SA 2015 - AMS to Cape Town

I got to the airport in plenty of time for my flight at 10.00 which departed on time.  I was a bit grumpy at first because they moved my seat to the back of the aircraft . Bit they changed the seats for several people because they put on a bigger plane, so I got a whole row to myself.  Who cares if I'm a bit later getting off the aircraft.

The flight over North Africa has been incredible. The bleakness, and lack of signs of natural life seems harsh, though no doubt if you were to stop anywhere in the desert, a local would suddenly appear and try to sell you something. Gradually, as we reached northern Nigeria and the Sahel, you could see field structure appear. 

The Chott el-Gharsa in Tunisia

Nothingness of the Libyan desert

Nothingness gives way to low
intensity farming in Nigerian Sahel

I had a chat with Jared Wilson (Marine Scotland) during the flight who is going to the same conference. We arrived some 10 1/2 hours later in Cape Town - all a bit gruelling, but it could have been worse. I saw LEIF NILSSON and his wife and Steve Votier at passport control.  My pre-booked shuttle into town wasn't waiting for me. I gave them 15 minutes, but considering I hadn't pre-paid, I didn't feel too concerned about using one of the local shuttle companies.  That was an advert on behalf of Way 2 Go (not!).

I shared with a local medic and a woman from New York. The latter was being dropped off in Long Street right in the heart of all the bars.  Probably safe enough, but not likely to get too much sleep.

My apartment, which I will be sharing with Kerstin Kober when she arrives, is in Lower Long street and is nice and spacious with what should be good views over the harbour.

Sleep! Unpacking can wait until tomorrow.

South Africa 2015 - Day 1 ABZ to AMS

I'm resuming my blog for this trip to Cape Town, initially to participate in the World Seabird Conference next week followed by a spot of birding in the Karoo and Bushmanland with Mark Tasker.

My first leg has gone OK.  I'm flying from Aberdeen via Amsterdam to Cape Town and stopping overnight at a Golden Tulip hotel at Sloterdijk which is midway between the airport and the city centre.  A younger Andy would have gone into the city to party, but I'm content with an early night having eaten a not unpleasant pizza at the airport. I'm using a fantastic app on my phone called Citymapper which guides you around public transport in even familiar cities. If it covers Cape Town as well as it does Amsterdam and London, then I'll be a very happy bunny.

It was all a bit of a push to get things done before I left and one of the things that got squeezed out was adequate preparation time for the trip. I've left lots of things behind. 

Top of the list is any travel plugs of any type.  Thankfully my room at the Golden Tulip has a UK socket so this will keeper going until I can buy an adapter at the airport.

My other mini disaster is that I failed to spot that my suitcase  was checked through to Cape Town complete with wash bag and overnight stuff.  You normally get asked if you want this to happen so I had a moan at the KLM service desk about that  (it would have been a minimum 1 hour wait for my bag to be retrieved) and they gave me an overnight wash bag which includes a t-shirt. I'm easily bought.

I'm quite impressed with the hotel. It's not in the city centre, but given the high standard of public transport, it would make a good base for an Amsterdam / Netherlands trip at a reasonable price.

Whale watching from Marissa - 25th November

We woke early to a stunning sunrise and mirror calm sea - this would make whale spotting from the boat much easier. We were taking a whale-watching trip with other Baurs clients on a boat from the Paradise Beach Club in Mirissa, and hoping to see any whale, but particularly the world's largest creature, the blue whale. This is one of the better places in the world to see this species, but it can often take several trips before you get lucky. We had one shot at this.

Sunrise at Paradise Beach Club

We left the crowded harbour on our boat and dodged our way out to sea past fishing boats. they are essentially large hollowed out tree-trunks with a stabilising float and no space to sit down.

Fishing boat off Mirissa

And another one

 It took less than an hour to reach the shelf break and ours and another couple of boats started to look around for signs of any whales or other marine mammals. We passed a green turtle, and a group of unidentified dolphins that none of us could get any ID features on. Then one of the boats peeled off to two smallish whales in the distance. As we approached, we could see a tall fin and lots of 'blowing' surely not, but they were killer whales. Not exactly top of the list of what I expected to see. 

