Rockjumper News
David Hoddinot reaches 2,000 birds in Africa!
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Adam Riley and I started talking about the possibility of seeing two thousand species in Africa in the early days of Rockjumper Birding Tours, almost ten years ago. (Adam reached the magical milestone last year, as far as we know only the third person to achieve the feat). During these years I have been extremely fortunate to travel to some of the most amazing places on the planet, and especially in Africa, thanks to Rockjumper! This started in earnest in 2002 with “recce” (reconnaissance) trips to Ghana and Uganda between tours of South Africa. Soon I was doing a mammoth five week tour of Southern Africa, followed by a “recce” trip to Cameroon. In between these tours we explored further opportunities: next were Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania. This snowballed, and others quickly followed: Malawi, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, our amazing Kenya Mega tour, Socotra & Djibouti, and the remote Eastern Arc Mountains on our Tanzania Mega tour. During this time, I was also fortunate to explore other continents and to lead trips to China, Malaysia & Borneo, Philippines, Northern India and Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Japan, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Antarctica and the “eighth continent” — Madagascar. So, as you can see, it has been an absolutely incredible journey!
Most recently I travelled to the Canary Islands and Morocco. My Africa list stood at 1,983 shortly before leaving for this tour. With a group of friends we enjoyed a remarkably successful trip in the Canaries, wrapping up all the specialties which included ten new Africa species for me. We started off on the island of Fuertaventura where we quickly found Berthelot’s Pipit. Shortly after, a superb Canary Islands Stonechat showed very well. The following day we were treated to a magnificent Houbara Bustard in full display, a remarkable sight indeed! A short flight saw us arriving on Tenerife where we soon found Plain Swift, Atlantic Canary singing in a tree in our hotel garden, Canary Islands Chiffchaff and Bolle’s Pigeon. With a little work we then managed to track down the stunning Blue Chaffinch. Now it was down to finding the island’s most difficult endemic — the Laurel Pigeon. We searched tirelessly at several sites without success, eventually deciding on one last effort at a little gulley where we had seen Bolle’s Pigeon. Whilst searching at the site a birder stopped to see what we were looking at, and proceeded to give us some superb gen (which he had just got off the internet) on where to see Laurel Pigeon. Can you believe our luck and excitement! We quickly raced to the spot, which was about an hours’ drive away, and no sooner had we climbed out the vehicle — there was the pigeon! And not just one, but ten! These we scoped at length, enjoying truly magnificent views. You can just imagine the high-fives going around the group! A belated visit to a local park then produced Monk Parakeet, which meant that I had reached 1993 species, needing just seven to reach the magical mark.
So, the single digit countdown was now on, and amazingly our first day in Morocco yielded two additional birds, notably Wood Lark and Eurasian Nuthatch in the Middle Atlas Mountains. Now I had just five to go! Travelling further through Morocco, we stopped at the vagrant hotspot of Oued Massa; and, true to its reputation, we picked up an unexpected Ruddy Duck — leaving only four to go. While sea-watching off Tamri later the same day, we then found several Balearic Shearwaters — three to go! It was only now that I believed it possible to get to 2,000 during our time in Morocco.
Travelling east to the Sahara, we soon found Scrub Warbler (which had eluded me on previous trips), and only moments later, Maghreb Lark (a recent split of Crested) — ooooo yeahhhhh for the splitters!!! Incredibly, this meant that the following species would be the one to take me to 2,000! Our itinerary then took us to Zeida in search of the elusive Dupont’s Lark… Oh yes, we had to work for it alright! First it meant a very early departure from our warm beds. On arriving pre-dawn at the site, we were blasted with the freezing cold wind howling off the surrounding snow-capped peaks. We battled through two hours of bitterly cold weather in search of this elusive blighter, but unperturbed with numb fingers we finally managed to track him down! We were all elated, but could hardly celebrate as we were so cold. That evening, however, the beers and wine were flowing, and there was much celebrating all around. (Isn’t it funny how we never seem to be content; we reach one milestone and simply move on to the next — human nature perhaps?) I have to say, though, that while the numbers are a real bonus, its still these incredible birds that give us so much pleasure. They take us to amazing places where we meet great people from all walks of life and share the most incredible adventures. It’s hard to call my job, work!
So, where to next? Well, there’s always 2100…or Asia…or South America! |
Rockjumper welcomes Matthew Drew to the team
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We are very pleased to announce the addition of Matthew Drew to our office team. Matthew has a business qualification but has always dreamt of living a life close to nature. As a result he left Johannesburg in 2005 and followed his dream of developing a career in eco-tourism. After establishing a successful eco-tourism business with his brother on their family farm in the beautiful KwaZulu-Natal Midlands he joined BirdLife South Africa as Project Manager of the Southern KwaZulu-Natal Birding Route for a period of three years. With the birding route project nearing completion, Rockjumper offered Matthew a new opportunity to apply his entrepreneurial skills in an eco-tourism environment. Since moving to the Midlands many of Matthew's dreams have come true and he is now happily married to Sarah who is also involved in tourism through her business Active Escapes. He will be taking on the role of Business Manager and we have no doubt that Matt (as his friends call him) will be a valuable part of our dynamic team! |
Farewell and all the best to Richard White in his move to Australia
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Many of our friends and clients would have come to know Richard during their interaction with Rockjumper over the last few years. Sadly Rich decided to emigrate to Australia in October 2009 to develop a career in conservation and environmental affairs in the land of the Kangaroo! Over the past few years Richard has been instrumental in the growth of Rockjumper Birding Tours into a world leader in avian tourism and he will be sorely missed! His flamboyant nature and passion for conservation issues are characteristics that we all admired. Although Richard has left for the present we expect that our paths will cross in the not too distant future. We wish him all the best in his new life and look forward to hearing about his adventures! |
Birdfair 2009
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The 2009 British Birdfair at the Egleton Nature Reserve in Rutland, England was once again a huge success and was enjoyed tremendously by everyone who attended. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and to once again meet up with many Rockjumper friends. Thank you to everyone who took the time to visit our stall and chat with us. |
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RBT 2010 Brochure
We are proud to release our 2010 brochure packed with superb photos and details of unbeatable birding tours to the world's greatest birding destinations. A copy will be coming your way shortly! If you are not on our mailing list and would like to receive your complimentary copy of our brochure please e-mail us at info@rockjumper.co.za and we will gladly send one your way.
