Our Turkish Airlines flight dropped us at Cape Town International Airport shortly after midday. The airport transfer produced the first of many pied crows, while a short wait at the airport exit delivered Cape wagtails, Hartlaub’s gulls and rock kestrels. We picked up our rental car, an automatic eight-seat Mercedes Vito from Avis, and quickly hit the road.

Filled with excitement, we drove through the outskirts of Cape Town, noting numerous hadada and sacred ibises, several Egyptian and spur-winged geese, African spoonbills and flocks of pied starlings and introduced house crows.

On our way north, we stopped at a lake beside the road and were struck by the bird diversity. Water thick-knees, Cape shovelers and red-knobbed coots rested along the shore, while Cape canaries, Cape sparrows, Cape weavers, capped wheatears, fiscal flycatchers, African stonechats and red-capped larks foraged in the surrounding vegetation. We enjoyed outstanding views of our first male malachite sunbird feeding on aloe flowers.

We continued through the fynbos-covered slopes of Michell’s Pass towards Tulbagh, where we had booked a lovely cottage by a lake in Kliphuis. We arrived as it was getting dark and noted our first yellow-billed ducks, as well as singing fiery-necked nightjars and a spotted eagle-owl, which put on a show briefly. We also found several large spiders and a roosting endemic Smith’s thick-toed gecko during our first cold South African winter night.

An early start at our dreamy cottage in Tulbagh produced our first Cape white-eyes, southern masked weavers, olive thrushes, Cape bulbuls and Karoo prinias. We also noted rameron pigeons, Cape spurfowl and helmeted guineafowl in the surrounding farmland, along with our first white-necked ravens and blue cranes.

We stopped again at Michell’s Pass, where we bumped into a massive chacma baboon on the road (again, a first of many). The fynbos produced streaky-headed seedeater, bar-throated apalis, Verreaux’s eagle, Cape robin-chat and a pair of African black ducks on the river below.

Further east, a river flows at the base of the mountains at a place called Karooport. Here we connected with Cape buntings, southern double-banded sunbirds, Karoo scrub-robins, yellow and white-throated canaries, red-faced and white-backed mousebirds, gray-backed cisticolas and our target, Namaqua warbler, among numerous Karoo prinias.

We then drove through the Tankwa Karoo along the mythical unpaved R355, where we noted Karoo and sickle-winged chats alongside familiar chats, thick-billed and Karoo larks, pale chanting-goshawks and two pairs of black-headed canaries. Small herds of springbok and a few ostriches made us wonder whether they were wild or introduced — a question we would ask ourselves many times throughout the trip.

We turned off towards Skitterykloof, where we enjoyed great views of a black harrier. We also noted red-winged and pale-winged starlings, a lanner falcon and Layard’s warbler among the rock hyraxes. A pair of gray tits carried nesting material while we waited to connect with our main target at this site, the cinnamon-breasted warbler. Sadly, despite hearing brief songs and calls coming from the rocks that sounded like this species, none of us managed to see it. However, our drive up the mountain rewarded us with excellent views of two southern black korhaans.

We resumed our drive through scenic hill roads before joining the paved highway north, where we connected with our first bokmakierie and enjoyed more great views of Cape spurfowl. We reached Rosenhof Guesthouse & Self Catering in Clanwilliam after dark and checked into a spacious bungalow.

At daybreak in Clanwilliam, the garden produced our first African red-eyed bulbuls. We set off early, hoping to catch up with protea canary during another visit to a fynbos area at Kransvlei Pass. Although we missed it, we noted long-billed crombec, fairy flycatcher, yellow bishop, common waxbill and distant Cape sugarbirds in a river gorge filled with rock hyraxes.

As we headed northeast, the habitat gradually shifted to a more grassland-like Karoo. We enjoyed excellent views of greater kestrels, Cape crows, pale chanting-goshawks and several male red bishops moulting plumage. We drove up onto the vast plateau through a mountain pass, where we had superb views of a pair of Verreaux’s eagles and two klipspringers.

