Simon Thomsett

Category: Raptor Expedition | Date: Jun 29 2009 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

We had a long way to drive from the Kalahari to Cape Town so we broke it up by stopping for a night at Augrabies Falls National Park, a place Rob had recommended. The Orange River runs through a gorge and cascades down the 56 meter high waterfall. It would be the perfect setting for photographing raptors, but we had no time. We only had an hour or so before nightfall, so we sat overlooking the river, hoping for a Peregrine or Verreaux’s Eagle fly-by.

We arrived in Cape Town and Simon broke into a sweat. The roads were multi-lane, fast-moving highways and Simon had no idea how to drive on them. We were headed for the University of Cape Town. We made it in one piece and were greeted by Rob Simmons, an expert on harriers and an old friend of Simon’s, and our host. We also met Andrew Jenkins, a falcon expert. In the afternoon, we met with a potential publisher for the coffee-table book and we left much encouraged.

We probably outstayed our welcome with Rob and his lovely family while the car went in for some more repairs which took almost a week. On our first day, we met up with Gustav and Kina, our Swedish friends who had driven from Sweden to Cape Town. They took Simon and I to see the penguins at Boulder’s Beach. We knew of the penguins and were keen to see them, but we weren’t expecting what we saw: lots of penguins just lazing on the beach or splashing in the water. They were so close and clearly just going about their business. As we were walking away, I noticed some splashing far from shore which looked suspiciously like a shark attack on a seal but it was too far away to say for sure.

Penguins at Boulders Beach

The following day, Rob took us to see a pair of Jackal Buzzards near the golf course in the suburbs of Cape Town. The buzzard flew as we arrived so we were quite disappointed. We sat there a few minutes hoping to see the buzzard again, when Simon jokingly said “African Wild Cat” (he always says this when he sees a domestic cat), then, suddenly more excitedly said “Caracal.” That got my attention and I was out through the window in seconds, taking photos of a young caracal walking down the road about 80 metres away. It then disappeared into the vegetation.

Rob drove to where we saw it disappear and I walked into the bush, hoping to get another glimpse. I saw it walking in long grass so I walked a big circle around it, hoping to get above it and be able to take photos of it down the hill. I lost sight of it, so I sat down and started making squeaky mouse noises and waited. I sat for about 10 minutes and was ready to give up when I felt eyes on me. I turned my head to see the caracal just 10 metres away, staring straight at me. Despite it being just outside of Cape Town, it was one of my most exciting wildlife moments. Caracals are elusive and you usually have to work very hard to see one, so this was very special.

The young Caracal

Rob next took us to see the Black Harriers he studies in the Blauberg Reserve just out of Town. Blauberg offers the best view of Table Mountain with beach and sea as foreground. Rob drove and chatted with Simon while I got blown around on the roof in the strong wind. Unfortunately, the harriers turned up just as we were preparing to leave and we had to rush off, but it was great to see them. They are really beautiful birds. Rob set us up with a lady named Ann Koeslang the next day. Ann spends a lot of time observing raptors in Table Mountain National Park and we were there to see the mystery buzzards. These buzzards look different from any local species and most resemble Steppe Buzzards, which are only visitors in Africa and breed in northern Europe. So why are these strange-looking buzzards breeding in Cape Town? Perhaps they are hybrids between Steppe Buzzards and Forest Buzzards? We can’t really comment as we never got to see them, but we did see some Black Sparrowhawks, Jackal Buzzards and my first Forest Buzzard with Ann.

On our last day, Andrew Jenkins took us to see a pair of Peregrine Falcons that live at Cape Point. It was a windy and rainy day but we decided to brave it anyway. Rob came, too, and we all stood near the lighthouse and waited for falcon activity. They zoomed past a couple of times but I struggled to catch focus against the ocean background. But it was beautiful to watch and we even witnessed a brief chase of a Cormorant by the female Peregrine, but she didn’t catch it.

Peregrine over the ocean at Cape Point

I was not looking forward to Cape Town, never imagining it to be a place of natural beauty and biodiversity, but I came away from it with very different ideas. With many unique plants and plenty of wildlife, Cape Town is an example of how we can try to preserve what we have, even within a developed and human-populated area. Ideally, we would have these special areas free of development and people, but in a world with a growing population and constant “improvement,” we need to come up with ways in which wildlife and people are not mutually exclusive. Cities world-wide could start by taking a look at Cape Town.

Tags: cape town, laila spots a caracal, penguins at boulders beach, urbanization and wildlife

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Category: Raptor Expedition | Date: Jun 22 2009 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

Our second day in the park was a bit of a slow day. We didn’t see any cats or much in the way of large raptors either, but as we were nearing our campsite for the evening at Nossob, we started seeing more and more vultures perched on trees or on nests. We also saw lots of Pale Chanting Goshawks and a few Bateleurs. We arrived at Nossob as dark was setting in and we went with Rob to sit in a hide by the waterhole. Jackals came to drink and a couple of Pearl-spotted Owlets perched in a tree right in front of the hide.

