Suitably refreshed, we continued eastwards to the Tsiknias River. There we sheltered from the sun and a stiff breeze in a hide to eat our packed lunches, then walked northwards along the river.
Little owl on the edge of the villageI just love grasses and sedgesGreat tit with juicy green bugAnchusa undulata, an alkanetSilybum marianum, milk thistle Two kinds of verbascumLamium moschatum, a deadnettleSome are ahead of me and some, these, behind.Corn bunting
The next photo, a ridiculous one, is here just for the record. It is the best I could do of an entertaining bunch of European bee eaters – a very long way off!
Caspian terrapinsWood sandpiper
By the turn round point, my hips were telling me they wanted to stop dawdling and to start walking properly so I did so, though quite slowly.
(Dung?) beetle. The body was about an inch long.
I crossed the village of Skala Kalloni again. There were many cats, healthy-looking ones, everywhere there was habitation. Many of them were ginger. I have learnt since my return that the Greek government pays people to look after stray cats, and I am aware of someone on Crete who receives such a subsidy. Later edit: Correction. Not the Greek government, who ‘couldn’t care less’, but an association.
I spent a pleasant half-hour just sitting on a bench a few minutes away from our hotel, watching the waves on the gulf. I thought the party might catch up, but heard later that the walk back had had many stops to see interesting things, and that a final stop had been made at the place we had taken refreshment in the morning!
Coot spotted on the lake-that-(almost)-no-longer-was
It was a gentler day on Thursday 12th March. ‘Oh good’, thought I as I started this post, ‘Fewer photos to share.’ Fail!
It was back in the minibus today, as we headed off, making several stops as ever, to the Anti-Atlas mountains. An odd name, given by a couple of British geologists in the 19th century. The rock formation is extremely old, dating back 300 million years, linked with the Appalachian Mountains, but coming to the surface only some 80 million years ago as a result of the collisions of the African and European plates, and heavily weathered since.
Throughout the week, we saw far more than I was able to capture on ‘film’, but this time at our first stop I took:
two European Bee-eaters,a Margarita’s Fringe-toed Lizard,and a tortoise in a (prickly) pear hedge!
Our next stop was for a drink at Ait Baha. ‘Ait’ means ‘tribe’ or ‘family’ in Berber, and appears in many town names. This one is best-known for shoe-making, and we wondered round a co-operative, some people buying. There was no aggressive hard-selling. I think this actually made one all the more likely to buy. The guilt I felt for not doing so would have been absent had I been pestered. (I would have bought if any of these lovely slippers and shoes had had supportive insteps.)
Moving on we saw, among other things:
a Bibron’s Agama, flattened to take full advantage of the sun’s rays.another one, which has apparently lost its tail and regrown a stump – the vertebrae do not regrow – and yet another, assuming a proper, dignified position.A Spur-thighed tortoise, in full view this time.Linaria ventricosa (a toadflax), manly confined to the Anti-AtlasSad-looking donkeyA shy Barbary Ground SquirrelA bolder one, not easy to see against its backgroundI just enjoyed the gnarled roots and trunk of this tree, difficult to see where one ends and the other begins.
We were heading for the hilltop village of Laatik, and its agadir. An agadir was originally a defensive grain store, but expanded its purpose to the storage of anything precious owned by villagers. Each family had one large cupboard/room in the agadir. This building was at least 600 years old, but there was apparently a more famous and larger one elsewhere dating back some 900 years. We were greeted by its guardian, though Mohamed gave most of the explanations.
This agadir was two storeys high, but some were higher.The front entranceLooking out at the modern village from the outer yardAlthough not intended to be residential, at times of inter-tribal warfare and siege people would shelter inside the agadir. This was the kitchenInner door, leading to a corridor, with seating and artefacts,including one of those beehivesThe guardian showed us…… the workings of a well, which captured water off the mountains, for use in emergency.A ‘street’ of storerooms, looking one way, and the other. The protruding stones are steps to those in the upper storey.A glimpse into one of the storeroomsThe lookout tower still has internal steps, as proved recently by some small boys who made it to the top
It was intended that we should eat our packed lunch in that corridor, but in the event we had to beat a hasty retreat. Locals objected to our presence, for fear that we were bringing the coronavirus with us. At that point (I was keeping a very close eye on the national and international situation) only 2 cases had been declared in Morocco, each of those Moroccan residents in northern Italy, who had returned to Morocco for a visit. I don’t blame those local people in the least for wanting to be rid of us.
