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Although I didn't visit central Cape Town,
its surroundings are among the most beautiful suburban areas I've ever seen. I
stayed at the very nice Little Lodge B&B, near the Kirstenbosch
Botanical Gardens, a beautiful park at the base of Table Mountain. The
park shows a wide array of plants found throughout South Africa, as well as
forest trails through a wilder section on the mountain side.
Old Angulate Tortoise male
Many interesting bird species can be seen here, including endemics like Cape Sugarbird, Orange-breasted
Sunbird and Cape Francolins, which are almost ridiculously tame. I
also saw a Black Sparrowhawk flying overhead. A very old and battered Angulate
Tortoise apparently took my brown sneaker for a rival male, and tried very
hard to turn me over with his enlarged gular scute. It even chased me all
across a lawn that was obviously his territory.
 Purple Gallinule
I also visited Rondevlei
Nature Reserve, a wetland in the Cape Town suburbs where hippos have
recently been re-introduced, and where a good array of waterbirds can be seen
from a number of well-kept hides, including the elusive African Crake. I
got excellent views of Purple Gallinule, subspecies madagascariensis
(considered a full species by Sinclair), quite different from the one found
in Southern Europe, and my first Hartlaub's and Kelp gulls.
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| Cape Sugarbird |
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| Cape Francolin |
Rameron Pigeon |
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Three-banded Plover |
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| Blacksmith Plove |
The common and widespread Spotted Eagle Owl |
Double-collared Sunbird |
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| Jackass Penguin,Boulders Beach |
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The Boulders
Beach African Penguin colony near Simontown
is located right in the middle of some of the most expensive residential areas
in South Africa. Some 1,500 penguins nest here throughout the year. A fence
keeps people off the penguins' nesting grounds, but the penguins wander freely
in and out, often getting into people's backyards. The beautiful white-sand
beach on which the penguins sun themselves and swim would be the dream of any
seaside resort developer. An African Black Oystercatcher fed its chick
among the roosting penguins on the rocks.
 African Black Oystercatcher
Table Mountain National
Park is divided into several protected sections
throughout the peninsula, including some prime coastal areas, priceless in
terms of real estate value, which shows the success of South African
conservation policies. Cape of Good Hope Nature
Reserve is one of these, a large tract of coastal fynbos
(small-leaf scrub and low bush) and rocky hills, around the lighthouse built at
the tip of Cape Point.
Cape Mountain Zebra
This is prime habitat
for ungulates like Eland, Bontebok, and Cape Mountain
Zebra. Bigger and "cleaner" looking than their plains cousins
(see here for comparison)
, their numbers are down to 700, all in
reserves around the Cape. Scanning the sea from the lighthouse we saw several Black-browed
Albatross, Sooty Shearwater and hundreds of Cape Gannet. Swift
Tern was common on rocky shores.
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Cape Grassbird |
Southern Black Korhaan |
Cape Grysbok |
A Peregrine keeps watch from the Lighthouse at Cape Point. |
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Endemic birds in this and other coastal
areas included the unique Ground Woodpecker, Cape Grassbird, Cape
Rock Thrush, Cape Scrub-Robin, and Black Harrier. We had the best
views of this striking raptor at West Coast National
Park, another extensive coastal reserve where overcast, cool weather
allowed us to see elusive birds like Southern Black Korhaan out in the
open in the middle of the day, as well as Cape Grysbok, a highly
localized and usually nocturnal antelope. On a walk from the beautiful seaside
village of Roi Els I saw a group of one male
and two females Cape Rockjumper, one of the most charismatic Cape
endemics, which proved rather shy. I had good if distant views, which
made difficult to get a good photo.
Click here for a great
photo
of this bird taken by Don Roberson.
 Rock Hyrax
Due to the time of the year, there weren't
many reptiles around. Black Girdled Lizard (Cordylus niger) is
found exclusively in Table Mountain and the Cape Peninsula. Its dark colour
enables it to absorb heat very efficiently, and to stay active even in winter.
We also saw our first Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) crossing a
trail in Cape Point, and many Angulate Tortoises (Chersina angulata)
in sandy coastal areas. Specimens from the Cape usually have a red plastron
(compare to one from the Karoo). They were all most active in the middle of the
day, taking advantage of the few sunny hours.
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| Ground Woodpecker |
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| Cape Rockjumper habitat near Roi Els |
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| Black Girdled Lizard |
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| Angulate Tortoise, male |
Angulate Tortoise, female |
Angulate Tortoise plastron |
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On our way to Lambert's
Bay and the Karoo Desert, around Piketburg, we saw what remains my
favourite bird of the trip: three exquisite Blue Cranes close to the
road. Although not strictly a South African endemic (it also occurs in Namibia), it's the country's national bird, and one of the most elegant, delicate and
beautiful birds in Africa. Since its original habitat (natural grassland) has
almost disappeared due to development and agriculture, they have managed to
adapt to croplands and fallow fields as a substitute. I was lucky to see this
bird again at the Karoo and in its natural habitat near Wakkerstroom, but these first views were the best.
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