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Birding
trip eastern South Africa 29 Oct - 20 Nov 2005
John van der Woude - www.jvanderw.nl
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Eastern South Africa is a highly varied
region, ranging from bush savanna to wide montane grasslands and true
forests (montane and coastal), all with many wetlands. Even after our
previous visits to western South Africa, Namibia and some other african
regions, we got over 120 lifers. And of course many mammals, like the
Big five in Kruger park.
Again,
this was a private trip for the two of us, with rental car from
Johannesburg and accommodation in lodges, rest camps, hotels and
B&B's. Roads, shops and restaurants are mostly of western
standards. Besides, South Africa is a relatively cheap country to
travel. All in all, we can hardly imagine an easier quality trip for
independently travelling worldbirders.
The
ease of birding was highly helped because we had the relevant section
of a draft of the birdfinding guide to Southern Africa by
Callan Cohen et al. (see reference below). Hence, this report is just
supplementary to Callan's outstanding book.
The
trip was planned to coincide with the start (November) of the rainy
season, and we got a few showers indeed, but less than 'normal'
(normal years are becoming rare, it seems). So some areas, like Kruger
park, were still dry. This may have delayed the arrival of the
true summer migrants a bit, but on the other hand we had very good
visibility and dry dirt roads all the time, so we got plenty of birds
nevertheless. Towards the end of the trip, we had more, and perfectly
timed, rain showers.
Daylight
starts very early in eastern South Africa in November, at 4.30 h
already. Even the most breakfast-addicted birders will have to give up
here. So, as we do on nearly all our trips, we brought cereals and
other food stuff in the car, and often had breakfast in the field at
about 9 or so, many hours after we had started the day.
Drinking
enough water is highly important, so always have several bottles of
mineral water in the car. In Kruger park I forgot to keep drinking
enough water, and then I got kidney problems, a very painful matter.
Luckily enough, I got it while we were in the only camp (Skukuza) with
a permanently stationed doctor, so I got rid of this nasty problem
within a few hours (although the rest of the day was lost of course).
The doctor said it happens often here, so please be warned.
ATM's
(cash machines) are everywhere, but we advise not to use the ones at
petrol stations, as people tend to flock around those. So just use the
ones outside bank offices, with guards. For the rest we felt very
safe. Besides, you will rarely be inside major towns and you will just
drive from one park to the other, or just inside the Kruger park (400
km long).
Besides
Callan Cohen's birdfinding guide, there are many resources on the
internet. Browsing these while preparing the trip, I encountered the
excursion program of the Pretoria bird club, and saw that they would
visit a highly diverse area on our second day. We emailed them and got
the chance to take part in the excursion, so we had a nice birding and
social introduction to this trip.
Apart
from the first nights we did not make reservations for accommodation,
in order to have a flexible itinerary (like: not having to press on
before you have seen that rare lark). In the end, the actual itinerary
was very like I had roughly calculated so if you don't like to go
without reservations it should not be a problem. Just in case any
lodge inside the parks (esp. Kruger) would be full, we had brought
light camping gear but we never needed it.
We
rented a mobile phone at Jo'burg airport (Voda counter in the hall)
for the same low rate as we would have paid at the Avis rental car
counter 20 minutes later (buying a sim card may even be cheaper but we
still had a sim lock on our mobile phones). This was handy for phoning
beforehand to hotels etc. while we were on our way to these, just to
check if they had vacancies. As a matter of fact a mobile phone also
gives a feeling of security, because in case of a car breakdown you
can just stay in the car and phone the rental car company.
For
general directions we used the Rough Guide map of South Africa
(1:1.700.000) which again proved to be reliable, like two years ago in
western South Africa. Cohen's birdfinding guide has some detail maps,
and when entering Kruger park we bought the detailed map (including
visitor's guide) of this park. Leaflets with maps were obtained for
any park we entered. Our field guide was Sinclair et al. Birds of
Southern Africa (3rd edition, 2002). Apart
from our Leica binoculars (8x32 and 12x50) we also brought our
lightweight Nikon ED Fieldscope, which was especially handy in the
vast open grasslands of the higher altitudes. We also had brought a
selection (on minidisc) of bird sounds, taken from Guy Gibbon’s
cassettes (Southern African Bird Sounds). We used them for learning
the sounds of the specialties just before entering a new birding site.
