We left @7 for a 9am "commuter" flight from Cape Town to Jo'burg -- it was fairly short and thank goodness the seats did not recline. Unfortunately to board I had to descend to the tarmac and then ascend the stairs with my backpack and carry-on because we were at the back of the plane and they were late. About 1/2 way up a lovely young woman relieved me of the carry-on and I continued laboring up the stairs -- I HATE STAIRS, particularly unnecessary one. Once we were on the plane I talked to the flight attendant and explained that I couldn't do that again on landing, she said no worries, just stay here and we'll get you out the front.
Turns out we had no issue because they didn't deplane from the back -- in fact they even deplaned us first. We got our checked luggage, the rental van and headed for Dullstrom which is in the Drakensburg Mountains (Pronounced Drahh-kens-burg - again not how I would pronounce it). On the way we saw a Long Crested Eagle and bunch of African Swifts nesting on several overpasses. It was a fairly long and uneventful drive, but it was new habitat, so it was nice to have a change of scenery.
Here is the route
It was mostly a travel day and we didn't hit the Dullstroom Nature Reserve Dam until after 4pm. I declined to make the climb -- you will see why
My Garden at Rose Cottage
My compatriots starting their trek
I'm sure you can see why I chose not to go, plus there was a beautiful pond with a bench right there. It was peaceful and birdy -- fun.
the ubiquitous Egyptian Goose
Cape White-eye (a different subspecies from the Cape -- will probably get a couch bird from this soon)
Cattle Egret
African Sacred Ibis
Great Egret
African Harrier-hawk
Whiskered Tern
The sought after Mallard!
Long-tailed Widowbird
My compatriots on the way down -- much more challenging.
The place we had planned for dinner was not available, so we ended up in a bar that was attached to a restaurant. I honestly almost fell asleep in my "soup". The same type of keys were provided but he had an unusual alarm for the room and it was not easy to tell if you had pushed the bottom correctly or not (remember this for tomorrow). It was cold and the room was not traditionally heated -- they provided hot water bottles and a split heater, that wasn't so great. I typically just use a light down covering and I don't love a lot of weight on me while I sleep, this night I had no choice or I would have been an ice cube. I was tired so I slept and we were up early to go back to the dam. More on that tomorrow...
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