UPDATE! Here’s Dad’s account of our day, with some stunning photos.

Dad and I were fortunate enough to visit the Vulture Hide at Giant’s Castle during our stay in the Midlands. Summer isn’t prime season for vulture-viewing, as they don’t need the extra food as much as they do in winter. Nonetheless, it was a great experience and we did get to see both Cape Vultures and Bearded Vultures, as well as a quantity of other birds.

The good thing about jetlag is it makes getting up before dawn much easier. We had to haul ourselves out of bed by four to get to Giant’s Castle by six, and were slowed down by the thickest mist I have ever experienced on the way there. We trundled along until it cleared and the sun began to rise, painting the clouds magenta.

The Vulture hide is accessible by 4wd up what seemed like an awfully precarious track. If there’s one thing I regret from that day, it was not taking photos of the jackals we saw on the way up, etched in the golden morning light. I was more concerned about bashing my lens on the window frame, so I gave it a miss. Perhaps another time. With our bucket of bits in tow, we were dropped at the hide and instructed not to leave out all the bones at once. We settled in for the morning, having breakfast with one of the best views in the world.

I blogged about patience a while back. It’s something you really need to make the most out of experiences like this, and we were well rewarded. Although none of the vultures we saw came down to feast, the Bearded Vultures did fly past close enough to get some nice shots. The main contenders for the bones were White Necked Ravens, Red-winged Starlings and Yellow-Billed Kites, but we also saw a Jackal Buzzard swoop in a few times and carry off large chunks.

Due to a miscommunication, Dad and I stayed longer than we had anticipated, and took a different route back down the mountain. This presented a few more photographic opportunities we wouldn’t have otherwise had, which was a bonus!

I’d love to someday visit the hide in winter to see more of the vultures, but it gets quite busy and expensive (living on the other side of the world doesn’t help either).