We sparsely used these for playback in the field with a small but
strong RadioShack speaker (mini amplifier-speaker cat.no. 277-1008C),
recently imported from the UK by a Dutch birder (Guus, thanks!).
A
word about Kruger NP. Birders often include only a small part of this
enormous park in their itinerary, e.g. just the northern tip, plus
some of the south. However, we think that traversing the whole park
from north to south (400 km) gives a tremendous feeling of space and
nature in general, plus a lot of good birds (and mammals of course).
Also, this park is really easy to travel (in terms of roads,
accommodation, food, petrol, safety) and not expensive, at least when
compared to parks in e.g. Kenia. OK you are not allowed to leave the
car outside the camps and picnic sites, but this was less a
problem than I feared, also because several of the smaller
birds can be seen inside the camps. As
said earlier, Callan Cohen's birdfinding guide (draft version) was of
utmost importance for us. At many of the sites we really saw a lot of
the specialties he clearly indicates for each site. The reference for
this book is:
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Itinerary:
(with
some of our birding highlights in italics; for the bird specialties of
each site, see Cohen's book; see also our species list)
Friday
28 October 2005. Arrival at Johannesburg international airport
at nine p.m. with KLM, transfer to nearby Town Lodge hotel with their
own shuttle bus (hotel pre-booked on internet).
Saturday
29 October. Had the hotel shuttle bus back to the airport and
picked up the Avis rental car at the airport. Drove north to Pretoria
where we visited the excursion leader of the next day (Erik de
Villiers). From there on to the Tamboti lodge about 70 km north of
Pretoria, along a dirt road in a savanna area. Did some birding on the
lodge grounds (garden, savanna; Crested
Barbet). Great food in the lodge.
Sunday
30 October. The excursion to the very diverse Ditholo bush
savanna area started at 6.30 h. The area seems only accesssible with a
special permit. White-backed
Duck, Southern Pochard, African (Blue-billed) Firefinch, Jameson's
Firefinch, and many others. Around noon we had our first and only
real braai (barbecue).
At
about 3 p.m. we left the area and went back to our lodge (only 10
minutes drive). An hour or so later we left again for a short visit to
the Rust de Winter nature reserve. This was far less interesting than
the Ditholo area, partly also because of the late hour. We really had
been lucky to have had the opportunity of being introduced to so many
bird species at Ditholo. Superb food at the Tamboti lodge again.
Monday
31 October. At dawn we left the lodge (with packed lunch in
stead of breakfast) and drove in about 20 minutes to the Zaagkuildrift
dirt road. The first few km of this is wide open grass savanna with
bustards etc (Northern Black
Korhaan, Pallid Harrier). Then
the road passes a mature wooded savanna (amongst others Kalahari Scrub-Robin). There is practically no traffic so you can
easily bird along the road. The final part is a floodplain area near
the village Kgomo-Kgomo (Capped
Wheatear, Kittlitz's Plover, Zebra (Orange-breasted) Waxbill).
Turned
back around noon and went on to Nylsvlei nature reserve. We knew it
would be too dry but we wanted to see the area nevertheless. We picked
up the key code at the entrance and then drove around the reserve to
the best birding spot, Vogelfontein ('bird spring'). There was very
little water left (Ostrich, Cape
Vulture).
We
got a room at the Vivaldi hotel/guesthouse (recommended in the Lonely
Planet) in Polokwane/Pietersburg. Actually it was a room at the
neighbour because the hotel was full. Good service! The hotel has a
good location both for the Polokwane nature reserve as for the largest
shopping mall we have seen on the whole trip. In this mall (Savannah
Centre, near eastern border of town) we had a nice dinner on a
terrace, and the next day we would stock up here for our long stay in
Kruger NP (although you can buy many things inside Kruger itself).
