All labelled with location as far as possible. They are in chronological order. The shots aren't arty - just records. Some birds - especially the secretary bird - were extremely unco-operative and do not figure in the pictorial record. There are some duplicates from different locations. List of seen but unrecorded birds at the end - sorry, you'll just have to trust me on those! (L) lifer. If you find errors (Derek!) please let me know so that I can make corrections. Pied crow - Soussusvlei. Arid desert/dunes. Assorted sparrows enjoying crumbs in Solitaire. Short toed rock thrush - Solitaire. Desert biome. (L) https://www.solitairenamibia.com/ Greater flamingoes: the Lagoon, Walvis Bay (L) Grey heron: the Lagoon, Walvis Bay Lesser flamingo: the Lagoon, Walvis Bay (L) Walvis Bay is on The Skeleton Coast which is washed by the Benguela current. Much of the moisture comes from morning fog, rolling in off the sea. It is also well known for its salt pans which the flamingoes...
Up before dawn so that we hit the time the gate opens. This is pure desert time with spectacular dunes. The red colour indicates how ancient this desert is as it takes a long time for the iron ore particles to oxidise - the oldest dunes are 5 million (give or take). The redder the dune, the older it is. The actual desert is 55 million years old. Dunes begin as a small bush. No bush = no dune. Every dune in Namibia has a plant at its base. Seeing the dunes from the air seems popular. Big Daddy - the highest of the dunes. Yes, those are people climbing it. Jack - wondering whether to climb it. These camel thorn trees are thought to be 900 years old. The atmosphere is too dry for the dead wood to rot so they remain, petrified. There is life here. Sesriem canyon. It used to be 3/4 full of water in the wet season. When we visited, it was completely dry.
And a more than discernible change in temperature/humidity. But first, a shipwreck and a skellington on the skellington coast: Damaraland has a chequered history, most recently as a result of Namibia's having been part of apartheid South Africa when Damaraland was a bantustan. It has played host to humanity for at least 6000 years, as evidenced by the extraordinary collection of rock art at Twyfelfontein. There are 2,500 drawings over 30 sites. Any comment I might make would be superfluous. I was rather sceptical about The Damara Living Museum . I was wrong. The presenter was extremely entertaining and informative and I learnt a lot about Damara culture. (There were skulls, too. Sorry for lack of pics, but they were attached to people.) A game instead of war - played only by chiefs (or a chief and a tour guide) The compulsory dance including tourists. Finally the petrified forest. By this point, I had wilted. Fossilized tree trunks, 280m years old. ...
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