MPH: miles per hour or a Malagasy Pond Heron

Our first view of the Malagasy Pond Heron at Mziki Shareblock, Phinda Game Reserve, Kwa-Zulu Natal

We certainly clocked up the miles yesterday with a 1am wake-up call to drive up the Kwa-Zulu Natal North coast to get to a planned game drive for a twitch at Phinda Game Reserve, a 650km round trip.

Our target, a Malagasy Pond Heron, a bird of Madagascar and globally endangered.

Odd sightings have been unsubstantiated in South Africa, so a lone non-breeding adult, which has been showing consistently for a month, seemed like a great opportunity to expose my sister Doreen to the craziness of a twitch.

Mugs of coffee and Doreen's home-baked muffins kept us going through the early hours of the morning and we arrived early at the Phinda gate.

We had many nervous hours waiting for the game drive, which instead of leaving at 6.30am only got going after 10am. The team at the Lodge had not been informed of the booking and all the guides and vehicles were in use.

While waiting for our guide Brendan, we got to sample the restful Phinda Mountain Lodge, taking in the scenery over breakfast on a perfect, warm, Natal winter morning. A quite lovely distraction and also a reminder of our visit to Forest Lodge 21 years ago when we met Bri and Di Dawes on a game drive!

The search for the Heron got serious as soon as we arrived at the dam at the Mziki Shareblock, stop, scan, stop, scan...one full loop with no sign of the bird among all the usual suspects. Another loop of the dam, stop, scan, repeat; the morning sun beating down, bleaching out the colour and creating a haze.

Brendan from &Beyond was getting ready for a third loop when he spotted the MPH standing on a hippo! We could not believe our eyes, after looking through, around and in the grass it was out in the open.

Fred's great photos show a bird happily feeding and preening. Excitement and relief all at once, a successful twitch!
Onward to 800.....

Malagasy Pond Heron