November 1-20, 2022 with Tarry Butcher & Megan Edwards Crewe
What a fabulous time we had rambling our way across the wide, wild stretches of Namibia and Botswana! From the monumental red sand dunes of the Namib-Naukluft National Park and the plentiful lagoons around Walvis Bay on Namibia's famed "Skeleton Coast," we wound our way to the craggy Erongo Mountains and the vast dry saltpan and stony steppes of Etosha National Park, and then on to the watery wonderland of the Okavango delta. With our tight-knit "Band of Seven" (ably led by the indomitable Tarry), a trusty safari vehicle or two, a boat, and the capable help of various drivers and boatmen, we found a slew of southern Africa's special flora and fauna, including a multitude of birds and many of southern Africa's most well-known mammals. We started our adventure with a quick half hour of birding around our Johannesburg hotel before our flight to Windhoek, picking up a quartet of species we wouldn't see again: Glossy Ibis, Karoo Thrush, Cape Robin-chat and Red-necked Wryneck. After an easy flight to Namibia, we made our way across the city to our hotel for lunch and a short break, then headed out to the Gammans sewage treatment plant for the late afternoon -- because what's a birding tour without a sewage treatment plant?
We had plenty to look at once we got there. An out-of-place Fulvous Whistling-Duck paddled along the edge of a settling pond, along with more expected Blue-billed Teal, Little Grebes, Red-billed Ducks and Red-knobbed Coots. A Spotted Thick-knee sank lower and lower as a pair of chattering, heavily-laden women walked ever closer. African Darters and Reed Cormorants squatted spread-eagled in treetops, drying their wings. Single White-throated and Greater Striped swallows coursed over the ponds with a mob of Southern Crag-Martins. Hundreds (and hundreds and hundreds!) of Wattled Starlings decorated the wires and metal sides of the plant's treatment tanks. Scarlet-chested Sunbirds and Southern Red Bishops gleamed against gray vegetation. A Burnt-necked Eremomela and a trio of Pied Barbets flicked through thorny bushes. Pin-tailed Whydahs scrabbled in the dust, searching for fallen seeds. Fork-tailed Drongos hunted from convenient fence posts. Purple and Gray herons stalked the shallows while African Reed and Lesser Swamp warblers twitched through the reeds. After spending several hours exploring the site (picking up 47 species in the process) we proceeded on to the Trans-Namib station, where a row of stately palms had attracted a noisy mob of Rosy-faced Lovebirds and a quartet of swifts -- Bradfield's, Alpine, Little and African Palm -- zoomed back and forth overhead.
The next day, we birded our way south to the Desert Hills Lodge, on the edge of the Namib-Naukluft National Park. A flock of 40-plus Marabou Storks stood in a field, some preening, some poking desultorily at the ground, some resting on folded legs. A trio of Purple Rollers sat on a roadside wire like beads on a string. A quintet of White-backed Vultures, now considered to be critically endangered, circled lazily over a sere landscape. Two Verreaux's Eagles perched atop a roadside hill, surveying their domain, and a Klipspringer stood atop its own hill later in the day. We made a stop at the Guisus dam and scrambled our way up to the edge of the reservoir, where we found a nice mix of waterfowl and shorebirds, including a dozen endangered Maccoa Ducks, a Red-knobbed Coot with some very small (and very ugly-cute) chicks, and three dozen bill-sweeping Pied Avocets. We had a picnic in a lovely shady grove near the base of the dam, where we also found a busy little mixed flock of Pririt Batis, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Eremomela and more. A group of 18 Ludwig’s Bustards stopped us in our tracks as we worked our way south, as did a trio of Ruppell's Bustards -- and the tour's only Karoo Chats -- a bit further on. A stop in Solitaire netted us a food-carrying Familiar Chat, a Chat Flycatcher, a very busy Cape Ground Squirrel colony, and a Yellow Mongoose that nosed around under the bird feeders for a bit.
We spent much of the next day at the Namib-Naukluft National Park, marveling at its vast red sand dunes and big herds of Gemsbok. We tracked down a Dune Lark shortly after arriving at the park and followed it around for a while in slanting morning sunshine, watching it feed. A pair of Pygmy Falcons provisioning a nest with a stream of little lizards, a couple of Black-chested Snake-Eagles, our first Lappet-faced Vultures and Greater Kestrels, Ludwig’s and Rueppell’s bustards, several Southern Fiscals, Scaly Weaver, lots of Cape Sparrows and a Black-backed Jackal that trotted by within yards of us were among the highlights. Late in the day, we walked up the Tsauchab (dry) riverbed on a pretty quiet afternoon, adding the tour’s only Karoo Long-billed Larks and Chat Flycatcher among a handful of other more widespread species. White-throated Canaries were common around the lodge. We added Gray-backed Sparrow-Lark at Solitaire the following morning and our first Mountain Zebras on the drive to Walvis Bay.
