A Safari Guide’s Diary – Going Birding in the Parfuri Region, December 2009
In December I had a short break from safaris and had arranged to go on a birding course in the far north of Kruger. I had three objectives for that week– 1) to learn more about birds plus see some of the unique species of the area; 2) to have a holiday in Kruger Park which involved a lot of walking; and 3) to have that holiday in the Parfuri / Makuleke region which is relatively inaccessible to the general public. So on the 8th December I travelled to the far north of Kruger, the Parfuri region, to a training camp located on the southern banks of the “great, green, greasy” Limpopo River for a wonderful week of birding. I saw many new (for me anyway!) birds and learnt a huge amount more about their calls and habits. There were 15 of us on the course with 2 instructor guides and we walked for 3-4 hours every morning while it was still relatively cool and drove every afternoon when it was generally too hot to walk.
In the north of Kruger there had been just enough rain to get the grass growing and the flowers blooming and this is one of my favourite months in Kruger – everything is wonderfully green but the grass is still only a few inches high and the bush looks positively park-like. The animals have already scattered far and wide as they don’t need to be close to the waterholes anymore, but the insects, birds and reptiles are everywhere, and of course all the babies – delicate, fragile little impala lambs teetering between curiosity and alarm, tiny warthoglets, their legs a blur, trotting behind their mothers, fluffy “rocking horse” zebra foals, bandy-legged lion cubs panting in the heat showing their spiky incisors.
The Parfuri area itself is a spectacular change from southern Kruger. The underlying geology is quite different and as a result one has stunning Mopani forests on the ridges, ghostly green fever tree forests of the Limpopo river flood plains and the lala palm thickets rattling in the breezes that blow across the river plains. Scattered over the stony ridges and inland plains are stately Baobabs now fully clothed in their summer green and glowing in the dark of the night with their beautiful creamy white flowers.
Tags: Add new tag, Kruger, kruger africa. kruger safari, kruger park, kruger park safari, park kruger
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