Yes, there is a lot of car theft, muggings etc. including along the stretch
between Pretoria and Kruger and between Jo-burg and Kruger, and I would never
intentionally drive after dark. I felt quite safe in the Park - I figured
anyone wanting to mug someone wouldn’t choose somewhere he had to walk through
country inhabited by lions and elephants to do so. I felt slightly nervous at
first driving myself alone out of the little airport towards Hazyview but soon
relaxed a lot more than I did when driving in Jo’burg and Pretoria (I still
made sure all doors and windows were locked at all times as a precaution).
Driving just for the day from Pretoria would really seem a pity. Even after
two and a half weeks in Kruger on our first visit I didn’t want to leave, still
seeing new species every day and enjoying repeat sightings of others.
Cheers
Ronda
> On 16 Jan 2018, at 7:52 am, Martin Butterfield <> wrote:
>
> A friend with relatives in RSA, who has visited the country many times, has
> commented that due to the security situation in South Africa he only goes
> birding in the National Parks. I would certainly get good local advice about
> where it is safe to go and where not.
>
> On our one birding trip to RSA we were staying in Pretoria and drove to
> Kruger in an easy day. After our time there, we misjudged our departure time
> and it was getting dark by the time we got back to Pretoria: a very nervous
> end to the drive.
>
> Martin Butterfield
> http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/ <http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/>
> On 16 January 2018 at 08:43, Ronda Green <
> <>> wrote:
> Hi Martin
>
> I’ve been three times to Kruger and found it marvellous for birding. It would
> be best to spend at least a week. I’ve always spent more than that, and we’ve
> driven ourselves from rest camp to rest camp from the extreme south to the
> extreme north (varied habitats, very varied birdlife: the further north you
> go, the less the crowds).
>
> In most of the Park you can’t leave the car, but you can still see an amazing
> variety of birds from your vehicle, often very close to it, especially if you
> leave the rest camp straight after dawn each morning, but there are plenty of
> birds visible throughout the day as well. Just parking near a waterhole or
> river for an hour or so usually produces many sightings.
>
> There are also many places where you can leave the vehicle and walk around -
> e.g. at all the rest camps (you can enter the ones you’re not staying at, for
> lunch etc. or general wandering), seeing birds within the camps and outside,
> through the fence, also a number of picnic grounds and occasional long
> bridges whee you can park in the middle, as you can see any leopard or
> buffalos entering the bridge long before it reaches you, also some wonderful
> hides, with at least one (near Mopane) where you can spend the whole night.
> You can also go on a ranger-led walk into the park (accompanied by two
> rangers with rifles, just in case).
>
> You can’t drive yourself before dawn or after dusk (heavy fines) but the
> rangers lead some good tours, where you may see owls etc.
>
> In most rest camps there are noticeboards where people record their sightings
> for the day. Most are about the big mammals, but sometimes rare birds like
> kori bustard, or various other big ones like ostriches, goliath herons,
> storks or eagles get mentioned. There are also notices asking people to
> report online if they see various species of the rarer birds.
>
> Although I don’t mention most of the birds seen on my most recent visit
> (concentrated more on mammals here), you may like to scroll through my blog
> on http://araucariaecotours.com/wordpress/?cat=9
> <http://araucariaecotours.com/wordpress/?cat=9>
> <http://araucariaecotours.com/wordpress/?cat=9
> <http://araucariaecotours.com/wordpress/?cat=9>> to get some feel of
> exploring Kruger. I was there alone that time - gave myself a wonderful week
> and a half there before a conference I was attending in SA.
>
> Btw, the first two times I visited (once with son and once with husband) we
> picked up our hire car from Johannesburg and drove from there, but it’s a
> long drive, mostly past bare paddocks, and driving back into Jo’burg is a bit
> of a nightmare. Last time I flew to Neilspruit and hired a car from there -
> I drove to Hazyview where I spent a couple of nights, and then into KP. Much
> more relaxing. There’s apparently an airport
> Neilspruit Kruger, right in the Park, but I don’t know if you can hire a
> vehicle there. Oh …and don’t put your entire trust in Google Maps. When I
> had a long drive to a second conference, it led me astray and I found myself
> driving in the dark on little country roads, thoroughly lost!
