Ken Borland

My second trip to Bonamanzi – situated between Lake St Lucia and Hluhluwe – saw me armed with my newly-acquired 4×4, a Hyundai Tucson 2.0 diesel automatic, which I call the Serval, but my wife calls Catalina.

Sadly, Lauren could not get leave to join me on this trip (she is forced to take leave over Christmas when her company is closed, which is most unfair I believe) so I was accompanied by Stidy, the renown cartoonist, my long-time birding mate and the sharer of many dramatic adventures with me.

Stidy was particularly pleased that I now had a 4×4 to ferry him around in, because it allowed me to track down a lifer for him – Lemonbreasted Canary.

Next to the entrance gate at Bonamanzi is a little track heading northwards along the boundary fence, into some pristine Lala Palm Savanna, the perfect habitat for the little canary Stidy was so eager to get … particularly since he had missed the ones I saw several years earlier heading into Crook’s Corner at Pafuri in the Kruger National Park!

But, given the amount of rain that had fallen in Zululand in October and November, this track was something of a quagmire … ideal to test out the capabilities of my new 4×4!

Marico Sunbird was a nice first sighting heading down the track and some Lesser Blackwinged Plover gave us a foretaste of the more exotic treat to come.

And there they were: Half-a-dozen Lemonbreasted Canaries cavorting on the trees hanging over the boundary fence. I allowed Stidy the agony of convincing me that they weren’t just washed out juvenile Yellowfronted Canaries, but there was no denying the greyish backs and the cute little black-and-white face patches.

It was a fortunate sighting because, shortly thereafter, the track disappeared beneath a large, muddy pool. Walking through it, I quickly became mired in the mud and there was no way I was going to risk the Serval ploughing through that and getting stuck on her first real outing!

It seemed harder, more slippery going on the way back … mostly because Borland forgot to engage the 4×4 properly! Sigh … must have been all the excitement of the canaries!

It was only the next day when we discovered we weren’t meant to be on the track at all … the No Entry sign had disappeared at the start, which perhaps explained the perplexed look of the guard at the main gate as we ducked off down the road.

Bonamanzi has a couple of the best camping sites I have ever had the pleasure of staying in and fortunately we were allocated the same one as on my previous visit – beautifully tucked away in the sand forest with your own ablutions and scullery.

That makes birding highly rewarding even when sitting on your camp chair and Yellowbellied Bulbul, Crested Guineafowl and Forest Weaver were all seen close to home.

On the second morning, Redchested Cuckoo obliged us with some lovely views and a Greyheaded Bush Shrike came to visit as well, while we also picked up Bluegrey Flycatcher.

There is a fantastic dam just below the main office block, which is fenced off because of the large Nile Crocodiles that lurk ominously therein. The island in the dam was frantic with three species of weaver nesting – Thickbilled, Lesser Masked and Yellow – and they were predictably attended by Diederick Cuckoo.

We also picked up Blackcrowned Night Heron, Water Dikkop, African Jacana, Black Crake and African Spoonbill. The facilities include a wonderful wooden walkway over a portion of the dam leading to a functions area, where we took shelter from a sudden squall and picked up House Martin and Lesser Striped Swallow.

Once it cleared, we then had our lunch under the Fever Trees, next to the crocodile enclosure. One of them took a liking to me and gradually inched its way closer to the fence and me … it was close enough for me to hear the malevolent hissing of the ancient reptile.

We then went on a good long walk that took in a couple of hides and waterholes, returning back to the main camp through the sand forest, and picked up Natal Robin, Purplecrested Lourie, Woollynecked Stork, Bearded Robin, Purplebanded Sunbird, Wahlberg’s Eagle and Malachite Kingfisher.

Back at camp and after dinner, I tracked down a pair of Wood Owl calling near our camp, enjoying the sense of natural wildness as I then turned off my spotlight and stood under the tree from which they were hu-hu-hooting.

Our last morning was spent driving through the myriad of tracks through the sand forest and some determined birding rewarded us with sightings of Sombre Bulbul, Yellowbreasted Apalis, Southern Boubou, Yellowspotted Nicator, Pale Flycatcher and Greater Honeyguide, all of which had been calling and calling but had evaded being actually seen.

The Nicator was an especially good sighting as he sat on the outer edge of a thick clump of bush, chuckling away beautifully.

Bonamanzi is that kind of place … exotic, beautiful and rapidly becoming a firm favourite of mine.

