Matt Eade's Blog: Namibia

Tuesday, 2 October 2018

Namibia - Day 1 2/10/18

A long time coming but thankfully another Eade tour is underway, and this time to Namibia to hopefully near complete my southern African list. I flew Virgin leaving at 8pm on the 1st and arriving on time at Johannesburg in the morning. I then had to wait four hours in transit ready for my BA flight over to Windhoek arriving again on time. The car from Hertz was picked up with ease and I was soon on my way through the quiet city of Windhoek to Daan Viljoen Game Lodge. This is an expensive place to stay at, however some of the near endemics are surprisingly numerous here, meaning a stop here is a necessity.

Having been to South Africa twice including birding the northern Cape Route, many birds I have seen before, admittedly only four years ago so this trip is more of a target hit list rather then going for a big list, although I’ll do my best.

From my chalet I walked to the dam and back, and over a time period of an hour I notched up some great birds, including the much desired Rockrunner. The most surprising bird was a Ruff feeding around the small body of water. Dinner was had outside next to the swimming pool listening to the African Wilderness, reminding myself how lucky I am to be back on this amazing continent. An Acacia or Black-tailed Tree Rat was viewed from the table and a Cape Fox on the walk back to the chalet.

Highlights today are as follows:

Red-billed Teal - 50
Southern Pochard - 3
RED-BILLED SPURFOWL - 25
Striated Heron - 1
Black-winged Kite - 1
Dark-chanting Goshawk - 1
Black Crake - 2
Blacksmith Lapwing - 3
Three-Banded Plover - 1
Ruff - 1
Namaqua Dove - 10
Alpine Swift - 5
BRADFIELD’S SWIFT - 1
White-rumped Swift - 1
Lilac-breasted Roller - 2
Swallow-tailed Bee Eater - 4
Rock Kestrel - 1
Cape Penduline Tit - 3
ROCKRUNNER - 2
Chestnut-vented Warbler - 1
Pale-winged Starling - 15
SHORT-TOED ROCK THRUSH - 3
Cinnamon-breasted Bunting - 1