An unforgertable weekend birding weekend at Soupansberg, Limpopo.

Posting by Marie Tarrant, Queensland based Australian birder visiting SA
during August and September 2009:

We didn't actually
arrive at our key destination of Shiluvari Lakeside Lodge until around 10am
on Saturday morning. It was magnificent - akin to finding a mirage after
days of wandering the desert. I've posted images of the Lodge in my picasa
web album. All the driving that morning through the Limpopo landscape
looking at the clean black townships and greener, more lush landscape was
pleasant. It turned out, at journeys end, that we weren't actually all that
far (about 60 kms) away from Thohoyandou, which is the main town away from the
Venda region where I'll be based when I teach so I know I'm going to like it
there.

We'd contacted Samson Mulaudzi, a local Bird Guide to confirm that, although late, we still would like to
hire him for the 2 days to bird guide for us. I've learned from Samson
that Birdlife SA run a project to develop local black South Africans like
Samson who have a love of nature and demonstrate the potential to be good
bird guides. They are formally trained and can make a good living doing
this. Samson is affiliated with the Lodge now and takes birders out
whenever needed, but otherwise, in quiet weeks/months can still earn a
living by multi-skilling and doing general maintenance at the Lodge. What
he earns in bird guiding fees is his own but the Lodge can market his
services and the Lodge also recognise that Samson's skills will bring
clients to stay so it's a good win-win situation.

For anyone interested in birding in South Africa, I've contact details for
both the Lodge and Samson. Samson arrived and after introducing ourselves
we set off for the local birding spots - enroute though he stopped along the
driveway of the Lodge (which is about 5kms of dirt road surrounded by bush)
to show us a roosting female *Spotted Eagle Owl.*

Our first birding site was Albasini Dam which is a conservancy area - the
highlights here were the raptors which had been sadly lacking in Gauteng
province, having had not arrived yet for the summer. We had Lizzard
Buzzard, Long Crested Eagle, Brown Snake Eagle and African Fish Eagle
amongst the many new forest bird species for me too.

Next stop was a place called 'Entabeni Forest' where we had to pay
for a permit (fee was ZAR25 in total including the vehicle and the 3 of us -
only about $8). The highlight for this site was a pair of *roosting Bat
Hawks* in a stand of Australian Blue Gums (would you believe!) - fantastic
views and a first for Rene! Tom and I had seen one briefly and badly
leaving the bat caves in northern Uganda when we visited but these two were
roosting and scopable and we could see the white strip along the throat.
Out of the plantation areas afro-montane forest areas are preserved and so
we birded here and amongst other birds got Olive Thrush,Lemon Dove, Cape
White Eyes and Yellow-streaked Bulbul,Green Twinspot,Jackal Buzzard (with it's endearing habit of flicking
just one wing).

On Sunday we visited 'Roodewal Forest' which also has plantation areas of
Australian gums and pine trees. Retained are areas of mixed scrub forest,
semi-decidious areas which need 4WD or high clearance vehicle access. Our
highlights here was a pair of *African Broadbills, Scaly-throated and Lesser
Honey-guides, Orange-breasted Shrike, Olive Bush-Shrike* and away from the
forest a *pair of Crowned Eagles* on the nest in a pine tree stand. Some
trivia I got from Samson included fact that porcupines, of which there are
many here, eat the roots and bark of the bush trees and the local belief is
that any of the trees they choose to use must have medicinal properties.

The drama for the day was given to us in the form of a *HUGE BLACK MAMBA
snake* that we nearly trod on - Samson was pointing out a Marula Tree which
is used to make alcohol when he glanced down and saw the Mamba some 2 metres
away raise it's head in a warning. We, of course, didn't argue and the
Mamba (at least 3-4 metres long) slowly slid down into it's hole until we
passed when it would once again come out to sun itself. Samson also said
the bush area we were in is frequented by Leopards and he has come upon
fresh kills in the past although this doesn't make him nervous as he knows
the Leopard isn't particularly interested in humans and will hide if they're
about.

The afternoon finished up with a visit to Hanglip Forest highlights were a pair of
Forest Buzzard and
Verreaux's Eagle soaring up in the sky.