Category: Blog

The game drive in the afternoon started at 3 p.m. and was really hard work in the heat of the day. (What did the bushman tell us about not moving around between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. ?)

The highlight of the mammals were the Black Rhinos – one of whom wallowed in the mud right under our noses) but I particularly enjoyed some of the bird life we saw: notably, the Northern Black Korhaan and the raptors which I am yet to identify.

South African Ground squirrel

The remains of a giraffe which, we were told. was slow to get up less than a week ago

Scrub Hare 

Hartmann’s Zebra

Kori Bustard

Black Rhino

Northern Black Korhaan

Crowned Plover

Northern Black Korhaan

Black-faced Impala

White-headed Vulture ?

African harrier hawk

Rhino

The cool group ?

Click below for photos from this afternoon

We were up very early this morning to set off at 5 a.m. on the first of two game drives in the Etosha National Park. The park was proclaimed a game reserve in 1907 and covers an area of 22,270 square kiometres.

The park was named after the Etosha Pan, which is located within the park. In Oshivambo, “Etosha” means “Great White Place”. A unique feature of Etosha is this vast salt pan, which temporarily becomes a shallow lagoon after a good rainy season. It had rained the night before our arrival but not enough to flood the pan. It must be a magnificent sight to see.

For the first part of our game drive we travelled in the dark and our guide pointed out animals by using a red light.

The highlight of this morning’s drive were the two pride of lions.

The mammals and birds in my photographs represent only a small amount of what we saw. Truly an amazing experience.

Aardwolf

Lionness

Jackel

Lion

Southern Red-billed Hornbill

Not sure – need to look at my bird book!

Kori Bustard – the heaviest flying bird in Africa

Springbok

Blue Wildebeest

Zebra

Lion cub

Giraffe

Ostrich

Spotted Hyaena

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning:

 

 

 

The first evening at the Okaukuejo Lodge we had our first real taste of the National Park when we visited the water hole next to the lodge. We were lucky to see an elephant arrive almost straightaway. At the time we didn’t realise how lucky we were as this was the only time we saw an elephant in the park. There was an interesting stand off with a rhino and the elephant and it was fascinating to see the elephant take evasive action.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

Shaft-tailed Whydah

Southern Red-billed Hornbill

Southern White-tailed Shrike

Purple Heron

Blacksmith Lapwing 

Common Greenshank (on right)

Crowned Lapwing (amongst the Blacksmith Lapwings)

Zebra

Black Rhino

Black-backed Jackel

Gemsbok (Southern Oryx)

SpringbokAfrican Elephant

African Hoopoe

Groundscraper Thrush

Click below for a gallery of photos:

 

 

 

We had an hour at Palmwag Lodge before setting off for Etosha and so I made the most of it by taking some bird photos. I was especially pleased to see the Rosy-faced Lovebirds.

Speckled Pigeon

African Red-eyed Bulbul

Swift

Speckled Pigeon

Marisco Flycatcher

Rosy-faced Lovebirds

The journey to Etosha was stunning especially as our guide and driver were brilliant at spotting wildlife and stopping frequently for us.

Giraffe

Giraffe

Kudu

Welwitschia Mirabilis

The age of individual plants is difficult to assess, but many plants may be over 1000 years old. Some individuals may be more than 2000 years old. Because Welwitschia only produces a single pair of foliage leaves, the plant was thought by some to be neotenic, consisting essentially of a “giant seedling.”

Petrified wood

Click below for photos of the journey.

 

We covered long distances today but, nonetheless, it was a very full and exciting one.

Just up the road from Sakopmund we stopped  to see a shipwreck which, although fairly recent, was completely inhabited by cormorants.

Skeleton coast?

We had got used to the gravel roads but around our next stop, at Hente Bay, we saw them spraying saltwater onto the roads which made them much smoother but I imagine a nightmare in rainy conditions.

We were soon back to the gravel roads but the landscape on our way to Twyfelfontein was much more undulating and even more spectacular.

At Twyflefontein we visited the ancienrpetroglyohs which were named Namibia’s first UNESCO World Heritage site. The site is thought to be the largest concentrations of Bushmen engravings in Africa, with over 2500 figures ranging from 2000 to 5000 years old. Our local guide described them as a sort of blackboard to teach about the animals to hunt and their various tracks. He also told us that they demonstrated that the Bushman had travelled further afield with pictures of animals, such as penguins and flamingos, as testament.

