Archived destinations
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South Africa's Western Cape
Cape Town area
The Cape Peninsula National Park, including the Cape of Good Hope.
Coastal species should include Cape gannet, Cape gull, swift tern, Cape, white-breasted and crowned cormorants, black oystercatcher and white-fronted plover and in places glossy ibis occurs. Around habitation, such as at the visitor centre on Cape Point, both Cape buntings and Cape sparrows are common around the coffee tables with red-winged starlings.
The coastal fynbos scrub holds a range of species including malachite and orange-breasted sunbirds, fiscal flycatcher and possibly Cape siskin. Other frequent birds might include Cape robin, Karoo prinia, grey-backed cisticola and southern boubou.
Troups of Chacma baboons are often encountered on roadsides and reintroduced bontebok antelopes and Cape mountain zebra can be found in places, along with ostriches. A wide range of plants is found here, including many Cape daisies, proteas and heathers.
At nearby Boulders we will visit the African penguin colony for an eyeball-to-eyeball encounter with this, a threatened species due to over exploitation by commercial fishing interests. This species is often known as the jackass penguin, due to its donkey-like braying call.
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Pelagic seabird trip
This exciting trip is almost bound to turn up black-browed, shy and yellow-nosed albatrosses. Petrel and shearwater species are generally numerous at this time including giant (both northern and southern), white-chinned, pintado, great and sooty. There is also a good chance of seeing black-bellied and Wilson's storm petrels. Skuas should include subantarctic, as well as more familiar species. Other possibilities include antarctic fulmar and antarctic tern and, of course, the ever present Cape gannets and several species of cormorant.
Whales, Cape fur seals, tuna and sharks, are also likely to be seen on this day long boat trip from Simon's Town into the oceans to the south of the Cape of Good Hope. Local seabird experts will accompany us on this trip.
Table Mountain and Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
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No trip to the Western Cape could miss out on these two 'musts' while in the area.
Table Mountain has more plant species than the entire UK and the Kirstenbosch gardens specialise in native flora and, after Kew, are probably better known than almost any other Botanical Garden in the world. Thus both places are very busy tourist attractions but nevertheless they do offer the possibly of seeing some exciting plants and birds.
The plateau on Table Mountain affords amazing views over the surrounding countryside but it is important to go up (by cable car) when the 'table cloth' is not down, for then one might easily be lost in cloud! Rock hyraxes, small mammals related to elephants, can be seen here, while rock martins, white-necked ravens and African black swifts are overhead. And of course the variety of plants overwhelms including many restios, large sedge-like grasses typical of the fynbos.
Sunbirds abound in Kirstenbosch gardens including lesser double-collared, malachite and orange-breasted and Cape sugarbirds can be common. Cape francolin and helmeted guineafowl are often found among the colourful flowerbeds; wooded areas hold rameron pigeons, Cape batis, sombre bulbul, the ever-present Cape white-eyes and much more. There is a good possibility of seeing spotted eagle owl here.
West Coast National Park
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The West Coast National Park to the north of Cape Town is noted for its large coastal lagoon, Langebaan, holding many thousands of wading birds including large numbers of curlew sandpipers and marsh sandpipers, little stints and Kittlitz's and white-fronted plovers. Greater flamingos are common, sometimes mixed in with South African shelducks. Birds of prey might easily include African marsh harrier, African fish eagle, black-shouldered kite and the handsome black harrier, a speciality of the park. Small birds in roadside scrub and on barer ground include white-backed mousebird, Cape bulbul, Karoo lark, grassbird, Cape weaver and pied and wattled starlings.
While driving around the park we will undoubtedly see ungulate tortoise on the roads and possibly the odd snake, such as a puff adder. Here too a few mammals may be seen including red hartebeest and springbok. Add to all this, a profusion of flowers for a wonderful day out.
Strandfontein sewage farm and the Rondevlei Nature Reserve
Strandfontein offers excellent opportunities to get to grips with a range of waterbirds. Southern pochard, Cape shoveler, Maccoa duck, yellow-billed duck and red-billed teal all occur here, along with Cape teal, lots of black-necked grebes, purple gallinules, pied kingfishers and much else. So although the thought of visiting a sewage works might not seem all that attractive on the face of it, this is a splendid place to watch birds, with lots of large pools to look over from a complex road system.
Rondevlei is largely reedbed and pools with African sedge warblers, several heron and egret species, sacred ibis, African darter, reed cormorant and malachite kingfisher. Together, these two sites hold an excellent cross-section of Western Cape waterbirds.
Paarl Mountain and Bird Sanctuary
Set in the heart of the Cape Winelands, this reserve area offers a mixture of wetland and mountain bird-watching. The higher ground and its scrub hold interesting species such as the ground woodpecker, jackal buzzard and the often difficult to find Protea canary.
In complete contrast, the wetlands hold a range of species including little bittern, African spoonbill, black-crowned night heron, water dikkop, black crake and white-backed duck. African fish eagles occur here too, along with red bishops and white-throated swallows among the smaller species.
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Silvermine Nature Reserve
This is primarily a wildflower reserve noted for its wonderful displays of pelargoniums, proteas and a host of other species. Among these, the birds include spotted prinia, speckled mousebird and Cape canary. Rock kestrels and peregrines occur here too.
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Jackass penguin