Our leaders found a lovely spot a few kilometres away on the way down for us to eat, including even a natural bench for those of us who couldn’t crouch on the ground. I was happy to be in the open air and not in that corridor.
This was directly ahead of me as I ate, and I was struck by the contrasting textures of rocks, trunk, green plant, and exposed roots.The view if I swivelled slightly right.
Once we had moved on in the minibus, at last I managed to get a decent picture of a Barbary Ground Squirrel.
The sky had started clouding over as we had left the agadir, and we actually caught a glimpse of a shower in the distance at one point in the afternoon. This was the only hint of precipitation we saw all week.
More goats in trees. These are just a few of tte large herd which went by us, with goatherd.
Back to Ait Baha for afternoon refreshment. The kestrel was still there, but now on the windowsill.
The traditional method of building houses in Morocco is to plan for a next storey, should it prove desirable and affordable. So these houses are only unfinished in the sense that they may or may not grow in the future. Meanwhile, the floor of that next storey, with window spaces all ready, serves as a roof terrace.
These very modern apartment blocks on the outskirts of ever-expanding Agadir make no such provision.
Once we were back on the main dual carriageway towards Agadir, I was thrilled to see a woman in colourful dress driving a large colourful tractor, coming in the opposite direction. Unfortunately I had no time to capture the image.
Always good when our temporary hilltop home comes into sight.
Friday 1st March. Just before sunrise over the Okavango River from my ‘garden’ at the Kaisosi River Lodge.
A little while later, a fisherman was working from his dugout canoe opposite my room.
And just before we set off after breakfast, an African Pygmy-goose appeared.
We had been at the north of the Caprivi Strip, (that ‘handle’ at the north east of Namibia) and this morning were moving well towards the south of it but not much further east yet.
En route, we (they) couldn’t resist visiting the previous evening’s sewage works again. But before getting there we saw (among other things – it’s always among many, many other things, especially birds) ..
I’ve spent over half an hour searching for what this pretty bird might be, to no avail. Thank goodness that after this I started making a note of the name of every bird of which I took a photo! Much later: I’m beginning to suspect that my first thought, which I rejected initially because of the beak, was right. A Carmine bee-eater, its beak very much foreshortened in the photo.Upper wire: giant kingfisher with prey. Lower wire – pied kingfishers.
At the sewage works.
Painted snipe. Seeing this caused some excitement.Black-winged stiltIf the ground is too low for the telescope to be of use, you use whatever else is to hand, here the luggage trailer. RuffEuropean Bee-eater
We were due to go on a river cruise later in the afternoon.Almost as soon as we arrived, I was thrilled to see this Sable Antelope on the far bank. I had been doing my homework and knew that there was a possibility. Beautiful creature!Chobe dwarf gecko on the side of one of the roomsAnd this is the view from my own lime-green-painted room, which was to be home for three nights.There was a small ‘normal’ swimming pool at the lodge, but this one had been carved (not sure that’s the right word) out of the river. One of our number tried it and said it was quite impossible to swim there. He was just swept to the far (in this photo, near) side of the pool by the current.Way upstream these buffaloes came down to graze on the opposite side of the river.But directly opposite were many, many elephants. They entered right and left left, for over an hour. I stayed and watched them while most of the others went off for a bird-wander before our cruise.The white mounds are salt, put there by the proprietors of the lodge to attract creatures needing it, here elephants and, behind, kudu.Glimpse of a hippo
After as early a breakfast as the hours of Mokuti Lodge would allow, we set off for the morning’s drive.
Very near the roadside and indignant at being disturbed.Lilac-breasted roller. I seem to have taken a lot of photos of this species. They seem to be quite co-operative. And pretty.??Risking the slight irritation of my birdy companions, I asked if we could stop for a photo of these palms, which we had seen the day before without stopping. My companions were in fact quite pleased, in the event, since …… they spotted in one of them what we would note at the of the day as a white-backed vulture. ?Northern black korhaan. If I were to go by my bird book I would say it might be a White-quilled bustard but that is not on our checklist, and it has a different Latin name.Blue craneBlack-winged stilt and very blurry ‘duck’. ?Teal?We came across a lot of ostriches.Many, many ostriches.A male (black) and a female (brown)To me they seem rather sinister when you can only see necks and legsStrutting their stuffShowing their irritation I think. We had hung around for a while.
