This past Saturday we headed to Doodsklip in the Baviaanskloof for our first event with the Friends of the Baviaanskloof (FOBWA) - an alien vegetation ‘hack‘. FOBWA are an interesting group of conservation minded people who get together a couple of times a year to clear wattle and other invasive plants from the reserve. No photos of that - I was was too busy trying to work out how to use a tree popper.
After a hard days work and many uprooted trees we set up camp at Bergplaas (Afrikaans for Mountain Farm), an amazing campsite in the fynbos of the Baviaansberge, or Baviaans mountains.
The campsite had a resident herd of Red Hartebeest, which were fairly relaxed about their pasture being invaded by 10 vehicles and double that number of noisy people.
The highlight of the weekend was the drive back home on Sunday. The kloof is packed with baboons, monkeys, kudu, bushbuck and a variety of interesting plants and birds. Any lifer is a good one, but especially when it is arguably South Africa’s most beautiful bird - a male Narina Trogon (Apaloderma narina). Although I have seen several species of Trogon in South America, this was the first time I had seen southern Africa’s only representative.
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| The Lion's Head - one of the many rock features that catch the imagination down the Baviaanskloof |
Wow, fantastic pic of the trogon well done! I saw my first one in September at the Little Stone Cottage but I didn't get nearly such a great pic. They are fantastic.
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