>
> Finally, purchase a Wild Card (more economical that way) and book several
> months in advance - some of the rest camp accommodation gets booked out
> months ahead.
>
> Cheers
>
> Ronda
>
>
>
> > On 16 Jan 2018, at 3:00 am,
> > <> wrote:
> >
> > Send Birding-Aus mailing list submissions to
> > <>
> >
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> > http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
> > <http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org>
> > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> >
> > <>
> >
> > You can reach the person managing the list at
> >
> > <>
> >
> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> > than "Re: Contents of Birding-Aus digest..."
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> >
> > 1. White-throated Needletails at Ryde, Sydney (Cathy Goswell)
> > 2. Fork-tailed Swifts in BIG numbers yesterday at Lower
> > Daintree, FNQ (martin cachard)
> > 3. Re: White-throated Needletails at Ryde, Sydney (and Canada
> > Bay) (Philip Griffin)
> > 4. Rufous Scrub-bird (Alan Gillanders)
> > 5. Aleutian Terns Old Bar 15/01 (Alan Gillanders)
> > 6. Lost scope (Joan Wharton))
> > 7. Lost a Scope (Joan Wharton))
> > 8. 2017 Plains-wanderer report
> > <>)
> > 9. RFI South Africa (Martin Woodward)
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2018 22:37:48 +1100
> > From: Cathy Goswell < <>>
> > To: <>
> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] White-throated Needletails at Ryde, Sydney
> > Message-ID: <
> > <>>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
> >
> > On Thursday, 11 January at 8:30am I saw approximately 30 White-throated
> > Needletails circling around Burrows Park (-33.814229, 151.114767) in
> > Ryde in the heart of the city slowly heading south towards Parramatta
> > River. There could have been more, it wasn't possible to tell if the
> > same birds were circling around or there were more groups moving
> > through. I couldn't make out any Fork-tailed Swifts in the flock. The
> > weather was fine but unsettled.
> >
> >
> > Cathy
> >
> > --
> > abc
> >
> >
> > ---
> > This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
> > http://www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2018 21:07:31 +0000
> > From: martin cachard < <>>
> > To: " <>"
> > < <>>, "mike
> > tarburton (SWIFT records)" <
> > <>>
> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Fork-tailed Swifts in BIG numbers yesterday at
> > Lower Daintree, FNQ
> > Message-ID:
> >
> > <
> >
> > <>>
> >
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > hello all,
> >
> >
> > FINALLY some big numbers of Fork-tailed Swifts have turned up on the
> > Cairns-Port Douglas-Daintree lowlands.
> >
> >
> > as far as I am aware, these are the first seen near the coast up here since
> > early Dec when Marie Tarrant saw a few around Cairns.
> >
> >
> > yesterday's birds were MY first for the season, and their arrival coincided
> > with the first day of gentle northerly influence in the weather here for 2
> > weeks. it was a clear, VERY hot, & sunny day.
> >
> >
> > from our office on the Daintree River near the car ferry crossing at around
> > mid-morning yesterday, I saw more than just a few hundred Fork-taileds (+/-
> > 1000) wheeling around at a height of about 40-100mtrs above ground. with
> > them were tens of Aust Swiflets too.
> >
> >
> > Cairns resident and close friend of mine, Adam Arnold, spent the day with
> > me and these were his first for the season as well. he and I bumped into my
> > dear friend Del Richards last eve, and he saw what were probably the same
> > birds not long after at Newell Beach. this was Del's first record this
> > season for Forkies on the lowlands around here too.
> >
> >
> > so it seems that these birds were quite likely to have been the first big
> > influx of Forkies up here...
