NAMIBIA & BOTSWANA BIRDING & ENIGMATIC WILDLIFE 7th - 22nd September 2019 [email protected] | (800) 348-5941 | +1-409-515-9110 | www.tropicalbirding.com ENIGMATIC WILDLIFE TOURS Don’t let the company’s name fool you. Here at Tropical Birding Tours, we are as obsessed with mammals as we are birds, herps and all other wildlife. Our new category of ‘Enigmatic Wildlife’ tours focusses on quality experiences with amazing animals that were once considered near- mythical, be they nocturnal critters of Borneo or the Kalahari, Mongolia’s Snow Leopards and Bactrian Camels, or Madagascar’s Perrier’s Sifaka and Fosa. This custom tour scored an array of incredible charismatic and iconic wildlife, and we are well poised to run some of the best tours focussed on the rarest and most seldom seen wildlife in Namibia. For more details on any of the Enigmatic Wildlife products please e-mail [email protected] Namibia is an unforgettable, ancient land of incredible and stark contrast. From vast open deserts and rocky plains to sweeping savannah and rolling hills. By way of a perennially battered subantarctic coast, we made our way through the richest landscapes this underrated and under visited country has to offer. Travelling our tried and tested itinerary, we began in the desert-surrounded demi-city of Windhoek where we travelled first through the heart of the Namib Desert to the storm-beaten and significantly cooler Atlantic coast. Heading inland we then spent an idyllic couple of nights in the Erongo Mountains. On a normal tour, our next stop would be regarded as the grand finale… Etosha National Park. Legendary in status, mythical in the whispers it generates, Etosha never fails to live up to its reputation. However for us, we pushed on even further, through the rustic Caprivi Strip and into the lush riverine landscapes of the Okavango Panhandle - Botswana. African Fish Eagle on the Okavango No tour is ever the same as another, and that is especially true here in Namibia where water, or the lack thereof, often dictates where animals congregate, in what numbers and in what composition. Birds in this landscape are mostly nomadic, some will be easy to find and abundant one year, and near- absent the next, so a journey here is always full of surprises. We did exceptionally well this year, seeming to be always on the up-side of any abnormality. Lioness in Etosha NP It was hard to choose the tour highlights, but I tasked the group to give me their ‘ultimate moments’ of the tour. I asked for a mammal, a bird, a mammal encounter, and a bird encounter, from each of them, that they feel were the pinnacle of the tour. The selections were varied, but shared some commonality. The ultimate moment of the tour was clearly an afternoon session spent watching a group of Lion deciding whether or not to hunt a young Elephant, only to be put firmly in their place by the rest of the herd. Bird highlights included the incomparable PEL’S FISHING OWL, bizarre Hamerkop, and often-underrated African Yellow White-eye, whilst mammals were dominated by Honey Badger and some of the best encounters with Black Rhino that I have ever had. Guy rated a Black Rhino walking so close to us we could hear its footsteps as among the top moments, and Janet rated the bird feeding area at Erongo - no doubt because it included a coffee in hand! Lilac-breasted Roller on the Okavango Connie reminded us of the moment we watched an African Fish Eagle attack a Lappet-faced Vulture on the Botswana border, by jumping on its back talons- first. Nas highlighted a beautiful African Spoonbill, swishing and swashing its way closer to us, and it was Gretchen that told us to look way back to the frigid coast and remember the “zillions” of flamingoes amongst the ochre-red dunes. The birds had been many (over 300), the mammals likewise (over 50), but it was the encounters we experienced with these animals that really gripped us on this tour. It wasn’t a tick-and-run, or chase, through the desert, it was a full immersion and journey through one of the most beautiful areas of the planet. What follows, is a photographic review of our adventure. Grab a coffee, beer, or glass of wine, and join us in the living desert and lush plains of Namibia & Botswana. - Lisle Gwynn Tour Leader Black Rhino in Etosha NP Namib Desert & Benguela Coast Our journey began by winding its way through the centre of the Namib Desert - the world’s oldest, and one of the driest. A night perched high upon the Spreetshoogte Pass gave us opportunity to find Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra in quantities I could only dream of before this tour, as well as starting our desert birding with the the likes of Ashy