We had planned a stop near Nieuwoudtville to look for several targets. We drove to Hantam Botanic Garden only to find the gate closed, so we stopped for a quick snack surrounded by hadada and sacred ibises and helmeted guineafowl foraging on the lush grass. Luckily, Simphiwe Madlala, the local ranger, turned up, asked us what were we doing and invited us in.

More than a garden, Hantam is a large reserve dedicated to the appreciation of Karoo flora. However, the peak season is August–September, and the reserve remains closed on weekdays for the rest of the year. We explained our objectives to Simphiwe, who kindly offered to take us around the reserve in a safari vehicle. While waiting for him to fetch it, we enjoyed excellent views of a roosting spotted eagle-owl, a flyover martial eagle and our main target of the day: nine endangered and localized Ludwig’s bustards flying right in front of us. Blue cranes also foraged nearby, while steenbok and bat-eared foxes completed the scene.

Simphiwe drove us close to a Ludwig’s bustard that had landed nearby, allowing superb views of this majestic bird. However, his knowledge of the land and its flora stole the show and became the highlight of the day. He showed us several extremely localized endemic plants that were only beginning to bloom. One in particular caught our attention: Romulea monadelpha, a striking red flower endemic to the reserve and its immediate surroundings.

The light of the setting sun accompanied us on the drive towards Brandvlei, rewarding us with a final pair of Karoo korhaans alongside several ostriches and springbok. We checked into a basic accommodation after nightfall.

After the coldest night of our trip, we checked out of our basic accommodation in Brandvlei and got back on the road. Although we had initially planned to visit Koa Dunes, having already secured the rare red lark the previous day meant we headed instead for Onseepkans, a small town on the Orange River at the Namibian border.

The sun rose just as we reached Onseepkans. We stopped at a fenced agricultural field on the outskirts of town, where we immediately noticed plenty of bird activity from the car. Along with numerous African red-eyed bulbuls, southern grey-headed sparrows and Cape sparrows, we quickly secured our target, the localized rosy-faced lovebird. Orange River white-eyes, African pied wagtails, acacia pied barbets, common hoopoes and black-chested prinias were also present, together with numerous palm swifts. We also encountered the first vervet monkeys of the trip.

We left Onseepkans early and crossed vast stretches of dry open savanna. Close to town, we found our first pygmy falcons and dusky sunbirds. Several fuel and food stops in settlements along the Orange River provided more vegetated habitat, where we noted African fish eagle and hamerkop. Further north, a brief stop to admire our first white-backed vultures and Kori bustards also produced the only pink-billed larks of the trip.

The southern gate of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park lies about an hour’s drive from Askham, so we set off early to arrive by opening time at 06:00. We planned to make the most of our two days in the park, staying from opening until closing time at 18:00. Our first day was more bird-focused, although we also enjoyed incredible views of springbok, gemsbok, blue wildebeest, greater kudu and giraffes. After finding our first of many Marico flycatchers, black-chested prinias (some of them on the Motswana side), Kalahari scrub-robins and southern yellow-billed hornbills around the camp, we bumped into our first secretarybird just a few kilometres inside the park.

Lifers followed one after another as we drove north from the gate, first along the border with Botswana before turning west towards Mata Mata. Highlights included ostriches, tawny eagle, gabar goshawk, swallow-tailed bee-eater, ashy tit, common scimitarbill, black-faced waxbill and purple roller. Several waterholes attracted hundreds of Namaqua and Burchell’s sandgrouse. Likewise, we recorded dozens of crowned lapwings, kori bustards and especially northern black korhaans throughout the day. We also encountered numerous meerkats, often at very close range, and spent some time enjoying their entertaining behaviour.

The picnic sites in Kgalagadi are magnets for birds. At Auchterlonie, numerous Cape starlings and crows searched for food scraps, accompanied by remarkably confiding yellow mongooses and northern black korhaans. We also enjoyed close views of rufous-eared warblers and desert cisticolas in the surrounding bushes.

