Wing Beat: The ‘Mountain Kingdom' of Lesotho
By Fr. Tom Pincelli
After my success with the rare blue swallow as number 2,000 on my world list, I figured things just couldn’t get much better. I was proved wrong the following day.
A map of South Africa shows that its eastern portion actually surrounds two other countries as if they were islands in a vast sea: Swaziland to the north and Lesotho to the south. On day 13 of our tour we ventured into Lesotho.
The itinerary called for a trip to Sani Pass at more than 9,000 feet in the “Mountain Kingdom” of Lesotho. Our van was not able to traverse the steep, rocky track our local guides used two a 4x4 vehicles.
After we cleared passport control at the border we began seeing new birds: bush blackcap, greater double-collared sunbird, Cape weaver. As we ascended toward the pass the birds just kept coming: ground woodpecker (a truly odd bird), Gurney’s sugarbird, the amazing malachite sunbird (the male is extremely long-tailed and a brilliant, malachite green), Drakenberg siskin and yellow canary.
One species that was high on our list was the Drakenberg rockjumper and it didn’t take long for us to find one and then another and another and another. After awhile it seemed like they had taken over the mountain and I think we stopped for everyone of them as they are stunning birds.
Some eight miles up the “road” we reached the pass.
On the plateau the birding never let up. Our two guides knew the area intimately and it showed. grey tit, fairy flycatcher, Layard’s and Barratt’s warblers, wailing cisticola, karoo prinia and Cape bunting. In addition a whole bunch of new “chats: buff-streaked chat, sickle-wing chat and the wonderfully named familiar chat.
And then there were the pipits and larks, birds of the dry, rocky highlands and each tough to find and a challenge to identify. But with the expert help of all three guides we knocked off large-billed lark, mountain pipit and African rock pipit. These three were a real test of patience and endurance but, in the end it all paid off with marvelous looks at all three.
We had lunch at a “pull off” that sat across a valley from a sheer cliff. What was unique about the spot was that the cliff held the nest of a bearded vulture, Lammergeyer, and our pull off was the perfect location to set up scopes to get up close and personal with the adult on the nest. Later in the day we came across two birds on the wing but this first encounter was something special.
Not only were the birds something to write home about but we were privileged to make the acquaintance of a new mammal, the so-apply named ice rat and two new herpes, Drakenberg crag lizard and mountain lizard.
Lesotho is a poor country and everyday life for many is a harsh reality, but the people we met were kind and smiling and the land, although itself harsh, awesomely beautiful. And I will remember it for a lot more than just a place of Good Birding.
