From Wilderness I travelled through George and Mosselbay (it was raining during this part of the trip so my efforts at birding around Mosselbay proved fruitless). But I did enjoy birding around Groot Brak River - even getting a lifer in the form of Cape Spurfowl - which would become a trash bird from this part of the trip onwards.

I decided to take the scenic route to De Hoop Nature Reserve via Malgas and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being pulled across the river by the two chaps that harness themselves to the pontoon and pull the vehicles across (they do this every day of the year basically - I think I might last a day, if that!):

As I approached De Hoop I found myself in Blue Crane country - seeing large flocks of these majestic birds:

One of the first things I did when I arrived at De Hoop was take a drive out to Koppie Alleen - the white sand dunes along the way were spectacular as was the coastline:

The birding highlight here was getting close to the Kelp Gulls and African Black Oystercatchers:

Of course one of the reasons why people come to Koppie Alleen is to spot the Southern Right Whales and I was not disappointed:

I spent most of my time at De Hoop birding around the vlei - here are some scenery shots:

Here are some shots I took of birds on the vlei:

One of my biggest frustrations was not being able to get close to the Denham's Bustards. I had numerous sightings of groups of three or pairs - but despite all my efforts was never able to get close before they would fly off.

I now know where all the Bokmakierie's live - in the Cape (they were everywhere)!

I got a lifer (which so far on the trip were proving to be rather elusive) when I heard the call of a Cape Clapper Lark - I must have hung around for about an hour hoping for it to come close and finally gave up and had to settle for this proof shots:

It was great to get close to a group of Grey-winged Francolin - who, unlike the Lark, did not mind being photographed:

On an early morning outing I spotted an Owl and tried everything possible to turn it into Cape Eagle-Owl but finally have to settle for Spotted Eagle-Owl!

Here are some other birding shots that I took at De Hoop:

There was always good amounts of animals to keep you interested in the reserve:

One of the highlights of my time at De Hoop was taking the risk on a VERY windy and rain-threatening morning to head towards Potberg (it rained on and off along the way, but I pressed on). On the dirt road leading to Potberg I spotted a Lark with a rather long bill and had a lifer in Agulhas Long-billed Lark:

Two other Larks put in an appearance (Large-billed and Red-capped):

A Cisticola had me stumped for a while - given the yellow colouration and the streaking until I heard about the Western Cape form of Cloud Cisticola:

With the rain threatening at Potberg I was joined by a group of birders from Rockumpers and was really chuffed to find, not only for myself but for the group, a Knysna Woodpecker in the little forest just next to the offices at Potberg. Here are some shots of this lifer:

I decided to hike up to the top of Potberg hoping to see Cape Rockjumper and maybe a Cape Siskin or two - but apart from seeing Cape Vulture and being blown away at the breath-taking scenery the bird life was rather scarce - okay, the wind was howling and the rain was threatening the whole time it took me to do the hike - about 3 hours in total:

While I was at the offices at Potberg I watched this rather acrobatic Baboon make light work of getting down from the roof of the second storey building:

That was my time at De Hoop - a stunning spot - and picking up a few lifers is always something that makes you think even more highly of a spot. My next spot was De Mond and Cape Agulhas which I will write about in a separate report!