Of Battlefields and Birding

There are a lot of battlefields in the Magaliesberg. “Oh yes,” says Rob Milne, the ranking expert. “There are 67 battlefield and skirmish sites of interest.” But there are more birds. “Look,” says Shaun McGillewie, birder of note. “There’s a Red-winged Francolin (6 on checklist) in the grass, let me flush it for you.” Whose bright idea was it to mix a battlefield tour with birding? Blame me.

We choose Mount Savannah Game Reserve to bird or, as Rob would have it, to tour the site of the famous Battle of Dwarsvlei.

The reserve in the Cradle of Humankind is more than 2 000 hectares, with thousands of wild animals, from buffalo to warthog, eland, blesbok (brown and albino white), springbok, wildebeest (black and blue), red hartebeest, zebra, majestic roan antelope and even a lonely giraffe. Green