En route we observed the two tribes we had learned about in the township in Swakopmund, the Herero and the Himbo tribes which originally were part of the same tribe but now with very different costumes.

On approaching our lodge (Palwag) our guide and driver were constantly pointing out wildlife and we had plenty of stops to observe and photograph.

In the evening we didn’t have much time for observing wildlife but there were plenty of birds flying around the lodge.

Southern Masked Weaver

Sunset at Palmwag Lodge

Click below for gallery of today’s photos:

We had two nights in the seaside resort of Swakopmund and on Sunday, whilst the younger members of our group went off and did fun activities such as sky diving (I think I wait for my hundredth birthday for that) we recharged our batteries by strolling  along the beach and watching a few birds, mainly  cormorants and gulls, and observing others doing more adventurous water sports.

Kelp Gull

Hartlaub Gull

Although we were warned that it could be cloudy and fresh here we both managed to catch rather too much sun.

Typical seaside activities

In the evening we had a visit to a local township. Although we have visited Africa several times we have never felt inclined to do this, seeing it as rather voyeuristic. However,  we had confidence in the ethical  values of our tour company National Geographic G- Adventures and the reassurances of our guide, Julian, that we went along with it. It was, in the end, a very enjoyable experience, with a visit to a local market and to the home of a member of the Herero tribe; a lesson in the local click language from a women at an orphan centre; a visit to a local hostelry followed by meal of local foods at a restaurant in the township. The main reason for including this in my nature blog is that I did attempt the dish of caterpillars, some of which we had  seen earlier at the local market.

Dried fish at the township market

Bags of caterpillars

 

Click below for gallery of today’s photos:

 

With another early start we found ourselves having breakfast shortly after 6 a.m. eating once again al fresco in shorts and short sleeve shirts but glad that it was a little cooler. I was a little concerned about the lengthy journey back north to Swakopmund on the west coast of Namibia but in the end I had no reason to worry as it was a very eventful day.

First we had a good coffee stop at the quaint little town of Solitaire.

Then the most wonderful stop in the countryside where a local man took us out into the desert and told us about how animals and bushman survived in the desert. I cannot praise this visit enough.

The visit was entertaining and informative and the local man used the most amazing pedagogical techniques which would have put any superstar tv production to shame. I certainly now know that the worst thing that can happen to the desert is lots of rain.

Springbok

Oryx

Oryx

Oryx

Zebra

Our driver Immanuel again manoeuvred through the ruts of the gravel road at high speed to ensure we had a safe, smooth and swift journey to the coast and that we did not collide with the various wildlife that we saw en route, such as oryx, springbok and zebra.

Immanuel

Immanuel with his fellow coach driving brother and Julian, our guide – quite a front row.

We had a couple more stops; first as we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and then to see an interesting canyon with sedimentary rocks (including mica. Finally we arrived at the Atlantic coast and stopped at Walvis Bay where we saw some flamingos and a few other birds in the fresh and misty conditions.

 

Swakopmund was a short distance up the coast where we booked into our quaint German colonial style hotel (with dependable WiFi) and then out for dinner at a lovely seafood restaurant right on the sea front.

Click below for gallery of photos from today:

 

 

 

In the evening we booked a nature trail drive around the extensive grounds of the lodge and, as well as seeing quite a lot of wildlife (including oryx, jackels, ground squirrels and a bird of prey – possibly a Secretary Bird) , we enjoyed the most remarkable of “sundowners” watching the sun set from the distant hills which we see from our lodge. Our guide Werner was a most knowledgeable guide and a very welcoming host for the “sundowners”.

Werner informing us about some of the local plants and their medicinal properties

Jackel

Oryx

Ground squirrel

Secretary Bird

Werner’s other skills

It’s not a holiday without a sunset photo

Click below for gallery of this evening’s photos:

 

 

We made an early start for our morning excursion into the national park to explore the Namib Desert. There were a few birds to see, notably Pied Crows, Red-winged Starlings and again lots of Cape Sparrows and other LBJs, but the highlights from a nature point of view (and I make no excuse for including them here in my nature notes blog) were the dunes.

Our guide, Julian, was excellent at pointing out animal tracks in the desert.

Pied Crow

Red-Winged Starling

Cape Sparrow

The younger members of the group – and some not quite so young – climbed Dune 45 (named because it is 45 k from the entrance to the park) before we moved on to visit the Deadvlei clay pans.

