Township twitching

Grab your binoculars and let Soweto’s feathered friends show you the sights and sounds

Soweto might only be a short taxi commute away from Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, but birding in the two areas are quite a different experience. There are pockets of peaceful green areas that break away from the dust and daily grind and even though litter and noise can be a challenge in Soweto, the birds and twitchers alike have adapted to their surroundings remarkably well.

My meeting point at Orlando Dam with local bird guide Raymond Rampolokeng is a perfect example. There’s no mistaking that the water birds inhabiting this area rule the roost, but they do so in harmony with the paddlers canoeing past their nests, the bungee jumpers plummeting off the towers behind them and the locals passing by the dam to get from one busy street to the next.

There are over 45 bird species to be spotted in the four sites that Raymond has chosen as his ‘outdoor offices’. Depending on how much time you have, you can do all four sites in a full day, or if you’re pressed for time, you can choose to skip Lenasia Vlei (which is a bit of a further away) and just concentrate on the triangle of Orlando Dam, Moroka Dam and the Klipspruit Wetland, all of which are within close proximity to one another.

Apart from a gentle climb to the top of Enoch Sontonga hills, overlooking Orlando Dam and the iconic colourful Orlando Towers, Raymond’s birding tours exercise only your eyes, so be prepared to spend a lot of time in comfortable silence, appreciating Soweto’s feathered friends through your binoculars.

Four years working for Birdlife SA have made Raymond an extremely knowledgeable bird guide and in the quiet moments, when all of the birds seem to be hiding, he’s an expert at weaving a few pertinent historical and cultural facts into the dialogue. He knows the skies of Soweto as well as the streets he grew up cycling on and for every run of the mill Black duck I spot, Raymond counters with an African Darter, a White-breasted cormorant and a Cattle Egret.

At one point I momentarily convince myself that his trendy red Ray Bans are giving him superpowers, but when that doesn’t fly (forgive the pun) I shift my theory to the fact that my binoculars must surely be broken. Whether you’re an expert twitcher or an amateur, take comfort in the reward at the end of your tour: a shebeen-style buffet lunch at Sakhumzi, an ice cold beer and an entire childhood’s worth of humorous Sowetan anecdotes.

More about Raymond Rampolokeng...

A staunch conservationist, Raymond is constantly seeking balance. When he chose the four birding sites that he would conduct birding tours in, he was very sensitive to the community’s uses of those areas.

Like the African Darters and Egyptian geese that gracefully glide past us, Raymond accepts that there’s never going to be just one thing happening in his birding sites. They are public spaces for everyone to enjoy, and when we get to Moroka Dam

"As a kid, Raymond visited all of the sites he now guides at today."

later that day, he tells me that an average of 10 000 to 15 000 people flock to the Thokosa Park area surrounding the dam on weekends.

Whether it’s picnicking or canoeing, however, Raymond encourages it all, because he says that community reaction to bird species and exposure to conservation is important. “I believe we need to start with the younger generations. Today, young people are fearless and getting into the water and canoeing. That wasn’t the case in 1994, you had to have a licence just to fish here.”

Raymond was born in Senaoane, a township between Chaiwelo and Rockville, but spent his school-going years moving between Senaone, White City and Kensington, where his grandparents lived and worked.

He got to know the streets of Soweto very well , and by default became a tour guide whenever his relatives came to stay. “I always had a spare BMX and started being a tour guide long before I knew anything about birding,” he laughs.

As a kid, Raymond visited all of the sites he now guides at today. “We used to swim at the Klipspruit Wetlands,” he reminisces, “but our canoes were Valiant bonnets, not the canoes we saw this morning." For a man who first visited Sandton only after he had matriculated and earned some spending money during a gap year working at the Rand Show, Raymond is exceptionally comfortable talking to people from all walks of live.

A good percentage of his clientele are overseas guests, and he attributes his confidence to his PR qualification from Wits Technikon, his colourful childhood interacting with Xhosa, Shangaan and Venda neighbours in White City and of course his training with the Wits Bird Club and Birdlife SA, whom he worked for for a few years before starting his own business in 2007.

His family has warmed to the career choice he had made, initially thinking him “crazy for going around showing people birds”, but his passion runs deep, his entrepreneurial spirit is strong and his conservationist’s compass is firmly pointed in the direction of the bigger picture.

 Contact Raymond of Bay of Grace Tours - 072 947 3311

www.bayofgracetours.wozaonline.co.za, bayofgracetours@gmail.com

Soweto Birding Top 10 Check List:

• Orange-breasted Waxbill
• Marsh Owl
• Red-chested Cuckoo
• Cape Long Claw
• Diderick cuckoo
• Tawny-flanked Prinia
• African Sacred Ibis
• Cattle Egret
• African Darter
• White-breasted Cormorant

*Article first published on www.countrylife.co.za.