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INTRODUCTION
This 20-day package will provide for all your
birding needs within Namibia with a tally of approximately
415 species
including all the
near-endemics and
endemic of the
country.
NOTES
INCLUDED IN PACKAGE
Destinations:
Spreetshoogte, Southern Namib Desert, Walvis Bay, Damaraland, Etosha
National Park, Grootfontein, Okavango River, Mahangu Park, Kwando River,
Katima Mulilo, Waterberg Plateau Park.
Dates:
05 November
until 24 November 2012
Duration: 20 days/19
nights
Accommodation: In
good standard hotels/lodges/guesthouses with en suite facilities.
Meals:
As
listed in itinerary
EXCLUDED FROM PACKAGE · All International flight and/or domestic flights · Pre and post safari accommodation · Gratuities · Optional activities · Travel Insurance · Laundry, telephone calls and other items of a personal nature · Items not specified
TOUR PROGRAMME
DAY 1:
Hosea Kutako International Airport – Windhoek area
You will be met by one of the Batis Birding team
Hosea Kutako International Airport (Windhoek).
After completing all the airport
formalities and loading your luggage, we then depart to a nearby lodge
in Windhoek area for the night.
There
will be ample time to do some birding and in the evening you will be
handed your Batis checklists and a briefing of the tour will be given by
your leader.
Birds likely to be found are several
species of raptors and with luck Burchell’s Sandgrouse.
Also found here are Acacia Pied Barbet,
Sociable Weaver, Scaly-feathered Finch, Red-headed Finch, Black-chested
Prinia, Kalahari Scrub Robin, Rattling Cisticola, Long-billed Crombec,
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, as well as Lappet-faced and African
White-backed Vultures.
Accommodation:
Windhoek area
Meals:
Dinner
Included activities:
Birding
from the airport to your lodge
DAY 2:
Windhoek area - Spreetshoogte
We will leave our first night’s accommodation and
head South East towards to
the Namib Desert doing some birding along
the route to our overnight destination on the edge of the Namib Desert.
Species we can expect to encounter are
Karoo Scrub Robin, Yellow Canary, Ashy Tit, Cardinal Woodpecker, Pririt
Batis, Chestnut-vented Tit-babbler, Pale-winged Starling, White-throated
Canary, Rock Kestrel and with luck Karoo Long-billed Lark and Karoo
Eremomela.
Before dinner, we will complete our daily
checklists and look forward to the next morning’s birding, which should
deliver some of our first real arid specials.
Accommodation:
Guest Farm/Lodge in Spreetshoogte area
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding en route to Spreetshoogte
DAY 3:
Spreetshoogte – Southern Namib Desert
We leave early via the Spreetshoogte pass,
stunning scenery and landscape that will astound you!
Besides searching for Herero Chat,
Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, and raptors over the pass.
We will also look for Karoo Chat, Rüppell’s
Korhaan, Ludwig’s Bustard, Burchell’s Courser and other arid adapted
species.
Tonight we will spend our first night in
the Namib Desert where the evenings may become very cold compared to the
searing heat of the day.
Here we will also have our first chance of
trying to call up some owls, notably Spotted Eagle Owl and Barn Owl.
Accommodation: Lodge in the southern Namib area
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Drive via Spreetshoogte doing birding to
our next destination.
DAY 4:
Southern Namib Desert – Walvis Bay
From our lodging in the desert, we now travel
towards the coast where the cold
Benguella current from the
Accommodation:
Hotel/Guesthouse in Walvis Bay
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner at a
Restaurant in Walvis Bay
Included activities:
Birding en route to Walvis Bay
DAY 5:
Walvis Bay
Today we spend most of the day birding around the
lagoon and if we have not
located the Dune Lark the day before we
will do a concerted effort to find it today.
The sheer numbers of birds around the
lagoon are impressive and the area has
the highest density of Chestnut-banded
Plover in the world.
Most of the Palearctic migrants will be
arriving at this time and some will still be in partial breeding
plumage.
Depending on the rainfall at this time
large numbers of Greater and Lesser Flamingoes can also be seen, often
Red-necked Phalaropes are encountered on the evaporation pans of the
Salt Works within the area, as well as good numbers of Black-necked
Grebe.
After a good days birding we return to our
lodgings and do a repeat of the previous evening.
Accommodation:
Hotel/Guesthouse in Walvis Bay
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner at a
Restaurant in Walvis Bay/
Included Activities:
Birding around the lagoon
DAY 6:
Walvis Bay – Damaraland
Today we travel through the desert towards the old
tin mine of Uis and will
hopefully pick-up on any of the desert
specials we may have missed so far, our main target today before leaving
the arid Namib, is to search for the Benguella Long-billed Lark.