Black clouds glowered as we made our way towards Walvis Bay, and the heavens opened before we reached the coast, turning the salt road slickly treacherous. Clearly, this was an unusual event for the Skeleton Coast: when we went to dinner that night (with yet more rain falling), some of the locals were quite literally singing in the rain! The areas's extensive lagoons and salt flats were our focus here, and they didn't disappoint. Thousands of Greater and Lesser Flamingoes swarmed along the shorelines, dancing on improbably long legs. Hundreds of plovers -- Chestnut-banded, Kittlitz's, Three-banded and White-fronted -- huddled together on windy mudflats. Damara Terns fluttered like bits of confetti. Vast strings of cormorants (Cape and Crowned) hurtled past or added to burgeoning nests on platforms near the Swakopmund saltworks, with a few Cape Gannets sprinkled in among the flybys. An early morning prowl through the neighborhood around our hotel netted us close views of the range-restricted Orange River White-eye.
We spent the next three days exploring the Erongo Mountains, with two nights at Hohenstein Lodge on the south side of the range and another at Ai-Aiba Lodge on the north side, and the first of our many sundowners. We took morning walks on the trail systems of both places (along a bike track near the main lodge at the latter) with afternoon game drives. Ancient wall paintings at Ai-Aiba, seen at a stop on our afternoon drive there, were pretty cool; one has been used as part of the logo for the lodge. We did pretty well on birds here. Though we dipped completely on Hartlaub’s Partridge, we had good encounters with zillions of Speckled Pigeons, some pointblank Double-banded Sandgrouse, Freckled Nightjar on the cliffs between along the edge of the track between our rooms and the dining room at Ai-Aiba, a couple of perched Tawny Eagles (near a surprisingly chill gang of Rock Hyrax sprawled atop adjacent rocks), Monteiro’s and Damara’s Red-billed hornbills, a very cooperative Rockrunner, Desert Cisticola, Herero Chat, Kalahari Scrub-Robin, Barred Wren-Warbler, Desert Cisticola, Black-faced Waxbill and Green-winged Pytilia, with Cape, Lark and Golden-breasted buntings along the bike trail at Ai-Aiba. We saw our only Dassie Rats here, as well as Black and Yellow mongooses (mongeese?), plenty of Rock Hyrax, a Small-eared Dormouse, Elephant Shrew and our first Steenboks. Plus, we added plenty of lizards and geckos to our lists.
From there, we moved on to the impressively large Etosha National Park, with its arid plains and immense dried salt pan. It was very hot and surprisingly crowded here; each of the camps was packed, particularly at the restaurants and in-camp watering holes. And those watering holes were marvelous, alive with animals (particularly at dusk and after dark) and birds (during daylight hours). We had a pride of Lions unsuccessfully trying to grab prey coming to the Okaukuejo waterhole (with multiple failed attempts) plus numerous other prides elsewhere in the -- one of which walked down the road right past our vehicle, eyeing us as they went by. A mom and baby Black Rhino snoozed near the Moringa waterhole. We saw vast herds of Blue Wildebeest with a few Hartebeest sprinkled in, lots of Common Giraffes with their attendant Yellow-billed (and a few Red-billed) oxpeckers, Warthogs and many Burchell’s Zebras, plenty of African Elephants, some adorably tiny Kirk’s Dik-diks, Black-faced Impala, and a pair of Cheetah in the shade under a bush, that Tarry spotted while hurtling past on a road 100 yards away, despite the fact that only the tips of their ears were initially visible! We found our only Kori and White-quilled bustards there, plus plenty of Common Ostrich (including a pair shading a panting bunch of tiny youngsters), Red-cheeked Nightjar, White-rumped Swift, a plethora of shorebirds, including our only Caspian Plovers, lots of Double-banded Coursers, Black-headed Heron, some fabulous Blue Cranes, hunting Secretarybirds, Martial Eagle, Gabar Goshawk, a Southern White-faced Owl in a small tree right in the middle of the noisy camp (found on our way to dinner one night), Red-necked Falcon, Spike-heeled, Red-capped, Eastern Clapper and Pink-billed larks, Rufous-chested Swallow, Bare-cheeked and Black-faced babblers, and Capped Wheatear.
