Hi all
It has been a while since I did anything here. Sorry !
October 2013 saw the arrival in Harare of SP and PP. A delightful couple who, although not fanatic birders, wished to tour the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe. We started out in Nyanga staying at a lovely cottage with great birds including the stunning Bronzy and Malachite Sunbirds.
The cottage was just above a dam and had fantastic walks up the hill behind the house.
The hills behind the cottage have brilliant views and are the ideal habitat for the endangered Blue Swallow.
There are also some quite exciting different plants up there including some indigenous cycads and of course Tree Ferns.
We made a traditional visit to Worlds View and climbed to the top where we used the GPS to establish that we were 2500 metres above sea level !
And the next port of call had to be Troutbeck hotel for tea and cream scones.
It was now time to move on so we took a back road to ensure we did some more of the touristy scenic stuff on our way to the Bvumba.
Once in the Bvumba, where we stayed at Seldomseen cottages, the serious birding began !
Forest photography is extremely challenging.
We spent hours looking for Swynnerton’s Robin before we were finally successfull.
We also found a nest ! It was late afternoon when we found it purely by chance.
SP wasn’t particularly happy with the above picture so we went back early the next day for another go ….
We left the Bvumba and proceeded to drive down and down into the Honde Valley where we camped overnight at Katiyo on the Pungwe River.
The right hand bank is Moçambique !
That’s right 400 masl ! That puts us 2.1 kilometres lower than the top of Worlds View in Nyanga !!
From Katiyo we drove throught to the Abefoyle Tea Estates and to the lovely Aberfoyle Lodge. More serious birding followed as we tracked down Singing Cisticola, Anchieta’s Tchagra, Black-winged Red Bishop, Pale Batis, Pallid Honeyguide, Short-winged Cisticola, Green-backed Woodpecker and many others.
The Singing Cisticola like the tea bushes. We also found some interesting reptiles.
Anchieta’s Tchagra, which used to be known as the Marsh Tchagra, is found here ….
The local guide, Morgan, is fantastic.
It was now time to wend our way homewards but I couldn’t resist taking a snap of this delightful bit of Africa.
And when we eventually got back to Harare my dear wife showed us her discovery in the garden.
That is all for now folks and I hope you enjoyed the trip
Cheers
Tony