Tit, Chestnut-vented Warbler, Pririt Batis, Great Rufous Sparrow, our first Namaqua Sandgrouse and some beautifully contrasting Southern Pied Babblers. The views were breathtaking, and the birding equally so, as Rufous- eared Warbler stole our hearts as a contender for ‘cutest bird of the trip’ and Karoo Robin and Karoo Long-billed Lark whistled its way onto our list. We marvelled at the enormous Social Weaver colonies as we descended the pass, and enjoyed brilliant views of Rüppel’s Bustard before lunch, and Scaly Weaver during. The highlight here in the desert though was the wildly intimate encounter with two inquisitive Herero Chats. They took a little while to co- operate, but boy was it worth it! Herero Chat Chestnut-banded & White-fronted Plover Moving down to the misty, salty and significantly cooler Benguela-cooled coast of Walvis Bay we had a change in pace - from desert larks, to salty shorebirds. Both present ID challenges, so we headed to the salt pans for a class in Palearctic shorebird identification. Chestnut-banded and White-fronted Plovers strutted their stuff in good numbers, Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint roved by the thousand, and the sea of shorebirds was peppered with Common Greenshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Black- bellied Plover, Ruff and Sanderling to name but a few. Great White Pelicans drifted overhead, sometimes a little too close for comfort, but it was the evening spent watching the most glorious sunset over hundreds of Greater and Lesser Flamingoes that will never leave my memory. Nor will our session on the beach which gave us unsatisfactory views of Damara Tern, only to find one fishing within arms reach shortly after - mega! Damara Tern (left) is a tiny and rare southern African endemic. We thought we were going to have to walk away with unsatisfactory views until this one decided to give us a show. Dune Lark (right) is the only bird found ONLY within Namibia’s borders. Other near-endemics share their range with tiny parts of South Africa, Botswana or Angola. That makes this Namibia’s only Geopolitical endemic bird. No views of the Southern Ocean would be complete without some seabirds, so Wilson’s Storm Petrel, Northern Giant Petrel and AFRICAN PENGUIN were all very welcome amongst the numerous Cape Fur Seals and tricky Heaviside’s Dolphins. Back to Southern Africa’s speciality - larks - we made our way inland a few miles to a set of beautifully red dunes to look for Namibia’s only Geopolitical endemic - the Dune Lark. Amazing looks were had by all as it scurried between vegetation patches. To finish off our time here we sought out more sunset flamingoes amongst red dunes to finish the iconography of this gorgeous coastline. A vehicle breakdown was a bit of an imposition for us as we headed toward Erongo, but a little sweet-talking and charm from Lisle saw us driving off in a borrowed vehicle rather rapidly. We were confined to the coast for a while longer than anticipated so we headed into the dunes and moonscapes near Swakopmund to see what we could find. As it turned out, lots. Bradfield’s Namib Day Gecko kept us entertained for a while, but only as it darted between some of the biggest Welwitschia plants on Earth. These living fossils, some 2000+ years old, were a major target of the group so it was great to see them like this. Bird highlights included ample Mountain Wheatear, Tractrac Chat and South African Swallow, as well as a picnic lunch with views of Verraux’s Eagle. Diademed Sifaka in Mantadia NP ERONGO MOUNTAINS With a replacement vehicle in hand it was time to head to Erongo. We spent two nights in this area, seeking out as many of the area’s specialities as possible. We began softly with Blue Waxbill and Green- winged Pytilia, but soon ramped up to gleaming Damara Hornbills and showy Brubru. Not to be outdone by the Damara, we were soon enjoying Monteiro’s Hornbill at close range, whilst a brief Black Mongoose teased us. Our luck shifted with incredible views of a pair of endemic White-tailed Shrike - a giant batis of sorts, before we entered the idyllic Erongo Wilderness Lodge. From our lunchtime and afternoon perch we had close views and great photo opportunities with Cape Bunting, Pale-winged Starling, Red-billed Spurfowl, Black-throated Canary, Dassie Rat, Rock Hyrax and brief views of Rockrunner. The coffee-in-hand aspect was well appreciated before the group departed for an excursion to see the famous Bushman rock paintings nearby. By the time they returned, Lisle was waiting with calling Freckled Nightjars, and one tee’d up in the flashlight from the dinner table was admired by our group, and the lodge staff, alike.