We did some early morning birding before left our accommodation at Mkhuze. In very poor light just after dawn and in thick vegetation, photography was difficult, but I did manage to capture a couple of birds.
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| Bearded Scrub Robin |
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| Collared Sunbird |
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We then got on the road and headed towards St Lucia. One of our shorter drives!
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| Mkhuze to St Lucia |
Before heading to our new accommodation we visited False Bay to look for a few of the local specialities. Within a short period we can ticked several new species.
We were getting hungry so it was back on the road again. We ate lunch at a garden centre where the creature below was an unwanted guest. They had called in the local snake handler who just happened to be the owner of Umkhumbi Lodge.
15th June 2015
We were out and about early the next morning looking for Livingstone's Turaco and other species. We saw the Turaco but I was unable to get a photo.
In the afternoon we visited the nearby Isimangaliso Wetland Park ( http://isimangaliso.com/ ).
It turned out to be excellent for raptors!
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| Crested Guineafowl A small party appeared on our way down to False Bay. |
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| Scale-throated Honeyguide An uncommon species.  |
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| Natal Red Diker |
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| White-throated Robin-chat (Photo NF) |
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| Neerguards Sunbird This was one of the target species for this site. We did get good albeit brief views and this was the best I could manage of this scarce endemic species. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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Vine Snake
A very dangerous venomous snake with no anti-venom! This one was causing a nuisance at a cafe and was captured and subsequently released elsewhere.
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St Lucia - A pleasant town near the coast. We stayed at the Matputoland Guest House which was very pleasant.
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| Bizarre and Dangerous! Several of these signs were along the roads in St Lucia as the Hippos apparently come into the town at night to feed on grass at the roadsides. |
15th June 2015
We were out and about early the next morning looking for Livingstone's Turaco and other species. We saw the Turaco but I was unable to get a photo.
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 Only seen in the St Lucia area. (also below) |
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| Bronze Mannikin Seen a few times on our trip. Widespread in Africa. |
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| Black-collared Barbet The most frequently seen of the Barbets on our trip. |
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| African Yellow White-eye Only seen at this location. |
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| More Danger Signs This was along the board walk which we used to see the Mangrove Kingfisher. So best to stay on the board walk! |
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| Mangrove Kingfisher This stunning bird perched for several minutes in fairly thick cover. Considered by our leader to be the bird of the trip! Considering some of the other birds we saw that is high praise indeed. |
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| Ashy Flycatcher (also below) |
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| Crowned Hornbill Only seen on three days. |
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Isimangaliso Wetland ParkIn the afternoon we visited the nearby Isimangaliso Wetland Park ( http://isimangaliso.com/ ).
It turned out to be excellent for raptors!
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| Isimangaliso Wetland Park. We drove 45Km from St Lucia in the south to Cape Vidal in the north. |
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| Crowned Eagle A juvenile. Not a great photo but taken from about a mile away across a valley. It was resting in a tree that had previously held a nest. |
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| Crowned Eagle An adult. |
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| Crowned Eagle A short while later we were fortunate to see two adults perched close to the road. |
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| Martial Eagle A little unexpected but very welcome! Not easy to get aerial photos from inside a vehicle! |
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| Black-chested Snake Eagle (Photo NF) |
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| Black-chested Snake Eagle One of the speciality birds of Isimangaliso. |
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| The Indian Ocean at Cape Vidal - A Cape Gannet was seen well offshore. Then we had to turn around and drive back through the park to St Lucia. |
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| Not a good place to swim!! |
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| Banded Mongoose At Cape Vidal we were able to get out of the vehicle and came across these in a water trough. |
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| Croaking Cisticola This species was only seen at this site. |
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| Brown Snake Eagle We had a few sightings of this species during the two weeks. |
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| Leopard We had thought we were not going to see this amazing species on our trip. Then as we drove towards the exit gate we saw two animals in the road way ahead. |
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| Adult female |
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| It turned out that it was an adult female with a well grown cub who was lagging behind somewhat. |
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| Just checking to make sure we were leaving! |