10th to 17th December 2023

In November 2022, we planned to treat ourselves to find an African Pitta. It was Sally’s milestone birthday present as well as our Christmas and Birthday presents to each other in 2023.

So, in 2022 we booked 5th to 9th December 2023 with Derek Adams of Victoria Falls Birding Safaris. During the course of the year this got changed to 12th (Tuesday) to 16th (Saturday) December 2023 at the request of Derek Adams.

An Aside – take note if you are interested in going on this trip.

Make sure you secure your accommodation before you go. There are only 3 acceptable rooms ( I believe they are numbered 1,2and 3) available at Murara. Each of a good standard and I believe they can each accommodate 3 persons. They have their own ablutions. If you are told there is another place available which they call the Doll’s House or Honeymoon Suite – DO NOT accept it as you will be bitterly disappointed.

Back to our story.

We found direct flights from Durban to Harare and booked. Since these flights were only on a Sunday we needed to organise somewhere to stay in Harare for 2 nights until we got picked up and a further night on our return to Harare. Adam suggested Guinea Fowl Rest. We booked.

And as we had a full day on the Monday before pickup, we organised a day’s birding with Sean Hind and he took us to Haka Park and Christon Bank.

And so it began.

We were picked up at the airport and taken to Guinea Fowl Rest. A very comfortable and friendly B&B. The food was plentiful and delicious.

And we were entertained by a Purple-crested Turaco behaving oddly.

And here are a few of the resident birds.

The next morning at 05h30 we were picked up by Sean and headed for Haka Park. The wetland area had suffered from the drought. As a result, the wetlands had shrunk considerably.

Here are some of the birds we photoed.

Then we found the Yellow-mantled Widowbird – a bird we had seen previously but not in breeding plumage.

Then we were off to Christon Bank. Not much time was spent at Christon Bank as it was very hot and there was much scrambling amongst the rocks.

At the rocks we heard a number of bird calls. It seemed that two different species were trying to outdo each other – Brown-crowned Tchagra and a White-browed Scrub-Robin.

Walking round the rocks, we looked to see if we could find a Boulder Chat. We eventually saw several.

The next morning we were collected early. There were 2 vehicles to take Sally and I plus 6 others to Murara Camp near Masoka Village – expecting to arrive at 13h00.

After 3 hours we arrived at the changeover point. Two game vehicles arrived and emptied their previous guests and luggage and we took their place to go to the camp. Our drivers took the previous guests back to Harare.

Seen at the exchange point.

After an hour’s drive we stopped in a riverbed where 6 Ground Hornbills were seen disappearing round a corner of the dry riverbed. Our guides suggested a pit stop and then got us to all sit together on one side of the riverbed.

Be Quiet and Sit Still, we were told. Siraaj, one of our guides proceeded to put a Bluetooth speaker at the top on the other side and proceeded to call the African Pitta. Lo and behold, it responded and then a couple of them started to show themselves. Not at the camp yet, and we had already achieved our goal. This was our best sighting of an African Pitta. We had at least half an hour with the birds.

Another 3 hours and we arrived at Murara Camp.

On arrival everyone got allotted rooms. Ours was the “Doll’s House” also known as the “Honeymoon Suite”. Immediately we should have had questions about this, but we thought because we booked so early we were being treated to the best accommodation. In fact, it was terrible. However, we thought it must be the same for everyone. Not SO. The accommodation for everyone else was far superior and clean which we only found out later when Sally went to check.

If you ever venture here paying its extortionate price, make sure you know which accommodation you will be allocated. We complained and were offered a discount on further trips with Adam as he accepted it was sub-standard – but he would not give us a cash refund of any sort. Many excuses but basically he ripped us off. We had booked well early and paid full price when we booked.

We had no choice to stay in the crappy room with broken furniture and filthy bathroom as well as animal droppings inside. There was nowhere else to go.

On our first night we drove to a pan where the Pennant-winged Nightjars like to visit. On arrival the Red-billed Queleas in their hundreds were in force in the bushes hanging over the water.

All lined up we waited. At dusk they arrived. Swirling all over the water and our heads. A magnificent sight.

For the next 3 days, our routine was to be up and out by 05h30 each morning returning for lunch about 12h30. Rest until 15h00 and then out again till 18h00. Back to freshen up and do a bird list with everyone before dinner at 19h00.

We visited many different areas depending on what we hoped to find – usually specials which people wanted to see. Most of these places involved an hour’s drive to get there – birding along the way.

During our stay, the weather threatened to rain. Clouds accumulated and we got a bit of drizzle on the first day but it never lasted long, After that – no rain – just overcast weather making photography for me very difficult.

Here are some photos of the typical habitats we enjoyed.

We saw quite a few different raptors, including: Bateleur, Lizard Buzzard, African Fish-Eagle, African Hawk-Eagle, Brown Snake-Eagle, Martial Eagle, Wahlberg’s Eagle, Western-banded Snake-Eagle, African Goshawk, Dark Chanting Goshawk, African Harrier-Hawk, Black-shouldered Kite, Shikra and Little Sparrowhawk.

Here are photos of some of the other specials we saw.

Arnot’s Chat.

African Golden Oriole seen on several occasions.

Abdim’s Stork.

Dusky Lark

Flappet Lark

Brown-necked Parrot seen flying and in nearby trees.

Jacobin Cuckoos

Livingstone’s Flycatcher constantly on the move. Seen in several places.

Lillian’s Lovebirds

Meyer’s Parrot seen alongside Brown-necked Parrots.

Mottled Spinetails

Orange-winged Pytilia seen in camp.

Racket-tailed Roller

Senegal Coucal seen on several occasions.

Hadeda Ibis – why is this special you ask. Well check the eye colour. Typical of Hadedas seen in the area.

Here are some of the other birds we photographed.

We left on a sour note with Derek Adams as he refused to compensate us for the disgusting accommodation he put us in.

To see our bird list for Harare and Murara please click on the following link.

Paul and Sally Bartho