There is nothing quite like being woken up with sun rising over the sea and the sound of the waves crashing into the sand. Of course there was also the toddler shouting ‘no’ and singing that was reverberated around the house. It did feel like we had slept in though as we were usually heading out on a game drive but I was still lying in bed at 7am.

H & S had decided to go for a run and then arrived back complaining that there was nothing flat – either or up or down the whole time. After breakfast, HSKZ went off to local place that a small train, play park etc. I stayed as I had some work meetings I had to do and also wanted to catch up on the backlog of emails/work before next week started. They seemed to have fun and got back around lunchtime. SKZ all went for a nap.

After my last meeting finished at 2pm, H & I went for a walk along the entire extent of Salt Rock beach. It was hard going because you either walked in the very sandy portion or you walked on the slightly firmer portion but it had a camber. I am sure my calves are going to be complaining tomorrow.

We went out for dinner as it is our last night. There is a very nice restaurant complex in Ballito which has multiple places to eat of every type of cuisine you can think of. Also live music in the square. We had booked at 45 on Eat Street. They were very welcoming and the service was efficient and friendly the whole night. They were attentive and thoughtful about the fact we had a toddler with us. The food was pretty good. H & S said their starter (tuna ceviche) was superb and they both said it was the best part of the meal. They also had an extensive wine list which was reasonably priced too. The best part of the meal was when they brought the bill and I leant over to pay, S & K said no, it was their gift to us to say thanks for the holiday.

Our flight is early(ish) tomorrow am so we will need to leave here around 6:45am. Until next time …

P, H, S, K & Z

Our time in game parks came to an end today. As we had a 4-hour drive to our accommodation on the beach (and nearer the airport), we decided to skip the morning drive and rather have a sleep in (at least for as long as Z allowed) and then a leisurely breakfast, walk around the camp, pack up and head out. We were on the road just after 9am and as we only had 12 kms to exit Mkuze, we did a slow drive and stopped at a bird hide on the way out. It was again quite a nice hide overlooking a small dam and we manage to add another few birds to the trip list. That is now up to 120 birds for me. I have added 5 lifers for the trip – my expectation was 0 so I am infinitely better than expected right now!

Once exiting the park you have to navigate around 20 kms of dirt road and about 2 kms of severely pot-holed tar road before getting back onto the main N2 which goes North/South all the way down to Cape Town. It was about 280 kms south to the turn off for Salt Rock where we are staying for next 2 nights. The problem is that it treacherous driving. On the way up we had one guy overtaking a truck and another guy overtaking him in the yellow lines. Today we had oncoming traffic overtaking trucks in a no-passing zone that forced me into the yellow line. Having driven across a lot of South Africa, I can honestly say that this stretch of road feels like the most hazardous to drive. It doesn’t help that the road is full of trucks with sugar cane, timber or iron ore. Limited passing opportunities and slow driving trucks are never a good combination.

The good news is that we made it safely to our accommodation in Salt Rock. The house is right on the beach. Seriously when I say right on the beach I mean it – there is a gate onto the beach from the pool area. They (SKZH) went down to the beach before dinner. It has 8 bedrooms (we are only using ½ of the house), 4 lounge areas down stairs and that excludes the two outside lounge areas. The most well appointed kitchen I have ever seen with every kind of knife, pot, pan & utensil you could ever need.

There is nothing quite like the constant sound of the waves to relax you. I immediately said to H, I am not going to do anything tomorrow but just sit here and enjoy the view and sound. It also felt appropriate to have seafood for dinner tonight and having managed to secure some butterflied prawns, we enjoyed those with sweet potato wedges, cauliflower and a green salad. Of course washed down with a lovely chardonnay.

