Maans Booysen and myself headed north towards Limpopo, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi. I had convinced him to join me, and since he had not birded Malawi previously, it was not a hard sell. The first three days we were joined by Joe and Meryl-Lynne Harwood of Escape to the Wild who, together with Maans, were evaluating new birding routes in Limpopo. We tried to find the Bennet’s Woodpecker and Cape Penduline Tit at Nylsvlei and the Polokwane Nature Reserve, but to no avail. Our accommodation for the evening was at Modjadji Eco Lodge, situated in the Cycad Reserve in Modjadjiskloof on the African Ivory Route.
Early the next morning I dropped Daai Dêng at the Ford dealer in Tzaneen for a scheduled service, and then we birded Magoebaskloof. We soon found the Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler, a new tick on the Year List, as well as the recently split African Green Pigeon (Treron calvus glaucus). This then became an easy new Southern African lifer for both Meryl-Lynne and myself, and I taught her to dance the Mandela shuffle in celebration. The secret of an authentic Mandela shuffle lies in gracefully and slowly lifting one’s knees so as not to pull a sphincter muscle. The evening was spent at Mtomeni Eco Lodge in Letaba Ranch, north of Phalaborwa. Here I ticked the Brown-headed Parrot for my Year List.
Samson Maklaudi, a very proficient birding guide from Limpopo, was picked up in Thohoyandou the next morning. We birded the Entabeni Forest where we found a pair of Bat Hawks at their nest and a Black-fronted Bushshrike higher up in the canopy. Maans and Samson saw a Forest Buzzard that flew off before I could tick it as a Southern African lifer. In delayed retribution I accidentally drove over Maans’s new cellphone; I guess this would be sufficient grounds for legal action. The afternoon we ticked the Pink-throated Twinspot at the Thohoyandou Botanical Gardens and Maans was nearly bitten by what could have been a Green Mamba – delayed retribution is a bummer!