This was the sixth butterfly tour in South Africa that Callan Cohen and I had planned with Greenwings Wildlife Tours, and it was a great success with 160 species!

We drove north on 13th March from Johannesburg to Lekgalameetse Nature Reserve at the eastern foothills of the nearby Wolkberg mountains, famous for its large numbers of butterflies. This video highlights some of the fun we had there. After four nights there we drove to the Afromontane forests of Magoebaskloof. The plan there was to stay two nights. spending time in the cool forests. The dry rain shadow to the west was a ‘plan B’ in the event of rain.

Then we drove south through the lowveld at the base of the formidable Blyde River Canyon. This is the world’s third largest canyon, mostly located in Mpumalanga province. It is covered in subtropical vegetation and has lowland riverine forest along the Blyde River. We explored the huge and remote Mariepskop, at 1945m the highest peak in the northern Drakensberg. The mountain has large Afromontane forests like those at Magoebaskloof and is topped with scrubby vegetation like the fynbos and karoo 1000km to the south.

Finally, we drove east and south through the Kruger National Park, staying at the Satara and Skukuza rest camps. We looked for birds and mammals whilst driving and visited several points where it is safe to get out of the car. Some of these are good butterfly spots.

Andrew had arranged a private tour around the Kruger Park and the higher Drakensberg areas, so we parted company on the evening of Sunday 23rd March.