SEE BELOW REPORTS OF PAST CAMPS.

Makuleke, Kruger National Park. 29 September to 02 October 2022.   When an email was received in November 2021 inviting bird clubs to take advantage of a special offer to spend 3 nights at the EcoTraining camp in the Makuleke Concession I immediately booked the second last week-end in the list of dates made available. Jumping in head first without a life jacket, let alone a raft, is a risk that comes with a whole host of anxieties, the main one being would I be able to get 19 other people to join me on what sounded like a wonderful … Continued

Tankwa Karoo 08 - 12 August 2018 Gillian Barnes The Tankwa Karoo National Park lies about 70 km due west of Sutherland near the border of the Northern Cape and Western Cape, in one of the most arid regions of South Africa, with areas receiving less than 100 mm of average annual precipitation. It is a biodiversity hotspot. The vegetation in the park falls within the Succulent Karoo biome and has been described as very sparse shrub land and dwarf shrub land. Several unique succulent genera occur there. The park is home to about 190 species of birds. The first week of August was … Continued

Breede River, Port Beaufort 25 - 27 May 2018 Mel Tripp Was the fishing better than the birding? Members who attended the camp, with a bent for fishing may have wondered, given the tales of days gone by when “White Steenbras as big as men” were reportedly caught in this famous fishing estuary. The surrounding dry agricultural areas resembling semi-desert from the drought, combined with heavy lingering mists did not make for ideal birding conditions. But, on the Friday, travelling down, the drought broke… well we experienced a fair amount of rain. The shorter, more direct, gravel R324 road turned into … Continued

Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve 22 - 25 September 2017 Priscilla Beeton Our third Family Camp, held at Grootvadersbosch on the long weekend of 22 – 25 September 2017, proved to be a most enjoyable experience – for the children, their parents and those Cape Bird Club members running the programme. There were 34 participants – 32 in 8 cottages and one couple at the campsite. The ages of the 14 children ranged from 7 to 16 years. The aim of these camps is to gather together younger families with children and to give them a taste of birding and Cape Bird Club activities. … Continued

A Shoebill Adventure Gillian Barnes For many years I have wanted to see a shoebill so when the club arranged the annual international tour to Uganda I signed up immediately. After a fairly long flight from Cape Town to Entebbe via Addis Ababa we arrived at 3.30 in the morning and booked into the hotel situated near a botanical garden and the northern shore of Lake Victoria. Day break meant the opportunity to go out and discover new birds and so a few of us walked the short distance to the garden and spent a few hours before we had … Continued

Rhodene Farm Camp This spring camp was a huge success. The drive to the farm was through beautiful spring countryside.  The fruit trees, softly pink-tinged with the emerging blossoms, the purple hills surrounding the farm and the sudden patches of daisies that we came across would all on their own have made the trip worthwhile, even if there were no birds.  But birds a-plenty there were, with our experienced guide, Brian Vanderwalt showing us  more than 90 species over the weekend.  On the Saturday we birded on the Rhodene Farm property, along route  R355, via Karooport into the Tanqua Karoo … Continued

Grootvadersbosch Camp Priscilla Beeton The cottages , brand new  and, in fact,  only officially opened two days before our arrival, are very comfortable and spacious.  This is great new facility for those who prefer to stay in cottages.  The only downside was that Cape Nature has not yet provided a suitable gathering place for large groups like ours (41 campers) to meet together in the evenings.  John Magner and Peter Nupen were wonderful leaders, managing the large group with aplomb, by splitting us into smaller groups.  Birding in the forest itself was hard – but just the walking made it … Continued

BOTTERKLOOF CAMP 29th October - 1st November 2016  Kay Foskett and Fazlyn Fester Saturday Thirty-three (33) bird watchers congregated at Botterkloof Resort in Stilbaai for a memorable 3 day camp. The self-catering accommodation was situated in comfy leafy grounds which had several ponds and lots of trees in which to do some warm up birding before camp proper began. A Greater Honeyguide flew in and out of the trees. The Knysna Woodpecker was known to habituate in the camp and several of us were lucky enough to spot a pair of them on the first evening, along with an Olive Woodpecker which gave a … Continued

Vrolijkheid Nature Reserve 23 - 25 September 2016 Priscilla Beeton This year we ‘camped’ at Vrolijkheid Nature Reserve. We stayed in 3 of the very pleasant cottages 8-bedded cottages and that could hardly be called camping! Two of the cottages even had Jacuzzis – although the downside of that was the noisy pump! The children, though, did not see that as a problem. 23 people attended the camp, of whom 12 were children. The rest were moms and dads, and even a granny, plus some other adults involved somehow in camp activities. Everyone arrived by 18:30 and the camp started off with … Continued

UILENVLEI WEEKEND CAMP 24 - 27 September 2015 - John Magner Setting Out This venue was a bit of a surprise as the original venue was to have been Swellendam Municipal camp site, but they had failed to record our booking and a last minute scramble by our Chair lady Priscilla Beeton produced this venue, and a gem it turned out to be! Swellendam Municipality did us a favour after all! Thursday the 24th was a public holiday (National Braai Day), and people arrived at a trickle all day, enjoying the drive through Blue Crane country from Cape Town. The … Continued