Frantic Naturalist

Pelagic Birding Trip

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:20:00 +0000

In Namibia a pelagic birding tour is a rarity. I have been trying to get on one for years. Last weekend I finally got the chance.

I recently joined the Namibian Bird club again, and did a short little walk with them one weekend. The next thing was a pelagic boat trip. It was the first that they offered. Of course, I jumped at the chance.

We decided to make a weekend trip out of it and so we all went down to the coast and stayed in Swakopmund. On Saturday I went through to Walvis Bay to do the trip. The weather was fantastic. That is rather rare at the coast. It was also not what we wanted. With almost no wind none of the larger pelagic birds would be out and about.

That was exactly how the whole trip turned out. We had great weather as we headed out to sea. We went about 45 kilometers from Walvis Bay and saw a few White-chinned Petrels, Sooty Shearwaters and some Skuas, but nothing I had not seen. We were lucky to see a Penguin, about as far north as they come.

One the trip we had a couple 'experts' who were not to worried about what we did or didn't see and most of the others were happy with the couple birds we did see and spent a long time getting the hang of the id of the three or four new birds they saw. I never mean to be the 'twitcher' but on this occasion the whole point of doing a trip out to sea was to see stuff that we didn't normally see. I was disappointed. I thought perhaps the 45 kilometers was way to short. The boat skippers always use the short trips as case and point about why not to do pelagic trips off Namibia's coast. I think that they are wrong. People have been seeing amazing stuff just a little further out. Where we turned is still short of where the hake boats start fishing. I can't help but think that the area around the active fishing boats is where I would like to go. So, I will have to leave that to another day.

Of course, all was not lost. I saw the largest group of dolphins that I have ever seen in my life. Perhaps around 50 or more Haviside's Dolphin swam near the boat. It could have been 100. It is really hard to tell. It is hard enough to judge 100 springbok when you can see all of them...to try to judge the numbers of animals that are all ducking under the water is a different matter all together. Plus I have no real experience with Dolphins at all.

Well, no new birds but a good trip anyway. I will be heading out to Sossusvlei Desert Lodge of the 15th and will certainly have a few things to write about then.

What Is So Special About Deserts

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:16:00 +0000

Long time readers of this blog would have noticed that I have a special interest in deserts. A lot of that has to do with how I grew up, but I have often found that many nature enthusiasts don't think of deserts as being that interesting. I'll just share some of what makes it special to me, from a nature oriented point of view.

1. You see everything. One thing that has been really fun for me over the years has been to learn about the behavior of animals that I have had the great fortune of seeing on a daily basis.

One animal that stands out is the Oryx, a arid-adapted antelope that is so special to the Namib. They are attractive just to look at, but I have come to appreciate so much more about them simply because I have had the opportunity to observe them well. The reason why it stands out to me is because if you are in areas that are more thicket like, you only witness small amounts of behavior and then the animal disappears into the bush. And often that behavior that you see may be influenced by the presence of people and vehicles.

In the desert you see thing from far away, far enough that your presence has little influence, and open enough that you can sit and watch the whole interaction play itself out. It really becomes small simple things that you appreciate. One thing that has been fun to observe is simply when a herd moves form one bull's territory to another's. There is a whole host of interactions that goes on...the old bull walking right to the edge of his territory, watching them go, the other bull waiting in anticipation. Then he starts to sort out the young males, making sure they stay well away from the interesting females. Then checking each female, and getting varied responses. The whole process can take a long time.

That's just one example, and of course there are many other things that you just get to observe better than you would in the 'bush'.

2. It's simple. This isn't always so correct, but you get a great feel for ecology and interactions on different levels, because there are fewer things to confuse the whole process. It's a bit hard to explain, but the ecology is a little more fun to try to understand because there isn't a lot of factors to consider.

3. This one is special to the Namib, but you get to observe all this wildlife with amazing landscapes as a backdrop to the whole experience.

4. It's less irritating. Go birding in African woodlands, and after a short walk you have little gnats and things in your nose and ears while you peer at the birds in the canopy. Sure, there are things like that in the desert, but to a large extent you don't have so many bugs to bother you while you are out on foot.

5. It's all special simply because of the aridity. Every animal, every plant, all this life in the desert, all of it has to deal with significant aridity...the problems of temperature and temperature control with limited water and often limited food sources. Life is harder, and yet many organisms embrace it.

6. One thing that was special to me about the Namib, and I think this doesn't make is stick out from other deserts, but rather from ecosystems that have more commercialization...deserts are still rather unknown. Especially the so called "Pro-Namib" area that I got to know, isn't well known by scientists, and there is very little knowledge about it within the public in general. It means that you have the chance to get a special inside look. It's a special, unique ecosystem to try to understand.

7. Because there are fewer bushes, and often sandy soils, it's an easy place to learn tracking, and animal tracks can tell you so much about an ecosystem. In the desert you learn so much about the nocturnal activity that is so important in a place with souring day time temperatures.

Enjoy Nature Alone

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:49:00 +0000

Noki, or Dassie Rat, seen on a walk on NamibRand Nature Reserve

I wanted to write this post some time ago. I am a very quiet person by nature, but, on the other hand, I am also sort of a people's person...I enjoy the company of people very much. When it comes to experiencing nature by far the majority of my time in nature has been with others. Having worked as a guide for over a decade, obviously the vast majority of my time was spent taking people out to experience nature in Namibia.

Other than that, I have also been out with birders, and really LOVE the chance to get to learn from some the the gurus (of which I am not one, of course.) I have been really lucky to meet really interesting people in my time, and love every minute I spend with those people in nature.

I have also got out and about with friends...and that is so fantastic. Adventure.

Already, but hopefully more in the future, I enjoy experiencing nature with my two boys. That's very, very special to me. Some of my best Namibian memories are trips to Etosha and the Okavango Delta with my family. The same is true of my growing up years visiting nature reserves with my family.

But I also love getting out alone and do it often. To me it's somewhat therapeutic. Sometimes I have a strong focus on learning new stuff or trying to understand what is happening with changing seasons and animals moving...what are they eating, who is hunting who...that kind of stuff. This may seem strange, but I also do it to keep fit. I get out and sometimes just run on the hills. When I was growing up, I spent hours walking in the desert and when I was studying I spent a lot of time getting out on my own. I love sitting in a bird hide, or hiding near natural water points in dry places and just watching it come alive. I love the challenge of finding new thing, such as new birds for my life list or simply seeing those animals you don't often see because they are small and shy. Nokis (also called Dassie Rats, but that name causes confusion), for example...little rock dwelling animals that really come out when you are still for a long time.

I find that it is these experiences that help you to learn the instinctive things about nature. You develop that much more of an authority of the region because of having experienced it that way. I believe that it has helped me become a good guide and set me apart from a lot of my peers over the years. Perhaps it just set me apart for being a little strange...if so, that's okay.

But most of all, it has helped me develop a strong passion for nature. I have strong feelings about conservation and the environment in general. I get excited about the prospect of getting out and understanding an area, getting to know what is happening with wildlife and the ecosystem in general. I am a total generalist, and enjoy taking in the experience on many levels. It's an important part of me...Frantic Naturalist.

So, I'll challenge you to do the same some time. You don't need to go to the greatest game parks in Africa. You can visit a local nature reserve, get out on a lake or river, or anywhere where nature is found. Go out there by yourself and slow right down, and take it in. Be an observer of nature, and enjoy it.

Sharing a Passion

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:25:00 +0000

In his blog post, why I became a blogger, a blogger who calls himself Smart Boy talks about why he blogs, and puts it down to passion.

You don't have to wonder to much about passion when you see a blog called Frantic Naturalist. I will admit that early on I did just like the ring of it, and thought it would be unique. But it does represent a passion that I have for nature.

I am interested in how people perceive nature. As a ranger (the name for guides at &beyond) one of the big issues was trying to 'get into the head of your guest.' There were nice catchy slogons for doing it and it was such a big part of how they feel about guiding. If your guest is a keen birder...you should find that out early. Likes walking...photography, or whatever.

But one of the big thing for me was trying to understand how they enjoyed nature. For me the passion has always been to try to understand deeper. Why do the animals do what they do. Plants, weather, geology, stars, and so on.

For others, it's a shear admiration of nature in itself. It's an aesthetic measure. Take them to the dunes and they are simply blown away by the scene. Or a wildlife sighting.

Each person precieves nature in their own way. We each have our reasons for the passion we feel. Certainly a big part of blogging about nature is to react to that passion we feel for nature, and the desire to share it.

Life List - Birding Eccentricities

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:11:00 +0000

[Image: Part of a page on my life list]

Birding has its various eccentricities, and one of the most common is the creation of a so called 'life list.' There are lots of feelings about these lists, some love them to the point of obsession and others hate them and see them as a non-scientific endeavor, or believe that those who keep such a list would not appreciate nature for itself.

Personally, I believe, as with so many things, that there is a healthy middle ground. I keep my life list. I can get a little obsessed, especial when in range of easy to get new birds for my list. But I see the other side as well, and I appreciate nature and birds for their behavior, adaptations and simply for their beauty. Despite 'listing' I believe that I appreciate birds as much, if not a whole lot more, than many others. I do find them fascinating.

