Dot’s Dash in 2024

On Wednesday I had the privilege of leading a group of eight Hurriers for a hike at Dot’s Dash in the Kolgelberg. We had perfect, cloudy, cool, windless weather which made the day very pleasant for walking. For a couple of people it was their first experience of this wonderful walk, but sadly, the flowers were not at their best, so they were not able to appreciate the true grandeur of the area. Our walk covered only 6.7 kms, but we all knew we had had a hard day by the time we were finished, having just descended the very steep path to Fairy Glen. Those big rock steps really take it out of one’s knees and we were all a bit wobbly

As mentioned the flowers were far from their best, with virtually no Erica pillansii, normally the highlight of the area. We did record a number of other species and some of the Proteas were magnificent, along with many other Ericas. A large Puff Adder on the path just managed to avoid being trodden on by me – we were both relieved to avoid contact! We also saw 4 Ground Woodpeckers and a number of Sunbirds and Sugarbirds, but little else.

Coastal Blooms

A walk along the Hermanus Cliff Path this morning revealed some beautiful local blooms with the sea as their background. These included Haemanthus, March Lilies, Cliff Lilies and Aloes. It is always a great place to walk, and, having the flowers and the sea, really enhanced the occasion.

A Walk along the Palmiet River with the Hurriers

Our walk this morning took us along the Palmiet River in the Kogelberg Reserve. Eight of us enjoyed the outing in brisk winds, but it was well worth the effort, as the fynbos was particularly beautiful, with masses of Mimetes everywhere. There were also beautiful Gladioli (debilis and cucullatus) but the wind made it impossible to photograph them.

The river was in full spate and it was interesting to see how much higher it has been recently, as evidenced by the high stands of driftwood along its banks. As a result, the path has had to be diverted in a number of places as the old one was destroyed, or unsafe, because of the water.

A Visit to Leopard Valley

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!

More Images from the West Coast Floral Region

A visit to Namaqualand, the West Coast and the Karoo is such an amazing experience that one takes literally hundreds of photographs, and it seems a shame not to share a few more of them!

Kamieskroon with the Hermanus Bird Club and Beyond to Velddrif and the Tankwa Karoo National Park

August is the right time to visit Namaqualand as it is the height of the flower season and this is the reason why, in February, I booked the entire Kamieskroon Hotel for three nights last week.  There was quite a rush for rooms and we had no less than the maximum of 42 people, however, as the time passed the numbers changed and eventually dwindled to the 32 who actually attended.  These were the privileged few who have by now returned to Hermanus and will be telling their friends and families about the wonderful time they had.  Tim and Cilla Sobey even made a special trip from the UK to attend!

We arrived at Kamieskroon on Monday 21^st and were all keen to meet up and enjoy dinner on the first night.  The weather en route had not been good and was drizzling and wet.  There were no flowers to be seen and there were very few birds!  We gathered for a planning meeting after dinner and decided that, since it would be clear on Tuesday, we would concentrate on the western area where the flowers would be best and leave going east to Wednesday which, once again, promised rain.  It was the right decision.

Tuesday morning dawned slightly overcast and cold (6 degrees) but we forged ahead.  As the sun warmed things up the skies cleared and we were rewarded with the best flower display that most of us had ever seen! We also started to build up our bird lists, concentrating on the rare endemics. We returned to the hotel and, after dinner, compared notes and generally agreed that we had all had an excellent day and that most of us would probably try the eastern route via Gamoep and Springbok, in order to find the Red Lark and its many cousins that occur in Bushmanland.  We had the use of the hotel conference room, a cold venue, which I tried to warm up by showing some AVs of flowers and scenes from the area set to appropriated music.

On Wednesday it was, as predicted, raining when we set out, but we proceeded eastwards and were rewarded with sunshine when we reached the area to the east of the mountains. The road took us through granite hills and sand-covered valleys with wonderful Kokerboom forests.  Areas previously only brown and arid, were transformed by the recent good rains and there was greenery everywhere.  We managed to find a few of the rare larks including the Red and Fawn-coloured varieties.  Some people got lost, some had punctures, but we all got through and had a great time.