En-route to our overnight destination we
may encounter Monteiro’s Hornbill and even Damara Red-billed Hornbill.
We will reach our destination late
afternoon and hopefully still have some daylight to do some birding in
our lodge vicinity.
Our ears will be kept open for the
unmistakable grunts of the Giant Eagle Owl, our largest owl as well as
the African Scops Owl our smallest owl species, Pearl-spotted Owlets
will also no doubt provide us with their “music”.
Here we will spend the entire next day.
Accommodation: Lodge
in Damaraland area
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding en route to Damaraland
DAY 7:
Lodge in Damaraland
The entire day will be spent at this location to
search for the shy an secretive Hartlaub’s Francolin (Spurfowl), an
early morning call will be necessary to locate the bird while still
active.
The other specials we shall be looking out
for are the Rockrunner, Rüppell’s Parrot, Violet Wood-Hoopoe, Carp’s
Tit, Bare-cheeked Babbler and Damara Red-billed Hornbill.
We should also see Springbok, Oryx, and
Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra and with luck even African Elephant.
Again, with luck on returning from a game
drive we may encounter Bronze-winged (Violet-tipped) Courser, Nightjars
and Owls.
Accommodation: Lodge in Damaraland area
Meals:
Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Morning Drive/Afternoon Drive
DAY 8:
Lodge in Damaraland – Western Etosha
Today
we travel northbound for the Etosha National Park where we enter in the
west via the Galton Gate.
Once in the park we have our first
opportunity to see four of the big five and an abundance of antelope,
Giraffe and other game.
Etosha is also home to an abundance of
raptors and ground loving species such as Northern Black Korhaan,
Red-crested Korhaan, Double-banded Courser and numerous Lark species.
Our first night in the park is spent in the
west and drives in this area should deliver good
photographic opportunities.
Accommodation:
Lodge in Western Etosha area
Meals:
Breakfast / Lunch in Kamanjab / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding en route
DAY 9:
Western Etosha – Halali Resort (Etosha National Park)
We drive eastwards through the park in time for
lunch in Okaukuejo Camp
birding and observing game along the way.
After lunch, we travel to Halali Camp for
the night where we can spend the best part of the evening at the
floodlit waterhole. Possible good species along this route are African
Quailfinch, Pink-billed Lark, Barred Wren-Warbler, Red-necked Falcon,
Blue Crane, Ostrich, Secretary Bird, and hopefully Southern Pied
Babbler.
Accommodation: Halali
Camp
Meals:
Breakfast
/ Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding en route
Excluded activities:
Afternoon game drive
DAY 10:
Halali Resort – Namutoni Resort (Etosha National Park
Today is our last full day in the park and we take
a slow drive to Namutoni the eastern side of the park where we enjoy
lunch and book in. In the afternoon we will take a run to the plains
north of Namutoni and search for other thornveld species en route,
Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters, various Waxbills including the beautiful
Violet-eared, Yellow Canary, Brubru, and on the Andoni plains we look
out for Eastern Clapper Lark, various Pipits and Kittlitz’s Plover.
Accommodation: Namutoni Resort
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Drives in the Namutoni area doing birding
DAY 11:
Namutoni Resort – Grootfontein area
We leave the lodge after breakfast and do our last
quick drive in the park
hopefully to find some species such as
Crested Francolin, African Green Pigeon and perhaps some interesting
game before leaving the park and heading on to the old mining town of
Tsumeb where we have lunch.
We then head for our lodging near
Grootfontein for some late afternoon birding in the area; here our
target will
be the rare Black-faced Babbler as well
as other bushveld species.
Accommodation:
Grootfontein area
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding en route to Grootfontein
DAY 12:
Grootfontein area – Kavango River
We travel via the first broad-leafed woodland
south of Rundu and spend time in this change of habitat to search for
Tinkling Cisticola, Rufous-bellied Tit, African Yellow White-eye,
Yellow-fronted Canary, Red-headed Weaver and our first chance of Dark
Chanting Goshawk.
We later reach the Kavango River where we
lodge for the night.
Late afternoon the calls of Coppery-tailed
and Senegal Coucals can be heard as well as many other species such as
Hartlaub’s and Arrow-marked Babbler, White-browed (Heuglin’s)
Robin-Chat, and White-browed Scrub-Robin.
Along the river we should find Pied, Giant
and Malachite Kingfishers as well as Little and Southern Carmine
Bee-eaters.