I did a post some time back on taking field notes. I mentioned in that post that listing would be worth a post on its own. This post looks at why listing is perceived as not being good, why I believe listing is just fine and how I go about doing keeping my life list.

1. Why do people believe that listing is not good?

Fist off, birders (twitchers) are simply people who run around like mad, add to the carbon issue by traveling around, and on seeing a bird simply 'tick' it and go all the way home.
Listers are not interested in bird behavior and other aspects of their lives.
Listers are competitive. Tom Gullick is sitting at 8725 at the time of writing [ref:Surfbirds.com]
Listing is all they do. They make all sorts of lists, but don't do much else. [Somewhat true for some, see here]

2. Why do I believe it is just fine? Well, a little lesson in what it is all about.

First of all, I often get told that 'Twitchers are so competative??" I don't get it? Nobody ever told me that Rugby players are competative, or that Lodge managers are competative. It's not a problem for them. If a lodge manager, or business manager is not competative, they get fired. Watch birds and competition is given as a solid reason for your list being bad????
At some point in the history of birding a term 'twitching' came about. Twitching usually refers to an activity...of running (or traveling to find) rare birds that have shown up within the country or region. These 'Twitchers' as they could be refered to during the course of this frantic activity became a symbol for all birders and many people started to refer to birders themselves as "Twitchers." This usage is unfortunate and perhaps the start of making the whole activity of birding look bad. Birders spend time looking for rare birds in order to get one more "tick" on their life list.
Life lists are simple, really [for another explanation of a life list, visit this page.] A list of all the birds you have ever seen. When you start it is usually very innocent. You see some bird, flip frantically through your bird book until you locate the one you have just seen. If you don't have it on your list, you add it.
After a while of doing this, you soon find that you have seen all the birds in your 'local spot.' Here it gets fun. It's a quest. Get out an see another bird for your list. An outing here and there adds 10 or so, then soon it's down to the ones or twos. I had a few days where I added as much as 14 birds. That would be seriously hard to repeat on this much of this continent for me now.
At some point all this birding starts to get a little dull. You just end up not being able to find anything new to add to your list. Then you start to search for the specials, try to add birds with difficult ids (that you probably looked the other way on seeing the first time, when you struggled to id them earlier in your birding) and probably at this point start to get into bird clubs.
When you are communicating with other birders initially it may help and a few specials come your way no problem. But it gets harder and soon, if you still have the time and money (or willing to throw out your thumb and catch a lift,) you start to chase rare birds...Twitching.

Now, that progression is what often happens. It is normal for people to assume that you have done that. But often, for many birders, another side comes in to play. Not all your birding is twitching. You start to go out to observe birds. The birds in your garden become a fascination. Nests, breeding, feeding, migration, there is so much of interest to birds and birding. Conservation. Many many birders that keep a healthy life list are also involved in bird conservation.

I believe that bird lists are a great way to get people into the hobby. There are many people with very little interest in nature who take up birding, and through birding get into nature much more. I can often see that with guests that I have at the lodge. The birders tend to be the ones also interested in lizards and beetles.

There are many birders who never become mad twitchers. The peak of "Twiching" as it was in the past is probably gone already. There are more and more birders who are becoming very knowledgable about birds indeed. Just search birding blogs (start here to get an idea.)

3. How do I go about keeping my life list (some personal history)

[Image: My sister helped decorate my life list booklet, and this is part of the art work. This was done about 10 years ago, but still shows well on the worn cover of my book.

To decide when I started birding would be a rather tricky thing. I have been doing it for a long time. At school I mostly didn't have bird books or bins for ids, but went out with friends who would tell us what birds we were seeing. As soon as I came to South Africa in 1992 to start studying, I got a bird book and had some old Carl Zeiss bins.

When I started to study at Saasveld in George I met some birders that were more serious and had birding 'life lists.' I was interested. At first I was just trying to do some ids, but I really wanted to 'be' a birder.

The second half of 1995 I was posted at Addo Elephant National Park. [here is another post of mine about my time at Addo] I spent a lot of time alone at an outpost. As summer approached, I was finding myself with lots of daylight hours with nothing to do. We would finish work on normal days at around half past four, and at the latest the sun would set at something like 8 o'clock.

So I took my bins and bird book, and took a note book that I had, drew some lines, and decided, on the 29th of October, 1995, that I was now going to be a birder. Of course, now I would argue that I was one already, but it did make it important for me to start learning to id properly. After I was all set up, I went out for a walk. Birding in the thick bush isn't easy. Especially alone. And without really knowing your bird ids very well. That first day I only got one species that I managed to identify...Black Sunbird. They have changed the name to Amethyst Sunbird Nectarinia amethystina now, which is probably the only name change that bothers me, because I don't want to change it in my book...it was my first post.

[Image: My bins, old Swarovski 10x40 roof prisms...I love them]

Within the next five days I had twenty birds. By the 9th of February the next year, I hit 100. One the first anniversary of listing I had hit 177. Two years, 319 and so it went on. When I came to Namibia in 1998 it was fantastic. I had a whole country of new birds and set about seeing them frantically. But it all slowed down. This year I have only added three new birds, two of them rare birds and one was a pelagic that happened to be inshore. It sure is getting harder to find new birds for my list. Yet I go birding often. Not so much with the thought of finding new birds, but just to enjoy and learn. But there is always that hope of one new species.

I keep my life list in a book, so the term 'tick' never really applies to me. I started out for years carrying that book into the field, but now its much to valuable for that. It has some character from those days, but these days I carry field note books with me in the field (or, I know this is wrong, but sometimes I even make a note in my phone's notes function or simply record some things in pictures to remind me later.) Anyway, when I see a new bird, I make note of where I saw it, when (date and time) and just a few general notes. I do keep a southern Africa list, and I update my list's numbers on the list of birders in southern Africa who have not yet reached 700 'lifers' [sa heading for 700 club, zest for birds], and I keep a 'life list' of all the birds I have seen anywhere. It is sitting at something like 640, which is not a big list at all. But I have really enjoyed making it and will carry on doing it in the future.

I think sometimes we take ourselves to seriously. Lists are just a bit of fun, and there is nothing wrong with a litte competition in it. What other hobby/sport is totally self accessed? If you say listing (or call it Twitching, if you want) is the worst thing about birding, then consider this...it is a competition based entirely on the honesty of the practioner, not only their honesty, but their belief in the honesty of those they compete against. That says something good to me about the feelings of birders towards their fellow birders. And, in my experience, here in Namibia, at least, most birders I know are some of the most dedicated conservationists in this country!

Added after posting:
Build your life list

Conservation

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:58:00 +0000

I believe strongly that conservation needs to be taken extremely seriously. Just watched a video that is somewhat of an emotional plea for conservation of the oceans. Have a look. What do you think?

!Nara Fruit

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:25:00 +0000

Picture: !Nara husk in the dunes

A cliché of deserts; the dying man, with scorched lips, begging for a drop of water. In some ways this is just what a lot of wildlife do on a daily basis in the desert...every bit of their physiology and behavior is focused on getting, and loosing less water. They may go for months, in some cases, years, without drinking.

There are many ways that animals in the Namib deal with this problem...it's a subject for a whole book on it's own, rather than one little blog post.

But along much of the margin of the Namib Sand Sea, there is a one plant that does one special thing. The !Nara Acanthosicyos horridos.

[The ! is a click before the word.]

In the heart of the dry season (which you could call our spring,) when the grass is all dead, the bushes are dry, summer is coming...just at this time, this plant does something amazing. It produces a large fruit. Not just one, I was once told by Conny Berry (a well known Namibian biologist, known amongst other things for the field guide to Etosha's plants) each of the large !Naras produce over 100 fruit in the fruiting season.

Everything eats it. The plants grow in sandy ground, usually on the margins of the dunes where the edge of the dune is near some dry river bed. But, at times, these plants are found right within the dune field itself. They derive their moisture from a huge root system, and the plants themselves become very large, creating hammock dunes.

Oryx, the large antelpe found in the Namib Desert, make a lot of use of these fruit. They will beat their way into a bush (the bushes are harsh, with lots of thorns on the stems.) When they get near the fruit, they still have the problem of retreaving the fruit with their horns. This is done by thrashing at it, and I am sure that a lot are lost to this exercise. Oryx at Sossusvlei, especially in the dry years, chew on the roots. They don't seem to eat them, they just dig them up, and have a nice chew...most likely to get at the moisture in the roots.

Springbok - a much smaller antelope, do it in a much more civilized manner. I have never seen springbok thrashing at a !Nara bush that I can remember. But they are just about the first to be interested in the whole fruiting process. They start by eating the flowers, long before any fruit show up. Oryx don't bother. The Springbok go for the easier stuff all the time.

Ostrich go for the fruit as well, and if you ever have the chance to watch Ostrich trying to get at the fruit, without hands, horns or hoofs...its funny.