The afternoon grew hot and mammal activity slowed down. Finding a martial eagle perched on a dead tree led to a long stop. While some admired this formidable raptor, others scanned the nearby acacias, noticing plenty of bird activity in the shade beneath them. Brubru, black-faced waxbills, pririt batis, green-winged pytilias, violet-eared waxbills and shaft-tailed whydahs kept us entertained. After seeing numerous pale chanting-goshawks, black-winged kites, pygmy falcons and lanner falcons, we eventually located a red-necked falcon perched in a tree later in the afternoon. Before leaving the park, we checked the tyre pressure at the entrance campsite — something we did every day to ensure safe driving both on the sandy tracks inside the park and on the paved roads outside. While there, we noted several groundscraper thrushes before heading back to Askham.

Our second and final day in Kgalagadi had to be mammal-focused. Finding the savanna birds had been fantastic, but there were still many mammals we hoped to see. Our plan was to drive farther and make fewer stops, covering the park’s southern loop by first heading north and then southwest before rejoining the road from the previous day.

The strategy paid off almost immediately, as we came across our first cluster of cars around a waterhole. A lioness was calmly drinking in the misty morning light before quietly walking away, watched by everyone present.

Our first large carnivore of the trip was soon followed by our first bateleur. In fact, a stop at Tierkop picnic site produced outstanding views of numerous white-backed vultures, bateleurs and lanner falcons — one of which almost caught a crowned lapwing right in front of us. A small puddle attracted flocks of red-headed finches, southern grey-headed and Cape sparrows, Cape starlings and Namaqua doves.

Although the habitat seemed to change very little, the birdlife differed noticeably between the northern road and the eastern section of the loop. The former held virtually no bustards, whereas the latter was once again full of them. There we also encountered warthogs, a sleeping male lion, meerkats, giraffes and gemsbok, many of them showing exceptionally well at close range. Before leaving the park that evening, we found a remarkably cooperative family of bat-eared foxes and a Verreaux’s eagle-owl still half asleep, perched out in the open on an acacia. Back in Askham, another night drive produced views of one of the town’s calling barn owls, yet another Verreaux’s eagle-owl and numerous springhares under some of the most incredible night skies we have ever seen.

The second half of our journey between Askham and Wakkerstroom began well before sunrise as we quickly left Kuruman behind. The long drive was mostly uneventful, although it produced our first crested barbet and Swainson’s spurfowl. A roadside lagoon somewhere far south of Johannesburg held a large flamboyance of lesser flamingos, together with grey-headed gulls, white-faced whistling ducks, black-necked grebes and three-banded plovers.

Our early departure paid off, as we reached Wakkerstroom with plenty of daylight to spare. We checked into a cosy house in town, where the garden hosted spotted thick-knees, speckled mousebirds and black-collared barbets. Nearby, the wetland reserve produced our first African swamphens, African snipes and heard-only African rails. Haunting calls soon revealed two majestic grey crowned cranes flying low over the reeds in the fading evening light.

We were all especially excited about Wakkerstroom. We had been looking forward to searching for its extremely range-restricted larks, pipits and korhaans, along with several other iconic grassland species. Instead, we found ourselves in the heart of winter — a feeling we had not really experienced anywhere else on the trip. The grasslands were completely dry and withered, and virtually every road had recently been bordered by burned fields. Several species were abundant, including long-tailed widowbird, ant-eating chat, African stonechat and red-capped lark, but finding many of our targets required considerable effort throughout our stay, especially during the thick morning fog.

Even so, this was probably the destination with the best birdwatching infrastructure of the entire trip. We drove the well-known Lark Loop north of town, where we found large numbers of widowbirds and red bishops, together with pied starlings, Cape longclaws, Levaillant’s cisticolas and pin-tailed whydahs. Small flocks of Swainson’s and grey-winged francolins foraged in the grasslands. At the far end of the loop lies a large lagoon, where we observed Kittlitz’s and three-banded plovers among numerous red-knobbed coots. We also explored a couple of nearby roads, adding eastern clapper lark, buff-streaked chat and sentinel rock-thrush.