Tuesday
1 November. Polokwane NR opens at 7 a.m. only so we had the
hotel's breakfast before going there. We got our Short-clawed
Lark (at site C on Cohen's map) and also encountered a family of
rhinos closeby. We went to the Avis airport in order to try to change
our rental car because the security belt didn't work properly. They
had no comparable car left, but in Kruger we would hardly need the
security belt. After shopping in the mall we drove on to Kurisa Moya,
the splendidly located lodge in the Afromontane forests of the
Magoebaskloof. We drove straight to our cottage inside the forest and
never came out of the forest until two days later! Today we did the
shortest circular trail from the cottage (the 'birder's loop'; Chorister Robin-Chat, Forest Canary, Square-tailed Drongo). A lovely
meal was served at our cottage.
Wednesday
2 November. All day forest birding along the loop trails above
the cottage (Green-backed Camaroptera, Bar-throated Apalis, Blue-mantled Crested
Flycatcher, Yellow-streaked Greenbul, Olive Woodpecker, Black-fronted
Bush-shrike, Olive Bush-shrike, Yellow-throated Woodland-warbler,
White-starred Robin, Narina Trogon, all before breakfast; then Knysna Turaco, Grey
Cuckooshrike, Jackal Buzzard, Red-breasted Sparrowhawk, Thick-billed
Weaver, Lemon Dove, Scaly-throated Honeyguide; end of afternoon: Green
Twinspot, Brown Scrub-Robin . Great meals again.
Thursday
3 November. After some final early-morning birding in the
forest uphill from the cottage (Buff-spotted
Flufftail!) and a last vast breakfast we left Kurisa Moya. We
passed by the Magoebaskloof waterfalls (no birds of note) and drove on
to the Bat Hawk site a bit
further on (got the pair).
Then
the long drive to the Punda Maria gate of Kruger NP which we entered
at about 4 p.m. At Punda Maria camp (the northernmost in Kruger) it
was very hot. Some birding in camp (White
throated Robin-Chat).
Friday
4 November. All
morning at Pafuri, esp. the dirt road along the river + picnic site.
At the latter we were helped to some birds by Frank the warden, also a
bit outside the perimeter of the picnic site (gave him a tip). After
some rest in our room at the Punda Maria camp (a hot day again) we
tried out some of the Mahonie loop behind Punda Maria camp.
Some
Pafuri highlights:Trumpeter
Hornbill, Tambourine Dove, White-headed Lapwing, Martial Eagle. Brown
Hawk-eagle at pylons south.
Saturday
5 November. Mahonie loop in early morning (Grey-headed
Parrot, White-breasted Cuckoo-shrike). Left camp in time for
checkout and slowly drove to Shingwedzi, the next camp south (we even
did part of the Mahonie loop again too). In late afternoon did a bit
of the dirt road SE of camp, also as a reconnaisance for the next
morning.
Sunday
6 November. Left Shingwedzi very early and hence witnessed the
waking up of a pair of lions on the dirt road SE along the Mozambique
border. On along some wetter areas (Nshawu vlei) and then along the
main road along Letaba and Satara camps (brief visits for some
birding) all the way down to Skukuza camp, the largest camp of Kruger
NP. All cabins were full so we had a pre-erected tent for this night.
Some
highlights near Shingwedzi: Wahlberg's
Eagle, Pallid Harrier, Red-crested Korhaan, Southern Ground-hornbill.
Monday
7 November. A bad day. Gradually increasing pain in my belly
(or so I thought) from about 5 a.m. onwards. At 7 a.m., the pain was
such that Nollie arranged a visit to the doctor here (the only one in
Kruger, what a luck), and he immediately recognized it as kidney
problems because of drinking too little the previous day(s). Helped me
straight away out of it, with injections and other medications. Had to
rest most of the remaining day. Meanwhile, we really had to change our
car at the local Avis office here in Skukuza camp, because now also
the gearing was more and more problematic. This change of cars would
only be possible later the next day, but we got a temporary
replacement car. Later in the afternoon we did some birding in camp.
Tuesday
8 November. The day of the leopard (the last of the big five
for us). We did the circuit east of Skukuza (S114-S112-S65) along some
granitic outcrops (kopjes) and had the leopard halfway along the S65.
Nearly back at Skukuza, we had great views at the Lake Panic bird
hide. Some more rest at the camp and we finally got a good replacement
car.
