It was Day 10 of our Red Hill Birding Tour of South Africa and time to move north. We had driven a counter-clockwise route around the southern tip of the country and today we would complete that circle by driving back to Cape Town. From there we were to fly northeast to Johannesburg.
We found our seats on the plane and settled in for the two-hour flight. As our plane approached the runway in Johannesburg, only feet off the ground, the pilot suddenly gunned the engines and the plane went into a sharp bank to the right. Nervous passengers chattered, sounding concerned. Karen turned to me and said, “It’s been fun.” Indeed our 50+ years together had been fun but this was not the time to end it. After leveling off the plane, the pilot came on and explained that tailwinds had pushed the plane too far down the runway to come to a stop safely. He tried it again and this time we landed perfectly, to the applause of the relieved passengers.
We were loaded on a van and driven to the Journey’s Inn hotel, tucked within a residential area northeast of downtown Johannesburg. The door to each comfortable room was a Dutch door; a waist-high split allowed you to open the top half and look out into the courtyard (recall that South Africa was colonized by the Dutch for many years). Here’s a shot of our room someone else took and posted on Google Maps.
Our guide Josh gave us a couple of minutes to get settled and then gathered us to go birding before the sun set (he never let an opportunity to look for birds pass). I can’t imagine what residents thought when they looked to see 12 people with binoculars and big cameras walking down the street – I’m surprised they didn’t call the cops on us!
Looking back at the wall surrounding Journey’s End, a Black-collared Barbet peered back at us.
There was a large field next to Journey’s Inn and a couple of Crowned Lapwings were walking around.
Eventually we lost our light and headed in for supper.
The next morning, Josh had us up before breakfast for another walk around the neighborhood. We had a better look at the Black-collared Barbet as it fed up in a tree.
We also spotted a Cape Starling in the trees. This was one of five new starling species we observed only in this region of South Africa.
After breakfast we took off in the direction of Kruger National Park – it would take us two days to get there, but it was definitely worth the wait!
CLICK HERE to see all the posts about our South Africa Bird Tour. Karen and I have had the opportunity to travel to many interesting places in search of birds. If you would like read about some of our other Bird Tours CLICK HERE.
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