A second visit to the wetland northeast of town, with its excellent hides and boardwalk, produced blue-billed teals, lesser swamp warblers, village weavers, African marsh harrier and Drakensberg prinia, together with a lesser honeyguide in the grove. In the evening, another search for larks and korhaans resulted only in our single sighting of a southern bald ibis: a lone bird flying distantly just before dusk.

Our transfer from the highland grasslands of Wakkerstroom to the coastal forests of KwaZulu-Natal turned out to be eventful. After more than 4,000 km of driving on rough gravel roads, one particularly nasty pothole finally gave us a flat tyre. We changed it and contacted the rental company, which arranged for a replacement Mercedes Vito to be waiting for us at our destination that afternoon. The delay nevertheless produced black-winged lapwings along the way. A lunch stop at a petrol station also rewarded us with our first brown-headed kingfishers, African woolly-necked stork, yellow-throated longclaws, village weavers and southern boubou.

We eventually reached Dlinza Forest in Eshowe, which remains open until 16:00 upon payment of the entrance fee. This forest is one of the very few sites in South Africa for the eastern bronze-naped pigeon, but our timing was far from ideal and we failed to find it. Fortunately, a local ranger pointed us towards a spotted ground-thrush, another of our major targets, which was quietly feeding in the shade beside a path just below the entrance. The ranger also drew our attention to a calling variegated honeyguide that remained hidden high in the canopy on the trail towards Bishop’s Seat.

Despite the generally low bird activity, we continued walking to Bishop’s Seat and recorded white-eared barbet, collared and olive sunbirds, chorister and red-capped robin-chats, dark-backed weavers, Ludwig’s drongo, olive bushshrike, grey cuckooshrike, black-backed puffback and several trumpeter hornbills, which proved to be common throughout the coastal forests we visited. We kept hearing purple-crested turacos that remained hidden in the canopy. Instead, Arnau managed to pick out a female Narina trogon.

We waited at the entrance for the vehicle exchange after Dlinza Forest closed at 16:00. A pair of African woolly-necked storks flew to their nest in a nearby tree while numerous hornbills crossed overhead. Just before leaving, we added an African green pigeon, then switched vehicles and drove through the night to our accommodation in a residential area of eMthunzini.

We spent the morning exploring the mangroves around eMthunzini, visiting the Mangrove Trail at Umlalazi Nature Reserve. We first walked the boardwalk through the mangroves, where we bagged golden-tailed woodpecker and half-collared kingfisher. A short walk through the dune forest produced our first red-capped robin-chats, black-bellied starlings, dark-backed weavers, yellow-bellied and sombre greenbuls, all of them fairly common in these coastal forests.

The forest edge proved even more productive, delivering yellow-rumped tinkerbirds, green malkoha, African green pigeon, black cuckooshrike, African swift, African harrier-hawk, black and greater striped swallows, scarlet-chested sunbird and Burchell’s coucal. One final look over the mangroves rewarded us with excellent views of a mangrove kingfisher and several distant palm-nut vultures — our main targets for the day.

We spent the rest of the day dealing with our transfer to St Lucia. Although the drive itself is relatively short, we first had to stop in Empangeni to sort out some paperwork with the rental company following yesterday’s tyre incident. As if that was not enough, we suffered another flat tyre on the way and had to drive to Richards Bay Airport to collect yet another replacement van. As a result, we only reached St Lucia late in the evening, where we celebrated with a well-deserved pizza while watching a hippopotamus casually crossing the street beside our restaurant. For the next few nights, we would stay at The Bridge, a comfortable and well-known resort in St Lucia.

We devoted the entire day to exploring the eastern shores of Lake St Lucia within iSimangaliso Wetland Park. The park is open from 06:00 to 18:00, with an entrance fee for both visitors and vehicles. The 35 km drive towards Cape Vidal early in the morning produced numerous highlights, including long-crested eagle, southern banded snake-eagle, crowned hornbill, southern crested guineafowl, Burchell’s coucal, white-crested helmetshrike, African golden weaver, thick-billed weaver and banded martin.