The area at Deadvlei was also quite spectacular with clay pans covered in a crust of salt rich sand and surrounded by burnt orange and red towering dunes.

On the way back we stopped briefly to see the small Sesriem Canyon where the Tsauchab River flows and creates the nearby salt and clay pans of Sossuvlei.

By this time the heat was becoming overpowering. On our return to the lodge a shower and lunch were very welcome.

 

Click below for gallery of this morning’s  photos

For the last few months our nature watching has been restricted, in the main, to our local urban parks. For the next few weeks it’s is going to be rather different and, hopefully, rather special.

The first part of or trip to Africa has started in Windhoek, the capital of  Namibia. Following an overnight flight from Heathrow to Johannesburg and a much shorter flight on to Windhoek we had a relaxing first evening in the Windhoek Country Club. This gave us a chance to meet and get to know the other members of our National Geographic G-Adventures group; a very exciting eclectic group with 3 Americans (a couple from Texas and a young man from Boston), 3 Canadians (a couple from Toronto and a young woman from Vancouver), 3 Brits (a young woman from London and us), a young German woman from Hamburg and a young Swiss woman from Lausanne. Plus our South African guide, Julian, has an interest in birds, which makes it even more exciting.

Before we set off on our long journey to the south of Namibia I had a few minutes for some bird photos in the grounds of the Country Club. The most interesting of the birds was a Groundscraper Thrush but there was plenty of others to see, including hirundines of some sort which were screeching back and forth to their nests in the apex of the hotel buildings.

Groundscraper Thrush

En route to Sesriem (6 hours to the south) we saw lots of interesting birds and even stopped for a while to see and learn about the huge nests of Sociable Weavers which we would see regularly along the road.

Sociable Weavers

Sociable Weavers’ nest

We stopped for an excellent lunch at Conny’s Restaurant (which would make a blog in itself) where we also saw lots of Cape Sparrows, Southern Masked Weavers (who also have interesting nests),  a Sunbird  and three quite spectacular noisy Grey Go-Away-Birds.

Gunter preparing a coffee tasting at Conny’s restaurant

Southern Masked Weavers and nests (below)

Cape Sparrow

Female Sunbird

From the coach I saw several raptors and a Hornbill but there was no chance of photos. However, we did stop at one particular point and had great views of a particularly attractive lizard.

Agama lizard

Agama lizard

Agama lizard

The roads were quite interesting but our excellent driver Immanuel was never phased by them and we travelled in comfort in his comfortable Chinese coach

Road works – and not a cone in sight!

In the grounds of our lodge (Sossuvlei) we saw Guinea Fowl, lots of Sociable Weavers (scavenging near the hotel with the Cape Sparrows) and a very attractive bird which I haven’t identified yet.

The view from the lodge with younger members of the group.

White-backed mousebird

Dining al fresco

Click below for a gallery of photos from today (not always in chronological order as I used 2 cameras with different time settings – tut, tut.

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Following a twitter tip-off we managed  to bag a “first” on our Sunday morning walk in our local park when we saw a water rail. There wasn’t much else around except for a female kingfisher. But hey ho who’s complaining.

Water Rail in normal lurking mode.

But then it started to show off.

Female kingfisher showing the orange on its lower mandible

Short video of kingfisher

 

Boating seems to have returned to the lake

Click below for gallery of photos:

It may have been a very challenging day with poor light for photography but there is so much to see (and much of it very close up) that it’s always a delight to visit WWT Slimbridge.

The highlights for me were the constant action of Bewick Swans approaching on their flightpaths, the cranes out on the wetlands, the shear number of waders out on the wetlands and the opportunity to see close up so many exotic wild fowl from all around the world in the well constructed pools.

Bewick swan landing

Crane in flight

Crane landing

Shelduck in flight

The joy of the chase – a lapwing hounded by black-headed gulls

A riot of gulls

Mandarin ducks can be found in the wild too

You don’t normally get this close to a ruff

…or see the sweeping action of avocets so close

Some very exotic birds

…and some very common ones too – blue tits (and great tits) start singing again in January

Some very fierce looking birds

… and some sweet looking ones (such as this goldeneye)

Wigeon in flight

… and flamingos which aren’t going anywhere

Click below for a gallery of photos from today: