On Monday the 9th May I spent two hours birding at Marievale Bird Sanctuary near Nigel and then made my way to the Kuilfontein Farm (this spot is described in chapter 70 of Birding Gauteng). The spot is apparently not open to the public but I made my way to the farm, met the farmer and his son and got the necessary permission to spend time on the property - I found them really accommodating and gracious. Here are the GPS co-ordinates for the farm: 26°32'58.89"S and 28°31'54.48"E.

I made my way over the river and up to the farm house and then set off on foot for the dam on the other side of the mountain range (which the farmer said is an extension of the Suikerbosrand mountain range). I had no guide (the book says that the network of trails in the mountain is really confusing and a guide is needed - so I guess I was never going to see all the specials of this vast area. But boy, did I have fun climbing the mountain (up a steep gorge that I think I needed rock climbing gear to navigate some sections), and hiking up and down the series of hills on the way to the large dam that lies behind the hill. Here are the GPS co-ordinates for the dam: 26°34'15.00"S and 28°30'43.66"E.

Here are some scenery shots from my time at the farm:

1. Some shots of the journey from the entrance of the farm to the farmstead:

2. Some shots of the start of the mountain climb and shots looking down at the farm in the valley below:

3. Some shots of the trails on the way to the dam and the first sightings of the dam:

4. The scenery around the dam was absolutely spectacular:

5. Some shots of the walk back around the mountain (following the river):

Some of the highlights of the birds that I saw included two Black Sparrowhawk (they flew overhead, over the dam and disappeared over the mountain), a Jackal Buzzard (that soared overhead for a while), Mocking Cliff-Chat, Mountain Wheatear. I searched in vain for the Ground Woodpecker, Cape Eagle-Owl and African Rock Pipit and believe that the Pipits I did see were all African Pipits.

Oh, I did snap a few pics of birds along the way (shown in the order in which they were taken) - it was hard to get close to birds while climbing over rocks, looking out for snakes and trying not to fall to one's death down the cliffs:

Here is a full list of the birds that I saw in the 4 hours that I spent at the farm (40 bird species in total): African Pipit; African Stonechat; Black Sparrowhawk; Black-chested Prinia; Black-headed Heron; Black-shouldered Kite; Blacksmith Lapwing; Brown-throated Martin; Cape Glossy Starling; Cape Longclaw; Cape Sparrow; Cattle Egret; Cinnamon-breasted Bunting; Common Fiscal; Common Moorhen; Crested Barbet; Crowned Lapwing; Dark-capped Bulbul; Egyptian Goose; Familiar Chat; Fiscal Flycatcher; Hadeda Ibis; House Sparrow; Jackal Buzzard; Laughing Dove; Lazy Cisticola; Levaillant's Cisticola; Little Egret; Long-tailed Widowbird; Mocking Cliff-Chat; Mountain Wheatear; Neddicky; Red-capped Lark; Reed Cormorant; Rock Dove; Southern Grey-headed Sparrow; Southern Red Bishop; Speckled Pigeon; Streaky-headed Seedeater and White-browed Sparrow-Weaver.