Some
highlights near/at Skukuza:
African Black Duck, African Finfoot, Purple-crested Turaco, Burchell's
Cuckoo, Malachite Kingfisher, Mocking Cliff-chat, White-browed
Robin-Chat, Burchell's
Starling, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Violet-eared Waxbill.
Wednesday
9 November. Morning drive from Skukuza to Lower Sabie camp,
along the Sabie river (road H4-1) and then the long Salitje dirt road
(S30), ending at Mlondozi dam (Striped
Pipit, Yellow-breasted Apalis). Then a long lunch rest at the
fabulous terrace of Lower Sabie camp, the last stop of our stay in
Kruger NP. Then on to mountainous Swaziland (mainly for Blue Swallow,
which we saw indeed). We hoped to find some accommodation in Piggs
Peak, and we soon saw signs for a luxury casino hotel called Orion
Piggs Peak, situated c. 10 km N of Piggs Peak town. We knew from Spain
that such hotels can be cheap during the week and so I informed at the
counter of this lovely situated hotel. Within two minutes the rate
went down from a ludicrous 1200 to a surprising 340 rand (no meal or
breakfast then; we didn't need dinner because we had had a vast lunch
at Lower Sabie, and breakfast would be too late for us anyway). This
was a very good rate for the great room we had, the best of the whole
trip. Made a short stroll around the hotel (pine forest + garden)
before dark. Thursday 10 November. Entered Malolotja NP after a 30 minutes drive from the hotel. The lady at the park reception advised to search for the Blue Swallows at the first picnic site, and she was right. Take the righthand fork c. 2 km after the entrance; the obvious picnic site (encircled on map section below) is just 100 m or so after the fork. The map is provided at the entrance.
We got about 6
Blue Swallows (probably 3
pairs), flying around low over the grassy slopes, esp. just downhill
from the picnic site. After ticking several more mountain birds
here (Buff-streaked
Chat, Red-winged Francolin, Wailing Cisticola, Sentinel and Cape
Rock-thrush, Malachite Sunbird, Plain-backed Pipit, Orange-throated
Longclaw, a stray juvenile Southern Bald Ibis) we left and crossed
the border to South Africa again (formalities take about 30 minutes),
and drove on to Wakkerstroom, first along the fast N17, then along the
much slower N11 (potholes and repairs). In Wakkerstroom we just chose
the first B&B for which we saw a sign (Toad Hall) and this was a
good choice. It has a nice location away from the main street with a
birdy garden and close to a good restaurant (Country Inn; their pub also
serves good meals). After some rest, we did a first reconnaisance of
the 'lark road' about 9 km N of Wakkerstroom
Friday
11 November. With our packed breakfast/lunch and a copy of the
Wakkerstroom birdfinding guide (Tarboton; edition June 2004) we went
straight to that lark road (E2-E8 in Tarboton's guide; sites A-C in
Cohen). This is the road to the left after 8.6 km along the road North
from Wakkerstroom to Amersfoort (Blue Korhaan). All these roads are dirt roads, easily manageble by
normal cars. We completed the circuit via E2 and C2 (Tarboton)/ E and
H (Cohen; at H we had Rudd's
Lark) and the wetland near Wakkerstroom. Later in the afternoon we
successfully did the Yellow-breasted
Pipit site K (Cohen), had the bird right along the road.
Saturday
12 November. First went to the Dirkiesdorp area (Cohen's R) for
Barrow's Korhaan (saw
several of them). Then back to Wakkerstroom for more birding along the
lark road etc. In afternoon paid a visit to the other side of the
large wetland (Grey-crowned
Crane, Black-bellied Bustard). At the Birdlife office here we
learned how to get into the best lark pasture at Cohen's C site (all
guides were occupied, esp. because of a raptor course).
Sunday
13 November. Went straight to site C, but didn't dare to enter
the enormous pasture because of a bull in a large cow herd. Soon
after, a birding guide came with two clients and showed that you had
nothing to fear from the bull. So we also entered and had a great time
while successfully searching on our own for both rare larks (Rudd's
and Botha's). After a few hours we left the pasture and went back to our
accommodation.
Some
other highlights at Wakkerstroom: Secretarybird,
Jackal Buzzard, Montagu's Harrier, Spike-heeled Lark, Mountain
Wheatear, Anteating Chat, Wing-snapping and Pale-crowned Cisticola,
Red-collared Widowbird.