The forest produced only heard-only Livingstone’s turacos and four-coloured bushshrikes as we briefly walked to several viewpoints over the lake. From there we enjoyed good numbers of Nile crocodiles and hippopotamuses, together with African fish eagles, malachite and pied kingfishers, Caspian terns and a distant flock of great white pelicans. The surrounding bushes also held tawny-flanked prinia, brown scrub-robin, African paradise flycatcher and black-tailed waxbill.

The idyllic beach at Cape Vidal marked our first encounter with the Indian Ocean during the trip. Small flocks of greater crested terns and grey-headed gulls fed among the tourists on the sand. Beyond the breakers, several humpback whales breached repeatedly, while our first seabird highlight appeared in the form of a magnificent Indian yellow-nosed albatross gliding south. Filled with excitement, we reached the coast once more later that afternoon at Mission Rocks, where we enjoyed more humpback whales and several Cape gannets.

We returned via the so-called Grassland Loop. These unpaved roads pass several lakes teeming with hippos and crocodiles, together with African jacanas and black crakes. The surrounding savanna produced up to four different African bazas hunting simultaneously, along with black goshawk, pin-tailed whydah, spectacled weaver, Natal and rattling cisticolas and wattled lapwing. Throughout the drive, we also enjoyed excellent views of waterbuck, reedbuck, plains zebra, warthogs and countless vervet monkeys.

We left The Bridge early and departed St Lucia, heading north out of the coastal region of KwaZulu-Natal. Along the way we crossed the Kingdom of eSwatini, where several roadside stops produced martial eagle, bateleur, white-backed vulture, ostrich and lilac-breasted roller, together with our first magpie shrikes, marabou storks, grey go-away-birds, brown snake-eagles, Burchell’s starlings, impalas and even African elephants and sable antelope. The whole immigration process was extremely smooth, as our Spanish passports granted us free visa on arrival with only short waiting time at the borders.

By late afternoon we reached Komatipoort, a town lying at the southeastern edge of Kruger National Park and the border with Mozambique. We spent some time sorting out an issue with our travel itinerary (we reached Komatipoort one day before planned!) before eventually checking into Villa Candilabra for the night. Afterwards, we walked along a road beside the Crocodile River, where we enjoyed excellent views of white-bellied and scarlet-chested sunbirds, together with speckled mousebirds. While watching arrow-marked babblers near the entrance to Komatipoort Golf Club, a local resident became curious about our binoculars and invited us in for a drink. We ended up sharing a few laughs while watching the sunset from the golf club terrace. Once darkness fell, several freckled and square-tailed nightjars put on a memorable show.

The changes to our itinerary unexpectedly gave us an extra day around Komatipoort, so we used it for a day visit to Kruger National Park, where we would be spending the following days anyway. This gave us the opportunity to explore the park’s southern section. After entering through Crocodile Bridge Gate — and noting bearded scrub-robin and Kurrichane thrush around the gardens — we headed west.

Following the Crocodile River, we encountered large herds of impalas together with several blue wildebeest and plains zebras. Raptors were particularly impressive, with numerous white-backed vultures soaring alongside the occasional hooded vulture, as well as bateleurs, brown snake-eagles, martial eagle, African harrier-hawk and African hawk-eagle. Mixed flocks of bishops and queleas feeding in the roadside scrub also included southern cordon-bleus, golden-breasted buntings, pin-tailed whydahs, green-winged pytilias, Jameson’s firefinches, yellow-fronted canaries and emerald-spotted wood-doves. One such flock had gathered around a pearl-spotted owlet attended by several fork-tailed drongos.

We stopped for lunch at Gardenia Bird Hide, seemingly the only picnic stop along the gravel road between Crocodile Bridge and Malelane. Southern red-billed hornbills, Natal spurfowl, crested francolins and Burchell’s starlings searched for food scraps around the parking area and even inside the hide. The overlook itself provided point-blank views of hamerkops and impalas coming to drink.

