Namibia day five

Today we travelled between the Onduda Safari Lodge to the White Lady Lodge near the Brandberg Mountains with a few stops on the way. 

14 lifers today. All good. 

Live trip report HERE. 

Rockrunner

Monteiro's Hornbill

Violet Wood-hoopoe

Red-billed Spurfowl. We also had Hartlaub's Spurfowl today but tricky and missed the pic.

Black-throated Canary

African Scops Owl

Pearl Spotted Owlet

Ruppell's Bustards, male and female 

Rock Kestrel

Bokmakerie

Kirk's Dikdik

Impala (Black-faced)

Rock Hyrax

Namibia day four

Today we made our way into the interior with a few stop offs including around Spitzkoppe before arriving at Ondudu Safari Lodge. It was a big haul of birds with 27 lifers and our first large mammals too including Angola Giraffe, Kudu, Springbok, Steenbok, Impala and Rock Hyrax. 

The bird year list is now on 1022 so well past the target of 1000 species in a year.

White-quilled Bustard

Ruppell's Bustard

Red-crested Bustard

Stark's Lark

Karoo Long-billed Lark

Rufous-eared Warbler

Black-fronted Bulbuls

Steenbok

Southern (Angola) Giraffe

Ondudu Safari Lodge accommadation 

Namibia day three

Today we spent around Walvis Bay and drove through the salt pans to Pelican Point HEREand then after lunch (and a visit to the shopping mall to replace my luggage which at least has been found in London now) we went to check Bird Island HERE. 

Three lifers today and the year list is now on 985. 

Tomorrow we leave the cool coastline into the blistering interior as we head north towards Etosha. 

Adult Damara Tern (above and below)

First-'summer' Damara Tern

African Oystercatchers (above and below)

Crowned Cormorant

Lesser Flamingo

Checking the hundreds of Curlew Sandpipers for a Dunlin (a local rarity)

Mainly Black Terns- plenty of Palearctic migrants are currently arriving 

Chestnut-banded Plovers- we estimated over 1000 in the bay today 

Black-backed Jackal

Cape Fur Seal

Namibia day two

This morning, while I waited for the group to arrive, I did a bit along the promenade and then went to town to buy a battery charger (still no sign of my bag and by the sounds of nobody knows where it is). While I had the taxi driver we did a diversion to the Birds' Paradise wetlands HERE,

Then I had lunch and a rant to the baggage company before meeting the group and we set off for Rooibank for some larking HERE and then it was back to Birds' Paradise wetlands HERE. I had 10 lifers today taking me to 3600 species for the world-HERE. The bird year list is on 979 edging closer to the 1000 in a year target. 

A few photo highlights below:

Gray's Lark

Dune Lark

Red-capped Lark

A couple of classic African plovers- Three-banded (above) and Kittlitz's (below) 

Maccoa Duck 

South African Shelduck

Plain Martin 

(African) Reed Warbler 

Rosy-faced Lovebird

Dune Lark habitat

Namibia day one

After a long overnight flight to Johannesburg and then a short flight to Walvis Bay I arrived in Namibia around mid-day. Unfortunately my bag didn't arrive with me and we are still trying to track it down. Jaffa was sick so couldn't make the trip too so I'm travelling alone at the moment until the group arrives tomorrow so hopefully we're getting the bad luck out of the way.

Fortunately there is a great birding area outside the Flamingo Villas Botique Hotel that I'm staying in so I spent the afternoon checking out the mudflats HERE . Highlights included Chestnut-banded Plover, Cape Cormorant and Rosy-faced Lovebird which were lifers but also had Greater Sand Plover (a local scarcity), White-fronted Plovers, Damara Tern, Cape Sparrow, Cape Wagtail, White-rumped Swifts and a nice selection of waders and both Lesser and Greater Flamingos. 

Fingers crossed my bag arrives tomorrow! 

White-fronted Plover 

Chestnut-banded Plover, immature/non-breeding

Hartlaub's Gull

Kelp Gull

Greater Sand Plover (above and below), a local scarcity 

Greater Flamingo

Male Cape Sparrow

Female Cape Sparrow (above) and Cape Wagtail (below)