Saturday, Nov 18—Rondevlei and the search for flamingos

Having heard that there was a resident flock of flamingoes at the wetland areas of Rondevlei-Zeekoevlei-Cape Town Sewage Works and given that we were nearly blown away during our first visit to Rondevlei we decided to try again. We were in town this weekend and our Saturday was open so the search for big pink birds was on. And this time we started earlier in the morning.

It was a better day, warmer and less wind. But no flamingos here! We saw many of the birds we saw on our first visit—sacred ibis, red-knobbed coots (now with bigger young), cormorants, darters, herons, Egyptian geese, and big white pelicans. Though not seen by Marcia, I did see a pied kingfisher. Very pretty! Of course the carp were still cavorting and making big splashes all around and the little brown birds were flitting in and out of the bushes too fast to be IDed. There were different plants blooming and we figured out most of them, eventually. But the highlights of this visit were the nonbird animals.

As we made our way along the path we found numerous of these structures in the bushes. They appeared to be spider in origin and were filled with leaves and twigs. We never encountered a spider in association with them so weren’t sure exactly what they were. But we did ask the ranger as we were leaving and learned that they were from the rain spider. And there was one on display in the nature center, though not easy to photograph behind Plexiglas. Here is a good Web site that talks about this group of spiders, http://www.museums.org.za/bio/spiderweb/spar.htm. Turns out the webbed structures are the egg cases/nurseries for this spider. Very interesting.

Of more interest and certainly more entertaining to Marcia was our encounter with a BIG tortoise. We were headed back on the same path that we had walked not long before, but now our way was blocked by a BIG tortoise. It didn’t seem the least bit phased by our presence and just sat looking at us for quite some time. Finally it decided it was time to move on. And so it headed up the path straight toward Marcia and LRW. There was plenty of room to go elsewhere but that wasn’t its intent. It rumbled up the path and squeezed between LRW and the bushes and continued on its way. Marcia even got to pat it on its shell without it breaking stride. It wasn’t one of the resident hippos but it was great fun!




And here is a photo of a cooperative mongoose. We have seen them all over but never with enough time to get a picture. This one was close and in no hurry.

We also asked the ranger about the location of the flamingos and were told they were resident in the ponds and flats of the sewage works. We had driven there on our previous visit to the area and so would head there again.

We drove past Zeekoevlei and down the road to the sewage plant and realized there were vehicles beyond where we had been last time. This time we found the road that provided access to the extensive system of ponds and flats. And around we drove, and drove, and drove. We eventually found ourselves just across the dunes from False Bay, but still no flamingos. But we did add to our list of SA birds seen. In the ponds were numerous black-winged stilts and pied avocets.


They were almost enough to balance not seeing flamingos. And then we looked up and across the pond was flying a pair of beautiful pink birds. We found them. The chase was on, but to no avail. But back they came and we got to watch them fly over again. And then they were gone. But we did get to see them!

We made our way along the roads back toward the sewage plant, our landmark to lead us out. And where we wound up was behind the fence and in the actual plant itself. I figured that was not a good place to be but the easiest way out was through the gatehouse just ahead. And I could always use the lost dumb American excuse! But the man in the gatehouse guided us to the gate to use and then opened it and let us out. Not a problem at all. Try doing that in the States!

It was to our well-used Constantia Village for a late lunch and a bit of shopping before we headed home. Another fun day in Cape Town!