Trip 1: May 2010
This route (chapter 53 in Birding Gauteng), is about an hours drive east from Pretoria on the N4 and then 25km north on the R25. This roadside birding route combined with a visit to a resort, Amanzintaba, should yield some special bird sights. Here are some scenery pics:

A. The bridge over the Wilge River:

B. The road through the trees in the valley:

C. The mountains along the route:

Some of the birds that we managed to photograph included: Blue Waxbill, Black-headed Oriole, White-fronted Bee-eater, Yellow-fronted Canary, Fork-tailed Drongo, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Rufous-naped Lark, Melodious Lark, Black-backed Puffback, White Stork, male Greater-collared Sunbird, female and male White-bellied Sunbird, Common Waxbill, and Southern Masked Weaver.

Trip 2: October 2011
I returned to bird this route and started out with a productive time from the tar road towards the gorge with sightings of Greater Striped Swallow, Common Fiscal, Rufous-naped Lark, White-throated Swallow, Southern Red Bishop, Southern Masked Weaver, Helmeted Guineafowl, Coqui Francolin, Red-breasted Swallow, Lesser Striped Swallow and Red-chested Cuckoo.

The next section was through the gorge with sightings of Groundscraper Thrush, Jacobin Cuckoo, Dark-capped Bulbul, Neddicky, Laughing Dove, Burchell's Coucal, Arrow-marked Babbler, Kurrichane Thrush, Amethyst Sunbird, Striped Pipit, Fork-tailed Drongo, Red-eyed Pigeon, Southern Black Tit, Black-backed Puffback, Black-headed Oriole, Hadeda Ibis, White-winged Widowbird and Lilac-breasted Roller. Here are some pics that I took:

My next spot was around the first river crossing and wetland - a Lark had me guessing as it disappeared before I could id it. The other sightings in this area included African Stonechat, Cattle Egret, Diderick Cuckoo, Brubru, African Reed Warbler, White-winged Widowbird, Cape Grassbird and Black-shouldered Kite:

I headed off to a wetland at Point 8 on the map in chapter 53 of Birding Gauteng where I saw Barn Swallow, Cape Longclaw, Levaillant's Cisticola, Brown-throated Martin, African Snipe, White-throated Swallow and Speckled Mousebird:

On my way back to the main road through the Wilge River Valley I spotted a Coqui Francolin in the road, made a U-Turn and was amazed to get some decent shots of it before it moved off into the grass on the edge of the road:

My next stop was the main bridge over the Wilge River at point 9. I spent quite a while exploring the edge of the river for a couple hundred meters on the eastern side of the bridge but the bird life was somewhat limited - including African Pied Wagtail, African Darter, Reed Cormorant,White-throated Swallow and Lesser Striped Swallow:

On the rest of the road to the tar road T-Junction after point 13 I saw Pied Crow, Common Myna, White-fronted Bee-eater, White-bellied Sunbird, Yellow-fronted Canary and Brown-hooded Kingfisher:

I turned left at the T-junction and headed to the next bridge over the Wilger River at point 15 on the map. Here I saw White-rumped Swift, Tawny-flanked Prinia and little else:

I tried my luck with the road towards Langkloof but did not spot any of the species that I was hoping to see including Barrow's Korhaan, Shelley's Francolin or Denham Bustard. This looks like a great road to drive early in the morning and not at 11am. Here I saw Capped Wheatear, Long-tailed Widowbird, Red-knobbed Coot, Cape Glossy Starling, Rock Pigeon and Hamerkop:

At a last count I had spotted 59 bird species on the morning drive. No lifers for the day, but some great sightings!