We continued to work our way eastwards, stopping at Lake Otjikoto and at several places along the Zufarte Hakusembe River road before spending a night along the Taranga River on our way towards the border. We had a handful of species we found only here – White-browed Coucal, Pied Cuckoo, Sulphur-breasted Bush-Shrike, Yellow-bellied Greenbul, Terrestrial Brownbul, Kurrichane Thrush, Eastern Paradise-Whydah, Black Goshawk – and heard our only Fiery-necked Nightjar as dusk fell along the river. We finished our time in Namibia with a morning along the Okavango, finishing at Bwabwata National Park. We picked up a few new species seen only that morning – Levaillant’s Cuckoo, Steppe Eagle and African Sacred Ibis (otherwise seen only in flight in Joburg) – plus a slew of nice mammal encounters, including our only Lechwe and a group of handsome Sable Antelope.
From there, we moved on to Botswana, leaving Gerhardus and our trusty vehicle at the border (where a mob of Southern Carmine Bee-eaters had kept us entertained while various bits of paperwork were being completed. We traded the jeep for a boat and headed down the Okavango, stopping for two nights at Xaro Camp. Chief among our targets here was Pel’s Fishing Owl and (after an anxious half hour looking for it after it flushed as we initially approached) we had wonderful views of a perched bird being harassed by some very unhappy kites with an unexpected male Narina Trogon for good measures. Other good sightings along the river included a pointblank White-backed Night-Heron, plenty of wary White-faced Whistling-Ducks, a few African Pygmy-Geese, Spur-winged Goose, African Swamphen, Black Crake, Water Thick-knee, Long-toed and Wattled lapwings, African and a half-dozen Lesser jacanas, African Snipe, Collared Pratincole, Whiskered Tern, African Skimmer, Hamerkop, Goliath and Purple herons, Slaty Egret and lots of kingfishers. We had a number of landbirds along the banks too: Coppery-tailed Coucal, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Chirping Cisticola, Black-faced Babbler, African Stonechat, Fan-tailed Widowbird, plus Lesser Striped and Pearl-breasted swallows overhead. A big termite hatch attracted in our only Crested Francolins (and lots of other things) and both there and elsewhere on the lodge grounds, we found Mourning Collared-Dove, Dideric Cuckoo, Green Woodhoopoe, White-fronted and Little bee-eaters, Broad-billed Roller, Lesser Honeyguide, Southern Black Tit, Violet and Greater Blue-eared starlings, Collared Sunbird, and Brown Firefinch. A little group of Peters’ Epauletted Fruit Bats hung from the ceiling of one of the “outdoor rooms” and we found an African Rock Python on our walk on the grounds.
After a relatively quick charter flight, we finished the tour at Macatoo Camp, where we enjoyed morning and evening game drives, roasted in our tents during the breaks and sat out under the stars for our dinners. The latter certainly made our celebration of Martha’s 80th birthday feel quite special! The mammal watching here was outstanding, with scores of African Elephants, plenty of Black-faced Vervet Monkeys, our first African Buffalo, Bushbuck, Tsessebe, many antelope of various species, a pair of Stripe-sided Jackals, and a very vocal and territorial (and slightly scary) Hippopotamus in a watering hole where we had our sundowners one evening. The birding wasn’t too shabby either, with our best Swainson’s Francolins, Red-crested and Black-bellied bustards, Square-tailed and Swamp nightjars, Wattled Crane, Small Buttonquail, Saddle-billed and Yellow-billed storks, Lappet-faced and Hooded vultures, Wahlberg’s Eagle, Brown Snake-Eagle, African hawk-Eagle, Little Sparrowhawk, Southern Ground-Hornbill, Bennett’s and Golden-tailed woodpeckers, Dickinson’s Kestrel, Meyer’s Parrot, Chinspot Batis, White Helmetshrike, Black-crowned Tchagra, Gabon Boubou, Red-backed and Magpie shrikes, Southern Black-Tit, Fawn-colored and Rufous-naped larks, Rattling Cisticola, Southern Black-Flycatcher, Yellow-throated Bush Sparrow, Plain-backed Pipit, and write-ins including Gray-tit Flycatcher, Bat Hawk, White Stork and Tree Pipit. A couple of wide-eyed African Barred Owlets in camp each night kept us entertained as we walked back to our rooms after dinner.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/344930
-- Megan