A good portion of our itinerary was dedicated to exploring Kruger National Park. After yesterday’s unexpected day visit, we left Komatipoort with several nights booked inside the park. For the next few days, elephants, giraffes, impalas and blue wildebeest would become the usual companions on our daily drives through the bush between gate opening at 06:00 and closing time at 17:30. Our first proper day in Kruger was, besides such usual mammals, relatively quiet. As we drove towards Lower Sabie Rest Camp, where we would spend the night, we recorded abundant greater blue-eared starlings, white-winged widowbirds and the occasional burnt-necked eremomela or bearded woodpecker.

As check-in at the rest camps only opens after 14:00, we spent the hottest hours around Lower Sabie. There we found wire-tailed swallows, southern cordon-bleus, white-browed robin-chats and ashy flycatchers gathering around puddles and fountains. A large kettle of soaring white-backed vultures over the savanna also included hooded and lappet-faced vultures, while chinspot batis, greater honeyguide and white-bellied sunbird foraged nearby. The Sabie River held more highlights, including goliath heron, white-crowned lapwing and three African skimmers — locally rare birds that had remained in the area for some time.

An afternoon drive around the loop north of Lower Sabie promised excellent mammal sightings according to the sighting boards. Instead, we found flyover double-banded sandgrouse, an obliging pair of greater painted-snipes at a river crossing and an immature white-headed vulture. Our safari ended with a near miss. Just before the gates closed, word spread of a leopard near Lower Sabie, but we could not wait long enough for it to leave its hiding spot behind a log.

Despite striking out with carnivores throughout the day, it turned into one of the most memorable evenings of the trip. After dinner, campers crowded around the only television in the restaurant to watch the FIFA World Cup final between Spain and Argentina. Watching Spain lift the trophy from South Africa, the country where they had won their only previous World Cup, made the whole experience surprisingly special, even for those of us who are not particularly passionate about football — so much so that everyone ignored a large-spotted genet walking around.

Having gone to bed late the previous night, we deserved a slightly later start. It quickly paid off. Our day began by driving straight through two remarkably cooperative lion prides, the second consisting of several lionesses with cubs. Along the way we also enjoyed our first southern ground hornbills, together with black-bellied bustard and chestnut-backed sparrow-lark.

One of the most breathtaking moments of the entire trip came after lunch back at camp. We decided to drive the very same loop we had explored the previous afternoon, but this time there were virtually no other visitors around. As we rounded a bend, we noticed a slender silhouette in the distance. A lone cheetah was calmly walking towards us. We slowly approached and enjoyed prolonged views as this magnificent cat continued along the road, occasionally glancing in our direction. Finding a large carnivore entirely on our own, without the usual traffic jam of safari vehicles, was already special. The fact that it was a cheetah — a species we had missed in Kgalagadi — made the moment unforgettable.

As if that were not enough, we completed the loop with another unforgettable encounter when a huge spotted hyena walked calmly along the road straight past our vehicle. Back at Lower Sabie, buffaloes and elephants gathered by the river just outside the camp fence. While watching the African skimmers again in the fainting daylight, Guillem, Darío and Adri also managed to pick up a flyover little sparrowhawk.

Having seen lions and a cheetah the previous day, our attention shifted to the only remaining big cat we still hoped to find. During our morning drive between Lower Sabie and Skukuza Rest Camp, where we would spend the following nights, we found a crowd of vehicles gathered around an impala carcass hanging high in a tree. Although the predator had already disappeared, it did not take much imagination to reconstruct the crime scene. Along the way we also recorded the only mosque swallows and lizard buzzards of the trip.

After a quick snack in Skukuza, we drove one of the loops around the camp. Before long, another cluster of cars revealed a second impala hanging in a tree — this time with the leopard still resting beside it. A few hours later, history repeated itself once again when another leopard appeared walking through the grass beside the road, giving us prolonged, close-range views.

We planned the following days around recent sightings of African wild dogs, although, sadly, we never managed to find them. Several reports had come from the road between Skukuza and Pretoriuskop Rest Camp, so we headed there early in the morning. Along the way we added striped kingfisher, yellow-throated bush sparrow, red-crested korhaan and southern black tit to our trip list. We also enjoyed prolonged views of a group of young spotted hyenas resting and playing right beside the road.

