Namibia, Okavango, and Victoria Falls Birding Adventure

This is a truly marvelous 2.5-week birding adventure, during which we sample three different countries and spectacular, diverse scenery. We start in the coastal Namib Desert with its impressive dune fields (inhabited by a desirable, localized endemic) and lagoons filled with flamingos, pelicans, shorebirds, and some really localized species such as Damara Tern and Chestnut-banded Plover. The mountains of the beautiful Namib Escarpment are next on our itinerary, and here we search for Rosy-faced Lovebird, Herero Chat, Rockrunner, Monteiro’s Hornbill, Damara Red-billed Hornbill, the incomparable, batis-like (although largely terrestrial) White-tailed Shrike, and other charismatic species of northern Namibia.

The cute White-tailed Shrike is a sought-after Namibian near-endemic.

Eventually we leave the desert and enter the grassland, savanna, and woodland of one of Africa’s greatest game parks, Etosha National Park. This must surely be one of the world’s best places for seeing Black Rhinoceros and big cats, along with all the other African megafauna. It is also excellent for a good range of very special birds, such as Namibia’s dazzling national bird, Crimson-breasted Shrike, the world’s heaviest flying bird, Kori Bustard, the diminutive Pygmy Falcon, and stacks more.

Etosha National Park is full of game, and is an especially good area to see Black Rhinoceros.

After Etosha we head into an incredibly bird-diverse tropical corner of Namibia, the Kavango East and Zambezi Regions (formerly the Caprivi Strip), and the adjacent panhandle of the Okavango Delta, which falls just within the borders of Botswana. The magnificent wetlands and woodlands in these parts support Pel’s Fishing Owl (this is the world’s most reliable place for this monster), White-backed Night Heron, Slaty Egret, Southern Carmine Bee-eater, and literally hundreds of other species, a rather large proportion of them spectacular. Finally, we bird around the impressive Victoria Falls for yet another rich assemblage of birds.