Rosy-faced Lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis)

Posted on December 23, 2017 by Tara

The Rosy-faced Lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis), also known as the Rosy-collared or Peach-faced Lovebird, is a species of lovebird native to arid regions in southwestern Africa such as the Namib Desert. A loud and constant chirper, these birds are very social animals and often congregate in small groups in the wild.

There was a small flock along the Kunene River.

This one was seen at Oppi-Koppi Rest Camp in Kamanjab.

Spectacular in flight!

They have a specific range from Angola through Namibia and into the Kgalagadi NP in South Africa. There are reports of them in Etosha NP and I personally saw them in Kamanjab, Kunene River and Omaruru.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ROSY-FACED LOVEBIRDS

Wikipedia

World Parrot Trust

Birdlife

VIDEOS

Beautiful footage from Namibia

Documentary slide show in German but still interesting to English speakers.

Lodge Review: Omaruru Guesthouse

Posted on December 16, 2017 by Tara

With a focus on birding and very little time planned for this overnight stop, the Omaruru Guesthouse was a good budget option.

The door with the lit windows is where the reception and restaurant is. Unfortunately, they don’t have dinner service, only a breakfast buffet. You have to go to one of the nearby hotels for a proper dinner. In our case, we were still pretty full after a huge late lunch at the Wimpy’s (like a Denny’s or Coco’s-ish) in Outjo so we were satisfied with snacks and drinks.

There is an attractive pool area which we didn’t have time to use.

The rooms were very pleasant and the wifi was pretty good.

Omaruru is the one town we passed through that I would have liked to spend more time. It’s quite an attractive little town and has nice cafes and gift shops and the birding in the surrounding area is excellent. It’s unlikely that we would get enough miles to afford a return to Namibia but Omaruru would be at the top of the return visits!

Birding Around The Omaruru Area, Namibia

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Tara

This would be our last chance for birding in Namibia before heading home. After leaving Huab Lodge, we headed south to Omaruru via Outjo to avoid dirt roads. I had had enough of those to last a lifetime! We arrived in Omaruru around 3pm so headed off towards the Erongo Wilderness Area for birding before heading to the hotel for an overnight stop.

Approaching Erongo Wilderness Lodge which has a gorgeous setting but was way out of our budget.

What’s this? Looks interesting! (Seen on the Erongo Road)

Shaft-tailed Whydah

There is a guarded gate but they let us in, no problem.

We were planning to go to the lodge, have a drink at the bar and see as many birds as possible. We were stopped in our tracks by a bad road.

Lower car park, lodge guests are given transport if they can’t drive themselves but not day-trippers.

Bad photo of a beautiful Violet Wood-hoopoe

We stopped in here for a quick look around and I was hoping they had some of those Lovebird artworks for sale (they don’t). I wish I had known Camp Mara existed, we would have stayed here! For future reference: Camp Mara

With the sun rapidly going down, it was time to go to the hotel we already booked: Omaruru Guesthouse.

Good morning! Time for some early birding before the final drive back to Windhoek Airport and the flight home!

OK, OK we will Go-away, Bird!

Flock of Rosy-faced Lovebirds

Pale-winged Starling

Let’s see if I can get a decent shot of a Rosy-faced Lovebird in flight!

Not this one!

Getting better!

These next 2 were the best I can do, they are a pretty small and fast target!

A final goodbye to Omaruru as we drive to Windhoek.

Birding The Grounds Of Huab Lodge, Namibia

Posted on November 18, 2017 by Tara

One of the reasons for choosing Huab Lodge is that there had been several reports on eBird of Ruppell’s Parrots in the area. We did find ONE parrots and lots more birds!

This pretty bird was seen on the roadside. I think it’s a Yellow-crowned Bishop.

Quite a few lizards around sunning on the rocks.

And here he is…………….the ONE Ruppell’s Parrot we saw on the whole trip! Thankfully he stuck around for awhile.

Ring-necked dove

Another lizard

Dusky Sunbird

Laughing Dove

Guineafowls coming right into the restaurant.

Cape Bunting

Rock Bunting

Squirrel

Workers seen from the deck

Pale-winged Starling

African Red-eyed Bulbul

Fork-tailed Drongos

White-browed Sparrow-Weaver

Lilac-breasted Roller

Monteiro’s Hornbill

Apologies for not being able to id all the birds, if anyone knows what the LBJs & stripe-faced birds are, please comment!

