We arrived at Durban well before dawn. Having seen that our arrival time was due to be six o’clock, I had tried to establish when we would get off, so we could get an early start, but had been told that it would not be before seven, as that was when the immigration staff in the port would start work. There were going to be manual passport checks as well, so I was told that it might be nine before independent travellers could get off; ship’s excursions always go first.
The night before it was announced that there would be a tender-style ticket system for independent travellers wishing to get off, as they were apparently anticipating long queues if there were passport checks, although the ship had been asking for more immigration staff to be on duty to avoid this.
After a quick look on the balcony and seeing a Grey-headed Gull (not that common in these parts, apparently) and some Kelp Gulls, I went to see if the queue had started for the tickets. Only a few people were waiting but I decided to stay, although I was next to one of the moaniest people on the entire ship, who spent her entire time telling anyone within listening distance how it could all be done differently because, obviously, she knew better that the ship’s crew.
At seven, we got the usual “welcome to port x” PA announcement, but this was followed by the longest set of warnings and instructions that we have ever heard before leaving the ship. Dire warnings about places to avoid, including the pronouncement that anyone who turned left out of the cruise terminal and walked along that street would be immediately picked up by the police, returned to the ship and have all shore leave terminated. “Durban,” we were told, when the message got a little less ominous, “is a vibrant and colourful city …”. Clearly, this is the cruise ship euphemism for “potentially very dangerous”.
Some people on board seriously reconsidered going ashore after this warning, although most of those who did go ashore did not regret it and had a great time, although they avoided the city centre, as warned. The ship had an excursion to the market, once one of the standard tourist trips, but they cancelled it. Two elderly passengers took the public bus there and immediately felt uncomfortable although fortunately for them a Good Samaritan found them and put them on a taxi back to the ship.
People who knew Durban from the past were quite shocked at how the city centre had changed and become a no go zone. But, if you went to the right places, like we did, it was perfectly safe. Every city in the world has areas to avoid, it just seems that Durban has more than most.
After the announcement, the first tickets were handed out, and we were told that the first 30 could go ashore immediately. As it was, immigration was quick and efficient and we were through in no time.
Our guide for the day was ready and waiting. I had warned we had been told we might not be off until nine or later, but he was already there as we came off at half seven. His name was Junior and I had found him via Kingdom Birding.
Our first destination was a woodland area named Ombogavango at Amamzintoti to the south of Durban. It was a short drive away along the main road. At the first traffic lights, there was a man in a wheelchair with a begging bowl in the middle of the road. A House Crow was seen on the outskirts, apparently a fairly new arrival here, and our only Spur-winged Goose of the day flew over.
We had a little detour on our way there as I suspect our guide does not go there that often, but once we got there it was a very good choice of site. To get into the reserve meant going through a manned gate as the entrance to the reserve was in some sort of restricted area. A small troop of Vervet Monkeys were looking for bins to raid just outside the entrance.
There was lots of bird activity, with Junior advising us to check the more open areas first, as birds would be feeding in the sun before the heat of the day forced them into the shade. From the car park we round to the other side of the lake to get better light on the birds feeding in the trees there, although, ironically, most of them were all-black – Southern Black-flycatchers and Fork-tailed Drongos, although there were also a few Square-tailed Drongos and also some Cape White-eyes (which were, obviously, not all black).
While we were watching, a Malachite Kingfisher flew in and landed in vegetation beside the pond, while Bronze Mannikins and Red-backed Mannikins were feeding in the reeds, while Southern Masked Weavers and Eastern Golden Weavers were visiting nests hanging over the water. There were Reed Cormorants on the water, and Little Grebes and Moorhens swimming around.
Next, we walked back along the access road, which had open areas where the sun could get in. Tambourine Doves were calling, some in the open. A few Red-capped Robin-chats were skulking in the undergrowth. A couple of African Paradise Flycatchers were flying around and there were several Black-bellied Starlings. A pair of Violet-backed Starlings, a male Chinspot Batis, two Black-backed Puffbacks and a Golden-backed Woodpecker were also in this area. As we returned we took a detour to a small stream where there were some African Pied Wagtails, while a Black-throated Wattle-eye passed through.
The reserve is centred on a small dammed river and there was even a hide overlooking the pool. There was almost nothing to be seen from it. The highlight was watching Junior cautiously open the door and peer inside: ” I always check for snakes.” There was none.
We returned to the car park for a snack and then went along the other side of the pond. A Brown-hooded Kingfisher was sitting above the path. Yellow-rumped Tinkerbirds had been calling constantly since we arrived but we finally saw one, visiting a nest-hole. A Yellow-bellied Greenbul and a Lesser Honeyguide were also seen.
We got to an area with a view across the marshy area in the centre of the woodland, dotted with big yellow flowers that looked a bit like yellow flag irises. Little Bee-eaters, Spectacled Weavers and White-eared Barbets were perched up on some of the bushes. A Burchell’s Coucal flew across the reeds.
Once we left we went to a nearby mall, which was as vast and cavernous as something from Hong Kong. We were looking for an ATM and were surprised to see queues at most of them but, as we could use any bank, we went to one without a queue. Despite the dire warnings on the ship but, possibly because we were with a local, there was nothing threatening about the mall, which was being used by all of the shades of the rainbow nation.
