On Friday the 20th May 2011 my family and I left Johannesburg at 2am and headed towards Kimberley. We planned to spend 2 nights at the Mokala National Park to celebrate my birthday on the Saturday. Our first stop off (around 7am) was at the Kamfers Dam just north of the town of Kimberley on the N12. We scanned the dam from the N12 and then tried to get a bit closer by turning into the City Lodge (there is a Shell Ultra City on the other side of the N12). A guard alerted us to a road through a fence that allows one to drive along the railway line that runs along the dam (as you make a right turn off the N12 to the City Lodge, you immediately turn right onto the side road). This allowed us to get a bit closer to the edge of the dam on the eastern shoreline. Here are a few scenery pics:

We were blown away at the number of Flamingo on the dam as well as the many other bird species on show - including large numbers of Black-necked Grebe which I have only seen once before as well as all three Teal duck species. It was a pity that we did not have a scope with us - as the dam is big and it was really hard to get close to identify birds with my 300mm lens. Here are a selection of pics that I took:

At about 8am we decided to head towards the Big Hole in Kimberley - my goal was to see the spot which we had never visited before and also try to record Bradfield's Lark for the first time. We decided against paying the R75 per person to do the whole tour of the mine and the lookout and opted for the R30 option just to walk up the platform and view the hole. It was certainly worthwhile given the beauty of the spot:

And the bird life did not disappoint either - not only did I get to see and photograph the Bradfield's Swift (which were identified by sound as well as sight), but some Alpine Swift (a second lifer for the trip) made an appearance as well. The other bird life we saw also helped to make the time we spent at the Big Hole worth our while (and R30 for 2 lifers is a very small price to pay):

My next stop was at the Book Bin (a second hand book shop in town at 78 Jones Street) where I purchased for just R5 a copy of Bird Checklist: Birds of the greater Kimberley area which has been put together by Mark Anderson. It is a stunning resource if you are birding in the area! We then made our way to Keeley Memorial Park just off Central Road in the Suburb of Beaconsfield with hopes of spotting Long-tailed Pipit and possibly even Kimberley Pipit. I chased two Pipits around but they were probably Plain-backed Pipit. The other birds we saw at the spot include: Cape Wagtail, African Hoopoe, Sickle-winged Chat, Cape Glossy Starling and Crowned Lapwing:

At around 10:30 we left town and headed south on the N12 for 38 kilometers to the turn off to Lilydale Lodge - which is in the northern part of Mokala National Park. Until recently you had to drive back to the N12 and then along a dirt road to get to the southern section but a road has been opened so the two sections are now connected. Before we reached the turn off to the park we stopped to check out the bird life at the bridge over the Riet River - we saw Common Waxbill, African Red-eyed Bulbul, Little Swift, Cape Robin-Chat and House Sparrow:

Just after the bridge we stopped to make a U-turn to get a closer look at two Greater Kestrels on a telephone pole (my kids always ask me how far it is to our destination and I tell them that it depends on how many times we stop and go back to check out a bird we have passed - being a child of a birder is not an easy thing):

At the turn off to Lilydale we stopped to check out a bird feeding party and got distracted by these little field mice playing on a large tumbleweed:

The rest of the road to Lilydale (in truly great condition despite reports that I have read) was great for scenery as well as for birding as we recorded Southern Masked Weaver, Cape Sparrow, Yellow Canary, Desert Cisticola, Red-headed Finch, Chat Flycatcher (a third lifer for me), Southern Red Bishop, Scaly-feathered (the most plentiful bird in the whole area), Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Kalahari Scrub-Robin, Fawn-coloured Lark, Ant-eating Chat, Common Fiscal, Black-chested Prinia (the only Prinia in the area and very numerous), Northern Black Korhaan, Fork-tailed Drongo, Cape Glossy Starling and Common Ostrich.

We arrived at the main entrance, used the intercom to gain access and headed towards the reception area - a further 6 kilometers through the park. On the way we saw Northern Black Korhaan, African Pipit, Fawn-coloured Lark and Common Ostrich.

We were greeted at reception by name and each of us given a glass of real fruit juice - just the start of incredible hospitality in the Park in every respect. They get 100% for excellence in looking after their guests. Our lodge overlooked the Riet River - offering spectacular views and great birding given all the birds that would come right up to our lodge - including a Fairy Flycatcher that graced us with its presence:

Once we had unpacked I set off on foot to bird the area around our lodge getting some great sightings including Orange River White-eye, Kalahari Scrub-Robin, Violet-eared Waxbill, Black-chested Prinia, Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler and African Red-eyed Bulbul:

That afternoon my wife and I took a drive down to the Kleinbek fishing spot on the river and then to the waterhole in the centre of the main loop road in the northern section of Mokala. Along the river we spotted Namaqua Dove, Levaillant's Cisticola, Yellow-fronted Canary, Fiscal Flycatcher, Southern African Shelduck, Cape Robin-Chat and Buffy Pipit. On the way back to the waterhole we spotted both Buffy Pipit and Plain-backed Pipit, as well as a dark form Fawn-coloured Lark, Orange River Francolin. At the waterhole we spotted South African Shelduck, Cape Wagtail, Pied Crow, Speckled Pigeon and Ant-eating Chat. As we returned to the lodge to start the braai for supper we spotted Ashy Tit and Acacia Pied Barbet (the one bird that I have never been able to get close enough to for decent pics - and this time was no different - would this be the weekend in which that would change???). Here are some scenery pics followed by some shots of birds that we managed to get:

On Saturday morning my wife and I left the lodge at 6:30 while it was still really dark and headed towards the southern park of the park. It was bitterly cold but the scenery was spectacular and the great quantity of buck and birds kept our minds off the wintery morning chill. I will post a selection of mammal pics at the end of the report. Here are some scenery shots I took along the way:

We stopped off at the Bird Hide and probably spent no more than 10 minutes in the hide as the breeze coming off the dam froze us to our bones. Before we got frost bite we recorded Egyptian Goose, Little Grebe (breeding on a nest near to the hide that had an egg in it) and Cape Wagtail and in the surrounding area we saw Yellow-billed Hornbill (our only Hornbill sighting of the entire weekend), Brown-crowned Tchagra and Blacksmith Lapwing:

Just past the Bird Hide on the road further south I had a perfect sighting of Cape Penduline-Tit (a fourth lifer for me) - but it was so small and moved so quickly that all I managed to get were very pathetic record shots. Very disappointing - in fact, the same thing happened with my sighting of Grey Penduline-Tit in the Kruger recently - so I will have to be on the lookout of both these species in the future. A Yellow-bellied Eremomela was a bit less camera shy.

We carried on towards the Haak en Steek campsite and stopped off in a valley where animals and bird life was really plentiful. A fairly decent candidate for Kimberley Pipit (a fifth lifer for me), appeared as well as Green-winged Pytilia, Short-toed Rock-Thrush, Ashy Tit, White-browed Sparrow-Weaver, Kalahari Scrub-Robin (we looked in vain for Karoo Scrub-Robin all weekend), another Acacia Pied Barbet that disappeared before I coul get a shot, Helmeted Guineafowl and Neddicky.

We were about to move on when I paid close attention to a little bird at the top of a tree nearby - and suddenly realised that it was Pygmy Falcon. I even managed to get within 4 meters of the diminutive little raptor and get some fairly decent shots of it (a sixth lifer for me):

Another "half-lifer" appeared - the Bradfieldi species of Sabota Lark - but unfortunately it is not countable - but still a nice sighting.

As we continued towards the campsite we spotted another Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Marico Flycatcher, two White-backed Vultures soaring overhead, Fawn-coloured Lark and a Pipit that has not yet been identified:

We spotted a little waterhole just before we arrived at the Matopi picnic site where I birded for about a hour while we had lunch and getting much closer to Pririt Batis than ever before (some other birds in the area included Long-billed Crombec, Cape Bunting, Familiar Chat, Magpie Shrike, Rock Pigeon, male and female Yellow Canary, Bokmakierie and Chestnut-vented Tit-Babbler - we looked in vain all weekend for Layard's Tit-Babbler):

On the way along Matopi Loop my luck with the Acacia Pied Barbet finally changed. We actually stopped to take a look at some Sociable Weaver nests and noticed that there were 3 Barbets in the tree - and believe it or not they actually allowed me to photograph them! From then on, they became my new trash bird and I even ended up ignoring some sightings!

Just before we rejoined the road to the Mokala reception we had a close sighting of Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk:

We made our way to the main office and reception of Mokala near to the entrance gate and enjoyed getting really close to the Sociable Weavers that were building a nest at a lapa near to the toilets at the parking lot.

I also spent some time among the lodges of the camp getting some shots of Yellow-Canary, Pririt Batis, Rock Martin and some more shots of a weekend lifer, White-throated Canary.

On our way back to Lilydale we stopped off at the bird hide again seeing the Little Grebe, Shelduck, Blacksmith Lapwing, Three-banded Plover, Orange-River White-eye, Red-eyed Bulbul, a raptor off in the distance which after looking through my binocs I was convinced was a Falcon (an experienced birder has suggested that it was Lanner Falcon), Yellow Canary, White-throated Canary, Red-billed Quelea, Southern Masked Weaver, Fork-tailed Drongo, Pririt Batis and Familiar Chat. Our last sighting for the day was Red-crested Korhaan on the road back to our lodge:

That ended an amazing day - lots of birthday presents in the 5 lifers for my 49th birthday celebration!!!

My wife and I went out for an early morning drive on Sunday morning - we headed down to De Kranz - a drive down the gorge that I kinda wished our high clearance Toyota Avanza had 4 wheel drive - but we made it both down and up so it all ended well. It was worthwhile given the beauty of the rive - but did not produce many birds apart from African Black Duck, Eyptian Goose, Wagtail and Hadeda Ibis.

We completed the Vaalbos Loop road and had sightings of Gabar Goshawk, Spike-heeled Lark, Burchell's Sandgrouse, Desert Cisticola and Greater Kestrel.

We headed back to our lodge to pack up and leave - but decided that we would drive back through the southern section of Mokala to show our kids the abundance of antelope in the park (and the Roan was a "lifer" too!). Here is a selection of animal sightings that we had on the weekend as well as some of the "rodents":

The birding on this last trip through the park was not without some special sightings - here is a selection of pics that we took:

We also explored the area round Mofele Lodge:

We left the park through the southern entrance gate and made our way back to the main road - and were surprised at how good the dirt road was despite the reports we had read on the internet.

One of the amazing features of the weekend was seeing the jet streams left behind by all the airplanes that flew over (must be something to do with the cold air in the area):

There were two highlights on the drive back to Johannesburg - about 30 kilometers south of Bloemhof we spotted a huge dam on the left hand side of the road with about a hundred Flamingoes:

We also stopped to watch the sun set over the Bloemhof Dam while the thousands of Little Swift hovered all around us.

A awesome weekend - a celebration of life and family and incredible birding with seven lifers recorded and over 105 birds species recorded in Mokala National Park - plus an unforgettable view of the thousands of Flamingoes at Kamfers Dam! I was disappointed to not see Grey-backed Cisticola, Layard's Tit-Babbler and more of the special Pipits and Larks in the area! But that just means I'll have to return one day!!!