Lodge Review: Huab Lodge, Namibia

Posted on November 9, 2017 by Tara

Huab Lodge has a stunning location in Damaraland, Namibia and is one of the country’s top birding lodges.

It is accessed via a 35 km dirt road just south of Kamanjab. Look for D2670 on the signs, then just follow the signs to the lodge.

The buildings are very cool architecturally………….

…………even the local birds think so!

They offer a variety of activities including game drives. We didn’t do the game drive as I thought the lodge grounds offered excellent birding.

Meals are served at fixed times around one large table shared by hosts and guests. Teh food was excellent and dinner was quite a show when one of the local ladies described the food in their language which has a lot of clicks. Just beyond the dining area is a deck where you can watch birds and relax.

Our room was stunning! We weren’t bothered by mosquitoes so didn’t use the nets, preferring to have an open look out the window to the scenery below.

The bathroom is actually a bit similar to ours at home with the walk-in shower and stone floor although our window doesn’t have such a nice view!

Here’s our deck and you can see how amazing the scenery is!

The swimming pool is just next to the restaurant.

You can walk down this trail to the hot pool below.

The gorgeous hot pool with the stonework is nice and hot and very relaxing. A great place to loosen up those aching muscles………………

…………………before a nice relaxing massage! This was our “spoil ourselves” treat after a long trip through Africa!

You can book on their website or try an online travel agent for better deals. We used Orbitz as they had a good discount already and I was able to stack it with a 15% coupon code that was emailed to me. We only stayed one night as it’s not a cheap place but wish we could have stayed longer.

Hotel Review: Oase Guest House, Kamanjab, Namibia

Posted on November 4, 2017 by Tara

We needed a place to break the journey between two birding hotspots – Kunene River Lodge and Huab Lodge so Oase Guest House in Kamanjab was a good choice for our budget. It’s right off the main road as you drive south and enter Kamanjab from the north.

The property is very secure with a huge wall around it and a pool in the back.

The fan-cooled brick rooms were actually a good size and had ensuite bathrooms and wifi.

Dinner is served a-la-carte and they had some good choices at good prices. Breakfast is a continental buffet.

I had been hoping to see birds in the garden but there weren’t any.

Someone told me there were Rosy-faced Lovebirds visiting another guesthouse just down the street a bit called Oppi-Koppi Rest Camp so I had to go over for a peek! They were kind enough to let me see this little guy and his friend having a meal!

Kamanjab is kind of in the middle of no-where so whether you are headed north or south, I strongly suggest filling up your fuel tank before moving on. I didn’t see any petrol stations between here and Huab Lodge. There aren’t any restaurants that I could see in town so plan on eating at the guest house.

Lodge Review: Kunene River Lodge, Namibia

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Tara

The Kunene River Lodge is a birder’s paradise located on the Nambian bank of the Kunene River across from Angola. I’d like to say that getting there is half the fun but not being used to rough gravel roads, it was quite daunting for me, but I managed in the rented Toyota Rav4.

They offer various accommodations from campsites to a-frame chalets. This one was ours.

These beautiful little cabins are quite large and very comfortable for a couple.

Nice roomy walk-in shower

This deck has dining tables and can also be a good place to relax and watch birds.

The spacious grounds between the chalets and the camping area. There is a pool in the rear that I forgot to get a photo of.

Dinner was our first meal and it was really good. They offer 2 choices, this time I chose pasta and my husband chose steak and chips. I love the bird placemats!

Here is the same deck in the morning where we hung out from the early hours to watch birds until it was time for breakfast.

Generous and delicious breakfast

More bird placemats!

The camping area attracts monkeys hoping to steal food.

Sunrise over the river

Souvenir hat with the Cinderella Waxbill logo, we each bought one!

Credit cards are accepted which was nice as we needed to pay for the meals, hats and the sunset cruise. This is a beautiful place and I only regret we couldn’t have stayed longer. The sunset cruise is a must (review to come) and I wish they had offered the morning cruise as well as the birding is really fantastic here! You can book on their website or be on the lookout for discounts on booking sites like Orbitz as we got 15% off an already discounted room!

Off The Beaten Track – The Road To Kuenene River Lodge

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Tara

Most of the roads in Namibia are good tarred roads but once you get off the beaten track, it’s quite another story! For a city-dweller, the road to Kunene River Lodge can be quite hair-raising!