If the fruit is too deep in the bush, it is the Gerbils and mice that do the job of breaking into the skin. Then everything else comes and has a go. Lizards seem to go for it, many different beetles. Birds, especially Cape Sparrows, seem to love the inside. Stripped mice will keep eating the hard skin for a long time after the fruit itself is gone.

Still today there are some people who harvest these fruit. The Topnar people, who live on the northern margin of the Namib Sand Sea still collect and eat these fruit.

It is very likely that Sossus, the origional name for Sossusvlei, was a bushman word. And why would these indigionous people have visited that area, so deep in the desert. They were also interested in the !Nara fruit.

The Nara on Namibweb, Wikipedia, and an image on Digitaljournal.

Passion for nature, size doesn't count

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:33:00 +0000

I have been lucky with my experience of nature. Very lucky. I have not just visited great wildlife areas, I have grown up and lived in or near many of them. I grew up in a remote part of northern Kenya, and had wildlife right at my doorstep. I went to school on the rift valley escarpment and had forests and savannas to enjoy in that area, as well as like minded friends to share it with. Then later I studied nature conservation and got to know wonderful places like the forests around George and nature reserves like De Hoop Nature Reserve.

In the beginning of 1998 I got on a bus and came to Namibia. Just over 11 years later I am still here. And I have had the pleasure of getting to know some seriously amazing wildlife areas.

I still live in Namibia, still guide, and still visit these amazing areas, but I am doing less guiding to be home more with my kids. In the process I am discovering the shear pleasure of the small things. At home I have put up feeders, water for birds and planted a few good bushes for birds. I get excited that I can sit at my computer and hear Rosy-faced Lovebirds fly over. Over the weekend I went out to Avis Dam to do some birding, despite many people fishing and walking their dogs, the experience is shear pleasure for me. I could even go so far as to say that I enjoy trying to see some bird I have seen hundreds of times before, but remaining challenging, like the Rockrunner for example (dipped this Sunday...I was their in the middle of the day on a windy day...)...yeah, I enjoy it more than this crazy pressure that their sometimes is when you have guests who have never seen a lion in their life, and Etosha is windy and the grass is high and the lions have it to easy, and just sleep.

The point is, despite having "seen it all" (far, far from it, of course, but there is sometimes that perception,) I am passionate about nature, and enjoy every opportunity to experience nature, even right here in town.

Africa For Sissies

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:41:00 +0000

Image: Etosha Game Drive

Many of you may not have heard this phrase, but if you work in the travel industry and start working with lots of travel agents selling Africa travel, you often here Namibia being refered to as "Africa for Sissies."

This is one of those blog posts I know that I had to write one day. I have mixed feelings about the phrase. Let me explain.

There are many aspects of Namibia that are unique in an African sense. I am not talking just about measurable things, I am talking about things like how clean it is, how good the infrastructure is, communications, road conditions, general travel safety and even the how friendly the people are and so on. It's not usually defined. It's a stereotype.

I like the phrase because it implies that Namibia is wonderful! I agree. Done some cliche Safari stuff and want to see a different side to Africa...Namibia. Want less hassles with bribes and lost bookings...no guarantees, but Namibia stacks up well. Windhoek is getting worse, but if you want less crime, the country side is fantastic. Namibia is clean by African standards, and perhaps by any standards (you tell me? I haven't been out of Africa much.) Certainly, I would rather bring up my kids here than in South Africa (just one aspect to which I have given a lot of thought...though I may one day take my family to Kenya, if I can wangle it...but that's a different story.) In short, yes, there is some truth to the phrase that Namibia is Africa for Sissies.

What I don't like is the wording. "Sissies??????" This country has lots to keep you on a buzz. There is danger, there is excitement, there is high profile game, there are fantastic places, there are lots of things to do and see.

There are elephants and rhinos and even lions in the deserts, areas that you can walk around in on foot. There are interesting hills and mountains to climb and explore. Go to Sossusvlei and spend a day walking deep into the dunes, far from the crowd and you can start to get the draining feel of real dehydration in one day. Want even more excitement? Sandboarding or Quad biking. Skydive in Swakopmund...one of the most active skydiving clubs south of the equator. Despite the aridity, you can even do river rafting on both the northern border and southern border.

In conclusion, if you want an African country that is well organized, clean and beautiful, easy to travel around and easy to organize, well, Namibia isn't perfect, but it's certainly a good option. Because of this ease, it is a great country to travel around on your own, though there are clearly risks to driving yourself on gravel roads.

But if you are a seasoned Africa traveler, don't dismiss this country. It is amazing. It is beautiful. And it has it's share of adventure on offer.

If you walk in to a travel agent to book an African experience, and you want more than a 12 day game drive after game drive, don't let them put you off with the "Africa for sissies" attitude towards Namibia. It's a great place with adventure to be had!

Some links if you would like to visit Namibia:

Birding Namibia

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:40:00 +0000

Picture: Crimson-breasted Shrike in Etosha

Namibia as a country in the international arena is still not very well known, despite a fast developing tourism industry in recent years. It is certainly not the first country that comes to mind as a birding destination. If you happen to know just a little about Namibia it is likely that your image of Namibia is a country of fast deserts and dune fields, and perhaps know a little of it's German heritage (Namibia is one of the very few African interests the Germans had prior to the first world war.)

But Namibia a very most certainly worth a birding trip (or even a few trips.) Namibia is home to well over 650...I believe that they now say, with vagrants included, we have just over 700 species (I am trying to find out where I can confirm that number.) It doesn't matter. We have lots of birds.

Namibia is packed with diversity. Ask a traveler who has covered much of Namibia their impression and often you will hear how strikingly different every single place they visited is. The Namib, a hyper arid region stretching the entire coast, and inland for some 150km, is very, very diverse, with regions of great big dry river beds, rocky hills, dunes, and gravel and sandy plains. And, of course,
diversity of habitat means diversity of birds.

Because of it's uniqueness there are many birds that are near endemic. Namibia has only one true endemic bird, the Dune Lark, but quiet a few that just touch Angola or South Africa. These include the White-tailed Shrike, Rockrunner, Hartlaub's Babbler, Carp's Tit, Grey's Lark, Monteiro's Woodhoopoes, Rüppell's Parrot, Rüppell's Korhaan, Hartlaub's Francolin, Benguela Long-billed Lark, and the Barlow's Lark. Damara Tern's breeding is almost only confined to Namibia's coastline.

Added to this are a number of specials found in the region. These include birds like the Sharp-tailed Starling, Souza's Shrike, Pel's Fishing-owl, Cinderella Waxbill, all of which are found in the far north.

The far north consists of dry broadleaved woodland a few riverine forest patches, in contrast to the Hyper arid regions and the dry Karroo and Kalahari areas, making up the bulk of the remainder of the country.

At the coast several lagoons and other water bodies provide home to many interesting birds, including thousands of summer migrant waders.

Late summer months in Namibia often mean that the game viewing in the parks
is less exciting (animals can spread out in the bush and are not confined to water points,) but this is a great time for birding. The bushes are green, birds are breeding (which helps with the id of some of those troublesome seed-eaters, for example,) and the migrants are present. It also means that lodges and camp sites are less likely to be full. The down side, aside from game viewing, is bugs, including mosquitoes in some areas.

Added, of course, to the birding, is the whole experience of traveling to Namibia, a diverse and interesting country with beautiful landscapes as a defining characteristic of the area, and friendly, helpful people.

I am currently building a website for SafariWise called Birdwatching.com.na and building it as an overall travel resource for birders planning to visit Namibia.

The website is still in it's early phase and you can help if you like, by sending me some feedback or ideas. I am still in the early phase of putting it up, cleaning up typos and still adding a bit more content. You are welcome to send feedback to vernon@frantic-naturalist.com.

If you want an idea of what it's like to do birding in Namibia and want to read some great blog posts, read these ones on Peregrines Bird Blog.

Ongava Lodge

Erongo Wilderness Lodge

Grey Grey Walvis Bay

Finally Catch Up With Dune Lark

Day In Dunes At Sossusvlei And No Luck

From the Cheetahs at Amani Lodge, Namibia to the Wildness of the Desert at the Desert Homestead Lodge, Namibia

Holiday in Namibia with my wife and as much birding as I thought I could get away with

Sossusvlei Desert Lodge, a thank you

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:12:00 +0000

Amazing Deadvlei!

I spent last month working at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge. Sossusvlei Desert Lodge (called Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge before) belongs to the group &beyond. &beyond run perhaps the best collection of lodges in Africa. All of them are very upmarket, but still have a super personal touch.

I worked for the lodge just a few months short of seven years, starting at the end of 2000. We had moved away for a short while when my eldest son was born, but soon moved back.

I worked mainly as a guide, but did manage to get myself to do a little management as well. But guiding in the area is really my passion.

Sossusvlei Desert Lodge is situated on NamibRand Nature Reserve, on of Namibia's most important private conservation efforts. Most activities are done on the reserve, but they also conduct trips to Sossusvlei, an area in the Namib Naukluft Park with huge dunes and the famous Deadvlei...a clay pan that has some 80 dead trees standing there for around 600 years.