Male killer whale - note how rounded the tip of the dorsal fin is

Male and female killer whales

They seemed to be feeding on something, was it a square of blubber floating in the sea? I have since seen a photo showing the male with what looks like part of a green turtle's shell beside it floating in the water. I was a bit disturbed by how many boats had gathered around these orcas - there were seven whale-watching boats clustered around these two animals. If they tried to move away, a boat always seemed to be in the way. Thankfully, we eventually moved away, as did a couple of others, to at least give these animals a bit of peace.

Great views for the punters

We soon spotted a group of blue whales, and among them a Bryde's whale. It was obviously a big whale, had a distinct, upright, slightly decurved dorsal fin and a prominent blow-hole, but like a minke whale, didn't appear to blow. It lacked the obvious white jaw of a fin whale. It seemed not to have the powerful rolling action of fin whales I have seen, instead having a much flatter surfacing action showing the dorsal at the same time as the blowhole. I can't say I could see the three ridges on the snout, but there is a hint of this on one of my photos.

Bryde's whale with blowhole showing at the same time as the dorsal fin

Bryde's whale - is that three ridges showing on the snout (just behind the blowholes in this photo)?

We spent a bit of time with the Bryde's, but we knew there were blue whales around and we wanted to get a bit closer to them. There must have been a three, or more likely four. They were clearly very large, with a tall bushy blow and light bluey-grey skin colour. I got the sense of the size of these animals not so much looking at the back, but mostly from the thickness of the tail stock which it showed as it went through an elaborate fluking display before a deep dive. We spent a bit of time with a lone animal and an enormous mother and her calf. In the photos, there are clear signs of remoras (suckerfish) hanging off the tail flukes of two of the animals we saw.

Blue whale fluking and remora just visible in the middle of the rear edge

Huge female at back with calf in front

Adult female blue whale - with these white markings on the tail flukes, this individual should be identifiable

A huge chunk of tail missing - again a feature for individual recognition

 We had done amazingly well on this trip, and to add to the trip, we passed a small group of spinner dolphins on our way home. They weren't up to much, although I since been told that they spin to dislodge remoras.

After a lunch back at the hotel and a rest, Pradeep and Kalinga kindly took us to Galle which has an old colonial fort next to the historic cricket ground. There was lots to see here, with ancient buildings, possibly the most attractive lighthouses I have ever seen. And boys playing cricket on every patch of ground.

Galle lighthouse

"Anyone for cricket?"

March of the Leech Zombies - 24th November

We woke early to try our luck again in a slightly different spot for the especially tricky Green-billed Coucals near to where we had seen the Serendip Scops Owl. My  trousers hadn't dried out from yesterday's deluge so I decided to wear shorts. After all, we weren't going to go off track.

Soon after our arrival we heard the first calls from the forest. Straining up into the canopy I managed to get part views of one of the coucals, then a whole view of the bird in flight. I found myself standing at the edge of the road, and realised that my trainers were crawling with leeches. So I had to try and brush them off quickly before they got into my shoes or started crawling onto my legs. As you do this, they latch onto your hand, so you have to pinch them off with your finger nails, roll them into a ball and flick them into the verge like an unpleasant bogey. As you get rid of them, more emerge from the verge towards you like a bad zombie film and you have to deal with these the best you can, meanwhile checking your legs all the time in case any have managed to hide and then started to crawl up toward your shorts where they would sink their jaws into you and start sucking up blood. You aren't supposed to be able to feel it, but that isn't true because you sense a slight nip at the first bite. One made it through and got a bit of a blood meal before I managed to prize it off and flick it away. Paul was in a similar predicament to me and decided against leech socks. Three leeches got into his shoes undetected and he discovered that his socks were soaked in blood. And because they inject an anti-coagulant, the wounds carry on bleeding!

Anyway, in spite of this drama, we eventually all got quite a good look at these normally very secretive birds. Three of them were sparring and calling, and it is perhaps the sound of them that I will remember for longest.