Until tomorrow …

P, H, S (he did most of the supper), K & Z (she was again a star in the car trip)

As it was so cold and the birds weren’t active at sunrise yesterday, we decided on a slightly later start of 7am. K wasn’t feeling well so she gave the drive a skip but the rest of us headed out. The plan was to go to the Nsumo pan which has 2 hides overlooking the pan. We did visit them last year on our road trip and on going again today I remember that I would have been frustrated last year had I not had my scope with me. That unfortunately turned out to be true today because the birds seem to all be situated on the other side of the pan so you really need a scope (and unfortunately I had too much else to carry on the flight up so the scope stayed at home).

Friends of ours from CT were also coincidentally at Mkuze today and we passed them on road as we were heading back to camp. They are staying outside of Mkuze and just drove in for the day but were complaining about the state of the roads outside the park. We agreed but at least we knew from last year so weren’t surprised. We got back to the camp relatively late (around 10:30am). After Z went down for her nap, S, K & I went back to the Masinga hide to see if we could get the green twinspots for them while H looked after Z.

When we got there, no sign of them though a reasonable amount of bird and animal life including two herds of impala. One herd had the dominant male rutting a lot and the other herd had two males fighting for dominance. So while we birded we were also kept entertained by the impala behaviour. After about 30 minutes, we suddenly saw the green twinspots. In the same spot as we have now seen them twice (and once by A as well from August last year). Midday seems to be a good time to see them.

We did a walk around the camp in the afternoon but birding was very quiet as it had become reasonably windy. We had a early braai of chicken kebabs and sausage with butternut in the braai and courgette on the grill to go with the chicken.

Until tomorrow …

P, H (for looking after Z so SK so go find the green twinspot), S, K & Z

You might notice the spelling of Mkuze changes in my blog. That is because you can spell it multiple ways and they all acceptable. Mhkuze, Mkuze or uMhkuze. It is a isiZulu word meaning “chorus master of singing and dancing”. I am not sure if Z knows that but there certainly has been a lot of singing coming from her over the last few days. She will just be sitting in the car while we are driving and she will break out into a song. For a 2-year old her repertoire is quite extensive.

We were up and out just after sunrise at around 6:40am. It was a very chilly morning of 10 degrees C. The bush was pretty quiet – too cold for everything it seems. We went to our favourite bird hide in Mkuze – the Kwamasinga hide – and even it was very quiet. S & K were underwhelmed after we had hyped it up. It was in the shade and pretty cold (around 7.5 degrees C there) so probably not the best time to go. We did some bumbling around and added trip list birds on the landing strip (always a good place for some ground birds) and then headed to the other hide nearby which we learnt isn’t great but went anyway. Nothing at the hide itself but in the parking lot we saw ink-throated twinspots which is a lifer for both H & I. Twinspots have been somewhat of a bogey bird for us and so this was a pleasing sighting for us. S was a little bleak because he had seen them before and it meant I pulled a little further away from him. He is regretting ever saying he would soon pass me.

We had some excellent sightings of giraffe next to and on the road today. Z definitely also excited about them and immediately said “WOW” when she saw the first one. She still asked for ‘more-tog’ and we actually were able to oblige today (there was one on the landing strip). On the way back into camp, H & S added another life – Eastern Nicator – S happy because that early lifer for me of pink-throated twinspot was cancelled out as I already had the nicator on my list.

When SK put Z down to sleep, H and I headed back to the Kwamasinga hide and just after we got there we saw the green twinspots. Both twinspots in one day. One would almost think it was my birthday with 2 lifers both being twinspots in one day but actually my birthday is only next week. As an FYI for those of you that have read the blog previously from last years August road trip, we saw them today in exactly the same spot that A (the guy who photographed them from our party but never bothered to tell us about them) saw them. It is definitely a spot for them it seems. The bird life was very active midday at the hide – it is definitely a good time to go.

SKZ were all napping still when we got back but once they all woke up I offered to take them to hide to see if we could add the green twinspots for them as well. The only issue was that we had a slow leak on the back tyre. The car had said low tyre pressure when we left Hilltop yesterday and we pumped it up. No further messages during the day but when we got into the car this am, the tyre pressure was down even more than yesterday morning so it was clear we had a slow leak. There is no tyre pump here and so that meant we had to change the tyre. My left hand and wrist have been incredibly painful over the last few days and so we were reliant on S doing the change of tyre with some cheering on from the sidelines from the rest of us. Fortunately he managed to get it done and so we could do a a quick late afternoon trip to the hide but alas no twinspots to be seen. It was a bit more active with a giant egret in the middle of the water which at least we could add to the trip list.