Back at the hotel that evening we met again after dinner and were delighted to get our combined bird list to no less than 124 species.  It was generally agreed that it had been an excellent outing.  We met and made new friends, some saw a part of the world that they had never previously visited and we saw some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable!

It was the first time that the club has stayed at a hotel for ages and, whilst it was not luxurious, we were all very comfortable and well fed, and before we left, there was already a request or two to do it again next year!

Bird List:  Pied Avocet;  Accacia Pied Barbet;  Pririt Batis;  Southern Red Bishop;  Yellow Bishop;  Bokmakerie;  Cape Bulbul;  Cape Bunting;  Lark-like Bunting;  Kori Bustard;  Ludwig’s Bustard;  Jackal Buzzard;  Black-headed Canary;  White-throated Canary;  Yellow Canary;  Ant-eating Chat;  Familiar Chat;  Karoo Chat;  Tractrac Chat;  Grey-backed Cisticola;  Red-knobbed Coot;  Cape Cormorant;  Black Crake;Blue Crane;  Cape Crow;  Pied Crow;  African Darter;  Cape Turtle Dove;  Laughing Dove;  Namaqua Dove;  Namaqua Dove;  Red-eyed Dove;  Rock Dove;  Yellow-billed Duck;  Booted Eagle;  Martial Eagle;  Verreaux’s Eagle;  Little Egret;  Western Cattle Egret;  Lanner Falcon;  Common Fiscal;  Greater Flamingo;  Lesser Flamingo;  Chat Flycatcher;  Grey-winged Francolin;  Egyptian Goose;  Spur-winged Goose;  Pale Chanting Goshawk;  Great Crested Grebe;  Little Grebe;  Helmeted Guineafowl;  Hartlaub’s Gull;  Kelp Gull;  Black Harrier;  Black-headed Heron;  Grey Heron;  African Hoopoe;  African Sacred Ibis;  Hadeda Ibis;  Greater Kestrel;  Rock Kestrel;  Pied Kingfisher;  Black-winged Kite;  Yellow-billed Kite; Karoo Korhaan;  Southern Black Korhaan;  Blacksmith Lapwing;  Crowned Lapwing;  Cape Clapper Lark;  Cape Long billed Lark;  Fawn-coloured Lark;  Grey-backed Sparrow-Lark; Karoo Lark;  Karoo Long-billed Lark;  Large-billed Lark;  Red Lark;  Red-capped Lark;  Sabota Lark;  Spike Heeled Lark;  Brown-throated Martin;  Rock Martin;  White-backed Mousebird;  Speckled Pigeon;  Africa Pipit; Three-banded Plover;  Southern Pochard;  Black-chested Prinia;  Karoo Prinia;  Common Quail;  White-necked Raven;  Karoo Scrub Robin;  Cape Robin-Chat;  Namaqua Sandgrouse;  Secretarybird;  South African Shelduck;  Cape Shoveler;  Cape Sparrow;  House Sparrow;  African Spoonbill;  Cape Glossy Starling;  Common Starling;  Pale-winged Starling;  Pied Starling;  Red-winged Starling;  Black-winged Stilt;  African Stonechat;  Dusky Sunbird;  Malachite Sunbird;  S Double-collared Sunbird;  White-throated Swallow;  Alpine Swift;  Little Swift;  White-rumped Swift;  Cape Teal;  Red-billed Teal;  Karoo Thrush;  Grey Tit;  Cape Wagtail;  Cinnamon-breasted Warbler;  Cape Weaver;  Southern Masked Weaver;  Capped Wheatear;  Mountain Wheatear;  Cape White-Eye;  Ground Woodpecker.