At
11 a.m. we left and drove on to Mkuzi game reserve, via Piet Retief.
At the start of this drive we had phoned to Mkuzi to ask if they had
accommodation left. This was the case; otherwise we would have tried
accommodation outside Mkuzi or we would have camped inside Mkuzi (on
hindsight, both options would have been far less attractive, esp.
because of the distances involved). At the camp of Mkuzi (called
Mantuma camp, with simple shop; no unleaded petrol!) we got the
bungalow just at closing time of the reception (4 p.m.!). Made a short
reconnaisance trip to both hides in the nearby Sand forest.
Monday
14 November. Whole day Mkuzi. First the Sand forest, then on to
Nsumo Pan, through lovely green savanna of all sorts. Made an early
dinner ourselves in the bungalow because the camp's snackbar wasn't
that good (we saw no restaurant), and because we wanted as well bird
the full period from 5 p.m. till dark (6.40 p.m.) as also take part in
the night drive (7-9 p.m.). During the latter (we were the only
participants) we saw several nightjars (Fiery-necked
and Square-tailed) and
mammals, but also learned where to find the African Broadbill the next
morning, a species that we had not found at Callan's stake-outs in the
Sand forest (the parking places of the hides).
Tuesday
15 November. First thing at dawn was the African
Broadbill, in the narrow stretch of sand forest along the tar road
towards the air strip. Then to Nsumo Pan and surroundings again. Back
at the bungalow at check-out time but staying an hour longer was no
problem.
Some
other Mkuzi highlights: Openbill
Stork, Martial Eagle, Crested Guineafowl, Marsh Sandpiper, both
Dikkops, Collared Pratincole, Red-fronted Tinkerbird, Bearded
Woodpecker, Eastern Nicator, Red-capped Robin-chat, Bearded
Scrub-robin, Rudd's Apalis, Bar-throated Apalis, Gorgeous,
Orange-breasted and Grey-headed Bush-shrikes, Purple-banded Sunbird,
Pink-throated Twinspot, Golden-breasted Bunting.
Then
on to the coast, for the St. Lucia wetlands. In St. Lucia we had a
very good fish meal at the recently opened branch of Ocean Basket. We
also did this because we would not have a restaurant at Cape Vidal
tonight, the hotspot for dune forest birds here. At the KZN Wildlife
office of Cape Vidal at the end of the tar road (a very nice slow 1
hour drive from St.Lucia) we got the bungalow that was promised us at
their St.Lucia office, and then did some reconnaisance at the camp
site and a bit along the road back.
Wednesday
16 November. Walked into the forested camp site at first light.
Got the specials after quite some searching, especially in the nearly
empty distant part of the camp site. After that also did some roadside
birding along the tar road back south plus the 18 km long dirt road
loop which starts just south of the Cape Vidal area, and winds through
various dune habitats (nice but not very birdy, except for a Little
Sparrowhawk). Upon return to the bungalow we had a look out at
sea, and were surprised by the many Cape
Gannets migrating south.
Highlights
in Cape Vidal: Southern Banded
Snake-eagle (halfway St. Lucia and C. Vidal),
Livingstone's Turaco, Trumpeter and Crowned Hornbill, Yellow-rumped
Tinkerbird, Brown Scrub-robin, Black-throated Wattle-eye, Woodward's
Batis, Black-bellied Starling, Eastern Olive Sunbird.
In
St. Lucia we had a fish lunch again in the Ocean Basket, so we would
need no dinner in Eshowe.
The
drive to Eshowe (coastal hill forest) took about 1,5 hours and we
arrived at the George hotel in the rain. At the end of the afternoon
we made a short walk at the back end (George hotel side) of the Dlinza
forest reserve, and also drove to the proper entrance to check the
opening time and ask for the best tactics for the next morning (trail
vs. canopy tower).
Thursday
17 November. A very nice early morning in the Dlinza reserve.
First did the loop trails (for the thrush) and afterwards the canopy
walkway + tower. Got both specialties (Delegorgue's
Pigeon and Spotted Ground-thrush) at the same spot, along the long
trail, clockwise, at about 1/3. Saw several canopy birds from the
canopy tower (White-eared Barbet, African
Emerald Cuckoo, African Cuckoohawk, Grey Cuckooshrike), a lovely
spot, and easily manageable even for those with some fear of heights.
