I had been looking for a birding trip to a different part of the world to what I had been before. South Africa seemed to fit the bill nicely and the Rockjumper Eastern South African offered an attractive tour that took in Kruger and the Drakensburg Mountains,along with some interesting endemic species. When I approached birding friend Neil Fletcher about the trip, he was also keen to go.
We flew London Heathrow to Johannesburg by British Airways arriving on the morning of 5th June. We had previously arranged for a guide for the afternoon of 5th through Rockjumper, so as not to waste a half a days birding while we waited for the main tour to begin! So Selwyn from Rockjumper picked us up and did birding tour of the Johannesburg and Pretoria areas. This was a great start to the main tour.
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| Fiscal Flycatcher - A good start to the trip with this endemic species in the hotel grounds. |
The main tour started in Johannesburg on 6th June 2015 when we met our guide for the next two weeks along with the other tour participants.
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| Click on the map to enlarge. We kept to the east of Johannesburg during the trip, first of all moving NW towards Kruger NP, south toward St Lucia and then SW towards Lesotho. |
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| Elen, Heinz, Daniela, Neil John, Doug, Jim |
Participants included three from the US (Doug Wood, John Schenck and Daniela Yellan) and three from the UK (Jim Rose, Neil Fletcher and Elen Lewis). Leader was Heinz Ortmann from Rockjumper Tours. Heinz proved to be an exceptional guide with an excellent knowledge of the birds,the areas visited and was also very interesting to talk to regarding the way of life in South Africa and it's politics.
Note that most the photos are all taken by myself with others taken by Neil Fletcher (NF). Also the trip species list is my own personal list. Other attendees may have seen different species, especially the birders from the US who attended the Cape Extension trip.
In summary I very much recommend this trip. The organisation by Rockjumper was excellent as was all of the accommodation. However there is a lot of travelling involved and little time to relax. But for keen birders,like ourselves, wanting to increase their list of South African birds, this is a great trip.
Jim Rose
Buckinghamshire, UK