The highlight of the day though came after I had already lit the fire for the braai tonight. We could hear crunching and trumpeting in the trees to our left. It was elephant and they were close. That continued for awhile and we couldn’t see them and then K peered around the side of house and almost got a fright of her life when she saw an elephant about 20 meters from her. We all very quickly migrated toward the house. There is a small water fountain for birds to bath in and drink from right in front of our house. The elephants came and drank from that. I say elephants because it was a herd. We counted at least 11 at one stage but some only came out of the bush later. Probably closer to 20 in total. The one was not happy with me peering around the corner of the house (the rest of them had gone inside). H came outside briefly and talked to me and the elephant moved forward toward us and I sent H back inside again. I told her I can’t deal with having to get us both safely inside so she should rather just stay inside.

They formed a circle around the little ones when they came to drink and then they all turned and walked off through the camp. Snapping a few branches and trumpeting as they went. It was pretty impressive and the fast heart pumping must be good for your overall well-being. Mkuze is not fenced and so this not an unheard of occurrence. Last night we could hear a hyena whooping and we think it was around the braai last night after we finished.

I continued the braai and by this point it was ready for ostrich steak and chicken wings to be cooked. Some of the butternut and sweet potato that was in the coals never got turned around (thanks to the elephant herd) but plenty that was very edible. A glass of wine or two with the meal topped off everything nicely.

Another full day in the bush …

S (for the tyre changing he fully deserves this plus he spotted the pink-throated twinspots), P, H (for green twinspots), K & Z

I realised as I pushed send last night that I forgot to mention the snake encounter in the blog post. Of course, almost as fast as I remember, it was pointed out to me as well. I said I would fix that problem. S & I were still up and at the dining room table catching up on things when I get a whatsapp from H with a photo and question underneath of “Worm or baby snake? Please come now” I go and H points out a half a shell on at the foot of our bed and when I push the worm/snake with my foot it starts wriggling just like a snake. Clearly snake then! By this time K, Z & S have also all joined to see. H says “Kill it now. Stamp on it.” Can’t really argue with H at this point so I follow instructions and then take the leftovers and flush them down the loo.

Now when you think snake, you have to think the smallest snake in ever have seen (pic below). But now the question is, whether is the mother as this was clearly a newly minted snake fresh out of its shell. Fortunately we have ChatGPT these days and it informs us (a) totally harmless (no kidding it wasn’t going to be able to bite me if it tried) and (b) the mother lays the eggs and leaves them (zero motherly instinct it seems). Plus thorough search of the room and everyone concludes we are likely safe for the night. So that is what I should have said in yesterdays blog. Of course I have also probably broken a bunch of laws because I killed wildlife in a game park. The things you do for your wife.

This morning it was a planned sleep in. Someone forgot to tell Z though who was up at 4:30am. Only requires one adult to deal with that situation though and it wasn’t going to fall to either H or I! H & S had decided to go for a run at 7:30am and I wanted to go for a forest walk (there is a trail in the camp) to do some birding. Originally S & H were going to come with me so I waited for them to come back but alas when they returned, no desire to go for a bird walk. They said ‘we didn’t hear any birds this am so we won’t come’. I went by myself and added a number of birds to the trip list including one bird I had seen last in 2021 only. As an FYI, good day for trip list which is now up to 86 birds (no lifers though for me but K did get one).

