KZN

The schools get 3 weeks Easter break. We worked the 1st week finishing registering books for the “wealthier” primary school's library and preparing some lesson plans for the 2^nd term (when we plan to get directly into HIV and STIs, and we'd like to also do some nutrition – hate to be the elderly white couple always talking about sex.). During the 2^nd week we went to Kwazulu-Natal, the South African province south of Swaziland. We hired a car and a driver to meet us at the main road near our site and drive us to the border, where the driver took public transportation back to his home and we headed to a terrific hilly wooded game preserve, the ancient hunting land of the Zulu kings. Driving on the other side of the road and shifting with her left hand were challenging for Katherine, but we are happy to report no mishaps!

We saw wild animals

birds (brown headed kingfisher – you should see the woodland, pied, malachite, and giant kingfishers – this guy is drab compared to any of them, but he was close and willing to pose)

and lovely country.

Then on to a World Heritage Site, St. Lucia Estuary, on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Through a guide we'd liked in our Kruger trip in February we'd located a terrific young birding guide for St Lucia, who met us at 4:30 a.m. at the backpackers hostel where we stayed

and walked our legs off searching for rare, and some not so rare but we had not seen them yet, birds of the area. This was the only rainy day, but we kept going till 2:30 – a long day, but some great birds.

The yellow-billed horn-bill was the smart-ass bird in The Lion King; every Swazi under 40 knows that movie:

We also saw trumpeter and crowned hornbills. My top prize goes to the Livingston Turaco, a green bird with a nice white and green crest – pretty good when perched but not so special, until he flies, when his whole under-side glows bright red, like a church window in the afternoon sun. Just fabulous.

And finally we stopped at uMkhuze, another game reserve,

with a guided walk through the giant fig tree forest

and “hides” where the birds can be seen and animals come down to drink.

(blue wildebeest)

This is all on my little pocket camera.

In booking this trip I had assumed Swazi cost structure, where US $35 per night buys you the best guest house with a veranda with a view. Doesn't go quite so far in SA; no place we stayed had “en-suite” facilities. At our last stop that nocturnal foray tested my spirit for adventure:

As I walked from our hut to the communal toilet at 2 a.m. I heard grunting and growling in the shadows. The next morning we saw hoof marks, and then large paw prints in the sand by our hut. I figured out later, from similar sounds I heard in daylight, that I'd heard an alpha male impala talking to his harem. Although impala are not known to be carnivorous, at 2 a.m. it was harder to be so sure.

More than 50 new birds on this trip.