We drove from Hermanus to Leopard Valley (north-west of Citrusdal) on Monday morning, for a two night stay. It seemed an ideal opportunity to travel via Franschhoek pass in order to try to see a Protea Canary, but we had no luck.
Our route then took of to the Paarl Bird Sanctuary, aka Paarl Sewage Works, where we were somewhat disappointed to find that only one pond was available for birding. We were, however, able to see around 25 species there, so it was not a wasted trip. The rest of the area was behind a locked gate, which one can apparently get access to, but we only found out as we left.
We then drove north to our destination at Leopard Valley and we were delighted by the cottage (Yellow Canary) in which we were booked. It was a very small and simple outfit, constructed from two old shipping containers, but had everything we needed and more. It was very cold outside, but we had good heating and were very comfortable. Being off-grid also helped so there was no load-shedding to cope with!
Once settled in we headed of to some nearby Proteas and called for the Protea Canary, and out he came. We were delighted, not having seen one for a number of years. We also saw a pair of Verreaux’s Eagles overhead and in a vlei near the gate were many Orchids (Corycium orobanchoides). Sadly a previous visitor had thrown out his ash and set all of the surrounding fynbos on fire, but that will recover.
On Tuesday we took a leisurely drive to Lambert’s Bay, stopping at a Rooibos Tea farm for a selection of brews along the way. There were many birds and the area was very wet. At Lambert’s Bay we enjoyed watching the Cape Gannets performing on their roost – what an amazing site and very noisy too. We enjoyed some excellent grilled yellowtail at Isabella’s Restaurant in the harbour.
After another comfortable (but very cold!) night, we decided to drive home via the Cederberg. We took the road past Algeria and then south to Dwarsrivier. The scenery was amazing – we had not been on parts of that road for over 40 years – and the recent floods have caused much road damage. We stopped for a few bottles of wine at Cedeberg Winery before heading to the Wuppertal road, where we turned south towards Ceres. A light lunch at Mount Ceder gave us a break from driving before we took on the last part of our drive.
It was an excellent trip and we saw so many beautiful things that will remain with us for a very long time! Our trip list included 103 bird species!
roncorylus 
Thanks for sharing your experiences & excellent photos of your cold trip to Leopard Valley.