When I got back, packing up went into full swing and as we started to pack the car I had an encounter with a baboon that wanted to climb in and have a look around. Chased him off and then we proceeded to pack much more cautiously ensuring no other cheeky monkeys or baboons got into our car again. We were packed up just before 10am and we headed east to the Memorial gate. Our journey was briefly halted by a large elephant bull blocking the road. Once past him, it didn’t take long to get to the gate and exit the park. We had decided to replicate what we had done on our road trip last August and head to False Bay which is part of iSamangaliso Wetlands and do some birding there before heading to Mkhuze. It would also hopefully give some time for Z to fall asleep (which she did very quickly in her car seat).

We were surprised at the level of the water at the wetlands. In places the picnic spots were totally flooded with the built braais half covered in water. We did follow the road along the water’s edge until we got to a point where the road was underwater. H said if we were in the Landrover she would have no problem with us proceeding, but in the VW Kombi you simply couldn’t take that chance. We all agreed and turned around and back. It was a nice drive and achieved about an hour 20 min nap for Z and allowed us to add to our bird list for the trip.

A quick stop at Hluhluwe town to replenish some supplies and then on to Mkhuze. The road very quickly turns to a dirt road and the first bit is not in very good condition. But the balance of it is relatively good except just before Mkhuze when you approach one of the local villages. There the road is a total mess. It is short-lived at least.

We got to Mkhuze gate just after 2pm. It is only 8 kms from the gate to the camp (Mantuma) but that took us close to an hour to complete as there is a lot of bird life in Mkhuze. Mkhuze is second only to the Kruger Park in bird diversity yet it is only 1/77th of size of the Kruger Park. Pretty much everywhere you look you see a new bird.

We did a late afternoon walk and then SK gave Z an early supper and we then ate the braai together (BBQ chicken, ostrich sausage and sweet potato in the braai accompanied with ratatouille made by H. It was a late dinner by our standards as we only finished around 7:45pm (wood took forever to burn down again). Everyone now in bed and ready for hopefully a good nights rest.

Until tomorrow …

P, Z (she was again very good in the car despite her 4:30am wake up), H, S & K

We were up and leaving at roughly the same time as yesterday around when the sun rose. The bushveld seemed even quieter this morning. It also didn’t help that there was a thin layer of cloud. Cloudy conditions is never conducive to birding. It was also quite cool at around 15 degrees C. We only added our first new bird at after 7am this morning.

We took a different route to yesterday and rather headed south down the main road and then turned west to a bird hide situated over a pan. There was a lot of elephant wreckage on the road to the hide and when we arrived at the hide we could hear the elephant in the bush though we never saw it. The path to the hide went on for what seemed forever. Probably felt much longer than it really was because one of us was carrying a toddler in either direction. It must have been at least 500 meters though. Unfortunately not a lot of action at the hide or on the pan.

We headed back to camp after the hide stop. On the way back, when we got cellphone signal, I got a message that our new car was waiting for us at the one entrance gate. They would not let the driver in to deliver the vehicle so we had to go to him so we could get it swapped. Fortunately the gate is only about 13 kms from the camp so we just headed off their to do the swap. We now have a much more decent car – VW Kombi. A minivan built as a minivan just is al-round a much better car. Everyone had taken a chance to comment on what aspects they prefer of the new car already. Once again, my PA did a great job of getting them to bring what was originally promised to us.

On the way back to camp, we encountered a large herd of buffalo who seemed intent to stand in the road and were seemingly unmoved by our car trying to get past them. I eventually managed to inch forward enough to get them to scatter a little and let us through. Z is clearly enjoying the animals. Her favourite are the ‘More-togs’ that she clearly wants to see more of :). She is remarkably good in the car and is quite content to just sit and look out of the window at the trees and the more-togs (when she sees them) or pressing the hazard button or cleaning the windscreen. The ability to roam between the front and the back seat seems to be particularly enticing and the occasional tug at the steering wheel also seems to keep her occupied. She was dozing off as we pulled back into camp this morning.

