MS Touring, 23 1st Avenue, Johannesburg (2026)

07/08/2026

Time for another Star Safari
A prominent constellation in our southern skies, and through pretty much all of the hemisphere, is the Southern Cross, also known by its more correct name, Crux.
Along with Orion, it is one of the easier constellations to spot, and though the smallest of the 88 currently accepted constellations, comes with quite a bit of lore and not a little significance!
Visible through the whole year at varying times of the night, if you look in a southerly direction the asterism forming the shape of a cross is visible. Be careful not to mistake it for the False Cross, which sits in the constellations of Carina and Vela, the true cross can always be distinguished by its pointer stars of Alpha and Beta Centauri found in the leg of the constellation Centaurus (now you can spot that one as well!).
4000 years BC, the constellation was visible as far north as Great Britain, however the precession of the equinoxes has seen it drop further south over the horizon since, and it is quite difficult to see once you are north of the equator, as it lies almost on the horizon.
In the southern hemisphere, the constellation is as important for navigation as the Pole/North Star is in the northern hemisphere. As Orion is visible in both hemispheres, knowing which way Orions belt is oriented, and being able to see either the Southern Cross or the Pole Star, you will be able to deduce 3 of the 4 cardinal points, and then work out the 4th one – for us, this would be north, because we could see east and west using Orion, and south using the Southern Cross.

Refer to the images below (best viewed on a large screen like a computer for clarity)

Other stuff…

The Southern Cross appears on the flags of several countries in the southern hemisphere, most notably Australia and New Zealand, but also Samoa, Papua New Guinea, and Brazil (also on the cover of their passport).
The Marshal of The Air, the top-most rank of the Brazilian Airforce, a 5-Star general, has their 5 stars on their epaulettes arranged in the shape of Crux, rather than a straight line as is common for this ranking.
The first uranographers (sky mappers, as opposed to cartographers which are land mappers) to recognise Crux as a separate constellation were Emery Molyneux and Petrus Plancius, with their representations dating as far back as 1592, though it was placed in the wrong position in their sky maps.

In Australian Aboriginal astronomy, the cross and the Coalsack nebula form the head of the Emu In The Sky in certain of their cultures, whilst in the East Indies and Brazil, various indigenous peoples view Crux to form the body of a ray, and more locally, the Tswana people in Botswana view Crux as two giraffes, with Acrux and Mimosa forming the head of a male, and Gacrux and Imai forming the head of a female.

31/07/2026

Interesting to see this African Black Duck, Anas sparsa, hunt down and catch a Tilapia at Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens today.
Most ducks within the genus Anas, though opportunistic omnivores, predominantly consume vegetable matter, with the occasional aquatic invertebrate to supplement their diet. Black ducks are known to occasionally eat fish fry, so this one actively chasing down what is quite a large fish was unusual.
Black ducks are widespread throughout sub-Saharan Africa, though they are generally shy and prefer to inhabit faster-flowing water such as streams and rapids than most other species in the same genus, which more commonly occupy slower moving open water like ponds and lakes.
This one struggled to swallow the fish for around 15 minutes, knocking it on the water surface, and flipping it around, before dropping it back into the water, as it was just too big to fit through the narrow gape in the duck's bill.

28/07/2026

Black Sparrowhawks, recently renamed to Black Goshawks, Astur melanoleucas, are one of the most urban-adapted raptor species that we have present in South Africa. The name change followed a taxonomic revision that moved the species from the genus Accipiter to Astur, recognising its closer relationship to the northern goshawks than to the true sparrowhawks.
They are widespread across the more forested areas of Africa south of the Sahara, and have exploited commercial forestry to expand their range and have also persisted in areas where indigenous forest has been replaced by suitably large exotic trees. Despite living in cities, they are remarkably secretive birds, and many people are completely unaware that a breeding pair may be raising chicks only a few hundred metres from their homes.
They favour large trees in which to build their substantial nests, which they may use for many breeding seasons. The nests normally sit at heights above ten metres from ground level. Occasionally the nests are taken over by other birds like Egyptian Geese, however many Black Sparrowhawk pairs have alternate nests within their territory, and may move to a different nest for another breeding attempt.
Goshawks get their name from the Old English word for goose, as they were traditionally used in falconry to hunt large prey such as geese and ducks, as well as other game birds like pheasant. Goshawks are generally bigger than sparrowhawks, with this species standing around 50cm tall. All goshawk species have orange-red eyes with a white eyebrow, and rounded tails, whilst sparrowhawks have yellow eyes, less obvious eyebrow and square ended tails that are generally longer in comparison, and sparrowhawks are usually quite a bit less robust in size.
Black Goshawks usually prey on mid-sized birds, between doves and pigeons, being opportunistic, and chasing down their prey with hard sustained flight after they have locked on to it after locking onto it from a tree-top perch. Prey is usually taken in flight with a burst of feathers evidence to a successful hunt, then brought back to their perch for consumption, or delivered to the nest. If the female is incubating, or there are chicks on the nest, the bulk of the hunting is done by the male, when the chicks are larger, and the amount of food required is greater, the female will do some of the hunting as well. Part of the success of their urban adaptation is the availability of food attracted to urban areas such as pigeons, which are readily consumed, and they have also been known to prey on smaller raptor species, as well as the occasional small mammal.
In Southern Africa they normally breed between May and October, though they can have a wider breeding season up to as late as February. Nests are built from a collection of sticks and branches and are quite substantial, and are built (and maintained) by both sexes. The birds form monogamous pairs that will stay together for many years, often use the same favoured nest for many consecutive years, although many pairs maintain one or more alternate nests within their territory. This particular pair has used the same nest for 9 years, with the longest recorded nest remaining in use for 32 years by successive pairs. The female lays two to four eggs, with broods of two or three chicks being the most common, although all four chicks may occasionally be successfully raised. They start to fledge from around 5-6 weeks after hatching, and will still be looked after by the parents, being trained to hunt, for around another month or two after leaving the nest.
The three chicks in this nest are around 3 weeks old at the moment, and the male is keeping busy feeding their growing appetites whilst the female continues to guard the nest and brood the chicks during the colder winter weather.
As Johannesburg continues to grow, these remarkable raptors remind us that wildlife can thrive alongside people when suitable habitat is preserved. Every active nest tells another chapter in the story of how birds adapt to our changing landscapes.

