Today has been a relatively relaxed and easy day. We woke up at around 6am when the sun was rising. Coffee, biscuits and some fruit and then we headed off to the dunes to do an hour of quad biking on the dunes. It is about a 30 minute drive to where the bikes are stored. It was just H & I and the guide (Denvil). They have definitely improved the Quad bikes since we were last year. They now have big, fancy ones. A quick lesson on how to use them and then we headed off on a quick practice on the flat and then hit the dunes. H was a bit concerned about the speed/handling so we took it quite easy.
We stopped a few times on the dunes. Firstly, to look for a dune lark. It is the only endemic bird in Namibia. We have seen it previously so it wouldn’t be a lifer but we did want to see it again on this trip. Denvil found multiple of them for us and we actually got really close to a few (like a few meters away only). Secondly, we stopped to admire the views. They really were incredible (I know I keep saying that). Thirdly, Denvil showed us some of the tracks from the animals in the desert including some of the bird tracks, lizards and spiders. What was fascinating was that he showed us spider tracks and then said, “Here is its nest”. He bent down blew the sand and a little mound appeared. He then took a stick and flapped back the door to the nest. The spider weaves silk as a door and it opens up like a trapdoor into the nest. Hopefully the photo does it justice! The nest goes down about 30cms.
We were back at the lodge just after 9am for breakfast and then H and I both had organised massages. Lunch at 2pm and the balance of the afternoon we have decided just to relax and enjoy the view. It is very hot here and even the littlest exercise seems to raise the heart rate. We set up my scope on our patio and have been watching a wake of vultures eating under a tree (not kidding about that collective noun – vultures have 3 different ones dependent on what they are doing – flying then it’s a kettle of vultures, sitting in a tree then it’s a committee of vultures, eating and it’s a wake of vultures). Not clear what they are eating but seems it might be a oryx (gemsbok). Our guide told us that a month or so ago, an oryx came to drink at the trough they have in front of the lodge and then walked back into the plain and sat down. They thought it was resting but it had actually died. Jackal, hyena and vultures then consumed it over a few days. He says the meat doesn’t rot because it is so dry, it just basically dries out and until it is too hard for any animals to eat and then they just leave it and it would stay like that forever thereafter.
Given the heat and dryness, we haven’t expected to add too many birds here but we are actually up to 74 trip birds for me and 76 for H. We have added 8 birds today. We didn’t go out tonight and decided to just enjoy the view from the lodge. We only started eating dinner at 8pm – it was too hot to eat any earlier. They definitely serve too much food – both H and I couldn’t finish any of the meals. Tonight H had soup and then a veg pasta for main and I had prawns and then oryx (cooked on a salt block … some of you will be impressed … photo of salt block below) for main.
It was a relaxing day. Until tomorrow …
P & H
PS: H told me to make sure that everyone knows she didn’t eat polony for breakfast yesterday .. it was just a first for her seeing polony at breakfast. And she says the car went up 30mm (not 30cm). So there you have yesterday’s corrections.