We spent the rest of the day in the camp today. SKZ all had a nap at the same time and H & I went for an hour 15 minute walk down to the gate and then back on the Forest Walk to do some birding. We managed to add 5 birds to the trip list and H got a lifer. Then back at the house we are staying in, S spotted a woodpecker and called us outside to see that and I ended up adding another lifer for a bird that S spotted but then wrongly identified but fortunately I ignored him and double checked and disagreed with his ID and then he corrected himself and corrected his ID. Part redemption for S. That did bring me to 590 lifers and 65 birds for the trip thus far. Disappointing day really for birding (despite the lifer) as we only added 11 birds today to the trip list.

Dinner this was again a braai. This time of chicken wings and chicken sausage with gem squash again in the fire. H complemented that with a salad of made of sauteed broccoli and zucchini with lettuce and feta.

At the moment I am the last one standing with everyone else have already migrated off to bed. Time to join them and maybe watch some golf (if the WiFi works well enough to allow me to do it!).

Until tomorrow …

P, Z (she is my grand daughter and she has been remarkably good in the car), H, S (he did spot the lifer at the least even though he almost made me miss it) and K (though she almost got a promotion because she was the only one to not criticize my blog – which seemingly is now a sport in the family)

Sunrise is at 6:40am at the moment so while the gates opened at 6am, we figured going out at 6:30am would likely be a better option. Z fortunately slept through the night and woke at 5:45am – which incidentally was when I woke up as well. We decided to head out east on the dirt road which runs along the river. As we descended into the valley, the mist was covering much of the valley and the temperature plummeted from 15 degrees C at the camp to just 7 degrees in the valley and along the river. The birds were quiet and clearly sleeping in so the first 30 minutes or so we really only saw some game life including a herd of buffalo and then 2 hyena in the road. We only added our first bird to the trip list at just before 7am but then they steadily flowed from then onward.

We stopped for coffee / hot chocolate plus stretch legs etc at a picnic spot along the river and H spotted an unknown bird in the tree which we quite quickly identified as a Brown Scrub Robin which was a lifer for all of us. Some drama at picnic spot ensued. S left the passenger side door open and K & Z were sitting on the back seat getting something. A vervet monkey jumped in the front seat, onto back seat next to K & Z, K & Z came flying out the car in a panic, I ran up to car and shouted and started to jump in to back seat and it grabbed a banana and ran out the front. Instant blog demotion for S for leaving the door open. The troop arrived shortly afterwards and one of the males saw H eating an apple and was brazen enough to try and steal it out of her hand. We chased it off though.

By the time we got back to camp (just before 10am), our trip list was just under 50 birds. Z had an early lunch and went for a nap and K & H joined her in the nap part too. S was planning on a nap but then the cricket started and we just had to watch to see if the Proteas could do what was thought to be the impossible and win the Test Championship at Lord’s.

S started a charcoal fire so we could braai some hamburger patties for lunch and then I braai’d them. All the while we would come back in and watch an over and then rush out to turn them over until they were done. Then quick construction of the burgers between overs so we could ensure we didn’t miss anything. By this point, KHZ had all woken up as well. After the victory and presentations we headed out for an afternoon walk and on the way back added another lifer – at least for H & I – (again spotted by H) of a Southern Yellow White-Eye. S was bleak about this one because he had it already on his list which means the gap widens between the two of us. We did a short evening drive on which K added another lifer of a Long-Crested Eagle.

We got back to start the braai around 4:30pm. The wood we were sold at the shop is tree trunk like. After 1 hour 10 minutes, there were still whole logs unburnt. Z likes to eat around 6pm so at about 5:45pm, I started braaiing the steaks on some coals and some burning logs. They turned out pretty well despite the less than perfect cooking conditions. They had a slight smokey, char-grilled flavour to them. We also did some gem squash in the fire and H did a salad and corn on the cob. Z seems to love corn on cob – plowed through 2 of them before considering to eat anything else.

Early to bed tonight for some of us – H & I are both already in/on the bed. It is now 8:45pm and I honestly don’t think I will make it much past 9:30pm.

Until tomorrow …

P, Z (she is my grand daughter and she drove today on my lap), H (she found 3 lifers today!), K (she failed to thank H for the lifer … seems to be a daughter-in-law issue) & S (well you know why already)