Participants left of Thursday morning, some going straight home, others taking the opportunity to explore the region further.  Renee and I were joined by Carl and Moggs at Quagga Lodge near Velddrif for two nights.  Needless to say, it rained again and we had to negotiate some very muddy roads, but we had a fine time and saw many more birds along the Berg river and adjoining areas including the much sought-after Red-winged Phalarope! The weather precipitated a visit to the local gin distillery and we retired to our cottage for G&Ts before spending the afternoon safely ensconced inside. We had planned a cruise on the river but the wind and rain put paid to that idea!

From there, Renee and I proceeded to the Tankwa Karoo National Park, where stayed at De Zyfer Cottage.  We wanted to use the opportunity to extend our Western Cape Challenge list and the Tankwa offers a few species that are hard to find elsewhere in the Western Cape. The Tankwa was full of flowers, having also had it’s share of winter rain and we managed to see a few of the specials for which the area is noted, namely Black-chested Snake-Eagle, Martial Eagle, Black-eared Sparrow-Lark and many Greater Kestrels. A drive up the Ganagga pass brought back memories of a previous trip there with friends from Hermanus.

Walking the Kleinmond Contour Path with the Hurriers

We had a fairly good turn out today (12) for our walk along the Contour Path above Kleinmond, and the weather was fine, albeit a bit cold at the start. We only walked 4,8 kms to Fairy Glen, but for some reason it felt like 10!. I guess that fact that David and Ross both had falls (the latter on a steep rocky section, which had us pretty worried) helped to slow us down.

We were impressed with the early Spring flowers, especially the large numbers of Disperis capensis, of which we must have seen over 100 blooms, but a recent fire had erased all the Proteas from the first part of the walk. The last section, however, more than made up for it.

A Walk to Plaaskombuis

Instead of the usual route along the contour path, up Elephant Walk and down through Hamilton Russel, this morning I decided to take a new route up over Kanonkop and then via the Jeep Track to Fernkloof Farm and down to the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. It worked out very well and we had an enjoyable 6.8 kms of varied mountain and farm terrain, before arriving at Plaaskombuis, where we enjoyed a cup of coffee and an early lunch.

On the Contour Path

Yesterday only five Hurriers turned out for a 7 km hike along the beautiful Contour Path above Hermanus Heights. The weather was sublime, but, being winter, we walked in the shade for quite a while, causing us to appreciate the sunshine all the more when we moved from the shadow of the mountain. Autumnal Proteas were in flower and we were especially pleased to see many Protea longifolia.

An Outing to Dwars Berg

We celebrated our fifty-sixth wedding anniversary on Wednesday by spending a couple of nights at the Dwars Berg Trout Hideaway, in one of their well-appointed Pod Houses. The one we stayed in is called Wallis Simpson, however, we never discovered why. On the way there we stopped at Stetteyn Winery for a snack lunch and some wine. The view from there is spectacular!

We wanted to relax and enjoy the scenery at Dwars Berg, but I also desperately wanted to find a Protea Canary. The terrain was ideal, and we were very impressed with the area, but we never saw a sign of the canary despite all our long searches. We drove up the valley to the Stetteynskloof dam, a very impressive structure, which provides water to Worcester and Rawsonville. The campsites along the river are really beautiful and all very private. What did not impress us was the rampant growth of the very invasive Hakia, which blanketed vast areas of the mountainside.

Our stay was marked by cold weather. On Wednesday morning the temperature was 4 degrees and it was 10 degrees in our bedroom! We visited the Slanghoek area and had a snack lunch and some wine at the beautiful Jason’s Hill winery. Needless to say that night we made a good fire in our indoor braai, where we also cooked our dinner!

On Thursday we returned home, but came via the Koppies road, north of Villiersdorp. We had wonderful birding along this road and managed to add a few species to our Western Cape Challenge, as well as getting our trip list to 90 species – not bad for a winter outing! We were also molested by a large Llama which, fortunately for us, was on the other side of a fence!