Two porcupines and a bottle of red wine
I often wonder if folks who look at photographs of animals and birds have any concept of the patience and endurance required by photographers to get their amazing shots. Until Rob and I started...
Bird of the week – Week 50: African sacred ibis
One of the important gods in the pantheon of Ancient Egypt was Thoth, often depicted as having the head of a Sacred ibis (he is sometimes depicted as having the head of a baboon,...
The Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus)
Last week Namibia had a public holiday, so Rob and I decided to visit the Daan Viljoen Resort which is about 30 kms from Windhoek. We were gratified to see how green everything was...
Bird of the week – Week 49: Crowned lapwing
Lapwing. Now there is a rather strange word, but what does it mean? Well, don’t try researching this on the Internet unless you have quite a bit of time to spare, and are prepared...
The Ju/’hoansi Bushmen of Tsumkwe
We came across the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen at Graskop quite by chance. We’d been traveling on the C44 towards Tsumkwe when we were stopped at a veterinary check point. After exchanging pleasantries with the...
Bird of the week – Week 48: Pied kingfisher
We were visiting a series of small pans near the Zambezi River to the east of Katima Mulilo in northern Namibia when we came upon a wooden moroko pulled up on the bank of...
Chobe National Park – Botswana
In previous blogs we have talked about our wonderful holidays in Botswana, in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and the Central Kalahari, as well as up in the Savuti area. In all these places the...
Bird of the week – Week 47: Chestnut-vented tit-babbler
Walking through the veld anywhere in Namibia or in the semi-arid western parts of South Africa it is not unusual to be attracted to a melodious and bubbling song issuing from the depths of...
Bushveld Soap Opera
There’s a Dettol advertisement on TV in South Africa at the moment in which they are marketing a soap dispenser with a sensor that makes the soap squirt out without you having to touch...
Bird of the Week – Week 46 : Southern carmine bee-eater
Carmine is the name of the red dye that was originally obtained from the cochineal beetle; described as the colour of tomatoes or rubies. Or blood. The name of a food dye used to...
Southern carmine bee-eater
Carmine is the name of the red dye that was originally obtained from the cochineal beetle; described as the colour of tomatoes or rubies. Or blood. The name of a food dye used to...
Namushasha to Kalizo Lodge
One of the delights of being a birder is the way events unfold when an unexpected bird puts in an appearance. On our way from Namushasha to Kalizo Lodge, we were driving through the...
Bird of the week – Week 45: Yellow-bellied greenbul
The Yellow-bellied greenbul is an attractive little bird that can sometimes become quite friendly and used to the presence of people; several times we have been visited by these birds while camping in northern...
Namushasha – a little piece of paradise
When you live inland in a desert environment, surrounded by leafless thorn trees and no grass or waterways, you sometimes long for the vibrancy of growth and moisture. Strangely enough, to me, gazing over...
Bird of the week – Week 44 : Orange River francolin
The four francolins of the genus Scleroptila, found mainly in the grassland areas of southern Africa, are a confusingly similar group, with their white throats and brown speckled plumage. There are differences, however, and...
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