Sossusvlei Desert Lodge is a 20 bed lodge, with lots to do. The area is great for kids, with the dunes as a wonderful play ground. Activities include drives (you would be really amazed by the diversity and quantity of wildlife in the area.) Oryx are perhaps the cliche animals of the region. They are large beautiful antelope with long straight horns and an amazing range of behavioral and physiological adaptations to desert conditions. There are Springbok, special gazelle like antelope, also well tuned for desert life, two types of Zebras, Kudus, Klipspringers, Steenbok, Baboons (deep in the large gorges,) and re-introduced Giraffe, among others. Jackals are the common predators, but there are a number of larger predators as well, including Leopards and re-introduced Cheetahs. Lucky guests have had some sightings. I had about 11 sightings of Leopard in 2008, just to put it in prespective.

I recorded, with the help of my guides, over 110 species of Birds in the area, from the world's largest bird (Ostrich) to Dusky Sunbirds, to a number of Lark species, to Red-necked Falcons. Desert specials, such as the Dune Lark, and summer migrants like the Lesser Grey-backed Shrike. When Sossusvlei floods a host of waterbirds show up.

Then there are other things. A couple years ago one of our astronomers found tadpoles. Frogs in the desert! It was amazing. Reptiles, including a yet to be described gecko. Snakes include the tiny Peringuey's Adder, on of the worlds smallest Bitis (Adder) species. They are often called Sidewinders. In the warmer months a bid of dedicated tracking often results in finding one of these snakes in the dunes.

Then there are the beetles, perhaps the drivers of the desert's food web. And termites, and interesting ants, all sorts of curios bugs, with their own way to handle deserts, from sitting out the dry months to having a very special niche.

And scorpions. We still don't know to much about them, but think we have around 8 species.

Then there is the scenery. It's not an exaggeration at all to say it is spectacular! And its not just the dunes. The hills, the plains (especially as they are now with the grass cover.) It's not only the Sossusvlei Dunes (off in the National Park) that are amazing. The partly vegetated dunes offer the photographer much more interest in a small area than the big dunes. Each bend, each ridge, each clump of dune grass revels a new twist to these dunes of the eastern margin of the Namib Sand Sea.

The place is interesting for geologists (perhaps the main people who love the dry times, when vegetation doesn't hinder one's study of the rocks.) And there is plenty for those interested in archeology, including bushman paintings nearby the lodge (a tough walk, but worth it.) For the fitness enthusiast, bring your running shoes...I promise it will be a memorable couple runs you do in that landscape. Hiking...dunes, hills, and the areas with larger gorges support pockets of Camelthorn woodland. The planes are also worth taking a walk on.

And if you need to rev up the adrenaline, a well run ATV trip lets you take quad bikes through a beautiful area of dunes. The trip is run in such a way that it is as safe as possible and does the least damage to the environment. I was never to fond of these machines, but made sure in my time as head ranger that we would run the trip as well as possible. Ironically, on the lodge's web pages there are a number of pics of me doing the quad bike trip!

And there are extra activities. Ballooning for the romantically inclined. It's pricey and remember that ballooning is rather fickle...depending on the weather. On the good days, though, it's a trip of a lifetime.

Scenic flights over the dunes is certainly the best way to get a feel for the scale of the dune field. It is truly an amazing experience. I have done the flight some seven times and can't wait for my next opportunity.

Currently they are also offering helicopter flights in the area. I am sure that it is even better than the flights, but more limited in the number of passengers and it's a few bucks more!

You can do a trip to a wine farm...it's very interesting for those with an interest in wine.

So much to do, but it's also a place to do very little. Have a massage. Get out on your own in the planes and just listen to the quiet. Drink some bubbly on the porch of your stunning room.

At night the lodge turns on the charm. The lodge has a resident astronomer most of the time, with gaps filled by interested staff. Spend a bit of time to learn about astronomy and have a look through a huge telescope.

Part of what makes the lodge so special is the staff. If you are really lucky you will hear the staff choir sing. It will stay with you for a long time.

Well, that sounds like marketing slosh, but honestly, I believe there is nothing like it in Namibia, and their really couldn't be much like it in the world. Many travel agents and well traveled guests have commented on how amazing the place is. And, of course, it's special to me. Most of my working life has been spent there, both my kids had some time there and were born during our involvement with the lodge. The fact that I have had the chance to go and work there again was REALLY SPECIAL TO ME!

So, thanks a lot &beyond, Annalie (current GM) and the whole Sossusvlei Desert Lodge team.

The Chefs...they know magic!

Deadvlei, well worth the 1.3 kilometer walk (it says 1.1 on the sign...it's 1.3...check it out on Google Earth.)

Singing at SDL...they will blow you away. Spontaneous and fun it's also really quality singing.

Ah, that's where you find me when I am working there! Out on the planes, finding the desert's creatures and learning about their lives.

Dune 22, the dune overlooking Sossusvlei. Get those legs working and enjoy the view.

The dune drive (by the Petrified Dunes) on NamibRand. This is one of the standard drives. Sunset with drinks up there is amazing. Be prepared for a bouncy and exciting drive.

Descending the dune drive after sunset, watching for the night's creatures to start coming out.

Fairy Circles...still a mystery, these little circles are found throughout the Stipagrostis plains. Prominant scientists have found evidence of termites causing the circles, but not every one agrees, and the mechanism remains a mystery.

The drive up the Petrified Dunes, ancient dunes turned to a sandstone like material, gives you a fantastic view.

The few nights without resident astronomers, Petrus, one of the keen desert rangers, often drives the telescope. His interest and knowledge in astronomy will amaze you.

The curves of the Sossusvlei dunes.

The lodge at night taken with a long exposure from the obseratory walls.

September sunset. During the dry season (July to October) the desert's air gets murky. Photographers, don't dispair, it gives you so much scope for creative photography. This image has the least touching up of the lot on this page.

You can't tire of photography or simply gazing at the dunes in the early morning light at Sossusvlei. I believe that I have done just over 900 trips to Sossusvlei in the last 11 years. I have yet to get tired of going there. It is a long trip, and at times the place is busy with tourists, but you can always find your peace of solitude and enjoy the majestic lines of the dunes.

Desert Forensics

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:28:00 +0000

A couple of days ago we found saw a number of Lappet Faced Vultures sitting about 1km from Sossusvlei Desert Lodge. I didn't have time that day to go and have a look. The next morning I went out early to have a look at what had been dead there. It didn't take long to find the carcas...a dead adult male ostrich.

Trying to work out what happened was much harder. Due to the great rain that the central Namib has had in recent years (2006, 2008 and 2009 especially) the grass is exceptionally thick. At times these sandy planes have no grass at all.

Looking around a bit I could see that the bones had been dragged from where the bird had died. On that spot there were numerous ostrich feathers. In several of the barren fairy circles [see note] there were tracks where an ostrich had been sitting. It was clear that it had not been running as it had sat several places near where it was killed and had never really run. Clearly it hadn't been well before it's death.

I thought then that perhaps a small predator had killed it. I couldn't find any clear predator tracks, but found a few that I thought could be. I didn't find any tracks much larger than Jackals though, and thought that maybe it had been a very young cheetah. I had thought that it had to be a predator because the whole thing was eaten so fast (within the day it had died it appeared.) I could see it hadn't really run, but thought it was probably already very sick and had been virtually stalked right up to where it had been sitting. Also there had been no thrashing around before it died, which with something like an Oryx often creates a hole in the ground around it's legs when it dies like that.

Later I was talking to Jeff, one of the other rangers working at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge. He knows much more about pradators and their kills than I do. So we went out together to have a look. It didn't take long for him to exclude any large predator from making the kill. There would have been many more good tracks of the predator. At the place the bird had died there was no blood lying around. Had it been killed, the blood on the ground would have been obvious.

So in the end we figured that it probably died from it's weakened condition. It may be possible the Jackals may have made the final kill when the Ostrich had been dying anyway, but there was not involvement from a large predator. Basically this Ostrich was polished off by Jackals, Crows, Vultures and in the end, beetles, basically all within a day!

The greatest thing about the whole thing was to see all the Vultures. The Lappet Faced Vultures are a threatened species with conservation issues throughout it's range. The fringe of the Namib Desert is one of the areas where these huge, ugly but amazing birds have a chance at a stronghold. The Vultures should be starting to breed now, and a number of dedicated people are working hard to monitor and protect these birds.

[Special Note] Fairy Circles - a phenomenon on the eastern fringe of the Namib Desert where areas with Stipagrostis grasses have barren patches a couple meters across, that often form very neat circles in the grass. As yet the cause is unknown. Several prominent scientists working on solving the problem consider termites to be the likely cause.

Staking out a desert waterhole - a wonderful morning.

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:50:00 +0000

This morning I didn't have any guests at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge and knew that it was my chance to have some fun on my own. I came to the lodge and had a great breakfast (chili cheese omelet.) Then headed out for a walk.

