South Africa – Ngwenya Lodge and southern Kruger Park [10]

Atlasville, 16 Mar 2009

Got back this morning after a very early departure from Ngwenya, having spent another weekend there. My current work schedule still means that anything other than weekends away is out of the question and as on our last two trips we drove down to Ngwenya late on Friday afternoon, arriving after dark. This time we occupied one of the newer units at the western end of the resort, perched higher above the Crocodile River with a great view upriver, and of course across the river into the Kruger Park.

Crocodile River at Ngwenya Lodge

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Looking upriver towards Marloth Park – Location : Ngwenya Lodge, near Komatipoort, Mpumalanga, South Africa – Date of image : 14 Mar 2009

Saturday morning saw us as always first in the queue at the Park entrance gate at Crocodile Bridge waiting for opening time. The predicted weather was for mostly sunny skies throughout the weekend. We headed north from Crocodile Bridge towards Lower Sabie via the Nhlowa Road gravel road ticking off among others Helmeted Guineafowl, Grey Go-away-bird, Swainson’s Spurfowl, European Roller, Red-backed Shrike, Black-crowned Tchagra, Rattling Cisticola and Wahlberg’s Eagle. Calling in at Nthandanyathi Hide we picked up African Pipit, Sabota Lark and Crowned Lapwing. Back on the tar we encountered Southern Carmine Bee-eater, Little Swift, African Palm Swift, Jacobin Cuckoo, Violet-backed Starling, Woodland Kingfisher, Red-faced Mousebird and Sombre Greenbul before Lower Sabie Camp.

The usual mandatory stop at Sunset Dam next to Lower Sabie gave some great photo opportunities, with Pied Kingfisher, African Fish Eagle, Red-billed Firefinch, Little Heron and White-fronted Bee-eater all posing nicely. In the car park at Lower Sabie I snapped my first butterfly of the day, a Dark Blue Pansy. It was then over the Lower Sabie causeway, where we ticked off Lesser Striped Swallow, and north along the main tar road to Tshokwane. Where the road passes Muntshe hill we had the bird sighting of the day, a perched female Pallid Harrier, and nearby a small group of Amur Falcon. At Tshokwane a Smith’s Bush Squirrel ran across the vacated picnic tables looking for food scraps while Greater Blue-eared Starling scoured the ground under the tables.

From Tshokwane we did a circular drive via Orpen Dam and Vutomi Dam back to Tshokwane, with the only sighting of note being a flock of Red-billed Buffalo Weaver at the Tinhongana waterhole at Vutomi Dam. It was then back to Crocodile and Ngwenya via the main tar road, stopping only to photograph Brown-veined White and Spotted Joker butterflies on elephant dung. We were back at Ngwenya in time for a short walk and I added African Paradise Flycatcher and White-browed Robin-Chat, bringing the day’s birding total to a respectable 111 species.

On Sunday we were again first in the queue at Crocodile Bridge gate. Today though we struck north-west on a circular route that took us along the Randspruit Road to Renosterkoppies waterhole, then on to Paul Kruger Gate, a few very quiet hours of nothing to report but the usual suspects apart from a Lizard Buzzard and a Dark Chanting Goshawk. Leaving Paul Kruger Gate for Skukuza we made our usual stop at the Lake Panic Hide, which did not disappoint with several immature and juvenile African Jacana showing of their lily-trotting skills. Goliath Heron, Malachite Kingfisher, Wire-tailed Swallow and Orange-breasted Bushshrike were also present. One of the main attractions today was the sheer numbers of dragonfly present and I managed photos of Violet Dropwing, Broad Scarlet and Phantom Flutterer. A male Long-tailed Paradise Whydah flew over the road just short of Skukuza, where Black-collared Barbet were present in the riverside fig trees and Red-faced Cisticola called from the reeds beneath.

We then headed for Lower Sabie, where in addition to yesterday’s sightings at Sunset Dam we added White-crowned Lapwing. We were rewarded at the Nthandanyathi Hide with a sighting of Temminck’s Courser. This is usually a very reliable spot for this species, although we had missed it yesterday.

Although we remained in the Park until late afternoon there were no further special sightings, all in all a slightly disappointing day in the Park. Nevertheless the weekend’s bird tally had risen to 138. We arrived back at Ngwenya with just enough time to sit outside our chalet and look for Kruger game coming down to the river to drink. A herd of elephant duly obliged.