Then
back to the hotel and onwards North for the long drive to Golden Gate
NP. Beautiful scenery around Vryheid. From Harrismith we had a
splendid road all the way to the camp of Golden Gate, where we got the
last available cabin (rondavel type; circular roof) for two nights. We
had called them from St. Lucia already. Made a walk from the camp up
to the base of the cliffs (see photo). Good dinner (buffet type) in
the large Protea hotel 1 km downhill from the camp. The camp (called
Glen Reenen) has a reasonable shop and a petrol station.
Friday
18 November. Whole day Golden Gate NP, mainly by car: both loop
roads and some birding along the main road. The Generaalskop loop road
and the Protea viewpoint were best, but we never managed to see the
main target bird (Drakensberg Rockjumper; although we probably heard
it at the Protea site). Buffet at Protea hotel again.
Highlights
in Golden Gate: Bearded and CapeVulture, Rock Kestrel, African Black Swift, Ground Woodpecker, Cape
Rock-thrush, Cape Grassbird, Mountain Pipit (shortly before
Generaalskop viewpoint),
Bokmakierie, Malachite Sunbird, bishops and widowbirds,
Swee Waxbill, Drakensberg Siskin.
Saturday
19 November. After some final birding in Golden Gate we drove
back in the direction of Harrismith, and suddenly saw in Cohen's
birdfinding guide that we could have another chance for the
rockjumper, at Witsieshoek (didn't known it was closeby). However, we
could not find the site. So we drove on to Memel, our last site, and
for just the last night. We had called already for accommodation at
the Mahem guesthouse which appeared to be a splendid place. Memel
doubles with Wakkerstroom but for us it meant a good location for a
last day of birding plus driving to Jo'burg airport. It was raining in
the afternoon which was not too bad as we needed some more rest. Went
up the road to the large wetland (west side) for a few km and saw a
group of four Marsh Owls.
Sunday
20 November. Grassland and some wetland birding in beautiful
weather on our last morning. The larks were a bit more difficult to
find (at B in Cohen) than in Wakkerstroom, but maybe we were just not
too bird-hungry anymore on this last day. Got a territorial Eastern
Long-billed Lark at A. Had a splendid view on the large wetland N
of Memel from the knoll described by Cohen (with African
Quailfinch along the approach road). We were allowed a very late
checkout at the guesthouse on this Sunday afternoon, so we could have
a last shower and rearrange the luggage for the departure. Easy drive to Jo'burg (arrived at dusk) where we had plenty of time for some shopping in the terminal. Departed at 11.30 p.m.
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Accommodation
addresses (see also Lonely Planet and
Cohen's birdfinding guide):
Town
lodge near Johannesburg international airport:
Tamboti
lodge (NE of Hammanskraal, in the Dinokeng area):
Vivaldi
guesthouse in Polokwane (Pietersburg):
Kurisa
Moya (in Magoebaskloof area):
Kruger
NP reservations:
Orion
Piggs Peak hotel (for Malolotja NP in Swaziland):
Toad
Hall B&B (Wakkerstroom):
Mantuma
camp in Mkuzi:
Cape
Vidal camp (St. Lucia):
George
hotel in Eshowe:
Golden
Gate NP camp:
Mahem
guesthouse in Memel: |
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GPS
waypoints (in WGS84):
Most
of these are also visible in Google Earth by opening EasternSouthAfrica2005.kmz W252
S26°07'13.55" E028°10'07.45"
- (back side of)
Town lodge hotel near Johannesburg international airport
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Some comments and additions to
Southern African Birdfinder (Cohen et al. 2006; see also above):
Site 120 - Mkuzi (Mhkuze):
Site 130 - Malalotja:
Site 131 - Wakkerstroom:
Site 132 - Memel:
Site 133 - Golden Gate NP:
Site 134 - Witsieshoek:
Site 145 - Zaagkuildrift road:
Site 162 - Nylsvlei:
Site 166 - Polokwane:
Site 168 - Bat Hawk:
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