MS Touring

Name: MS Touring
Address: 23 1st Avenue, Johannesburg, 2194, ZA
Telephone: +27717104822
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Private Wildlife and Birding Guide Johannesburg and Surrounding Provinces

29/10/2026

The difference in calls between the Greater and Lesser Honeyguides, which can be heard calling countrywide (except for the driest northwest parts) during the summer months.

25/10/2026

A pair of African Harrier-hawks feeding their very young chick. Hopefully we will see some pale fluffiness on this nest, as they grow pretty quickly with such attentive parents. The second pair should also be parents soon.
Both of the nests are protected, being within controlled-access properties, although this is the more visible of the two if you get the correct angle into the property, we won't see the chick until it is substantially larger.

12/10/2026

GRASSLANDS NATIONAL PARK – SOUTH AFRICA'S NEWEST NATIONAL PARK

On 9 October 2026, South Africa officially gained its 21st national park (and the fourth for the Eastern Cape province), with the proclamation of the Grasslands National Park in the remote highlands of the Eastern Cape.

Situated in the mountainous region between Rhodes and Nqanqarhu (formerly Maclear), near the Lesotho border, the newly proclaimed park initially covers approximately 10,226 hectares across 18 properties, with plans to expand the protected area to approximately 30 000 ha in the future.

The park falls within the Drakensberg Alpine Centre of Endemism and protects some of South Africa's highest-altitude grasslands, with elevations exceeding 2,500 metres in places. The landscape consists predominantly of Southern Drakensberg Highland Grassland and Lesotho Highland Basalt Grassland, together with lower-altitude moist grasslands, wetlands, mountain streams and river systems.

These grasslands are far more important than they might first appear. They support a remarkable diversity of plants and animals, including species restricted to the Drakensberg region. The area also forms part of the Eastern Cape Drakensberg Strategic Water Source Area, where healthy grasslands and wetlands help regulate water flow, limit erosion and maintain the rivers supplying communities and agriculture far downstream.

What makes this national park particularly interesting is the way it has been established. Unlike the more familiar model of government-owned, fenced national parks, Grasslands National Park is South Africa's first national park established primarily through biodiversity stewardship agreements. Participating landowners retain ownership of their properties while committing to long-term conservation and sustainable land management. Traditional livestock farming and other compatible agricultural activities can continue, allowing conservation and productive land use to coexist.

This is not a national park in the conventional tourist sense. There are no established networks of tourist roads, rest camps or the usual visitor facilities associated with parks such as Kruger or Addo. The surrounding Eastern Cape highlands are remote, mountainous and sparsely populated, with winding gravel roads, steep passes and weather conditions that can change rapidly. Getting around this part of the country takes a lot of planning, time, and occasionally a fair amount of determination.

On our previous MS Touring Highlands Tour, we travelled through this spectacular region, including the area around Rhodes and Naudé's Nek, before the national park was formally proclaimed. The route takes us through some of South Africa's most impressive mountain scenery, with extensive grasslands, dramatic valleys, clear mountain streams and a fascinating variety of high-altitude flora and fauna.

It is precisely this combination of landscape, biodiversity, remoteness and relatively little development that makes the Eastern Cape highlands such an interesting part of our tour.

The proclamation of Grasslands National Park is an important step towards protecting a landscape that has historically received considerably less conservation attention than South Africa's better-known savanna and wildlife reserves.

The accompanying photographs were taken during our previous Highlands Tour and offer a glimpse of the landscapes and natural history of this remarkable corner of South Africa.

06/10/2026

October is Raptor Month, primarily on North America, however, with the diversity of raptors in Southern Africa, we should also be drawing attention to these amazing birds, and the necessary support needed for the conservation of their habitat, and recognition of threats to their survival.
Southern Africa has 83 known raptors species, which includes 12 owls, 16 falcons and kestrels, 12 eagles, Secretary bird and Harrier-hawk, 5 buzzards, 10 goshawks and sparrowhawks, 6 harriers, 4 snake-eagles, 2 kites, 8 vultures, as well as fish-eagle, osprey, bat hawk, cuckoo hawk, honey-buzzard, bataleur, secretary bird and harrier-hawk. As a result there is no habitat in the region where you will not find at least one raptor species, and in most places you will find several cohabiting, ranging in size from the pygmy falcon - around the size of a sparrow and weighing 50g with a 35cm wingspan, to the lappet-faced vulture, weighing 7.9kg with a wingspan of 2.8m!
In this video, an immature Black Goshawk (Sparrowhawk), from this last season, sits near the active nest of an African Harrier-hawk, the male of the pair is in a nearby tree keeping an eye on the goshawk, whilst a Little Sparrowhawk (not seen in video) flies around calling.

05/10/2026

Female African Harrier-hawk peeking over the nest edge keeping her eye on a nearby immature Black Sparrowhawk

02/10/2026

Today’s hike along a section of the Sandpsruit in northern Johannesburg as part of the ongoing raptor nest survey covered approximately 2.7 km of riparian corridor.
With good weather after the recent rainy cold spell, temperatures remained comfortable, and there was a good selection of bird species about.
The Sandspruit is one of the shorter tributaries of the Braamfontein Spruit, joining the latter at Sunninghill, just a short distance upstream of the confluence of the Braamfontein Spruit with the Jukskei River. The Sandspruit is roughly 19.7 km in length, and originated in The Wilds park, on the northern aspect of the Parktown section of the Witwatersrand. I follows the M1 Highway for some distance before diverting northwest at Corlett Drive, cutting across Sandton (the area gets its name from the spruit) through to Sunninghill.
Despite the fact that it runs along a major metropolitan highway, and collecting all the runoff from it, and gets the stormwater runoff from some of the most densely populated parts of Johannesburg city, it is fairly litter-free (compared to some of the other streams we visit!) and the water quality is decent by current South African standards.
The corridor through which it runs used to be lined by small farms back in the days when Johannesburg was developing, and there are a good number of old, large trees, both indigenous and exotic, lining the banks. Some of these are the most splendidly shaped large Eucalyptus trees I’ve seen anywhere.
The river has an easy-to-navigate trail alongside, and in places this crosses over well-maintained parkland. I think it is no exaggeration to describe it as the prettiest river in Johannesburg, if not the province.

25/09/2026

Male Long-crested Eagle, with a very large vlei rat. In this clip you can hear him calling out to either the female or the juvenile that is nearby - this is very close to their nest - but they were both ignoring him (one of them was seen flying into the tree off to the left of the video).

24/09/2026

A bit of observation of our Raptor Heritage today as part of the raptor nest database. It was very interesting to see the Harrier-hawks interacting on the nest.

23/09/2026

Yesterday’s hike through Kloofendal Nature Reserve was certainly starting to show off what our local grasslands can offer in the spring and summer seasons. Although we have had good local rains for September, the veld was still a bit dry, and I’m sure that after another wet spell the reserve will be well worth spending the better part of a day in.
A good variety of birds are about at the moment, though mostly on the lower northern slopes, the top of the ridge is still petty quiet if you discount the pied crows, although the bulk of the more interesting flowers out at the moment are on the southern aspect.

Address

23 1st Avenue
Johannesburg
2194

Telephone

+27717104822

Website

http://mstouring.co.za/

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