27 January 2019: Twitching with Paljas
- vagranttwitcher
- Jan 27, 2019
- 1 min read
I love words. Words have certain majesty, an undeniable feel and a tangible taste to them. Some words are old acquaintances that you greet in jubilant reunion; others are new introductions with unlimited potential. Words are like people, some are good, others are bad; some bring joy, others bring pain.
Birding the Karoo National Park with Japie and Ralie Claassen was a joyful experience. We raked in one Karoo special after the other. Ralie’s finely tuned ears and Japie’s extraordinary knowledge of his patch made the twitching easy. When some Karoo Eremomelas (my 500th bird for the African Big Year) flew across our path, Ralie remarked that I must be birding with paljas. Paljas, meaning a magic ingredient or charm, is an Afrikaans word of Cape-Mallei origin, very similar to doepa or muti we use in the north. Rolling the word over my tongue, and savouring its flavour, I realised that I truly have paljas – I have the joy of birding; I have the Mandela shuffle that sometimes turns into a jive; I have new birding friends in the persons of Japie and Ralie; I have so many blessings from Above!
As the sun set we stopped at a lonely trough out in the middle of nowhere on a Karoo farm. “Now we wait” said Japie. We waited. Twenty minutes later Ralie said: “I hear one approaching…” Out of the dusk popped a Sclater’s Lark and intensely inspected us as we in turn inspected him. Ah yes, I truly have paljas; and excellent birding friends.
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