20/07/2026

Lets take another Star Safari…
The constellation of Leo is visible in the early night sky at the moment, and easy to find because currently Venus is transitioning through it.
If you look to the west just after it gets dark, you will see a single bright object – this is Venus, if you follow a line down to the horizon you will see a dimmer, but still bright star lower in the sky than Venus, this is Regulus, or Alpha Leonis, the brightest star in the constellation.
Like the all the other constellations I’ve discussed, Leo is one of the constellations of the Zodiac, one of the 48 constellations described by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD, and is still one of the 88 recognised modern constellations. The name “Leo” comes from the Latin word for “lion”, and to the ancient Greeks it represented the Nemean Lion killed by Hercules as one of his 12 Labours.
Leo was one of the first recognised constellations, with records of it in various cultures going back at least 4000 years BCE.
Regulus sits right on the ecliptic, and from our view in the southern hemisphere, the constellation of Virgo will be above Leo, so just a bit higher in the sky and to the left of the star Denebola

Refer to the images below (best viewed on a large screen like a computer for clarity)

Fun Science
Leo is the source of two annual meteor showers. The Leonids occur during November, peaking around mid-November, appearing from close to Algieba, with their parent comet being Tempel-Tuttel with major outbursts showing around every 35 years, whilst the January Leonids are a minor meteor shower peaking during the first week of January.
The constellation is frequently targeted by both amateur and professional astronomers using telescopes as it contains many bright galaxies and deep sky objects like Messier 65 and 66 which together with NGC 3628 form the Leo Triplet of spiral galaxies. Leo is also home to some of the largest structures in the observable universe such as Large Qasar Groups.
In Greek mythology, Leo was identified as the Nemean Lion which was killed by Hercules during the first of his twelve labours. The Nemean Lion would take women as hostages to its lair in a cave, luring warriors from nearby towns to save the damsel in distress, to their misfortune. The Lion was impervious to any weaponry; thus, the warriors' clubs, swords, and spears were rendered useless against it. Realizing that he must defeat the Lion with his bare hands, Hercules slipped into the Lion's cave and engaged it at close quarters. When the Lion pounced, Hercules caught it in midair, one hand grasping the Lion's forelegs and the other its hind legs, and bent it backwards, breaking its back and freeing the trapped maidens. Zeus commemorated this labour by placing the Lion in the sky

25/06/2026

The fifth day of our trip saw us leaving Himeville after another chilly walk about, and travelling to Nottingham Road in the Midlands, via Lower Lotheni, and traversing the Buckland’s, Lotheni, and Nzinga passes.
These are all unpaved routes, until you get closer to Fort Nottingham, where we rejoined tar for a short while before again turning onto unpaved roads through agricultural areas to take a shortcut through to Lions River for a coffee break and stretch of the legs.
After this we did some roadside birding up the Gowan Valley, stopping for lunch and a beer tasting at Nottingham Road Brewery, throughout the morning and during lunch we added another 20 odd species to the list.
Driving back down Gowan Valley we ended up at Africamps for our last night on the tour, getting the fires going for dinner and warmth, and taking a short hike for some very productive forest birding where we added sunbirds, warblers, greenbuls and turacos to the list.
After a good dinner, and burning through a few bags of firewood, it was bed time, to ensure we were ready for the 500km drive back to Johannesburg the following day. After a good breakfast at The Village Cafe (highly recommended), our return trip saw us taking the N3 up to Winterton, then turning off to drive back routes and the Oliviershoek Pass past Sterkfontein dam, before returning to the N3 at Harrismith for the final leg, arriving back in Johannesburg in the late afternoon, with another handful of new birds. All in, with the aforementioned 104 bird species ticked, we also added several mammals, great scenery and 13 really good mountain passes.

