By Karen Watkins
Cape Town - Yellow-bellied Eremomela, try saying it aloud, quite a tongue-twister. If you know that it’s a bird then you might have seen it in the Tankwa Karoo National Park.
If you’ve never heard of it then not to worry as you’re sure to find something else of interest. But if you go, make sure you have a full tank of fuel and at least one spare tyre.
Tankwa was proclaimed in 1998 and it is 271km north of Robertson to the parks’ headquarters at Roodewerf, 140km west of Sutherland, 110km south of Calvinia and within sight of Cederberg Tafelberg.
The park is named after the river that runs through it and also lends its name to the region. Its meaning is unknown but is believed to be turbid water, place of the San or thirstland, all of which suit it fine. It’s not for sissies. The roads are covered with sharp, shattered shale shards and corrugated in places, sandy in others. Best to drive slowly, carefully, taking particular notice of the raised sections of gravel left by graders at the edge of the roads, known as sidewall eaters.
Heading north along the R355 and 180km of Ceres, just past the hippie-like padstal and Werswinkel Bar, a sign reminds that there is nothing from here.
Tankwa has been described as one of the most arid regions of the semi-desert Karoo. The annual rainfall is 170mm but in 2005 it boated a mere 25mm, a droplet compared to Cape Town’s 475mm. Temperatures range from a scorching 39°C in January dropping to a frosty 5.7° in July. And yet early in the 18th century Europeans were growing crops such as wheat and watermelons there using flood irrigation from the Tankwa and Renoster rivers. Hunting was popular as the area was the southerly turning point of migratory herds the last of them shot out by the 1920s.
Late afternoon is a good time to arrive as the light turns the landscape into an endless watercolour tableau of soft, muted layers from Smartie-strewn vlaktes, boulders, rocks and cracked flaking mudholes to flowing foothills and striped strata. The question is how birds, in fact anything survives in this harsh environment. Would twitchers see some of the 188 bird species found within the park boundary? After all, the goal of the birding bonanza was to tick off as many as possible within a 24 hour period.
Organised by the Boland Honorary Rangers, teams were made up of three to four with a guide whose task was to verify and confirm identifications.
The main venue was Tankwa Karoo Guest House, a strange fort-like building, its turret still used as a look-out for the parks landing strip. Other birders were accommodated at Varschfontein and Platfontein, both about 40km distant. And so, as the sun set silhouetting the rocky Cederberg backdrop teams set off in search of night birds and hoping to see the parks’ iconic Burchell’s courser, the holy grail of many birders. This long-legged, buffy brown bird has a streaked head and is the size of a laughing dove and is mostly nocturnal and terrestrial in its habits.
Returning later to turn in for an early start next morning some had seen an owl, a buck and a scorpion while others saw nothing.
Up at sparrows and with headlights flashing this way and that they set off once more into the great unknown searching out winged wonders found in various habitats within the park. Not easy as the area between each is vast, the speed slow.
Some began in bone-dry riverbeds fringed with acacias covered with spiky thorns. The sparse shrubland lies at the heart of the succulent Karoo biome and is an international biodiversity hotspot and includes Hoodia gordonii, Bushman’s hat, better known for its slimming properties and therefore heavily poached for the lucrative slimmer’s market. Others made for Oudebaaskraal. Built in 1969 by Judge Alwyn Burger it was the largest privately owned dam in the country until 2007 when SANParks took over.
The idea of a park was born in the 1960s but only became a reality when Conrad Strauss sold 280km² of sheep farm to SANParks. Conrad stayed on as manager of the park until last December when he moved on and Kennet Makondo took over.
Since proclamation in 1998 further farms have been added and it now measures 143 600km². Dotted with many ruins of houses and outside ovens once part of eight state-owned farms, visitors are sure to see game that used to occur naturally and is now being reintroduced into the area.
A highlight is Gannaga Pass built in the 1930s depression years to create work. It’s an engineering feat and breathtaking in places. At the foot of the pass are the remains of those who died during its building and at the top are signs from the Anglo-Boer War and shelters showing it had been used much earlier.
As for the teams, some came not knowing a prinia from a petrel but ended up identifying birds not seen in the park before.
Rare bird sighting reports and special stories are extra categories of the competition. If a team member identifies a bird not listed on the park list they must record what led to the identification – distinguishing features, habitat, time – and if possible, take a picture of it. All confirmed sightings are added to corrections of future bird lists.
And with various teams chasing the best bird sightings, breathing in clear, clean, crisp air, drinking in vistas of vast rolling plains framed by distant striped mountains, they soon realised there are few places on earth where one can look here, look there, as far as the eye can see with no-one else in sight except maybe the odd birder or three.
Time up, the event ended with a gala dinner and prize-giving. With 123 species sightings the winning team clocked up 75 and a number of new birds were seen: Red-backed Shrike, African Rock Pipit, Yellow-billed Egret, Red-backed Shrike and Cape Longclaw.
But more importantly, and a play on words by Vernon Head of BirdLife South Africa, they learnt how these creatures survive in this special place, the little ones and the big, from an ant to an antelope or an eagle, the powerful, holistic message of an environment in balance. With the threat of fracking on surrounding land this fragile, unique place is an example to our children of how conservation should be done.
This park holds protection from threats such as mining. We must celebrate this as one of many positive achievements in this wonderful country.
Cape Times
l For more walks: Off the Beaten Track.