Namibia - the birds and the bees...

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Well, OK, this is just an excuse to send you photos of other stuff, including birds and, if not bees, then at least some curious insects, and some flowers and other things that I thought might be of interest. So, you can heave a great sigh of relief: there will be little text in this blog, and lots of piccies to look at. No excuse not to get back to work quickly after scanning this entry!

Sorry, did I mention the "w" word???! Anyway, by the time you get this, I'll be off on my travels again. Fully recuperated from the effects of a lot of VERY early mornings, lack of sleep and the full-on schedule of the Namibian Experience having had a week of veg-ing in the chill of Cape Town (yes, I am managing to be cold when 99% of Europeans are, at present, experiencing a heat wave of record duration and extent: law of sod, Big Time!), I'll be off to the remote wilds of northwest Namibia and, if not actually earning a living, then at least putting in a couple of weeks' hard work on a conservation project relating to desert elephants. More when I emerge from the desert....

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Photos

lilac-breasted roller
photos cannot do this gorgeous bird justice: it remains my favourite African bird from the first time I saw it in Botswana

crimson-breasted shrike
..and for the seriously observant, yes, the bird is on the same tree as Waahoo the leopard had just climbed to get the first part of his dinner at Okonjima

sociable weavers' nest
these nests can become so large that the host tree falls over, often crushing the nest and the, perhaps, hundreds of birds living there

flowers at Fish River Canyon
as all my family will vouchsafe, I don't "do" plants, but that doesn't stop me admiring Nature's handiwork

more flowers
(what? you expect me to be able to name them???)

ostrich salad
(at least, that's what I was told it is called!)

Lake Otjikoto
this lake is apparently similar to an upside-down mushroom in shape and was at one time thought to be bottomless...

some of the wares on sale in Okahandja
...while we were waiting for the vehicle to be repaired on day 1 of the Northern Adventure

the African sky
...and people wonder why I have a love affair with Africa

leave nothing but footprints...
...and take nothing but photographs