I had seen earlier that there was a spring in the mountains still holding water. It's a wonderful place. On of our astronomers had found tadpoles there before. It had been a really interesting discovery. We simply had no idea that we had any amphibians here in the desert. I had also found a springbok painting (bushman rock art) there.

The spring holds water for a few months after the rain, and this year with great rains there is still a good bit of water now (late August.) When I saw it we had just passed by before. I decided today that it may be worth staking out. I set off from the lodge with just my camera.

As I got near the spring I saw an adult male kudu up in the hills. He was very relaxed. I took a couple of picutures and moved on.

At the waterhole I lay down in a hiding spot between the rocks. I was hoping to see a kudu or mountain zebra, but I knew that it was late in the day. All that came in to drink was birds, but it was still such fun to just lie there and watch nature switch on again. I took many pictures of the birds drinking and flying around and had a great time just being there. To me to get out in nature like that from time to time, all on my own, is just a wonderful experience and one of the reasons I will keep doing my best to keep coming to visit Sossusvlei Desert Lodge and the NamibRand Nature Reserve.

On my way back I crawled slowly up the hill to get a better picture of the kudu. He was still there and let me take a wonderful picture. Then I made my way back to the lodge before the desert heat set in to much. A wondeful way to spend a morning!

Sleeping Baboon Mountain gps co-ords

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 08:53:00 +0000

In case you would like to look at the mountain I climbed with Frank yesterday, here are the gps co-ordinates:

24 50'09" S
15 57'05" E

You can simply type it into Google earth's search box and it will bring you to the Sleeping baboon mountain, on the edge of NamibRand Nature Reserve.

Sleeping Baboon

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 07:45:00 +0000

Climbing rocky hills has been an activity I have been enguaged in most of my life. I love climbing hills for many reasons, and I have spent a lot of my hill time alone. When the chance comes to climb a hill with someone else, it is a treat.

This year I have been in Swakopmund for the first half, with no hills to climb, and I have gotten into the worst shape of my life. It has been great to be back here at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge, and have the chance to do a little walking.

Since I have been busy basically every day since getting here on the 7th. I have done some walking with guests and doing a few exercises, but I am certainly not in great shape.

However, Frank, the resident astronomer, wanted to do the mountain called Sleeping Baboon (I think others call it Nubib Peak, but it's not the highest point of the Nubib Mountains.) Anyway, I said I would, but could only go after my guests departed.

We drove out in my Land Rover and parked on the main road. Our starting elevation was 933 meters (3062 feet.) The first bit of the walk we jump over a fence and walk on our neighbors property. It is slow going, as it is very rocky and there are no clear paths. After some distance we take a ravine up the mountain and start our climb.

Towards the top the ravine heads to a shear cliff, and we move over to a very steep section with loose rocks to the right of the ravine. Then traverse a narrow area over the top of the cliffs before another steep rocky section. Finanlly we got to the area where we had to climb a section not to far from the top. My lack of condition was getting obvious to me and I decided not to climb the steep bit. Frank climbed a little higher, but didn't want to go to the top alone. It gets very steep towards the top. So we made that our turning point. We had got up in about two and a half hours and reached an elevation of 1618 meters,

On our way down we were getting a bit low on water. Despite being in the cooler time of the year, the temprature was hot (over 30 degrees Celcius.) We made our way down. I saw some Augar Buzards flying overhead...wonderful birds. At one point a falcon (I guess Lanner, but I had no binoculars) was working the gorge back and forth.

Further down we started to hear Rosy Faced Lovebirds. Following the call we saw a huge sociable weaver's nest with lots of Lovebirds going in and out. At times in these dry areas the lovebirds use the sociable weaver's nests as both roosts and for breeding.

We reached the bottome of the mountain and started the long walk back to the vehicle. By this point we were not talking much, just plodding. At one point a wip snake (or Karoo Sand Snake) shot out from a grass clump right from between my feet. They are great little snakes.

We made it back to the vehicle. My legs were shot (tired) and Frank was a bit dehydrated. Silly, really. But it was such a nice walk. We got back and drank lots of fluids and rested up. Today I can feel it in all my muscles. It's a good feeling.

A couple Jackal sightings

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:14:00 +0000

While guiding here at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge I have had a few sightings of interest. Two recent sightings involve Jackals.

The first was a sighting on the main road heading south from the lodge. We were on our way to an area called Draaihoek and one of my guests spotted a couple Jackals by the road. When we stopped we noticed that there were many Jackals.

Normally Jackals are found in pairs, sometimes with a few young ones. At times when they have a good potential food source, such as an injured Springbok that they would be able to kill they might tolerate neighbors so that they could work together to increase the chance of success. However on this occasion there were more than I had ever seen together and we couldn't make out what they were looking at. All of them looked off in one direction and they were clearly bothered by what they saw. They didn't worry to much about us.

We never did see what they were watching, but perhaps it may have been a Cheetah (which have been re-introduced onto NamibRand) or Leopard. I didn't see any tracks near the road to give it away, and so we will never know.

The second interesting sighting to me was a Jackal kill in the dunes. While doing a walk in the dunes near some 11 km from the lodge with a family of guests, we found an area in the dunes where all the grass was covered by feathers. On inspection we managed to find a carcass of a Ludwig's Bustard. What was interesting was that it was buried by Jackals (seen from the tracks) under the sand. This is a large prey item for Jackals and I would guess that they buried it so that it would not be seen by Vultures flying overhead.

Guiding in the Namib is always a treat and often these small interesting things pop up. For more sightings from Sossusvlei Desert Lodge, visit the their wildwatch website.

First Ten Days at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:51:00 +0000

I have been assisting with the guiding at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge for the last ten days, and having a lot of fun. I worked for nearly seven years here and my wife and I have been involved with the lodge throughout it's history. It was called Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge, but changed the name to Sossusvlei Desert Lodge towards the end of last year.

Sossusvlei is a dry clay pan in the middle of the Namib Sand Sea, the dune field in the southern part of the Namib Desert. Sossusvlei is deep in the Namib Naukluft Park, and the lodges that visit the area are based some distance to the east. Sossusvlei Desert Lodge is based on the wonderful Namib Rand Nature Reserve, now the largest private conservation area in the world.

My activities in the last 10 days have involved doing the long morning tours to Sossusvlei, game/nature drives on the reserve, walks including walking to an area with bushman rock art and artifacts, and doing ATV trips in the dunes. I have done 6 Sossusvlei trips since getting here, which adds to the near 900 that I have done in my life.

In my spare time (of which there is very little at this lodge) I have been working out a little and working on climbing along with the Astronomer, Frank, and the assistant manager, Paulo. The lodge it built with local rock and it makes a great climbing wall. We practice daily climbing sideways. Part of these guys workout also involves tossing a large rock back and forth...just one of those things people to long in the desert start to do.

I have been lucky enough to see a range of conditions, including fog and a mild sandstorm, which helps to get interesting pictures. It was great to have come off the last trip that I did with C4Images, which has made me much more keen on my photography. Due to the very, very slow internet connection we have at the lodge, I will wait and do a few posts with images later.

I still haven't seen a Leopard, but will keep trying! The area is looking great though, with lots of grass and lots of wildlife. I really hope to be able to keep coming back to work here from time to time in the futures. It is a wonderful place! I think it must be the best lodge in Namibia by miles.

African Elephants Loxodonta africana

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:04:00 +0000

The African Elephant (or, perhaps more correctly, the African Bush Elephant, to separate it from the African Forest Elephant, a different species found in the rain forests of Africa) is an iconic creature of the African Safari.

Africa has gone through it's rough history in human terms, and the elephants have suffered right along with that. The ivory trade goes back as far as humans had the means to kill elephants. As technology improved, it all just got a lot worse.

But somewhere along the line a new phenomenon started. The 'Safari' or African wildlife tourism. And around the same time, probably beginning in the 1960 with people like Iain Douglas-Hamiltion and David Sheldrick (husband of Daphne Sheldrick,) scientific and conservation interest in Elephants began to take off. No doubt there were those before then that felt strongly about elephants, but they never got a voice.

Iain Douglas-Hamilton realized, and shared with the world, that elephants where in decline and that poaching was rampant and needed to be stopped. So began a new fascination with elephants and a new conservation movement [ref][ref].

With their new found attention, people were becoming more interested in seing them, rather than displaying bits of their teeth, and tourism was picking up. By the 80s Kenya, then the Safari center of the world, was having a tourism boom. Other countries like Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Namibia were to follow. And perhaps aside from lions, elephants were the main icon of this industry.

More became known about elephants, and it became clear that they were amazing animals and that we didn't know that much about them. Perhaps the most interesting discovery came when people found that elephants could hear sub-sonic sounds [ref].

My facination with elephants started as a kid. Growing up in the remote northern part of Kenya, we got to know about elephants in both the good and the bad ways. I remember when I was about 8 how a kid told us of how they traveled with the dead "Mohammed" the elephant with huge tusks that now stands stuffed in Nairobi's National Museum.