Accommodation:
Rundu area
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding en route to Kavango River
DAY 13:
Kavango River area – Mahangu Game Park area
After some early morning birding we travel on to
another lodge on the
Kavango River and en-route will stop and
search for Racket-tailed Roller, African Black Flycatcher, Black-headed
and African Golden Orioles, Kurrichane Thrush, Southern Black Tit and
hopefully also spot some accipiter’s, Gabar Goshawks and Little-banded
Goshawks (Shikra) are normally fairly common here. We should arrive at
our lodging near the Mahango Game Park for some late afternoon birding
as well as doing some owling after dinner, African Wood Owl, Southern
White-faced Scops Owl and with great luck a Pel’s Fishing Owl, which is
not only rare but extremely difficult to locate.
Accommodation: Lodge in Mahangu Game Park area
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding in the Kavango and Popa Falls area
and afternoon boat trip
DAY 14:
Mahangu Game Park area
The full day will be spent in the Mahangu Game
Park where not only new birds, but also several new game species should
also be seen for the trip.
Species to look out for are African Barred
Owl, Crested Barbet, Bearded and Bennett’s Woodpeckers, Grey-hooded
(Chestnut–bellied) Kingfisher, African Fish Eagle, Western-Banded
Snake-Eagle, Spotted-backed Weaver, Southern Brown-throated and
Spectacled Weaver,
Chirping Cisticola, Greater Swamp Warbler,
we may also have some luck here with White-backed Night Heron and Slaty
Egret, Goliath Heron and Wattled Crane. African Elephant, Hippopotamus,
Red Lechwe, Sable Antelope, Reedbuck and Tsessebe may also be seen here.
Accommodation:
Lodge in Mahangu Game Park area
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding in the Mahango Game Park area
DAY 15:
Mahangu area – Kwando River
Today we travel through the
Accommodation: Lodge in Kwando River area
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding en route and boat trip on the
Kwando River
DAY 16:
Kwando River – Katima Mulilo
We drive eastwards to Katima Mulilo birding along
the way, on arriving in
Katima we will first book into our lodge
and bird the Mopane woodlands to
the south of the town searching for
Arnott’s Chat and with luck Böhm’s Spinetail.
Accommodation: Lodge in Katima Mulilo
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding en route
DAY 17:
Katima Mulilo
We will spend the day in the riverine woodlands of
the Zambezi River,
Schalow’s Turaco, Emerald Cuckoo,
White-breasted and Black Cuckooshrike also Lizard Buzzard, Ovambo
Sparrowhawk, African Goshawk and with luck Ayres’s Hawk- Eagle are all
possibilities. The wetlands at the local sewerage works often deliver
Pygmy Goose, African Rail and Baillon’s Crake; this is also a good
locality for Rufous-bellied Heron.
Accommodation: Lodge in Katima Mulilo
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding in the Katima Mulilo area
DAY 18:
Katima Mulilo – Grootfontein area
From today, we return and backtrack part of our journey where we lodge
once again near Grootfontein, en route to the Waterberg Plateau Park.
Accommodation: Lodge in Grootfontein area
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding en route
DAY 19:
Grootfontein area – Waterberg Plateau Park
Today we will spend the day in the Waterberg Plateau Park and will try
to catch up with any specials we may have missed. This is a good
locality for Rockrunner, Hartlaub’s Francolin (Spurfowl), Violet
Wood-Hoopoe, Rüppell’s Parrot, as well as Bradfield’s Hornbill.
Accommodation: Waterberg Plateau Resort
Meals:
Breakfast / Picnic Lunch / Dinner
Included activities:
Birding en route
DAY 20:
Waterberg Plateau Park
We do some early morning birding and then travel back to Hosea Kutako
International Airport (Windhoek) where this tour will end.
Accommodation:
N/A
Meals:
Breakfast
Included Activities:
Early morning birding around the camp.
QUOTED PRICE: 2012
Days 1 – 20
USD 5720 per person sharing
USD 400 single supplement
NOTES:
a)
The costing for the Tour Program is based on a minimum of six (6) guests
b)
This is a quotation and is valid for set departures for 2012 tours only.
c)
No reservations have been made and all accommodation, flights and
transport are subject to availability.
d)
Should any of the accommodation mentioned not be available, we reserve
the right to substitute it with an alternative suitable venue, which
might affect the final quoted price.
e)
Quoted price is also subject to availability, fuel/gas price and
possibly exchange rate fluctuations.
f)
20% non-refundable deposit is required on confirmation of safari.
g)
Full payment is required forty five (45) days prior to arrival.
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