Salome and I awoke this morning to the sound of hundreds of red-bill quelea's leaving the trees just above our tent. According to Wikepedia, the Red-billed quelea is the world's most abundant wild bird species...and if you ever have the pleasure to see them roost for the evening you can believe it! They come in at dusk in swarms of up to a couple of hundred. And there can be many, many swarms. At sunrise they leave again the same way they arrived. I loved being underneath them and listening to them, unfortunately, there was a small problem with our location. The next morning our tent...borrowed from Billy of Arabia...sorry Billy...was covered with bird poo!
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| Tent under reb-billed quelea condominiums |
We had a nice relaxed morning…no need to get up and rush to move as we were spending another night. I discovered that Pete Morgan is a highly qualified area guide for local birds…and signed up for a bird watching trip with hopes of catching a glimpse of the Cinderella Waxbill. This little bird, which Pete is somewhat of an expert on, is located only in one small place in the world, which the Kunene River Lodge happens to be very close to. Pete drove just a few minutes before turning up a riverbed to head for the “spot” the birds inhabit. The first reasonable photographs of the Cinderella Waxbill were taken just 6 years ago, about the time Pete and Hillary bought the Kunene River Lodge. It is an extremely rare bird, endemic only to this region. Pete found and has the only known nest for this bird species. He has spent hours looking for and watching it, knows its habits, its calls, and its drinking places. Bird watchers will fly in from Europe for 2 days just to see this bird. How could I resist taking a look?
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| Pete and his very well behaved dogs hiking to find the Cinderella Waxbill |
The bird trip meant I missed a terrific champagne brunch…you can tell we are not suffering in the food department! But I felt the urge to try to get a shot of this rare bird with my new 300 Nikon fixed lens with 2X tele-converter. To make a long story short…below is the only shot I got of the “Cindy” bird! I did get a glimpse of her, however, and Pete is my witness!!!
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| My only shot of the "Cindy" bird! |
Being the birder he is, Pete pointed out many other birds, some found only in NW Namibia and some more common as the Pearl spotted owlette below. I also got a nice shot of a white tailed shrike. Once back at the Lodge, Pete pointed out a Scops owl that has been roosting in a tree by the river for a couple of months. He was sleepy and could hardly keep his eyes open. With eyes closed, he is very well camouflaged!
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| Pearl spotted owlette |
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| White tailed shrike - NW Namibia only |
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| Scops owl |
Later that afternoon…after my morning birding expedition, the adventurous girls decided to do a little canoeing. I can’t call it white water rafting because there wasn’t any white water but Salmone, Martie, Dawn and I took an hours float down the river in a raft…lovely and peaceful.
The fishing is also good along the Kunene. Here’s a fellow camper who caught a huge Barber (catfish?) from the bank just next to our campsites.
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| Barber caught from bank at campsite |
Here are some other shots of the Kunene River Lodge pool, which we enjoyed, and the deck overlooking the river.
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| Deck at Kunene River Lodge |
Billy of Arabia understands...hahaha. The tent did what it was supposed to do! Cover your heads.
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