We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Fairy Knowe Hotel, particularly after sighting the Krysna Turaco. The next morning we walked around the grounds and spotted another Lifer, a Water Thick-knee standing on the bank of the river next to the hotel.
We did have to move on, so we headed north-west toward central South Africa toward the Karoo. To get there we had to use the Swartberg Pass to drive over the Grootswartberg Mountain Range. We stopped at the top of the pass, almost a mile high, to stretch our legs after the morning’s journey. Karen and I posed next to an impressive rock formation.
Looking down from the pass we had an expansive view of the countryside we had just driven through.
Although not many, there were a few birds up at this elevation. Here is a Sentinal Rock-thrush keeping vigil over the area. Not a clean image due to the heat waves bouncing off the rock up there. The air temperature was cool but the sun warmed the rocks, which then produced the heat waves. This can even happen over the surface of water!
We made a few stops to look for birds on the way down from the pass and were fortunate enough to find this Victorin’s Warbler, one of the few warblers we saw in South Africa. Although this is not a Great Bird Pic I did add it to my eBird checklist as there were only 209 images of this bird in their database (compared to over 250,000 images submitted of the American Robin).
As we descended from the heights of the Swartberg Pass the landscape changed to an arid, rocky environment. We were entering the Karoo (South African for desert). We arrived at the most unusual and beautiful lodging of the trip at sunset. Next.
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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