After breakfast, we checked out and took the long drive to the coast. The road is under re-construction with thousands of people along its stretch engaged in this massive civil engineering project. I wondered how the country could afford to do this. Then noticed a couple of Chinese supervising in places, and it soon became apparent that, as in many developing countries, China is investing heavily in their infrastructure. When we got to the lowlands, we were able to take the brand new motorway that runs between Colombo and Galle in the south. No doubt this was financed by PR China as well.

It was a completely different world at our hotel in Welligama near Marissa - the whole coastal strip is highly developed with lots of new buildings to replace those battered by the 2005 tsunami, and lots of repaired older buildings that clearly survived the tidal waves. All very different and more frenetic than the peace we enjoyed in the interior.

Fishing boats in Welligama

Beautiful bay adjacent to the hotel

One of many fish markets along the coast

Sinharaja Deluge - 23rd November

We woke and breakfasted earlier than usual so we could grab an extra half hour when the bird activity is at its peak. Robert ducked out of the day - he has been struggling with a cold and felt that another hard day in the field would make things worse.

First we looked at an area near the Blue Magpie Lodge to try and find a Green-billed Coucal. We had no luck here, but had better views of a few species we had struggled with yesterday, such as Sri Lanka Myna and Black-capped Bulbul, and finally caught up with a Crimson-backed Flameback (a type of woodpecker, though you wouldn't know it from the name).

Sri Lanka Myna

We picked up our park guide and walked up the track we were driven up in the jeep the previous day, and arrived probably just as quickly and picked up a Brown-capped Babbler on the way which is a common and wide-spread species that had eluded us so far. We walked from the park gates up to the research station again and searched in vain for a Sri Lanka Scaly Thrush, although we heard one very clearly from its hiding place in the undergrowth. We also heard White-faced Starling, Green-billed Coucal and a Serendip Scops Owl, all plain to the ear, but not to be seen. The coucal, in particular, has a fantasticly exotic sound. We did catch up with a nice pair of Sri Lanka Scimitar Babblers, which responded well to playback.

A brown-capped babbler looking very brown in the depths of the forest

Sri Lanka Junglefowl posing for a photo

Sri Lanka scimitar babbler

Lower down, near to the park entrance, we caught up with a group from Naturetrek, who were scanning through an energetic feeding flock of birds. It appears to be a feature of these rain forests that your birding success can depend on finding the mixed species feeding flocks, which can contain most of the important bird species. Ours consisted of Orange-billed Babblers, Ashy-headed Laughingthrush, Red-faced Malkoha and Sri Lanka Crested Drongo. We wanted to wait and see if anything else joined the flock, but it started to get dark and the first spots of rain were falling. This rapidly turned to a deluge. I had to put the camera and all other items that could be damaged into my rucksack while I got absolutely soaked, the ran for cover with all the others to the shelter of the park entrance. We waited for about half an hour for the rain to show some sign of easing. Sod it, we covered our bags with all our valuables inside and walked down the track to where our van was parked. I'm sure that what was only a 1km walk up this morning turned into a 2km walk down this afternoon. it didn't take long before the rain penetrated into my socks and my trainers. The track had turned into a stream in places as the rainwater tried to escape into the bulging torrents that were streams this morning. Eventually, we squelched into the shelter of the ticket office, where we enjoyed some rice flour muffins and bottles of 7-up and coke. I have learned one thing - Leica optics are waterproof (and so they should be for the price you have to pay) and so is the pull-over rain protector for my rucksack.

Some impressive stats about Sinharaja

We got back to the hotel to try and dry our clothes and have a late lunch. Eventually, rain stopped play for the afternoon.

Sinharaja Rain Forest - 22nd November

We had an early breakfast and drive to the park ticket office. We transferred our stuff to a Jeep and were driven at snails pace up a rough track to the entrance proper to the park. The park has had a checkered past; it was formerly a royal hunting park, taken over by the British when they took over the islands. Then following independence for Sri Lanka, the authorities decided to allow mahogany planting and logging. There was uproar, because of the site's incredible list of endemic plant, insect, amphibian, mammal and bird list. It was decided to instead turn this into a National Park, and the site later gained World Heritage Status for its wildlife. So thanks to the strength of many people who were determined to protect this site, we were privileged to walk through this fantastic rain forest. Perhaps my concern about this park is the number of invasive plant species that appear to be taking a foot hold here (even more of a problem in Udawalawe).