We would often travel through Samburu National Park and visited many other parks. I can remember the huge herds we would see in Tsavo, probably due to all the poaching the elephants sometime stuck together in big groups. We once counted 300, and many were beyond sight. My mother, driving at the time because my dad had stayed at one of the lodges with my baby sisiter, tired of the game driving, was nervous.

Later I studied Nature Conservation as Saasveld. I did a six month practical at Addo Elephant National park. I didn't have much to do with the elephants, but did learn a lot about them. The park warden at the time told me to read about elephants and gave me some books, including some of Douglas-Hamilton's books. Since then I have read a number of the well known books on elephants, and continue to be facinated by these big creatures.

My next move was to Namibia and here I got to know about the so called 'Desert Elephants.' The Desert Elephants are nothing different from other elephants in an evolutionary sence. They are normal African Elephants. However they have addapted behaviorally to desert conditions. There never was a separation from other elephant populations, and so they don't have any specific physiological advantages to living in the desert. Rather, it's a testmont to elephant's amazing brains and ablility to figure out how to deal their environment, and to how elephant communities manage to pass on information to descendents to create a type of body of knowledge of an area to improve their survival chances.

New moves in comunity conservation and organizations like the peace parks foundation are so important for populations like these. Perhaps a day will come when the desert elephants can be re-connected with their kin in Etosha...it's actually not that far from being done now, with community conservation efforts in the Palmwag/Grootberg area of Namibia's north-west.

That brings up the concern of the current 'elephant problem.' Elephants are not ment to be in small conservation areas. They are movers. They need a lot of space. Many areas are now over populated by elephants, and will become a bigger and bigger problem for human safety and for the effects of desertification. These are difficult issues and there are many very emotional camps about how to deal with it. One thing is clear, though, and that is that efforts like Peace Parks and community conservation areas, extending the exsiting areas where elephants can move, will have to be part of the solution.

This is the finnal post relating to my recent trip with Shem and C4Images. To me the theme of the trip was elephants. We had a wonderful time watching and photographing desert elephants up in the Hoanib, and had fantastic elephant sightings in Etosha, ending with a party of over 50 elephants at the last waterhole we visited!

Just a few random pictures

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:37:00 +0000

No theme, just a few pictures I took on my recent tour with C4Images.

A Devil's Thorn flower. Beautiful, but horrid seeds.

It's a donkey, okay. I know this blog is called Frantic Naturalist and perhaps donkeys don't belong. But hey, it's my blog and what else am I going to do with a picture of a donkey? :~)

The Nara fruit is a life giver to the Namib in the late dry season. Just when everything else is totally dry, this plant produces large numbers of these big fruit. This one is old and just the dry skin, lying in the red dunes near Sossusvlei.

A hyrax at Erong Wilderness Lodge. Have you ever stayed somewhere where you get Rock Hyrax, or even worse, Tree Hyrax. There calls are like a screem. Late at night in your tent out in the bush it can be a really scarry sound - compliments fire side horror story telling! One of the favorite guide things is to tell you that they are not a rodent, but rather close relatives of elephants. Recent research supports this idea, and you can have a look here if you are interested in the taxonomy of this strange group of mammals.

A slab of sandstone at Twyfellfontein with rock art on it. It's an interesting place to visit, and best viewed in the late afternoon. This was taken at midday. Not the best time, but still interesting.

Simply Sand

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:47:00 +0000

Sand is sort of normal stuff. Go out in the garden, and I would guess that you can find some sand. But to me it's become rather special stuff.

The Namib Sand Sea is Namibia's largest dune field. It stretches some 400 kilometers from north to south and varies in width but at it's widest is over a hundred kilometers from east to west.

Two ephemeral rivers run dead within the dune field. Near Solitare, a river called the Tsondab river flows out of the mountains to the east and flows into a rather large gap in the dune field, ending around 60 kilometers from the ocean, where the dunes overcome it. This area is not open to the public, but to the south there is another river that does the same thing...perhaps in more spectacular fashion.

The Tsauchab river runs past Sesriem and into a gap between the dunes and finally ends at Sossusvlei. The valley's walls are made up of the most impressive dunes. Here simple sand creates a natural display that must be one of the most beautiful places on the plannet.

But that's not all the Namib Sand Sea has to offer. If you are lucky enough to do a scenic flight over the dune field, one reaches the ocean. In places the dunes give way to flat gravel planes with some shifting sand. There are a few masive shipwreks along the coast, now well inland from the water due to the land that has been added to the shore by new sand.

But in other places the dunes run right up to the ocean, creating a wall of sand towering over the beaches in low tide, and have the waves crush at their feet in high tides.

To the north is the area known as Sandwich harbor, which has a lagoon area set alongside the dunes. You can do a day tour out there from the coastal towns of Swakopmund or Walvis bay.

Near Walvis Bay is the Gobabeb Research and Resource center, which means that these dunes, and the Namib Desert as a whole, is a very well known desert.

To the south the town of Ludritiz sits south of the dune field. Here sand blows northwards into the dune field and is the area that has the most frequent sandstorms. A derelict diamond town, Kolmanskop sits nearby, now with dune sand blowing through the houses.

On the eastern margin of the dune field are partly vegetated sand dunes. Here the sand is at it's reddest, and because this is the desert's highest rainfall region, this area has the most life. It is this area that I know and love the most.

Cetainly the best was to experience these dunes is to visit the NamibRand Nature reserve and spend a couple of nights there. Both for photography the amazing life in the dunes, each creature finding it's own way to battle out a living in this sandy habitat.

The Namib Sand Sea is a treasure to Namibia. If you plan to visit Namibia, come and see this amazing bit of sand.

Photographic Tour of Namibia

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:49:00 +0000

About a year ago an old collage friend of mine, Shem Compion, asked me if I would be interested in helping him out on a tour. Of course, I said I would.

Shem is an accomplished photographer and runs a tour company taking exclusive photographic safaris called C4Images.

I picked up Shem in Windhoek and we began organizing our tour, all the while chatting about what we had been up to in the last 10 years. After getting our tour vehicles we went out to the Airport and picked up the guests. They slept in Windhoek that night.

The next morning we set off for Sossusvlei. We stayed at Sossus Dune Lodge, run by Namibian Wildlife Services. There website has been down for some time but just to be fair to them, here is the link. The lodge was built really nice but management very poorly. However, it sports one overwhelming advantage...it's in the park. For photographers that's a big advantage as we could literally be in or out of the park any time we chose.

We took full advantage of our time there, with three nights we did many trips down the Sossusvlei Valley each time picking different spots to explore and photograph.

I really love Sossusvlei, and it was just a pleasure to spend the time there. I am certainly not a hotshot photographer, but with all the time one has on a photographic tour, even the guides have lots of time to take pictures. I took full advantage and really learned a lot from the guests, from Shem and from the tour leader of the group who was from Hosking Tours.

Despite having some guests who were not that young anymore, we did a fair bit of walking in to locations, which gives you the advantage of capturing and experiencing the more pristine areas. It also means that, because vehicles are not allowed there, they stay pristine after you have gone.

We had rather windy conditions at Sossusvlei, but because these winds warmed the area up, we got to see various animals we otherwise wouldn't, including a couple Barking Geckos...Small little ground dwelling geckos you normally only hear, but struggle to see.

After Sossusvlei we left for Erongo Wilderness Lodge. It was a long drive getting there, but we made it with some good light to spare. The guests didn't waste a second...they started taking pictures right as we got there.

Erongo Wilderness Lodge is a bit like The Flintstones in Luxury. The lodge is set in a hilly area near the Erongo mountains. The area is made up of huge Granite bolders and outcrops. It is a really beautiful place.

Being a keen birder, the area is rather special to me for all its specials. Perhaps the most special is the Hartlaub's Francolin, which I didn't manage to see on this trip. I did have some luck with Rockrunners, and got a few pictures.

Rockrunners can be rather hard to get hold of because of their habit of running between the rocks and not doing much flying. In the years where the rain was good this can make it really tricky, but this individual gave me a few tries. I don't have such a long lens, and so it's not very sharp, but it was sitting so nicely in good light.

We also had fun taking pictures around the lodge in the morning, especially the huge numbers of the beautiful Rosy-faced Lovebirds.

We only spent one night there and had a big drive again the next day. We stopped at Twyfelfontein area around lunch time and visited the famous rock art site, now Namibia's only World Heritage Site. It is certainly advisable to try to do the Twyfelfontein walk in the early morning or late afternoon if possible. And it's lots of ups and downs.

From there it was on to Sesfontein. We stayed at Fort Sesfontein Lodge, which is a bit of a poor lodge, but gives access to an amazing area. We were there three nights.

Our first full day was a trip down the Huanib River. Our main interest was to capture images of the Desert Elephants. The springs in the riverbed on the eastern side had lots of water and we were hopeful of a great day. We saw lion tracks along with many others. We found some interesting birds, including a female Painted Snipe...rather special for the area.

Around eleven o'clock we found our first Elephants. From there we had a few good elephant encounters. We spent some time watching each group we found, being careful, of course, not to be intrusive, but to let the images come from the animals naturally. Despite this, my best image of the day was of an elephant gave us a little display, shaking his dust (after dust bathing) into the air above us as we moved away from him into the riverbed.