The other great thing about Bonamanzi is that although there are Vervet Monkey around, they are very well-behaved ones that never bother your campsite!

 

Sightings list

Nyala

Yellowbellied Bulbul

Blackbacked Puffback

Crowned Hornbill

Crested Guineafowl

Goldenbreasted Bunting

Kurrichane Thrush

Forktailed Drongo

Red Duiker

Terrestrial Bulbul

Yellowbilled Kite

Yellow Weaver

European Swallow

Little Swift

Forest Weaver

Moreau’s Tropical House Gecko

Redchested Cuckoo

Greyheaded Bush Shrike

Blackbellied Starling

Squaretailed Drongo

Bluegrey Flycatcher

Impala

Grey Heron

Thickbilled Weaver

Lesser Masked Weaver

Nile Crocodile

Blackcrowned Night Heron

Diederick Cuckoo

Water Dikkop

Yellowthroated Sparrow

African Jacana

Egyptian Goose

Black Crake

Redeyed Dove

African Spoonbill

Warthog

Hadeda Ibis

African Pied Wagtail

House Martin

Lesser Striped Swallow

Natal Robin

Purplecrested Lourie

Woollynecked Stork

Great White Egret

Whitefaced Duck

Blue Waxbill

European Bee-Eater

Speckled Mousebird

Blackeyed Bulbul

Marico Sunbird

Crowned Plover

Lesser Blackwinged Plover

Blue Wildebeest

Glossy Starling

Lemonbreasted Canary

Common Waxbill

Bearded Robin

Emeraldspotted Wood Dove

Goldentailed Woodpecker

Brownhooded Kingfisher

African Fish Eagle

Purplebanded Sunbird

Greenbacked Camaroptera

Rattling Cisticola

Wahlberg’s Eagle

Malachite Kingfisher

Collared Sunbird

Hamerkop

African Palm Swift

Southern Masked Weaver

Spottedbacked Weaver

Wood Owl

Foam Nest Frog

Sombre Bulbul

Yellowbreasted Apalis

Southern Boubou

Yellowspotted Nicator

Steppe Buzzard

Pale Flycatcher

Greater Honeyguide

Paradise Flycatcher

One of my greatest delights is discovering a new and terrific campsite and Bonamanzi falls into that category perfectly!

We had been in St Lucia – where we saw Red Squirrel, White-Eared Barbet, Blackeyed Bulbul and Glossy Starling – for Deon & Caroline’s lovely wedding at Seasands, so it was just a short trip up to the False Bay side of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park along the N2 and then about 5km on a dirt road until you reach Bonamanzi.

After stopping to check-in at the well-organised reception, it was off to our campsite on the very good sand roads and through enticing Tongaland Sand Forest – the southernmost occurence of this habitat.

I was blown away by our campsite – each one is private, secluded in the forest and has its own toilet/shower and little kitchen area. Sitting at night under the incredible stars just listening to the sounds of the forest was awesome – you really felt that there wasn’t another person around!

There’s also a swimming pool to use on those hot Zululand days – although it was pretty green during our visit.

Because I was using Bonamanzi as a base to explore places like Muzi Pans and Mkuze Falls, we did not do much birding there, but I did have a lovely walk.

At one stage I was a little alarmed by a game guard suddenly pointing his rifle down the road, so I decided to be very quiet and not spook him as I approached him through the forest at right-angles. He had no idea I was there and seemed a little trigger-happy!

With our camp being right in the forest, we had Yellowbellied Bulbul and their quaint nasal calls, Forest Weaver and their lovely swinging-gate calls, and a cute Bearded Robin all around us.

Best of all, we could hear Vervet Monkey nearby, but they never bothered us!

Driving out the second day, we had a great sighting of a Lizard Buzzard sitting on a telephone pole, his little black throat stripe showing beautifully. He’s not one you see too often, it was probably only my fourth or fifth sighting.

Sightings list

Impala

Nyala

Red Duiker

Crowned Hornbill

Yellowbellied Bulbul

Forktailed Drongo

Greenbacked Camaroptera

Cardinal Woodpecker

Blackbacked Puffback

Bearded Robin

Southern Black Tit

Natal Robin

Warthog

Collared Sunbird

African Goshawk

Moreau’s Tropical House Gecko

Squaretailed Drongo

African Hoopoe

Vervet Monkey

Lizard Buzzard

Hadeda Ibis

Forest Weaver