After a delicious late breakfast at Pretoriuskop, surrounded as always by greater blue-eared and red-winged starlings, together with our first grey-headed bushshrikes, we returned towards Skukuza and drove another loop around the camp. There we witnessed by far the most spectacular wildlife scene of our time in Kruger. An adult leopard and her cub were feeding on an impala high in a tree while several spotted hyenas patiently waited below. Eventually, the inexperienced cub lost its grip on the carcass. By the time the mother reacted, it was already too late. The impala crashed to the ground, instantly attracting hyenas from every direction. The leopards quietly climbed down and abandoned the meal, wisely avoiding a direct confrontation.

After dinner, we enjoyed a productive night walk around Skukuza. Besides close views of fiery-necked nightjar and a roosting scarlet-chested sunbird, we heard an African wood-owl and several greater galagos around the cabins.

A cold morning in Skukuza saw us heading north towards Satara. While stopping to admire a group of waterbuck, we found a flock of Retz’s helmetshrikes accompanied by a red-headed weaver. A large herd of buffaloes midway along the drive held our only yellow-billed oxpeckers of the trip, alongside numerous red-billed oxpeckers. Breakfast in Satara also produced African mourning dove and a pair of gray-headed bushshrikes. As numerous African wild dogs had been reported along the road between Satara and Orpen the previous day, we spent the rest of the day driving back and forth in the hope of finding them, but without success.

After an otherwise quiet day, we joined a night drive on our final evening in the park. Two vehicles full of visitors headed towards an area north of Satara where several lions had recently been reported. Sure enough, we found a mating pair right beside the road, roaring loudly before settling down only a few metres away. The drive also produced another lion pride, scrub hare, African wildcat, black-backed jackal, large-spotted genet and flap-necked chameleon. While the lions made the outing worthwhile, the overall experience was (unsurprisingly) diminished by the constant spotlighting and the rather noisy groups of visitors, many of whom seemed interested only in the Big Five.

Our final day in Kruger National Park began north of Satara, where we encountered an old male lion that had apparently just lost a fight with three younger males from a neighbouring pride. We enjoyed prolonged point-blank views before crossing the Olifants River and entering Limpopo Province. More sightings of bateleurs, ostriches, elephants and buffaloes followed.

Once outside the park, we drove west towards Woodbush, a montane forest area where several forest specialities still awaited us. Locating the remaining forest patches among the vast pine plantations proved more difficult than expected. After checking into Magoebaskloof Mountain Lodge, we continued past Woodbush Hut and slowly walked a dusty forest road. Bird activity was limited, but we nevertheless found the localized black-fronted bushshrike, forest buzzard, Knysna turaco, Cape batis, chorister robin-chat, greater double-collared sunbird, forest canary and numerous Cape white-eyes. On the drive back to the lodge, a magnificent Cape parrot perched on top of a dead tree right in the middle of the road, giving us unforgettable views of one of 60-80 birds remaining in Limpopo!

Our first full day in Cape Town had to include a visit to the stunning Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. A short Uber ride brought us to the entrance, where we bought our tickets. As soon as we stepped inside, we were greeted by immaculate green lawns and flowering gardens with the cloud-covered Table Mountain as a spectacular backdrop. Cape white-eyes, southern double-collared sunbirds, Cape robin-chats and sombre greenbuls were abundant throughout the gardens. The forested section produced two brown-backed honeybirds and a roosting spotted eagle-owl. In the protea garden, we enjoyed close-up views of both male and female Cape sugarbirds, while inquisitive Cape spurfowl wandered around us as we had a snack on the lawn.

We had been incredibly lucky with the weather throughout the trip, and our only poor weather day turned out to be today. Thick fog and light drizzle dominated the morning before strong winds picked up later in the day. We headed to Maiden’s Cove in the hope that the conditions would encourage Antarctic terns to remain at their roosts. Instead, the wind made any seawatching almost impossible. While quite literally trying not to be blown away, we still managed to record flyby greater crested terns, crowned and Cape cormorants and a distant African oystercatcher.