> >
> >
> > cheers,
> >
> > martin cachard
> >
> >
> > solar whisper wildlife cruises,
> >
> > Daintree River
> >
> >
> > & trinity beach, cairns
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2018 14:13:45 +1000
> > From: Philip Griffin <
> > <>>
> > To: birding-aus <
> > <>>
> > Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] White-throated Needletails at Ryde, Sydney
> > (and Canada Bay)
> > Message-ID:
> > <CAPxD7_+DkP0pcXNSOM=
> > <>>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
> >
> > Around the time (probably 0820hr) and on the same day (Thursday, 11th
> > January), that Cathy was seeing her needletails in Ryde, I was driving
> > through the Sydney suburb of Canada Bay with around 40 needletails swirling
> > around on either side of the road and overhead.
> >
> > Always good to see them!
> >
> > Philip Griffin
> >
> > *To*: " <>
> > <m("birding-aus.org","birding-aus");">https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=
> >
> > <m("birding-aus.org","birding-aus");">https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=>>"
> > < <>
> > <m("birding-aus.org","birding-aus");">https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=
> >
> > <m("birding-aus.org","birding-aus");">https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=>>
> >>
> > *Subject*: White-throated Needletails at Ryde, Sydney
> > *From*: Cathy Goswell < <>
> > <m("bigpond.com","cathycrg");">https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=
> > <m("bigpond.com","cathycrg");">https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=>>>
> > *Date*: Sun, 14 Jan 2018 11:37:48 +0000
> >
> > On Thursday, 11 January at 8:30am I saw approximately 30 White-throated
> > Needletails circling around Burrows Park (-33.814229, 151.114767) in
> > Ryde in the heart of the city slowly heading south towards Parramatta
> > River. There could have been more, it wasn't possible to tell if the
> > same birds were circling around or there were more groups moving
> > through. I couldn't make out any Fork-tailed Swifts in the flock. The
> > weather was fine but unsettled.
> >
> >
> > Cathy
> >
> > --
> > abc
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 4
> > Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2018 14:31:44 +1000
> > From: Alan Gillanders <
> > <>>
> > To: <>
> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Rufous Scrub-bird
> > Message-ID:
> > <
> > <>>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
> >
> > Greetings,
> > Can anyone provide me with recent information on the Rufous Scrub-bird
> > and Barrington Tops?
> >
> > TIA,
> > Alan
> >
> > --
> > Alan's Wildlife Tours
> > 2 Mather Road
> > Yungaburra 4884
> >
> > Phone 07 4095 3784
> > Mobile 0408 953 786
> > http://www.alanswildlifetours.com.au <http://www.alanswildlifetours.com.au/>
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 5
> > Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2018 14:34:44 +1000
> > From: Alan Gillanders <
> > <>>
> > To: <>
> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Aleutian Terns Old Bar 15/01
> > Message-ID:
> > <
> > <>>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
> >
> > Greetings,
> > This morning one could have driven to the terns but the tide was a bit
> > high for me. I walked. There were five Aleutians on bank inland of the
> > fenced area and a little south. Opposite the end of the fence there were
> > eight more. When they all took off at7 am, crossing the bar out to sea,
> > they were joined by other terns at least some of which were Commons. I
> > could not see that any of the new terns were Aleutian but could not rule
> > that out. My on ground count was 13 Aleutian Terns.
> >
> > Most of the Common Terns returned to the inlet and fished with pelicans,
> > a pied Cormorant and one human in a deeper gutter. Two Aleutians
> > returned and sat on the sandbar slightly north of the end of the beach
> > and were still there when I left in the pouring rain and 15*C.
> >
> > When is it safe to visit southern Australia!? 34*C when I left Brisbane,
> > 21*C when I arrived in Taree and 15*C, wet and windy this morning.
> > Fortunately the wind was not as strong as yesterday but still not pleasant.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Alan
> >
> > --
> > Alan's Wildlife Tours
> > 2 Mather Road
> > Yungaburra 4884
> >
> > Phone 07 4095 3784
> > Mobile 0408 953 786
> > http://www.alanswildlifetours.com.au <http://www.alanswildlifetours.com.au/>
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 6
> > Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2018 15:52:23 +1100
> > From: "Joan Wharton)" < <>>
> > To: " <>"
> > < <>>
> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Lost scope
> > Message-ID: <
> > <>>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> >
> > Hello
> > A Townsville birder, Ivor Preston, accidentally left his Scope on Morris
> > Rd, Giru, Nth Qld recently and when he went back for it the same day it was
> > gone. Just wondering if anyone going along that road may have picked it
> > up? He would love to get it back.