24/06/2026

Our fourth day was fairly relaxed. There was still a heavy fog blanketing everything from the night before, so we couldn’t do much until it lifted at around 09h00, which gave us time to have a decent breakfast and do some birding around the hotel, which is situated on some lovely grounds on the edge of Himeville.
After it cleared up, we visited the Himeville museum, a lovely eclectic collection of local things encompassing social and natural history of the general area, followed by the Himeville Nature Reserve, where we added a few more species to the trip list.
A little later we explored some of the farm roads around town, heading in the direction of some local indigenous forest patches, all of which added more species. It is firebreak season, and all around us were patches that had either recently burnt, or were currently being burned, and various large plumes of smoke could be seen all along the horizons.
We got back to the hotel, in the late afternoon, took a walk around the grounds and settled in for the night after a few drinks by the fireplace and a good dinner, with a bit of star gazing before bed again, since we had a clear sky.

24/06/2026

Following the last post on day three of our recent trip, Andy Gooch filmed the start of the eastern descent of Naude's Nek pass, just as we dropped off the summit. Although it looks like we were traveling on a level road, we were actually driving quite steeply downwards towards the 180 degree bend at the top of the cliff. A different level of excitement!

24/06/2026

The third day of our trip saw us up early for breakfast, before leaving Rhodes, ready to tackle the long route through the 33km Naude’s Nek pass on the R396, before turning off to the Pitseng pass and Luzi Poort, rejoining paved roads (and a fuel stop) in Mount Fletcher. From there We headed north to Matatiele, had a very slow trip through to Kokstad due to 67km of roadworks and speedhumps, before heading through Underberg and Himeville to the Sani Pass. Unfortunately, a slight delay in breakfast, as well as the roadworks, led to us arriving with only 45 minutes to spare before the Lesotho border post at the top of Sani closed for the night, and with it already being quite dark, as well as the whole pass being enveloped in thick fog, we called it off as everything was just lining up to result in a dangerous situation. Instead, we backtracked to Himeville and booked in a night earlier at our previously arranged accommodation – which turned out to be a most welcome luxurious two days. As disappointing as it was not to have included Sani, safety always needs to be taken into account.
The road eastwards out of Rhodes is not an easy one, even if you don’t head out to Mount Fletcher and instead continue south to Maclear, you still hit a couple of other decent unpaved mountain passes, and with Naude’s Nek being around 2500m asl, any inclement weather will add significantly to your travel time. That said, if you have a capable vehicle, it is well worth doing the route.

23/06/2026

Trips like this can be a logistical nightmare, especially at this time of year, where you expect to spend long periods of time traversing adverse terrain, in highly unpredictable environments – Mountain ranges are known to experience drastic changes in weather in very short time frames.
Having extensive experience in exploration and remote environments, we were prepared for the worst, hoping to not have to use any of the gear or supplies that took up half the packing space, but comforted by the fact that if there was a mechanical breakdown, there wouldn’t be a mental one to accompany it.
The second morning saw us leave Semonkong Lodge by 09h00 after a good breakfast, and set off on the long and winding roads to Rhodes in the Eastern Cape. This was to be one of the longest travel days, with frequent stops for scenery and bird pictures in amazing and remote places, on most of the roads other vehicular traffic was sparse, especially once we crossed back into South Africa, where we ran on about 1 kilometre of tar before turning onto unpaved roads for the rest of the day.
Though the day was highly rewarding from all aspects, we were indeed grateful to reach the village of Rhodes, even if it was already almost full dark, and quite chilly, at that time. Sitting in front of the fire in the bar as they readied our rooms and dinner was most welcome, and after a good meal and hot showers, we did a bit of night-sky photography, and when it got too cold, snuggled into comfy beds to get some rest for the next long leg the following day.

23/06/2026

We have just completed a 6-day tour through Lesotho, the Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal Midlands with our returning guest from the UK.
The tour was focused on landscapes, mountain passes and birding, and on the nearly-1750km route, we managed to experience all three very successfully!
The first day saw us leave Johannesburg a few hours before sunrise, chilly, but not the coldest we would experience over the next week.
We headed through Bethlehem, to skirt the northern part of Lesotho and enter at Maseru Bridge border post – a quick and hassle free experience – before reaching our first stop at Semonkong Lodge, visiting the Maletsunyane Falls on the way in. The trip was optimised to experience as much as possible in the short time our guest had available, having just finished off a week crossing the Okavango from Windhoek to Victoria Falls. This meant we had a few long days on the road initially with lots to see en route. This was an excellent birding trip, allowing us to see a lot of the mountain specials as we traversed and skirted the highest parts of Southern Africa, as well as get a few forest and grassland species in between. We finished the trip with 104 birds ticked off, most of them lifers for our guest, and adding 9 lifers to our own list - a reasonable achievement considering it is "off season" in the region. Follow over the next couple of days as we share the trip reports.

MS Touring

07/08/2026

31/07/2026

28/07/2026

20/07/2026

25/06/2026

24/06/2026

24/06/2026

24/06/2026

23/06/2026

23/06/2026

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