Our last full day here on the Eastern Cape. Thought we would try something different – a river cruise up from the Kenton-on-Sea coast with bird spotting potential. ‘ Cruise ” is a grand word for a small boat with an outboard motor , but it was very scenic.
A good variety of water-side nature was spotted,including –
Special mention to The Poisonous River Euphobia tree -the sap of which can blind you, and was used by tribesmen on their arrow tips.
And a few more birds :
Cormorant baby ? That’s really three – Reed ( black), Cape ( pale bellied), and White Breasted were all spotted (well, all plain, but, you know….)
And the African black oyster catcher ( they SHOULD fear the reaper, apparently – they are endangered )
Then the nest (only) of an African fish eagle .
Sacred Ibis and yellow billed kite put in brief appearances too.
Social Structure
Back at base we had a fascinating and rather unsettling conversation with Cameron , who was working at the camp. He considered himself ‘coloured’ and was frustrated with the ‘black’ population constantly referring to their past as an excuse for poor behaviour – went so far as to say they should stop teaching that history and focus on the future. The 3 way White / Coloured / Black split was quite hard to understand from outside. Eastern Cape Malays , a product of Dutch slaving from the East Indies (and presumably British, too) , seem to be a major group calling themselves ‘ coloured’. In taking a pale skinned wife and getting a job, Cameron had lost friends from the black community, and was frustrated with drugs problems and general lack of discipline causing so much destruction ( his renovated rugby club in Paterson had been pulled apart and wrecked by locals – even stealing the toilets to sell).
It’s all a bit more complicated than we thought