> > Many thanks, Joan Wharton
> >
> > Sent from my iPad
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 7
> > Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2018 16:01:15 +1100
> > From: "Joan Wharton)" < <>>
> > To: <>
> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Lost a Scope
> > Message-ID: <
> > <>>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> >
> > Hello
> >
> > These are the details of Ivor's lost scope.
> > I lost my scope on Morris Ck Road, Giru. It was a VORTEX Razor HD 11-33x50
> > on an aluminium tripod. Forgot to put it back in the car and when I
> > returned it was gone. I tell you this in case someone contacts you about
> > finding it.
> >
> > Thanks, Joan Wharton
> >
> > Sent from my iPad
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 8
> > Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2018 03:11:45 -0500
> > From: <>
> > To: <>
> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] 2017 Plains-wanderer report
> > Message-ID:
> >
> > <
> > <>>
> >
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed; DelSp=Yes
> >
> > Hello birders
> >
> > For those interested in how plains-wanderers fared in 2017 on the Hay
> > Plain, our annual plains-wanderer report can be found at
> > http://www.philipmaher.com/plains-wandererreportmainpage.html
> > <http://www.philipmaher.com/plains-wandererreportmainpage.html>
> >
> > All the best
> >
> > Philip Maher
> > Deniliquin, NSW.
> >
> > Australian Ornithological Services P/L
> > P.O. Box 385
> > South Yarra 3141
> > Victoria
> > Australia
> > Telephone: 0417310200
> > _http://www.philipmaher.com_ <http://www.philipmaher.com_/>
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 9
> > Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2018 20:44:56 +1100
> > From: "Martin Woodward" <
> > <>>
> > To: < <>>
> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] RFI South Africa
> > Message-ID: <
> > <http://impulse.net.au/>>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >
> > Hi Everyone,
> >
> >
> >
> > My wife and I are travelling to South Africa at the end of June this year
> > for the first time.
> >
> > I'd appreciate any advice on birding hotspots, guides and accommodation for
> > east and southern parts of South Africa.
> >
> > In particular, within Kruger NP, Pretoria and the Garden Coast from Capetown
> > and Port Elizabeth.
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> >
> >
> > Martin Woodward
> >
> > 0408 805 179
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Subject: Digest Footer
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Birding-Aus mailing list
> > <>
> > To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
> > http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
> > <http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org>
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > End of Birding-Aus Digest, Vol 51, Issue 15
> > *******************************************
>
> Ronda Green, PhD
> <>
>
> Proprietor, Araucaria Ecotours
> http://www.learnaboutwildlife.com <http://www.learnaboutwildlife.com/>
> <http://www.learnaboutwildlife.com/ <http://www.learnaboutwildlife.com/>>
>
> Chair, Wildlife Tourism Australia
> http://www.wildlifetourism.org.au <http://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/>
> <http://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/ <http://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/>>
>
> Chair, Scenic Rim Wildlife
> http://scenicrim.wildlife.org.au <http://scenicrim.wildlife.org.au/>
> <http://scenicrim.wildlife.org.au/ <http://scenicrim.wildlife.org.au/>>
>
> Adjunct Researcher, Griffith University
>
>
>
>
>
>
> <HR>
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> </HR>
Ronda Green, PhD
Proprietor, Araucaria Ecotours
http://www.learnaboutwildlife.com <http://www.learnaboutwildlife.com/>
Chair, Wildlife Tourism Australia
http://www.wildlifetourism.org.au <http://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/>
Chair, Scenic Rim Wildlife
http://scenicrim.wildlife.org.au <http://scenicrim.wildlife.org.au/>
Adjunct Researcher, Griffith University
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