A glimpse of the rich birdlife of the recently proclaimed Santa Estate Nature Reserve, which abuts Verloren Valei’s southeastern boundary.
Waterfall at Santa Estate (Photograph: Chrissie Curtis)
After weeks of overcast and rainy weather, it was absolutely fantastic to be greeted by the rising sun on Saturday morning for our outing to Santa Estate Nature Reserve. Three of us drove through to the Reserve from Dullstroom and collected Chrissie Curtis at the entrance to the Reserve.
We headed north into the Reserve, with our first planned stop being Maryanne’s Weir, tucked in the narrow gorge of the Lunsklip river. The sky was dotted with both Barn and Greater-striped Swallows, and the occasional White-rumped Swift darting in and out between them. A silhouetted Jackal Buzzard on a treetop, at some distance, had us debating whether it was a Common Buzzard or a Jackal Buzzard. Once it took to the air, it was obvious it was the latter (definitely not an LBJ).
On arriving at the weir, Thick-billed weaver nests could be seen in the reed beds, and Southern Masked Weaver’s nests in trees overhanging the water. Cape White-eyes, Drakensberg Prinias, and Cape Grassbirds were all very active around the weir.
Our next stop was the waterfall, and what a spectacular sight it was at this time of the year! Parking near an old derelict trout hatchery, we walked down to the falls.
I am sad to say that I now have Stuart McIntyre, one of our party, hooked on looking for orchids, and he found two along the path: a Satyrium parviflorum and a small stick of the stunning Habenaria humilior. (See below the list of some of the other plants identified.)
Habenaria humilior (plant and close-up of flower) (Photographs: Steve Vincent)
We inspected the crossing above the waterfall and decided that it was not a good idea to cross at this point; we would check again higher up at Glen’s Cottage Dam. Stuart volunteered to wade through the spillway to check the depth of the flow. This crossing also proved challenging, as the depth of the water was over his knees and, therefore, above the bottom of the car door height.
Stuart McIntyre braves the waters (Photograph: Chrissie Curtis)
Caution was the motto for the day. We decided to take a brunch break while we mulled over our strategy on how to get to the northern sections of the Reserve. Some rocks in the shade of a large pine tree close to Chobe Dam provided a suitable picnic spot, while the nearby dam provided great sightings of Southern Red Bishops, Little Grebes, Moorhens and Lesser Swamp-warblers.
Southern Red Bishops (Photograph: Chrissie Curtis)
Brunch over, we bumbled back down the hill and along the road leading to the eastern part of the Reserve, then up the boundary to the north. There were lots of smaller dams and reedbeds along the way with a myriad different bird species, from coots to kingfishers, grassbirds to mousebirds, weavers, and widowbirds (see the list for all the species, 32 in total) and all manner of Butterflies & Damselflies. We had a few nervous moments going through the rain-soaked grasslands, traversing very muddy tracks, bonnet-high grass, and a road that kept disappearing completely. Traveling in low range with the diff-lock engaged and the temperature gauge just below the redline, we made it to the plateau in the northern part of the Reserve. At that point, our get-up-and-go had evaporated. We called it a day before we got well and truly stuck or broke down. We plan to explore this area at a later, hopefully drier, date in the future.
Blue Crane and chick on Walkersons Estate (Photograph: Steve Vincent)
On the way out of the Reserve we were informed that there were a pair of Blue Cranes with a chick, across the R540 on Walkersons Estate. We were fortunate enough to be allowed in to have a peek at the family.
All in all, a very exciting outing.
Thank you again to Dr Fiona Paumgarten of Santa Estates, for allowing us onto the property and Alan O’Grady for valuable input regarding the roads.