It starts off easily enough leaving Ondangwa after breakfast, nice tarred roads.

You do need to watch for traffic jams!

Animals can wander on the road so you need to pay attention, not drive too fast and avoid traveling at night.

Random town enroute

The turn-off to Ruacana (not much there) with the petrol station on the right. There is a small shop for snacks and drinks but no restaurants.

It’s advisable to fill up despite the price as you don’t want to run out of fuel in the bush!

We met a South African couple in the petrol station so we just followed them as they wee also going to Kunene River Lodge.

The road becomes a rough gravel road which was do-able in the Toyota Rav4 but I was nervous the whole way as I am not used to them.

Following someone made the trip pretty dusty but I was glad to have a safety net of someone else knowing we were there.

At last we arrived!

This is the return trip to Ruacana, then onwards to Kamanjab. We left the lodge and hit the gravel road where the lodge turn-off is sign-posted. At this point, we turned left to go back to Ruacana.

There were local Himba people going about their daily business.

Slowly, slowly!

That’s Angola across the river.

Small Himba villages and random houses.

There was a fork in the road a ways back and we took the wrong turn and ended up on a horrific road. I knew something was wrong as the road hadn’t been THIS bad on the way in!

Luckily we managed to turn around and find the correct road.

A beautiful Burchell’s Starling is watching something.

More Himba people

Yet another unmarked fork in the road, this time we went left and it turned out to be right but I was nervous the whole time!

Another option, I didn’t see anyone here though.

Getting close to Ruacana!

I have never been so happy to see a factory and tarred road in my life!

After re-fueling at Ruacana, we headed down the main road towards Kamanjab, a nice tarred road all the way!

Approaching Kamanjab which would be our pit stop for the night.

Etosha National Park Part 2 – Afternoon

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Tara

Continuing on from Part 1: It’s lunch time and we have now arrived at Halali Rest Camp for a break to eat our packed sandwiches and have a look around, also use clean facilities!

It’s located 9kms down a side road.

We had a drive around first to suss it out and find the best picnic spot.

Plenty of tables here and you can drive right up to them!

Always nice to have a peek at the Tourist Shop!

Opening and closing times are always posted at each gate so we made note that we had to exit the park before 5:30pm.

Not much going on at this time. This is a typical gravel road in the park.

Springbok

Spotted Thick-knee

African Grey Hornbill

Starling

Lilac-breasted Roller

We finally made it to Namutoni Rest Camp and decided to have a look and take advantage of the last facilities before the hotel.

The grounds are very nice here and since it was getting cooler by the time we got there some birds were out and active.

There’s a cool fort here but the shop was closed.

The museum was open, free to enter and had some interesting exhibits about the park.

Even the Go-Away Birds here are friendly and didn’t tell us to go away! They get along with starlings too!

I missed the shot but interesting colour combination on this bird!

Getting close to 5pm and not wanting to miss the curfew, we drove on to the exit gate.

While I normally don’t approve of road-side bird sellers (meaning real birds), these ones are perfectly fine. I even bought a few birds from one of these guys!

Headed down the road to Ondangwa where we would spend the night before continuing on to Kunene River Lodge. Gorgeous sunset!

Etosha National Park Part 1 – Morning

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Tara

Etosha National Park is one of the highlights of any trip to Namibia, whether you are birders or not. It’s very easy to explore the park on your own as the gravel roads are well-maintained, can be done in a sedan car and there are signposts at all intersections.

In the map below, I have highlighted our route for a day trip in yellow. We entered at Anderson Gate, drove through via Okaukuejo, stopped at Halali for lunch, then continued on to Namutoni Gate to exit just before the park closed.

We were up at the crack of dawn to be the first ones inside the gate, an easy 10 minute drive from Eldorado Guest House & Camping.

First in line at Anderson Gate!

Once they opened, we were given a form to fill out and told to pay at the office in Okaukuejo.

Sunrise brought the birds out!

Okaukuejo Rest Camp is in a large complex with an office, restaurant, shops and all kinds of accommodation from tent spaces to cabins.

Get this map & bird book at the gift shop. I’ll be using it to identify the birds below since we didn’t have a guide with us.

Get down to the watering hole as quickly as possible to catch the early birds and animals.

We saw a lot of these beautiful little birds – Shaft-tailed Whydahs.

These cabins are near the watering hole and there were quite a few tourists hanging out here. We couldn’t get a room here as it was full and here was the evidence.