• E N
R O U T E
STJ 5.4
ADVENTURE
SPECIAL EDITION
SPRING 2019
/ /
C O V E R
S T O R Y
FOR THE BIRDS
HOW’S A LANDLUBBING BIRDER TO TICK OFF THOSE WANDERING ISLAND SPECIES? BY TAKING A BOAT FROM
CAPE TOWN TO THE EDGE OF THE CONTINENTAL SHELF, AS JANINE STEPHEN DISCOVERED.
The last smudgy glimpse of Cape Point
disappeared under the horizon, leaving
a 360-degree view of restless seas. I
staggered leewards, sea legs nowhere in
sight. We were heading determinedly for
the edge of the continental shelf, where
upwelling nutrient-rich water provides rich
pickings for fishing boats – and the clouds
of seabirds that surround them. But right
now, on this, my first pelagic trip, our boat
42 // MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE
was coursing through what are known as
the birding doldrums: too far from land for
any continental species, too far from the
shelf for the pelagics (like albatross) that
nest only on islands.
On board were five fanatical birders, all
from the UK; sweet-natured if taciturn
men with names like Dez and Jim and
Nick. They had relaxed their firm grips
on their binoculars for the moment and
were munching sandwiches, but at first
glimpse of flapping wings they clapped
the instruments to their eyes as one, like
synchronised swimmers.
Dez and the others spend a couple of
weeks every year in search of desirable
birds, visiting exotic locations like Brazil’s
rainforests. They had already spent a day at
the sewage works near Zeekoevlei, a birding
hotspot, and later in the week would head