Yet another new, and fairly unlikely bird has turned up at the Cavern. The Terrestrial Bulbul is confined to damp evergreen forests, being common at the coast, but increasingly rare inland. Only once or twice has it ever been seen in Berg forests. It is difficult to see anyway, being plain dull brown except for […]
News Update – October 2013 Hi All, Daphne and I have just spent three weeks at the Cavern, primarily to spend time visiting the twelve crèche/pre-schools that form the Khanyisela Project. Our objective was to assess each school’s progress and their needs. On the most part we are very pleased with the progress and now
The weather was about as bad as it could get without closing the show down altogether. Fierce hot winds all Saturday, freezing cold and heavy cloud on Sunday. But the birds always do something. It’s Spring, as the weather suggested, and the tropical migrants have arrived. Not full voice yet, but the Red-chested and Black
New birds turn up at the Cavern all the time. Often they are uncommon species that we have not noticed before, but occasionally something very out of its normal haunts arrives. Imagine our amazement when perched on a chimney on the hotel roof was a Red-billed Oxpecker. Just to make sure it was noticed it
Since a fresh leopard kill was found in the Cavern grounds a couple of years ago trip cameras have been set up at strategic spots. The idea is to found out more about “our” leopard. But an unexpected bonus is that all sorts of other nocturnal animals have been photographed too. The most recent has
GRADE: D TIME: 4 hours. DISTANCE: 8 km. TERRAIN: Undulating path with moderate slopes and gradients. The descent to the Silent Woman is steep but not difficult. Follow the path from behind Room 203 (at the diesel pump) and bear left. Go up three metres and into the Fern Forest. Follow this path through the
The May birding weekend produced 77 birds. Not bad considering that all the summer migrants have departed. Glorious weather helped, but the main attraction at this time of year is the burst of aloe flowers. All the specialised nectar feeders in the area spent all day buzzing among the flowers, chasing each other around, and
It’s aloe time again at the Cavern, what a wonderful time to be here. The garden is alive with the fiery orange spires, and the sunbirds and their ilk cannot resist. Gurney’s Sugarbird is a special visitor; there are only two sugarbirds in the whole world and we have them both in South Africa. Gurney’s
GRADE: D TIME: 3 hours. DISTANCE: 7 km. TERRAIN: Steep climb to the top of rustlers gap. Steep descent on the return trip. Starting from the front lawn, proceed down the driveway. Before the petrol pump, turn left behind the building and follow the path into the Fern Forest. After the bridge keep left. Follow
with Gillian Condy and Elsa Pooley The Cavern, Drakensberg Mountains, Natal 21-27 October 2012 By Wendy Burchell Helen Meyer and I booked very early for our course in the ‘berg and looked forward to it for months. It fulfilled all our expectations and more! We flew to Lanseria, suitcases groaning with art materials, a few