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| Front Cover |
Back Cover |
Tour Highlights - Uganda's Green-breasted Pitta
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This season's tours to Uganda produced a knockout selection of Africa's most sought-after species. Cuan Rush and Keith Valentine lead the respective tours and both our groups enjoyed fabulous sightings of the mythical Green-breasted Pitta in full display while exploring the depths of Kibale National Park. Additional highlights included Shoebill, Papyrus Gonolek, the rare Ring-necked and Nahan's Francolin, White-naped Pigeon, Ituri Batis, Rufous-sided Broadbill and a plethora of Albertine Rift Endemics that included Neumann's and Grauer's Warbler, Purple-breasted Sunbird and the gorgeous Dusky Crimsonwing. Uganda has proved yet again why it has been and always will be one of the world's best birding destinations! |
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Green-breasted Pitta by Matthew Matthiessen |
The Valentine's Honeymoon in Bali
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Keith and Catherine Valentine have just returned from a wonderful 10 day honeymoon on the exotic island of Bali. Sea, sun, pools, cocktails and plenty of fun was the theme for this relaxing vacation. Keith also brought along his binoculars and the two of them spent just one day birding in the far west of the island. The target here was to see the critically endangered Bali Myna in the wild. This rare bird has unfortunately been driven to the brink of extinction through thoughtless trapping for the cage bird trade with the numbers once being as low as 6 individuals in the wild in 2001. Through a successful captive breeding programme the species now numbers around 40 wild individuals. Lets hope that the Bali Myna can continue to survive for it trully is a stunning bird! |
| Bali Myna by Keith Valentine |
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Adam reaches his goal of 2,000 birds in Africa
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Adam has now become the 3rd person to have recorded 2,000 bird species on the African continent. He recently achieved this goal whilst on a trip to East Africa. The magical 2,000th bird being Pemba Scops Owl, one of the 4 endemics of Pemba island off the northern Tanzanian coast. Other special birds Adam managed to track down on this trip included three very tough larks; Williams’s, Masked and the recently described Beesley’s. David Hoddinott is hot on Adam’s heels and his 2,000th African tick is imminent, watch this space… |
| Pemba Scops Owl by Adam Riley |
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Some recent birding highlights
We have had the pleasure of sharing some incredible sightings with our clients in the past few months. On a private tour in Namibia Rainer Summers has managed to find all five possible courser species! This is an incredibly difficult family, and recording Burchell's, Temminck's, Double-banded, Bronze-winged and Three-banded all on one tour is just unheard of! In Cameroon the African Pitta put in a surprise appearance, when it displayed during our May tour to this amazing central African country. Other highlights here were incredible views of the Grey-necked Rockfowl, all three species of Flufftail, Golden Nightjar and Rufous-rumped Lark. On another private tour in the Philippines David recorded over 130 endemics that included Bukidnon Woodcock, Luzon Bleeding-heart walking down the road, Palawan Scops-Owl, Scale-feathered Malkoha and Azure-breasted Pitta as well as great views of the Philippine Eagle - often considered the world's most wanted bird! Bhutan is another highlight-filled tour that was recently completed and the group managed to find: Satyr Tragopan, Blood Pheasant, Himalayan Monal, Ibisbill, Ward's Trogon, Beautiful Nuthatch, Wedge-billed Wren-Babbler, Rufous-necked Hornbill, Mrs Gould's Sunbird, Fire-tailed Myzornis - all the major targets for the trip. On the pre-tour extension, the major highlight was finding the incredibly rare and difficult White-winged Duck. If you are interested in finding out more details on any of the tours, please contact us.
Indaba Trade Fair 2009
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We recently exhibited at the ever-growing Indaba — Africa’s largest tourism orientated Trade Fair — in the sunny city of Durban. It is always a great opportunity for us to meet with many of our service providers and other relevant partners the world over and allows us augment the products that we provide for you. Despite the economic downturn this was one of the busiest Indaba’s to date and it looks like global tourism is gaining momentum once again! |
| Indaba 2009 |
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Rockjumper Birthday's
| Dave Kaplan |
14th January |
| Matthew Drew |
9th February |
| Adam Riley |
18th February |
| Simon Bellingham |
24th February |
| Richard White |
2nd March |
| Alison Wakelin |
9th March |
| Marlin (Jen & Simon's son) |
5th March |
| Lynn Swanepoel |
13th April |
| Jenifer Goldberg |
20th April |
| Cuan Rush |
24th April |
| Eunice Mchunu |
10th May |
| Coral Gold |
26th May |
| Fraser Gear |
21st July |
| David Shackelford |
24th August |
| Markus Lilje |
8th October |
| Rose Hall |
10th October |
| Glen Valentine |
11th October |
| Sue Anderson |
15th October |
| Frank Lambert |
17th October |
| Rainer Summers |
24th October |
| Cullan Rush |
21st November |
| Jared Wakelin |
27th November |
| David Hoddinott |
1st December |
| Keith Valentine |
10th December |
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