By Dianne Tipping-Woods

It’s no secret that many of my leisure hours are spent watching birds. Big birds, little birds, grassland birds, highveld birds, bushveld birds, forest birds… My husband is a birder and it’s really more his hobby than mine. I kind of bird by osmosis, surprising myself with previously unsuspected knowledge when I recognise a call or make the right ID based on a certain feather pattern or beak colour. Not too many of my friends understand the appeal of this pastime and it’s not something you can really explain, other than that there are worse ways to spend a few hours on a weekend and that birds obligingly occur in some of the country’s most scenic regions.

But I do have my limits as I discovered when I took part in Birding Big Day last year, an annual competition that sees birders all over South Africa spending a 24 hours identifying as many birds as they can within a 50 kilometre radius. After last year’s somewhat exhausting experience it was with trepidation that myself and my best friend D, agreed to accompany our partners on a recce for this year’s event. They were exploring a new route and promised us a weekend away at a resort with a mineral pool and various amenities to use in non-birding time, while they prepared for the big day. They hinted strongly that cooperation would be worth our while…

Knowing that without us, they’d probably expire from malnutrition and too much beer, and suspecting that our reward might make it all worthwhile, we agreed to go along. The base camp was Amanzintaba, which is a fairly simple camp in a nature reserve. While the mineral pool was empty there was a nice-looking pool, as soon as the Correctional Services Christmas party came to an end, we had ourselves the makings of a good weekend with lots of lazing by the pool and perhaps some cocktails to boot.

Then the weather turned cold.  And a few hours of birding stretched into a full day…D and I were stoic.  We’d only joined the boys at around 9 and they made regular toilet stops for us, supplied us with chocolate and didn’t dare to complain when we spent more time dozing than spotting!

Sunday morning was also overcast and we packed up and bundled into the car, rebelling somewhat at the thought of yet another day of birding obscure roads, assessing vegetation and measuring transit times in relation to bird activity plotted over a period of 24 hours. Sensing that we were reaching our limits, the boys announced our big surprise to keep us sweet…an afternoon at a spa while they finished up the tail end of their route.

This was more like it and as we birded our way towards Cullinan and our spa, the sun came out and we were as chirpy as the birds at the thought of the preening to come.

Cullinan is a mining town, most famous for producing the Cullinan Diamond, a gem of extraordinary dimensions and world-wide fame. You wouldn’t think it driving into the somewhat sleepy little dorp, with its humble facades and dusty streets.

But don’t underestimate it! We were amazed by Zau Spa – it’s an absolute gem! The small spa overlooks the Cullinan Dam. It’s set in an exquisitely sculpted garden, arranged to form natural ‘rooms’, each with its own view, comfortable lounger, pile of magazines and immaculately turned out young ladies ready to serve you anything from champagne to espresso between your treatments.

And as you settle in and start to notice the detail, you’ll see walls built of old sewing machines, birdbaths made from old claw foot baths, mosaics made from recycled tins, sculptures in unlikely places holding up pagodas, old clocks, scales, pots and pans housing herbs and blooms in a fantastic array of colours, reflected in big mirrors and sparkling plasterwork made from broken glass with streams, fountains and waterfalls providing a relaxing soundtrack to it all… Every detail of the property is a work of art, with incredible finishes that carry through to the unique treatment rooms.

Our afternoon package began with a self service lunch made up from a delicious and healthy selection of light, home-made dishes. This was followed by a hot stone massage – bliss – head and scalp massages, and full arm and leg treatments. Between each treatment we sipped white wine and water, lazed in the gorgeous garden and waxed lyrical about the joys of birding. We finished up with a late afternoon dessert and melted into the arms of our birding beaus…

The fact that our team saw 180 different species on the actual competition day (30 more than last year)  seems somehow irrelevant.