The Bizarre Welwitschia
In June 2009 the Daily Telegraph in the UK ran a competition in their gardening section to find the “World’s Ugliest Plant”. The competition was won by the Corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) (no surprise...
Monthly Archive: September 2010
Bird of the week – Week 38 : Madagascar bee-eater
There is a population of Madagascar bee-eaters that arrives in the north-western corner of Namibia and neighbouring southern Angola around September each year to breed. These birds stay for just four or five months...
All creatures great and small
My previous blog was about the spotted hyenas that we saw on a visit to the Kruger National Park. I also spoke about the majority of people wanting to see the Big 5. It...
Bird of the week – Week 37 : Dusky sunbird
One of the fairly common avian residents of the arid western parts of Southern Africa is a small sunbird, just about 11 cm in length, which is busily active even in the midday heat,...
Spotted Hyenas in Kruger National Park
A visit to the Kruger National Park in South Africa is such a rewarding experience for avid animal and bird lovers like ourselves. We have just returned from a holiday in that part of...
Bird of the week – Week 36 : Black-shouldered kite
Drive down almost any country road in Southern Africa and you are bound to see a small grey and white raptor sitting in a slightly hunched position and looking somewhat gull-like, on a roadside...
Namibia’s Largest Endemic Carnivore
On several visits to the Erongo Mountains of Western Namibia we have been fortunate enough to catch a few glimpses of black mongooses, usually as they streak across the road in front of the...
The Ghost Town of Kolmanskop
The history of the village of Kolmaskop in Southern Namibia is typical of the boom-and-bust history of many mining towns around the world; towns founded on the presence of exotic minerals that are collected...
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