Lammergeier - A Drakensberg Mountains Delight. KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Something rather special about the Drakensberg is that it is home to the Bearded Vulture or Lammergeier. These birds are found in very few other places in the world (Northern Spain, the Alps, the Himalayas) but nowhere in the numbers that exist in the Drakensberg Mountains. As you might expect this situation has got to do with habitat destruction - these birds need a big range. They fly between six and seven hundred kilometres a day.

Now if you look in your Roberts (or whatever bird book you use) you'll see that this dude has got a 2.7 to 2.8 metre wingspan. And that's just average. Look at the room you're sitting in. Would he fit? Probably not. He's a big boy.

Or a "large unit" as the sports commentators would say today. And when he goes "downtown" we're not talking 50 or 60 metres. When this dude goes "downtown", he goes "downtown" in a big way.

The best place to see these birds is at Giant's Castle in the Central Drakensberg. You're not really going to get a close up view in the camp but if you get your boots on and take one of the well-marked trails, your chances of a sighting are high.

Now imagine being a few kilometres out, and you're on your own, how do you feel about a raptor, a BIG raptor, just riding a thermal and checking you out. And he's close. And he's not going away.

Relax.

He's just testing. You're too big for him.

But it is a bit unnerving. He's got this habit of grabbing whatever he fancies in those formidable talons, hoisting it forty or fifty metres into the sky, and dropping it on a rock. For the scavengers to eat. Other vultures and black-backed jackals mainly. He doesn't want the meat. He just wants the bones and the bone marrow. So he'll come back later when the other predators have cleaned up the carcass. If you keep your eyes peeled, you'll see these "bomb sites" all over the Drakensberg range.

There is another possibility to get "up close and personal" to these birds. KZN Wildlife operates a "vulture restaurant" at Giant's Castle during the Winter months (May to November). The only problem is you've literally got to book years in advance. It's extremely popular with birders and birding clubs.

A little snippet you won't find in the bird books is that Pliny the Elder describes the death of the Greek poet (and warrior) Aeschylus. Pliny says that a lammergeier dropped a tortoise on his bald head - evidently mistaking his bald tome for a rock. Tough way to die when you think of all the wars Aeschylus went through.

Now lammergeiers are "Dead-Eye Dicks" as bombers and they definitely take tortoises, and quite big ones at that. So I attach a lot of credence to the story. But it does mean that when you're at Giant's Castle, if you're bald, try not to look like a rock. And beware of big vultures bearing gifts.

© Halls Country House | Accommodation in the Drakensberg Mountains