Mist-laden valley below our hotel

 The forest was fairly quiet, and we struggled to see new species. We started off with a site for Sri Lanka Spurfowl, and got lucky fairly quickly with a female showing about 20m back into the forest. Unfortunately, we had to walk through a pretty bad area for leeches. I suffered one bite, but managed to pick it off before it started to draw blood. Others were less lucky, and Mike seemed to be the flavour of the month.

Layard's parakeet

I had particularly wanted to see Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, but was disappointed to see a group hanging around a shelter, eyeing up the several bags of packed lunches being guarded on behalf of a group of students. They are beautiful birds, but a more natural discovery would have been nice.

Sri Lanka blue magpie wondering where its next cheese sandwich is going to come from

As we descended, we managed to find a couple of flocks of babblers and other species, and finding these appears to be the key to seeing many of the special bird species in the forest.

Leaving the reserve, we stopped and met with local guide Ranjee, who specialises in showing the rarest species to visiting birders. First on the itinerary was a Sri Lanka Frogmouth which was sitting in a cluster of trees near to where we parked the Jeep. We needed to be quick, because the rains were starting to come in and he could not guarantee that our next prize would stay put once the inevitable downpour came. We drove a few km away to an area of bamboo thicket and tried to climb quickly and quietly up the steep slope over slippery mud and rocks. We, in our designer clothing and high tech footwear were stumbing, slipping, occasionally crawling through the mud and undergrowth, while the Sri Lankans in their flip flops and shorts skipped and danced up the slope like mountain goats. Then there it was, exactly where Ranjee had left it earlier in the day, a Serendip Scops Owl, squinting at us from beneath its canopy of dead bamboo leaves. It is a small fawn-coloured owl about the size of a starling with raised ear tufts. It was too dark for us to take photos, but we satisfied ourselves with the unforgettable memory of that climb up the slope and then the incredible view of this highly prized rare bird.

Sri Lanka frogmouth - not an endemic in spite of its name

Grand Elephant Safari - 21st November

Up early to bird around the garden, where we managed to call up a cracking Indian Pitta, a  hearty breakfast of string hoppers and coconut milk curry and much more. Then we drove off to join a safari in Udawalawe National Park. We were required to use a specially modified Jeep and use one of the park drivers and trackers. The tracker had phenomenal eyesight, picking out small birds and identifying the correctly. The more we got into the birds and other wildlife, the more they got into it. We saw countless other Jeeps with disinterested tourists with equally disinterested guides. It must be a pleasure for them to get customers who share their passion, instead of just looking for different ways to spend their money.

Indian pitta in the grounds of the hotel

A zitting cisticola scratching its zits?

The reserve is famous for its 500 or so Indian Elephants, which were interesting, and not bothered by these strange vehicles with humans in their territory. Things would change if we were to be on foot. Of course, we saw lots of birds, but we were hoping to see a Jaguar here. No such luck though - we really needed to go to Yala National Park if we wanted to score with them. However, we had good sightings of a couple of Jungle Cats. No different in size to a domestic cat, this one appeared to be a pregnant female looking for herby medicinal plants. Another Jeep stopped briefly to look for a few seconds and continued on its cargo's disinterested way.

Indian elephant blocking its calf from approaching our jeep

Jungle cat

Green bee-eater

Indian roller

Malabar pied hornbill

Blue-tailed bee-eater

Black-shouldered kite

Lesser adjutant

We decided to drive straight on to Sinharaja National Park after we packed and checked out. We stopped at a great restaurant on the way. A local place for local people, but offering great cheap food. Pradeep and Kalinga wanted to teach us how to eat with our hands, which the locals all do as a tradition. It was messier than it should have been, but entertaining none-the-less. I would have done better to use more rice and less curry to make the mixture in my hands less sloppy.

We arrived at the Rock View Motel, which is about 10km from the park entrance and has a view over a tea plantation and some trees in the valley bottom, but definitely no views of any rocks that we could make out. A dinner of, you guessed it, curry and rice. Marvellous.