This image is posted on my flickr account.

We had a really long day, with an 11 hour game drive, but it was certainly worth it, considering the experience we had.

The next day we took it easier and arranged a trip to visit a Himba village.

Himba people still live a nomadic pastoral way of life in North-western Namibia. Since Namibia's independence the Himba have become a very popular part of the tourism circuit in Namibia. If you plan to visit the Himba people, please be sure to visit them with a local guide, and be sensitive to them...you are visiting people in their own homes.

After our stay at Sesfontein we moved on to Etosha. Etosha is just plain fantastic! I have never been through Etosha without a feeling that my stay was to short!

Our first to nights in the park were at Okaukuejo. Okaukuejo is the rest-camp within the park in the center. There are a further two rest-camps further east, namely Halali and Namutoni.

Okaukuejo is famous for it's waterhole. It is floodlit at night and both night and day the waterhole is interesting to watch.

A bunch of Elephants drink at Okaukuejo in the image. Elephants can be found both day and night at the waterhole. At night the highlight is frequent visits by Black Rhino. Etosha supports one of the biggest populations of Black Rhino.

Our full day at Okaukuejo was simply spent watching the waterhole. I ran around birding and trying to find birds for the guests to photograph. They got great images of Pygmy Falcons, that gave us great opportunities to really study them and compose great pictures. My lens was a little to short for great pics, but I had a go non the less.

From Okaukuejo we made our way accross the park. We stopped at Halali where we had a lunch stop and found some Owls to photograph with the help of the staff at Halali Rest-camp.

The tiny African Scops-owl is always fun to photograph. This image has been uploaded to The Internet Bird Collection website.

After lunch the game drive vehicles from Mushara Lodge came out to Halali as a special favor so that the guests could do the afternoon in open vehicles...better for photography than our mini vans.

Our last two night of the trip were spent at Mushara. We spent the full day doing game drives on the Eastern side of the park. We moved at a slow pace and spent a lot of time with any game we found, regardless of weather they were lions or springbok. It was a great way to finish off the trip.

The very last waterhole we visited was certainly one of the highlights of the whole tour, with over 50 elephants on a single waterhole in great afternoon light!

The next day was an early morning, long drive back to Windhoek for the guests flight home. It certainly could have been my favorite trip ever.

I would like to add a special thanks to Shem Compion from C4Images for using me to help on the trip, and to Martin Withers, the group leader from Hoskings Tours and a master wildlife/nature photographer. Of course, I would also like to thank the guests if any of them ever see this blog post. It was fantastic.

Home

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:59:00 +0000

I installed a new Google earth, after a long time of not really looking at Google earth. I was just excited to find my childhood home now shows up on Google earth, good enough to see the house and some of the area. I grew up in a very remote part of Northern Kenya. It was a wonderful place to grow up.

View Korr in a larger map

100 posts

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Sat, 23 May 2009 06:34:00 +0000

I have passed 100 posts on Frantic Naturalist. Just want to say thanks to all the people who have visited the blog regularly. It's been fun.

I will soon be launching my new website/blog at Sandcurves (www.sandcurves.com) I am still busy with the blog code, so it will still take a few days. I am mainly working with php and using mysql for the database, with a bit of Ajax thrown in. It's fun. I am still learning about a few small things like rss. I am certainly trying to do as much of the coding myself as I can. One of the main reasons is because I hope to be doing a lot of the work on the safari wise website, which is based on php.

Next week we will be in Windhoek for a few days to scout around for a house and schools before we move up there in July. For more info, follow me on Twitter

Etosha

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:40:00 +0000

My recent trip and some travel advice for Etosha

My recent Etosha trip

A couple weeks ago I had the great pleasure of taking two astronomers up to Etosha. The goal was for them to record (photograph) an occultation of Pluto. We spent four nights there and had the chance to do a few morning game drives in Etosha.

The first morning we managed to see a couple Elephant bulls along with lots of plains game. No lions of the first day. Due to the huge rains that Namibia had had this year, there was a lot of water in the pans and so wildlife was really spread out. It really is my favorite time to go to Etosha, because you never know what you will find where, and the birding gets good. But to take people on their first Safari at a time like that is difficult. The truth of tour guiding is that no matter what your guests say, there is this unwritten (or is it written??) rule that says you MUST FIND LIONS.

The trip wasn't about Etosha at all, and we only did morning drives. The afternoons they would sleep, and then most of the night was spent with the telescope, preparing for the night when the occultation of Pluto would occur.

We has some nice drives and saw nice birds, including a couple sightings of Blue Cranes and an African Spoonbill. It was fun.

On our last day the worry was far more about weather. The whole thing (the occultation) boils down to a couple of minutes of critical, when the star passes behind Pluto. If clouds got in the way then, it would be all for nothing.

We did a last game drive on our final morning. It was rather quiet. It's always a tricky one. We had spent all our time on the same side of the park, and so you run out of new places to try. The guests were enjoying it a lot, so I wasn't to stressed. On our way out we decided to revisit one waterhole, and finally got a few lions lying near the road under some bushes. There was a man and female that probably had just finished a spree of mating as well as a couple males lying a little way off from the pair.

It was a nice ending to our game drives, but we still had weather to worry about. They had traveled half way around the world just to see this event, and these types of events don't happen that often. So there was a lot of pressure and not much we could do about it.

The afternoon rolled around and the weather looked fine. No problem. I was relaxing. The astronomers probably less so. But the sky was clear.

Then as the evening started coming in, a little cloud was lifting in the north. As the evening carried on, the cloud built and built. It was going to be a race. Marc, one of the astronomers had his camera taking short time laps photographs of the sky at short intervals, giving an interesting account of the night's weather.

It was getting stressful. I left to go to bed as I had the drive to Windhoek the next day. I slept a while, then woke up worried about the weather. I went out again and just waited until the actual event started. They were in luck, just a little window of clear sky showed in the region of Pluto and the occultation!

I didn't realize how close it had been until we watched Marc's pictures of the evenings sky the next day. It was amazing. This cloud just closed right in, just leaving that spot open. Just after the event they wanted one last go at taking some data, and when they tried, they got nothing...the clouds had closed in. It was amazing, the really just squeezed it in!

It was a wonderful trip and the type of thing that I would love to do in the future again. It was especially nice to have done it at Etosha, a place that has been special to me for years.

Advice for travelers to Etosha

I was asked (by Mary Winstone) for some travel advice for Etosha, which is something I have wanted to do for some time. So here goes.

General Information

Etosha is Namibia's premier wildlife or Safari destination. The park is just a little over a hundred years old. Etosha is managed by Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the restcamps in the park are run by Namibia Wildlife Resorts, and organization tied to the parks.

At a little over 22 000 square kilometers, Etosha is a big place! The park is rather diverse, with a huge salt pan taking up a good part of the park, a variety of Broadleaved, Mopani, and Acacia woodland, grassy and dwarf shrub plains and saline pans. The park is mostly flat. Very flat. A few places, like Halali, have isolated hills around them. The park only really gets hilly on the far western side.

Despite it's size, Etosha has only a relatively small area open to the public. Don't let that worry you to much, as it's still a really big area, and you can spend many days in Etosha and still not see it all. It also means that the long drive from the east to west (or visa versa) should be taken as a whole day...more on that later.

Accomodation

Where should you stay? That really is a question of budget, but I will try to give you some idea of what there is. Let me break it into three sections: In the park, at the Anderson's Gate and at the Von Lindquist Gate.

In the Park
In the only option is to stay at one of the Namibian Wildlife Resort's Etosha Resorts. There are three main ones, and all of them are large places with different types of accommodation in them. You can camp, or stay in the rather nice bungalows. Meals are provided at restaurants in buffet style. There have been recent efforts to upgrade the rooms and it is rather nice.
The three main rest camps include Okaukuejo on the western side of the tourist area, Halali half way, and Namutoni on the eastern side of the park.
Advantages...You are in the park, you can do night drives, each camp has a waterhole that can be viewed at night and at both Halali and Okaukuejo the waterholes can be very interesting, with Black Rhino, Elephants and lions making frequent appearances. I even saw a leopard at Halali last year.
The parks rest camps (or resorts) are cheaper than the fancy lodges, but with the upgrades over the last few years, they are far from cheep. Camping is the cheapest way to do Etosha now.
The resorts are the only place that you can do night drives in the park. I can't comment to much on the quality of the night drives as I haven't done them and I have only had a couple of guests on my trips do them, with mixed reports as to how good the trips were.
NWR isn't exactly government, but it is a little bit like government, and as such the resorts management isn't top class. But they are okay and I always enjoy staying in the resorts. If you stay at Halali, ask the watchmen to show you the Scops and White-faced Owls roosting in the trees. I usually give them a couple bucks for it.

