Snorkelling is the plan today!

Armed with our goggles, snorkels and flippers we clambered into the Land Cruiser ready for Tommy to drive us down to Kosi Bay mouth estuary. It is possible to walk down, but after a long day snorkelling driving back up the hill is much nicer! when we got down to the water the tide was extremely high, obviously we had over-estimated quite how much time we would need to stop so Jason could take pictures of Cisticolas (only joking Jason, I know they were cormorants really…! )

The best part about getting down to the estuary when it is still high tide is that as the water recedes across the estuary mouth, islands of sand appear littered with the small sea-life that water birdsclass as delicacies. This brings water-birds flocking (pardon the pun) for an easy snack. The sand dunes were teeming with birds such as tern as we walked around the edges of the estuary mouth in search of crabs, snakes, birds, lizards and anything thing else that moved!

As quickly as the tide rises, it drops, so we didnt have to wait for long before we could wade across the estuary mouth to the reef.
At first glance the area of water containing the reef raises a few sceptical looks and raised eyebrows from all who have yet to experience it.

The best way to view the reef is to walk to the top and float down across the reef with the current, it is lazy snorkelling, no effort needed, the best kind of snorkelling!

Jason and Adam saw (to name a few – there are so many!);
- Terns
- Cormorants
- Black Mangrove seed pod
- Shoals and shoals of un-identified baby fish
- Pink Clawed fiddler crabs
- Ring Cowrie
- Ramshorn shell
- Coneshell
- Honeycomb moray eel
- Occelated snake eel
- Bandtail cardinal
- Ninestripe cardinal
- Striped grunter
- one spot snapper
- Bream
- Mussel cracker (juvenile)
- Big eye stumpnose (juvenile)
- small scale purse mouth
- old woman (juvenile)
- emperor angelfish (juvenile)
- double sash butterfly fish (juvenile)
- Boomerang trigger fish
- Spotted toby

And most importantly the lesser-spotted reef dwelling snorkel fish (losticus Jasonus).

After hours and hours of floating around in the estuary (it is surprisingly tiring, but well worth it) it was time to retreat back to Amangwane Kosi Bay for a braai (BBQ to us pommies) and bush TV (fire).

The mystery bird

The boys go over their pictures

But there is always one bird they can't agree on

In fact they were still arguing about the bird sightings well into the evening

Steak and boerewors (sausage), pap n’ sous (local maize meal and sauce – tasty), potato salad (Africa style), coleslaw, fresh bread and salad. Needless to say we all went to bed on exceptionally full stomachs as it was too good to leave any!

Amangwane at Kosi Bay is one of my favourite places, so imagine my joy when we were to go to Kosi Bay for three nights looking for more birds to tick off of Jason and Adams substantial birdlist!

Part of the beauty of Kosi Bay is that it is not too far from <a href=”www.umkhumbilodge.co.za”>Hluhluwe</a> where Umkhumbi Lodge is based. This means that you do not have to set out at stupid o’clock in the morning to reach your destination. Taking advantage of this the two boys went for a mornings drive around False Bay where despite the unusual wind (thought to be because of cyclone Funso) they still managed to get some sighting;

- dabchick
- white breasted cormorant
- greater flamingo
- african white backed-vulture
- woolynecked stork
- little egret
- hadeda ibis
- white headed vulture
- black winged stilt
water dikkop
swift (greater crested) tern
brown-hooded kingfisher

Then it was time to drive to kosi bay, this provided even more sightings to tick off the list. On the way we spotted;

- pied kingfisher
- yellow billed kite
- palm nut vulture
- brimstone canary

And of course countless Cisticola, sunbirds, swallows (all of which were flying too quickly across the road and into thethick bush for us to ID whilst in a car (this is despite Jasons well practiced braking skills…).

We arrived at Kosi Bay early enough to deposit our gear in our en-suite reed chalets and have a drink or two before heading to the viewpoint to see what other creatures we could find (of both the winged and wingless varieties.)

Home sweet home

The boys relax and chat at the viewpoint

Here you go Jason, the moths you wanted a picture of

The viewpoint is spectacular, with beautiful sunsets and even more magnificent sunrises. And we arrive there – after an interpretive walk with Tommy informing us about the different plants and trees and identifying the countless tracks in the sand that we point out to him – to the beginnings of an African sunset.

Only the sunset stopped their birding

If you have not yet seen one, it is impossible to describe the colours as the sun rays play on the clouds, even long after the sun has hidden behind the mountains and hills.

Our intrepid explorers go off in search of more birds

Tommy identifies the tracks in the sand.

The boys try and identify the birds sitting on the fishtraps