Africa Wild

We spent yesterday at Marievale - A Ramsar Wetland Site and an Important Bird Area.

Outside the small town of Nigel, is the popular Marievale Bird Sanctuary. Habitats of the sanctuary include shallow open water, reedbeds and grassland, so the variety of birds is immense. Approximately 1 000 hectares in extent, the sanctuary supports about 180 species, of which 65 are waterbirds, including large populations of Reed Cormorant, Red-knobbed Coot and Yellow-billed Duck.

Marievale has been documented as being one of the best locations in Gauteng to see Goliath, Black, Squacco and Purple Herons. Along with the five hides overlooking four pans, there is a braai and picnic spot with ablution facilities. To maximise your stay, you can overnight in the reserve in one of the two chalets which can be booked through Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve.

What a pleasant surprise Marievale turned out to be. It will be evn better in Summer.

Greater Flamingos

There are five hides and we found the first one, the Hadeda Hide, to be the most productive one. It lived up to its name









The little grebe was cute









meeting up with a yellow billed duck


The most abundant bird by far was the Red Knobbed Coot.......

steamtrainfan wrote:Fantastic pics again Sharifa. Well done.

The little grebe is just too cute.

I have looked up this reserve on google and found out that it is quite easy to get to from Pretoria.

Now just to fine a day when Joan has a few nights off and we will head for Marievale one weekday. It looks like a weekend day is a bit crowded.

Thanks again for bringing this lovely reserve to our attention.

It is easy to get to STF and worth the visit. We only got there at 8.00AM and there was only one couple in the Hadeda Hide. We left that hide after about half an hour and were the only people in the other hides. It did get busy after about 11.00am and I think it will be busy on weekends during Summer.

The red knobbed coot were evrywhere





They had little squabbles if another one got too close

Just love these "action" pics of the red knobbed coot.

Excellent photography.

Is the entrance to Marievale on the R42?

Yes it is STF.

We took the N3 and got off on the R550 which joins up with the R42.

Hi Sharifa. Would a normal sedan car be able to travel on the roads? I have been reading some horrendous stories on the condition of the roads.

The roads are badly corrugated in places but a sedan should be OK this time of the year. Could be very tricky in the rainy season. The road to the first hide is good. Between the first hide and the second hide is where the Flamingos were. The second hide is also OK. If I remember correctly upto the picnic site is not too bad. We saw a few sedans on Sunday.

You are right Sharifa. I have done it in my Getz and found the midddle-mannetjie wasn't too high either.

From the picnic site, when you enter the gate on the left - it's quite exciting with juvenile Lapwings.. and I also found a BSK nest there. The next hide is where I found Banded Martin diving for fish..

We also got a nice sighting of a African Purple Swamphen







Black Crake





African Rail



Lesser Swamp Warbler