Report from South Africa: The West
It’s hard to pick out the highlights from this year’s tour to Western South Africa. It could be the hordes of Namaqua and Burchell’s Sandgrouse dropping into drink at a Kalahari waterhole, their bubbling calls filling the air. Or the group of 11 Ludwig’s Bustards flapping lazily across a flower-strewn Karoo. And on the subject of flowers, the stunning wildflower displays in Namaqualand and the West Coast National Park must rank as a highlight, especially when we had a fine male Black Harrier drifting over them.
Then there were the normally elusive Protea Canaries that sat still and close for ages, or the mass of Cape Gannets at the Lambert’s Bay colony. Which leads us to the spectacular pelagic out of Cape Town with 7 albatross species and numerous petrels and shearwaters. Getting up close and personal with Cape Rockjumper and Ground Woodpecker was a treat, as was ending the tour wandering around the world-famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens – where better than to watch Cape Sugarbirds feeding on flowering proteas.
