West Coast National Park, South Africa

We have just returned from a two week trip to Cape Town, South Africa. It is a trip that we have had planned and booked three times already, every trip being cancelled. Two due to varying covid lockdowns and then when we were free to travel I booked a three week trip only to find the KLM cancelled our flights ! I thought we  were destined never to go. Haven't had a holiday since our Alaska trip so thought we were due one so decided to just have two weeks around Cape Town, an easy relaxed birding and flower trip. I have hundreds of pics to show you so will post a day at a time. Would definately recommend this as an easy birding trip and wished we were still there !

Our first stop was West Coast National Park so we could just catch the tail end of the spring flowers in the Postberg Section,  an area that is known world-wide for it's spring flowers, only open during the flowering season and although the flowers were past their prime, it certainly still had the wow factor.

These are just a smittering of pics, plenty more to come !

One of our favourite birds, it certainly had the wow factor, Bokmakierie

Cape Bulbul

Cape Bunting

Cape Canary

Cape Spurfowl

Cape Wagtail

Cape Weaver

Egyptian Geese

Fiscal Shrike

Gemsbok.....lots of mammals in the West Coast National Park

Karoo Lark

Karoo Robin

Kelp Gull

Just about over for this year but this was a Monkshood Orchid

Ostrich with young

Spotted Eagle Owl - what a cracker and it was just sat there on the hillside, watching the world go by

African Black Oystercatcher

Sacred Ibis

Southern Grey Tit

Southern Masked Weaver

Spotted Prinia

Southern Double-collared Sunbird

A couple of snaps from the park, still with a carpet of flowers. Lots of birds to see including a distant black-crowned night heron above and a fiscal below. The flowers were simply spectacular.

White-throated Swallow, nesting in one of the bird hides.

Stunning flowers, a carpet of colour

We visited West Coast three times during our stay, each time calling into this bird hide. This small pool of water was a magnet for the birds. Would love this as our local patch ! Absolutely brilliant. 

Cape Mountain Zebras