We stopped for unexpected mid-morning hot drinks, prepared and served by our leaders.
Any stop provides an opportunity for looking out for birds.
African red-eyed bulbul
Someone said, rather patronisingly, that this bird was far too far off for me to be able to take with my small camera. Well, ya boo shucks! Pearl-spotted owl(et). Book says ‘appears dumpy, large-headed and short-tailed’. Yup!Laughing dove. Soooo pretty!
And we continued on our way.
European bee-eater
How leader Neil managed as he was driving along to spot this motionless creature by the side of the road, so well camouflaged against its background, I couldn’t say. ‘Experience’, they said.
Etosha Agama (lizard)HoopoePale chanting goshawk
We arrived at a waterhole, where we were to observe wildlife drama. Wildebeest and zebra were standing around, preparing to drink, but then along came an elephant troop.
A hyena sloped off.
Indeed, two elephant troops arrived – and merged.
To take over the pool entirely. I love the way giraffe’s heads show up against a treeline.After drinking, mud baths are in orderA gemsbok/oryx arrived, but did not yet go near the pool.Wildebeest hold backAs do giraffe. The bolder zebra were soon ‘discouraged’.Two of which took it out on each other.In due course the elephants did move off…And the first to drink in the, by now very disturbed, waters were a black-backed jackal and a blacksmith lapwing.
It was time to return to the lodge for lunch and a siesta.
Tuesday 26th February. Today we were leaving Halali Camp and moving on to Mokuti Lodge at the eastern end of Etosha National Park in time for lunch, and to stay two nights. While we were waiting for our vehicles to collect us, some of us were amused to see a honey badger arrive at the row of bins opposite us, (all closed at that stage), sniff at each, and, clearly much practised, neatly flip open the lid of the end one – holding it open with its back leg to prevent it falling shut – go inside and take out this packet of meat, then calmly tear it open and eat the contents, slice by slice. It then proceeded to do exactly the same with a packet of cheese slices. Not the way you really want to observe wildlife, but a clear illustration of adaptation to human presence. They were there first!
We set off through the national park, taking our time, stopping at the roadside and waterholes, making for our new lodge.
Lilac-breasted roller?ImpalaKori bustard (BL)
I was in Jakes’s vehicle this day, and he was particularly excited to see this rhino. It is a White rhino, quite rare (and, as I discovered later, a reintroduction). ‘White’ is a corruption of, I believe, Dutch ‘wijd’, referring to its wide mouth. The White rhino also has a prominent neck hump. It is noticeably larger than the Black rhino. The Black rhino is also called the Browse rhino.
Hooded vulture (BL)Spotted hyenaAt the roadsideEuropean bee-eatersOryx. Answers also to the name GemsbokIt’s not only giraffes who have to splay their legs to drink. So do impalaWhen we saw elephant approaching from our right, we not only stopped, we backed up a little. We were clearly in the path they were going to take.
This is how near they were, even as they were going away.
When we were only a few miles from or next lodge, we stopped at Namutoni Camp, a former German colonial fort, now another government-run lodge.
There was a small museum there, and a family of striped mongooses.
But our next lodge was privately run, and a distinct notch or four up on those we had already stayed at. After a leisurely lunch, and a siesta, we were due to go out, though this was put slightly in doubt by rain, the first of only two occasions when we wondered whether our plans might be affected in this way. But the storm was brief, nothing like enough to help do anything about the drought, and we went out at the planned time.
Southern red-billed hornbillLeopard tortoiseRed-necked falcons Signs of the recent rain soon disappearedOur first ostriches. We were to get better views in later daysSwallow-tailed bee-eaterNorthern black korhaan (aka White-quilled bustard)Adult warthogBut it was nowhere near these three little hoglets we saw later, running out of a culvert, no parent in sightPale chanting goshawkBlack-backed jackalWildebeest and cattle egretsAll of life is here! Impala (as far as I can tell), zebra, giraffe, grey heron, and just two Greater flamingos. But for the drought, there would have been huge flocks of flamingo we were told. As it was, we were very lucky to see any.Although it was very warm, we had little sun all afternoon, and rain threatened much of the time, though never fulfilling its threats. Such rain as there was anywhere was very localised. This part rainbow accompanied us for a good while as we made our way back to the lodge in the late afternoon. I wondered whether its curious shape was because the sun was so high, but this theory was well disproved nine days later.
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