unfortunately, that was my over-riding impression of Hluhluwe Game Reserve.

My family has a connection with Hluhluwe because my grandfather was camp warden there and my father a game ranger. So I feel an affinity for it, and Zululand in general.

The actual park is beautiful – golden sunlight dappling on grassy hills – but I would not recommend the place for any South African tourist. In fact, it embarrasses me that many overseas tourists will leave our country thinking Hluhluwe is the best we can offer.

The cheapest accommodation at Hluhluwe is R640 a night in one of their rondavels … literally a small room with two beds, a basin, a table, a fridge and cutlery/crockery. My wife, as beloved by bugs as by me, was quick to point out that the “mosquito netting” in the windows actually had gaps that were a good centimetre wide – only the most gluttonous, overfed mosquito would fail to fit through there!

Staying at the rondavels also means you have to use the communal bathroom and kitchen facilities, which is fine, but surely one shouldn’t have to pay R640 a night for that!

Anyway, the worst experience was the restaurant.

I’d promised my long-suffering, not overly camping-keen wife that we could eat at the restaurant the night we stayed in Hluhluwe. It was a Friday night so the only option they offered was a braai buffet … at R175 a head!

I reluctantly agreed to pay, expecting the sort of buffets you get in hotels … plenty of choices, great food.

In fact, the braai was a disgrace. I’ve had better braais at a drunk mate’s house in my student days.

The salads were three bowls of boring looking lettuce, beetroot chopped to smithereens and coleslaw. The putu was cold.

On the menu, it promised beef fillet, lamb chops and chicken … Instead, all they offered when we arrived, at 7.30pm for the 6.30-8.30pm buffet, was a scraggy piece of chicken fillet and boerewors. Apart complaint, they also offered us beef kebabs. The chops were as old as the ancient hills around Hluhluwe and as tough as the goats wandering around outside.

Borland being Borland, I decided on an act of civil disobedience in protest and brought my own bottle of Windhoek Lager into the restaurant. Only to discover, to my horror, that they were only serving Windhoek in cans … and my bottle would stand out somewhat …

So I had to hide the bottle – after I had poured its most-beneficial contents into my glass, of course – in the pocket of my jacket, which I had hung over my chair.

Of course, during the course of the evening, the bottle falls out of the pocket and bounces – not once, not twice, but three times on the hard floor and miraculously did not break!

Of course I then had to recover the bottle with the eyes of the restaurant on me … and my wife disowning me!

Anyway, it was lovely going for a couple of drives around the park and the highlights in terms of sightings were a Brownthroated Weaver well-spotted by Lauren, Woollynecked Stork (also Lauren), Orangebreasted Bush Shrike, Blackcrowned Tchagra and a posing Striped Kingfisher.

The Striped Kingfisher posing below Hilltop Camp

There were friendly Bushbuck, Red Duiker and Natal Robin in the camp, while we had lovely sightings of a Square-Lipped Rhinonoceros and her calf, as well as a lone Elephant on a hill on our drives.

One of my goals on this Zululand trip was to spot Black Coucal or find suitable habitat for it, and the area around the Memorial Gate in the north, on the Gontshi Loop, certainly looks promising.

Sightings list

Blackeyed Bulbul

Yellowfronted Canary

Brownthroated Weaver

Wattled Plover

Nyala

Warthog

Forktailed Drongo

Speckled Mousebird

Plains Zebra

Square-Lipped Rhinoceros

Hamerkop

Crested Francolin

Blackbacked Puffback

Redbilled Firefinch

Redfaced Mousebird

Natal Francolin

Woollynecked Stork

Emeraldspotted Wood Dove

Glossy Starling

Yellowthroated Sparrow

Orangebreasted Bush Shrike

Crested Barbet

Hadeda Ibis

Bushbuck

Red Duiker

Whitebacked Vulture

Redeyed Dove

Egyptian Goose

Blue Waxbill

African Pied Wagtail

Threebanded Plover

Blackcrowned Tchagra

Rattling Cisticola

Burchell’s Coucal

Goldenbreasted Bunting

Striped Kingfisher

Nile Crocodile

Little Bee-Eater

Cape Turtle Dove

Natal Robin

Trumpeter Hornbill

Blackheaded Oriole

European Swallow

Elephant