Pearl-spotted Owlet

We spent a couple of nights at Nossob before Simon and I drove north where we were to spend one night at Grootkolk while Rob drove south to pick up his cousin Col. Grootkolk consisted of just four small cottages overlooking a waterhole. I woke in the morning to the sound of Kudus alarm calling. I went out to see what was going on to find two lions at the waterhole. So we sat around for a while, drinking hot chocolate on the veranda as the sun rose over the lions. What a way to start the day! To add to the magic, hundreds of doves were coming down to drink alongside the lions until a pair of adult Lanner Falcons tore through.

Lions at the waterhole

We were on our way to Mata Mata campsite when we pulled up at a waterhole and found several cars stopped. Lions were holding up the traffic. There were eight lions in total and they took a liking to our car (perhaps they could smell all the other lions that checked out our car during the course of the expedition). Five of them, all staring straight at me, came right up to the window. Simon said “if they make a grab for you, I’ll pull you back.” The lions were looking playful, so I decided to close my window just in case. The lions proceeded to surround the car. One young male started playing with the back tyre and Simon’s reaction was to say “stop it, stop it, naughty thing, stop it.” It was all quite fun until we got back to the campsite gate to find it locked and we got a good ticking off!

Young lion chewing at the back tyre

Col treated us to a night drive on one of our last evenings in the Kalahari. We were driven in a large open vehicle by our guide John. We stood on a dune to watch the sunset, and then the fun really began. Simon and Col both held spotlights and we all looked for eyes shining back at us. The main things I wanted to see on this drive were Brown Hyenas, Caracals and Cape Foxes. Our first spot of the night was a small cat that may have been a very elusive Black-footed Cat or more likely an African Wild Cat. Then we saw a Cape Fox which I was very excited about. It was nearing the end of our drive and we were on our way back to camp when we pulled in to the last waterhole. Simon could see eyes shining back in his torch and his first instinct was that it was a Cape Fox. Then he said excitedly “Caracal” and we all jumped to attention. I managed to get a couple of bad photos of it, but enough to identify it as my first Caracal. We saw another couple of Cape Foxes, a Barn Owl and lots of Spring Hares before reaching camp.

Barn Owl

Our time in the Kalahari eventually ran out and we had seen so much: eagles, falcons, goshawks, a leopard, lions, cheetahs, a caracal, wild cats, mongooses, a genet cat, snakes, antelopes and so much more. We watched as Lanner Falcons descended upon doves and as Black-shouldered Kites built nests. Tawny Eagles pirated food from other raptors and cobras invaded weaver nests. Meerkats dug for insects and male Gemsbok made battle with each other. Ten days might seem a long time but it wasn’t enough for the Kalahari.

Gemsbok at Battle

Black-shouldered Kite collecting nesting material while being bombed by a drongo

Tags: kalahari barn owl, kalahari safari, laila sees a caracal, lions chewing car tires, pearl-spotted owlet

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Category: Raptor Expedition | Date: Jun 18 2009 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

Simon and I were joined by Rob Davies for the Kalahari leg of the expedition. Rob is a raptor expert who knows Simon from way back. He lives in Wales now with his wife and young child and is working on a field guide to African Birds of Prey with Bill Clark. He sent us a small computer system called a PDA to log our data in a few months ago and we had been talking about meeting up in the Kalahari ever since. As it turned out, he arranged the whole 10-day Kalahari trip for us, making all the bookings, and it was lucky he did as the place was fully booked when we got there.

We spent the first few days with Anne Rasa, a renowned small-mammal biologist. She was looking after a young rescued meerkat called Fizzle. I got quite attached to Fizzle over those few days. Meerkats are incredibly social creatures and Fizzle was always either running around on high energy or curling up with you. Anne took us for a walk along the dunes, telling us about the Kalahari’s plants and animals, imparting knowledge on everything down to the smallest insect. It was fascinating and having Fizzle with us, digging up insects along the way, added to the fun.

Anne talking to the group

Fizzle digging up insects

In the afternoon, we all went for a small drive around Anne’s property. Rob, Fizzle and two other guests went in the car with Anne, and Simon and I followed in the Range Rover behind. We stopped a few times and all got out of the car to examine something, or check a Social Weaver nest for Pygmy Falcons. After the second stop, Fizzle decided to come in the car with Simon and me. I found myself wishing he could join us on the expedition. Not only is he good company, but he picks out raptors miles away, long before any of us see them!

Fizzle in the car

The Kgalagadi Tranfrontier Park is an altered ecosystem. Along the two mostly dry riverbeds, people have put in regularly spaced waterholes. This means that wildlife that used to have to migrate to find water now stays put all year round. It also means that there is lots of water for small birds to come down and drink. This makes things interesting for us, because with the small birds drinking come the falcons and goshawks looking to make a meal of the small birds. Rob had spent time here with Andrew Jenkins, falcon expert, and they found that the different small bird species such as Turtle Doves, Namaqua Doves, Sandgrouse and Red-headed Sparrows come down at different times of day, creating peaks of activity. The raptors have obviously figured out these peaks as they descend when the waterholes are at their busiest.

A female Lanner Falcon tucks into her meal while the smaller male sits by, hoping for his share

So we spent much of our days in the Kalahari driving from one waterhole to the next in time for each peak. Rob and I waved our cameras around, trying desperately to get photos of a falcon catching a dove. But it happens so fast!

Tags: Anne Rasa, desert, Kalahari, Lanner Falcon, Meerkat, Rob Davies

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