the other ANGOLA

Atlasing in the Eastern Cape

- ALAN LEE

This Cloud Cisticola defied the gloomy weather conditions to add its voice to those of the other grassland birds.

Ever since I bought Mike Mills's book The Special Birds of Angola during lockdown, visiting that country has been a wistful dream. The other dream is complete national coverage of the SABAP2 project and while somewhat distant in another dimension, it is easier to do something about that. So, while exploring the coverage maps of South Africa, I was intrigued to discover that there is a village called Angola in the Eastern Cape (at least according to Google, although they may be more confused with the name changes of towns than the rest of us). A large swathe of virgin pentads lay between Angola and the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA) nature reserve of Tsolwana. I would thus vicariously be able to realize both dreams: adding to SABAP2 coverage and visiting an Angola.

The route chosen by Google Maps to Angola village was interesting at times and certainly not for sedan vehicles.

The sceptically minded might brand the ECPTA marketing divisions of the province as over-egging things somewhat through their use of words such as 'frontier country' and 'friendly? But friendly is exactly the adjective to describe the rural regions from Tarkastad through Komani (still known as Queenstown, according to Google) to Elliot (or Khowa, according to road signs). Rustic homesteads are a feature of the rolling hills here and vehicles are few and far between. Thus, the presence of Charlie, my son and co-surveyor, and I attracted much attention and many friendly waves. Charlie was designated chief waver, a task ably accomplished between entering my bird observations into the BirdLasser app.