There is also a new development (Onkoshi) in the park on the eastern side.
Central/South area, Anderson's GateThe best lodge in this area is the Ongava Lodge, run by Wilderness Safaris. They have their own private game reserve right next to Etosha and have plenty to see there. They have a good population of White Rhino, an animal infrequently seen in Etosha itself. At Ongava there is the tented camp, which was my favorite place to stay. I was last there in 2003, but I believe its still good. What I loved about the tented camp was the close proximity one has with wildlife there. On the flip side, there is also the very luxury rooms at Ongava, that are perhaps the nicest accommodation around the park. There are a number of other options on this side, but I would recommend either Ongava or Okaukuejo.
East Von Lindquist GateThere are a number of options on this side. Right at the Gate is Mokuti Lodge, run by Kempinski, which I stayed at in the trip mentioned above. It is a large, hotel like lodge. I found the rooms a little crowded. I feel like they need to throw in so much 'stuff' to make it a five star lodge that they loose a bit of practicality. That said, however, I feel it's a great place, conveniently located, and we found the staff friendly and willing to help us with all sorts of unusual requests. There is a snake park at the lodge. I don't think it's that great, mainly focusing on all the big stuff, and not interesting in terms of small snakes and lizards, and with very little info. But I guess not everyone is as interested in reptiles as I am.

On the other side of the road is the Onguma Lodge, which is really a couple lodges together. I have never stayed there and it's all rather new. From what I hear, it is a great place. I would certainly say that it's the place I am most interested in visiting around Etosha.

Another wonderful lodge outside Etosha's eastern side is Mushara.

A few years back I did a number of tours through there and always enjoyed staying there. I feel like the management can be a little cold and 'hotelier' like, but if you like it fancy, they are good with that. They have some good wine and a nice setting. It is a little far from the gate, but not so much that it's a big problem.

For any other options outside the park, one starts to get quiet far from the gates. If you are looking at doing it cheaply, being in the park is certainly the best option...though still rather pricey.

There are lodges on the western side of the park, but the access through there is restricted to tour operators only and only really worth it if you are also traveling to the far north-west of Namibia. For game viewing the main area is perfectly fine.

For more information and bookings visit the Cardboard Box website. They are an excellent resource for traveling to Namibia, not just for information but for bookings, tours and even advice on things like insurance and safety.

DIY gamedrives in Etosha

You can go with a tour company, but Etosha is fine to do on your own. You can still do game drives with the lodges or resorts and probably if you are doing it on your own, I would suggest mixing it up a bit. Namibia can be a LOT of driving. Trust me, it's probably more than you think. And the distances in the park are deceiving, because you never drive fast in the park and so it can be tiring.

That said, the other side of it is that doing a game drive on your own is magic. It's special. I love doing game drives with my family not so much for what we see, but just for being out there. Of course, if you haven't done game drives that much, what you see in important, but the experience itself is still magic.

In Etosha it's all about water. It can be a little bit boring in a way, though, to just cruse waterhole to waterhole. But in the dry season, most of the animals move to waterholes. In the rainy season this changes and you really don't know what you will see where. If you plan to visit Etosha in the rainy season (especially January to April) it is best to focus as much on birds and behavior as trying to find the high profile animals. Late dry season is the best for finding animals at the waterholes (September/October or even early November if the rains haven't broken.)

Look everywhere. Often people miss a rhino that is just in the bush a little from the road. Make sure you look into the bush.

Use the EARLY mornings. Your first hour is the best time to see Rhinos or Lions at the waterholes. Later, as the day warms up, you may see streams of wildlife at waterholes with up to five or six species of larger mammals present at the same time. Elephants basically drink any time. Giraffes often like to drink in the late afternoon, and it is really cool to watch that.

Always make sure you plan your time well in Etosha. Try to look in the sightings books to find out where interesting animals have been seen. Figure out your time to drive between places and add plenty of buffer. Don't speed in the park. It's bad for wildlife, and it's bad for those who planned better.

More Information

If you are coming to Namibia there are many tour companies and travel agents that you can work through. The Cardboard Box (mentioned above) provides really good assistance for travelling to Namibia.

Google Earth is always interesting to look at, both before and after your visit to Namibia.

Bring a good camera. Small compact cameras are nice to carry, but make sure that you have a decent zoom. Anything less than a 300 makes taking wildlife photos hard.

Binoculars really make the experience so much better and if you can afford it, I recommenced a really good pair. I use Swarovski 10 x 42 binoculars (At AmazonSwarovski EL Binocular 10x42)
and love them, but any of the good brands produce amazing binoculars, including Carl Zeiss, Leica, Nikon and of course Swarovski. Of course top range optics may be out of the question for you. I would still emphasizes getting a good pair. Don't get the compacts for Etosha. You want binoculars that you can see in poor light, especially if you are spending time at the waterholes at night.

It's nice to have a good field guide for mammals while you do game drives. I use "The Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa" by Chris and Tilde Stuart, published by Struik

If you are into birds, then Sasols birds of southern Africa is good.

You will find these books in most book stores. In Etosha you can by the parks map with a lot of the wildlife and birds on it.

Well, I think that's enough to get one started. Any questions, please shout. I know that a couple of the blog's regular readers know a bit about Etosha and I may have missed stuff. Please feel free to add or even make corrections in the comments.

What is happening with us

vernon@frantic-naturalist.com (Namib Naturalist) — Tue, 05 May 2009 08:59:00 +0000

If you are waiting for a post on my Pluto trip to Etosha, I promise it will come soon.

I realized that there are so many people who read my blog or follow on twitter who actually know me, and don't know what is going on in our life. So this post is to inform all of you what is going on with us.

If you don't actually know me, you may find this post a little boring.

We currently live at the coast where I had hoped to start up Frantic Naturalist Tours and Safaris. Things have not gone so smooth, and I have mainly been freelancing. Actually, this year I have done just odd jobs here and there. I have landed a great deal with Safari Wise, but that is also very slow off the ground. (I wish them luck with it in the future though...they are a great company.)

So now we are going to Windhoek to help my wife's mother with here business. My wife is going to manage her business and I am going to work on doing some web design and probably will keep freelancing (tours). I have a few trips lined up for later in the year, which I certainly will do.

What is going to happen to frantic naturalist? Well, I want to keep the company alive. I want to take it back to what I had wanted right from the beginning. The idea of Frantic Naturalist for me was never to be a company, but rather to create a club or organization that gets nature enthusiasts out into the wild together. It is a registered company now, and I will keep it like that, but I will mainly aim to do trips for the serious nature enthusiast. I may put some trips together, and advertise them as a once off thing. I have some good ideas...watch this space! I hope to do four of five trips that are really interesting each year, with a specific focus and a get a group of enthusiasts out into the wilds in Namibia. I have a passion for the desert and also for birding, so most of this stuff will focus on that.

I would also love to do a trip like the one that I just did, where I provide logistical support and a little guiding for people doing things out in the deserts or bush, such as scientists doing a research project, small film crews (I am very selective about those,) and whatever interesting things come along.

Moving to Windhoek is rather sad for me. Most of all I am going to miss the wetlands and the dunes around here. But there are birds in Windhoek, and there is the bird club. So I will keep birding and writing about that.

My first web design job is going to be for Safari Wise and I will hopefully keep working on their website doing updates. One of the first things that I will be doing is trying to rid the site of a lot of it's pdf files. I hope to get a few of the smaller tour companies and perhaps environmental orgs to do their websites. It's really a new passion for me, but I have enjoyed learning and had lots of time to do it. I will probably register the name "sandcurves" as a company for doing the web design, so that if I manage to build up both companies, I can one day either sell Frantic Naturalist (small chance) or the web design company. Don't like SandCurves as a name for a web design company? Well give me some ideas?

The Frantic Naturalist Website will remain on the internet, and I will keep using it as a nature tours directory. It's cheating a bit from a search point of view. Since I started the directory the traffic to that site has been fantastic. It's fun for me, people who want to do tours with me can find me through ti, and it probably helps other small nature tour operators get found.

All in all, this blog and my website is going to get more and more personal. I do both (the blog and the website) for fun, more now than ever. If I get some work out of it, all the better. But I don't want to worry to much about what I write. I am not a marketer, I guess.

The Pluto trip that I just did (I didn't actually go to Pluto - it's far away, I just went to Etosha to look at Pluto,) ...came through this blog!

I will be moving this blog to my own website soon. I will drop all the other blogs, aside from African Bush Stories, which I think is a great idea, I just need more people to give me their stories. It was rather amazing...I thought it would be easy to get hundreds of stories from friends for that site, but the stories that pop out over a beer dry up when you want them in media form. I would love to have a co-author for the blog. Or you can even take over the whole thing...if you look after it. I will contribute from time to time?

The other blogs were just there for search anyway.

The up side of moving to Windhoek...lots of our friends are there (some of you who read this blog.) It's the next chapter in our adventure. Frantic Naturalist hasn't flopped yet...it hasn't started yet. It was really a bad time (or interesting time) to try to start a super niche product in a small, far away place (in tourism world market terms.) When all of you are making lots of money again, so will Frantic Naturalist. It was all getting watered down. Now I can really put the 'frantic' and the 'naturalist' back in the company.

If this blog post was super boring...sorry, we'll be back to the good stuff soon.