Namibia Day 3

Day 3 - Solitaire to Walvis Bay:

We were woken on day 3 by the howling of the wind outside the lodge. The dust clouds that buffeted us in the face postponed our early morning walk around the grounds. However, those winds brought in a nice surprise for us, as on my way to breakfast our leader, rather excitedly, rushed us over to the breakfast area, where there was a bird that our local guide hadn't seen for 12 years. Blown hundreds of kilometres north, a very confused looking Karoo Thrush was hopping around. Might as well start the day as you mean to go on!

Black-chested Snake Eagle

The rest of the day we travelled to a rocky outcrop and over the Namib Desert sand dunes, all the way to the main port of Walvis Bay. We had a total of 43 birds, 9 mammals, 3 insects and 3 reptiles, with 36 lifers in all. Some highlights were:

• Common Scimitar Bill
• Lanner Falcon - a pair had a Namaqua Sandgrouse in their grasp!
• Ruppell's Korhaan
• Bokmakerie
• Layard's Tit Babbler
• Cinnamon-breasted Warbler
• Stark's Lark
• Dune Lark - Namibia's only true endemic species, which was weirdly easy to find!
• Black-chested Snake Eagle

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Meercats

In terms of other fauna:

• Armoured Ground Cricket
• Harvester Locust
• Southern Oryx
• Mountain Zebra
• Common Warthog
• Meercat!

Overall, the highlights of the day were definitely a surprisingly easy Dune Lark and a family of Meercats!

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