Our next destination was north of Durban, so we had a slightly longer drive. I chatted to Junior about sport. He was a big football fan, supporting the local Orlando Pirates and Chelsea. The big draw for Chelsea was former player Didier Drogba who is from Ivory Coast but, as I saw in the Gambia and Ethiopia, a high-profile African player is a source of pride for all Africans.
Cricket and rugby, South Africa’s other two big team sports, had not been played at his school, but there was still pride in the rugby achievements of the Springboks.
I also asked Junior how he got into birding and he told me that he used to go fishing with his Dad and that, basically, he got bored waiting and started looking at birds instead.
Mhlanga, our destination, was very clearly a seaside resort town, with lots of smart new apartments. We were headed for Mhlanga Lagoon, which I thought was some way north of the town, but we parked on a street beside some apartments and walked down to the promenade. A Familiar Chat was perched on top of a concrete cliff, also known as a building.
The promenade went north and eventually gave way to a wooden boardwalk through some low coastal woodland. A Vervet Monkey was at the first bin, drinking melted strawberry ice cream. Some more were a little further on, being driven away from a small cafe.
We crossed a small wetland on a boardwalk, with a noticeboard that informed us that this was one just a handful of sites for Pickersgill’s Reed Frog, a KwaZulu Natal endemic.
The woodland seemed dead, and I think I would have wandered through it on my own and complained that there were no birds, But Junior was picking up the tiniest of sounds or movements. There were several Red-capped Robin-chats, including one posing nicely in shafts of sunlight through the branches. Two Collared Sunbirds eventually showed themselves. Junior pointed silently at a dull brown bird creeping past us at ground level – a Terrestrial Bulbul, normally a very secretive bird. Two Green-backed Camaropteras also crossed the path.
One of the stars of the forest wasn’t a bird, but a tiny antelope – diminutive Cape Blue Duikers feeding on the forest floor, nervous and tentative, but happy to continue feeding as long as we gave no sudden movements.
The best bird was a Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher which gave nice close views, although in very difficult light conditions.
We came to another stretch of boardwalk to take us back to the seaward side of the central wetland – only to find that it was closed for refurbishment. Junior was disappointed – and so was I as I realised that this boardwalk would take us to the viewing platforms where flufftails would have been a strong possibility. There was nothing wrong with the boardwalk, and you could see that Junior was thinking exactly the same thing, but there were other people there and it would not set a good example …
So we retraced our tracks, seeing a juvenile Olive Sunbird begging for food in one of the trees. We spent a little longer in the wetland – Junior saw a Cisticola but I couldn’t get on it, just seeing a Tawny-flanked Prinia. Then I was sidetracked by a Sombre Greenbul in the trees while Junior found an African Yellow Warbler, which I saw the back end of as it flew off.
Passing the cafe in the woods again I realised what the bird and ‘deer’ painted on the side were.
We returned to the car and assessed how much time we had left. A helicopter passed over, carrying a huge banner advertising a political party. There is an election in South Africa at the end of May, but electioneering is in full swing and every lamp post has a poster on it already. A family were passing us and the young son asked why the helicopter was carrying the flag. “What is it?” he asked. “A waste of money,” his father replied.
Junior suggested we visit Mgeni River Mouth as it was directly on our route back into town. The car park at Mgeni was full – it was Good Friday after all – and there were plenty of people walking along the coast. A look at the mouth of the river produced very little apart from two Blacksmith Lapwings, but there were some classic car park habitat birds – the first of a few Cape Wagtails and a couple of Pied Crows.
We walked upstream a little and could some waders roosting beside the next bridge upstream, so we got back in the car to get nearer. There were some White-throated Swallows at the bridge and two Wire-tailed Swallows, along with lots of Little Swifts, while a single White-rumped Swift and a few African Palm Swifts also flew over.
Three Water Thick-knees were sat on a small islet beside the bridge. The wader roost was mainly Blacksmith Lapwings, but there was a single Common Ringed Plover and some Little Egrets and Grey Herons.
Then, Junior thought he saw a Eurasian Oystercatcher near the wader roost. The telescope was packed up and we frog-marched to a closer vantage point, which meant walking across a golf course. Like everywhere else that we went in Durban, no-one, not even the golfers, took any notice of a black African and two Europeans wandering around with binoculars.
If there was a Eurasian Oystercatcher, there was no sign of it when we got there, but we did see a few new birds for the day: a Sacred Ibis flushed off the golf course, a Pied Kingfisher flying along the river and a Black-collared Barbet flushed from one of the riverside trees.
As we walked back to the car, two African Fish Eagles soared over, above a whirling mass of 200 or more Little Swifts and beneath an increasingly ominous grey sky. “It’s going to rain,” I said eying the circling swifts, and a few spots of rain began to fall.
The rain did not set in immediately, however. We drove back to the cruise terminal and it was still dry.
We went for afternoon tea when we got onboard and immediately noticed that an ambulance and fire engine were on the road immediately outside the pedestrian entrance to the terminal. It turns out that two passengers had been hit by a reversing vehicle while trying to cross the road and they were eventually taken to hospital.
Our departure was not until after dark and was, I think, a little later than planned, possibly as we awaited news from the hospital.
When I Grow Up I Will Go There 