On Thursday the 28th April 2011 my wife and I left home at 4am to explore Botsalano Game Reserve - a four hour drive north-west of Johannesburg (just beyond the town of Zeerust). After the town of Dinokana we turned off towards Matlhase and made the mistake of taking the second signposted turn off to the game reserve which led to a rather long detour along some very muddy roads around the reserve which did not lead to Gate 1 (the main entrance). We had to back track and actually entered Gate 2 which is the admin gate. NOTE: If you visit the reserve - ignore the first 2 signposted turns and carry on with the dirt road and you will find the entrance on your left hand side.
Before we got into the park we had already had great sightings of White-backed Mousebird, Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk and Short-clawed Lark (and another Lark which sounded different to the Short-clawed Lark and this side shot needs identification - it could be another Short-clawed Lark). We were surprised at the amount of game in the park - but will include a selection of pics at the end of the report.
Once in the park (through Gate 1) we set off along the Thutlwa Road with sightings of Sabota Lark, Great Sparrow, Melodious Lark and Neddicky.
We stopped briefly at the small Mofela dam at the end of Pilse Link road where we saw Little Grebe, Egyptian Goose, Red-knobbed Coot, White-backed Mousebird, Ashy Tit, Red-faced Mousebird, Kalahari Scrub-Robin, Scaly-feathered Finch, White-browed Sparrow-Weaver and Yellow-billed Hornbill.
We turned onto Noga Drive and headed in the direction of the main entrance gate hoping to get to the bird hide before it got too late. Little did we know that a huge highlight for the day was waiting for us on Noga Drive (about 500 meters before the turn off to Pudumo Link road). Here are some scenery shots of the area:
Suddenly I noticed two birds land behind a shrub and I knew instinctively that it was a Sandgrouse. I hoped they were Burchell's and I was not to be disappointed - our first lifer for the day! We spotted three pairs of the birds in the area and watched them for a good hour as they scratched and bathed in the dry ground. Here are a selection of the 100 shots that I have kept from the experience.
A few other birds we spotted in this area included White-backed Vulture (which caused at least one pair of Sandgrouse to flee for their lives), Short-clawed Lark, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Common Ostrich, Speckled Pigeon, Chestnut-backed Sparrowlark and Crimson-breasted Shrike.
As we continued along Noga Drive, just past the Pudumo Link road, the road becomes Motumoga Drive and I spotted a tree about 100 meters from the road that contained a Sociable Weavers nest. We noted that small birds were entering and leaving the nest and given that I have never seen Sociable Weaver I just had to risk my life with the potential of being bitten by a snake and make my way through the bush to get a shot. A solitary bird gave me a few brief moment of photography and I returned to my car, pausing to photograph a Secretarybird not far from me - knowing that we had picked up a second lifer for the day!
I had a sighting of Acacia Pied Barbet - which seems to be my photographic nemesis bird - I just can't seem to get close enough to this species to get decent shots. Here is a shot from the sighting! Little more than a record shot! Fortunately a Black-crowned Tchagra and Zitting Cisticola were a little more approachable:
We finally arrived at the bird hide and thoroughly enjoyed our time up in the high hide overlooking the dam (nothing on the dam to write about) but great birds in the bushes around the day and a great open area that made for great birding. Here are a few scenery shots:
The birds we saw around the hide included Southern Masked Weaver, Blue Waxbill, Black-faced Waxbill, Red-billed Firefinch, Long-billed Crombec, Grey-backed Camaroptera, Crested Barbet, White-throated Robin-Chat, Southern Boubou, Long-tailed Paradise-Whydah, Cape Glossy Starling, Black-chested Prinia, White-browed Sparrow-Weaver, Red-faced Mousebird and Red-billed Oxpecker.
I spent about 15 minutes trying to photograph a mystery bird and it was playing hide and seek with me - I believe it must be Barred Wren-Warbler:
We stopped for lunch at the big dam at the start of the Ntshwe Drive road. Got seriously snorted at my a Black Wildebeest (you can see him over my shoulder in the pic) and enjoyed sightings of Three-banded Plover, African Quailfinch, African Pipit, White-browed Sparrow-Weaver, Red-crested Korhaan, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting.
A little further along the way towards Thulwana Road we spotted what we thought initially was a Chinspot Batis, but on closer inspection we believe it has turned out to be a third lifer for the day - Pririt Batis - a male and a female:
There was also another Acacia Pied Barbet close by - but again, no matter what I tried I could not get close enough! Frustrating!!!
The road back towards the entrance delivered more sightings of Sabota Lark (I am not even mentioning the zillion Scaly-feathered Finches that we saw throughout the day), Desert Cisticola, Black-throated Canary, Marico Flycatcher and Short-clawed Lark.
We got a surprise when we saw a little wetland, not far from the bird hide and just before the picnic site near the entrance - right next to the road (and one more bird to add to our list - Common Waxbill):
We stopped for coffee at the picnic spot where we saw Brubru, a family of Crested Francolin, lots of White-browed Sparrow-Weaver, Burnt-necked Eremomela, Fiscal Flycatcher and our first Hadeda Ibis for the day!
We finally arrived at the entrance gate (clearly we explored the reserve from the wrong side - but who knows, maybe this is how it was meant to be so that we could stumble across the Sandgrouse on a back road that we might not have explored had we started at the entrance!). We paid our "entrance" fee and left!
The only frustration on the day was startling a bird on the Thutlwa Road, close to the bird hide that just might have been one of the coursers that we were hoping to see on the day. These long range shots of the bird as it flew away are not exactly helping me at least know what we might have seen if it had been more accommodating to our presence!!!
As promised, here is some photos of the incredible diversity of mammals in the game reserve (we did not catch sight of any White Rhino or Buffalo):
In total we saw 72 bird species and picked up 3 lifers! An awesome day out and a great joy to explore a remote game reserve in very different habitat with truly plentiful game!