Blog | African Bigyear

13 Mar 2019: Hondeklipbaai

Daai Dêng headed further northwards into Namaqualand in search of the elusive Karoo-, Cape Clapper- and Cape Long-billed larks....

Mar 13, 20191 min read

11-12 Mar 2019: Ghosts and Tits in Tietiesbaai

Tietiesbaai was engulfed in in a thick fog that rolled in from the sea. I had arrived just before dark and set up camp on an isolated...

Mar 12, 20191 min read

11-12 Mar 2019: Langebaan

The West Coast National Park near Langebaan is birder’s paradise. It hosts a wide range of habitats ranging from mudflats, strandveld,...

Mar 12, 20191 min read

11 Mar 2019: Dwarskersbos to Velddrif

After whistling up the Protea Canary I headed south to the Cape Gannet colony at Lambert’s Bay where nearly 14 000 pairs breed on Bird...

Mar 11, 20191 min read

10 Mar 2019: Whistling up a Bird

Warning – unsavoury content!! Not for the tweed and straw-hat birding brigade! I have developed a new birding technique, genteelly called...

Mar 10, 20191 min read

9 Mar 2019: The Road Less Travelled

Rob de Rover mailed me a birding route from Pofadder to Gamoep and Keimoes, indicating possible places to find the Bushmanland specials....

Mar 9, 20191 min read

8 Mar 2019: Wanderlust and Blessings

“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien I searched the red dunes of Bushmanland for about four hours before finding the Red...

Mar 8, 20191 min read

4-7 Mar 2019: Witsand Nature Reserve & Augrabies National Park

My Big Year plan was slightly amended when I decided to first bird the Northern Cape before heading for Namibia. The endemics and near...

Mar 7, 20191 min read

1-3 Mar 2019: Kimberley

I was in serious need of some R&R (rest and recuperation//Red Heart Rum) after a month of constant birding and travelling in the Canaries...

Mar 3, 20191 min read

28 Feb – 1 Mar 2019: Migrating South

Somewhere in this there is an inverted equation – one flies longer and further with cheap flight tickets. I arrived at Tangier airport...

Mar 1, 20191 min read

27 Feb 2019: Teenager Ambush

South Africans develop a special radar for a mugging, and my radar was pinging incessantly in the Park Forêt Diplomatique outside...

Feb 27, 20191 min read

26 Feb 2019: Migration of Kites -Tangier

The wind had abated slightly as I drove eastwards along the Mediterranean coast to the port of Tanger Med, about 40 km from Tangier....

Feb 26, 20191 min read

25 Feb 2019: Blowing in the Wind -Tangier

A storm wind, similar to the Cape’s southeaster at its worst, threatened to blow me off my feet as I tried, unsuccessfully, to add new...

Feb 25, 20191 min read

23 Feb 2019: Moulay Bousselham

“Wherever I lay my hat – that’s my home”. The rented seaside villa in Moulay Bousselham was sheer luxury compared to some of the places...

Feb 23, 20191 min read

21 Feb 2019: Ifrane

Ifrane, in the western Middle Atlas, has rightfully been called the “Little Switzerland of Morocco”. This beautiful, Alpine-like town is...

Feb 21, 20191 min read

19 Feb 2019: The Tafilalt

The Tafilalt region, in southeast Morocco and bordering the Sahara, was once famous for its trade in ivory, ebony and gold; and in...

Feb 19, 20191 min read

17 Feb 2019: The Tagdilt Track

We left the deep Sahara with the sand storm still blowing and made our way westwards towards the Central High Atlas where most of the...

Feb 17, 20191 min read

16 Feb 2019: Eating the Sahara

We woke up in the middle of a massive Saharan sand storm, with gusts of wind blowing dust into the smallest opening. The sky was coloured...

Feb 16, 20191 min read

Illegal entry into Algeria: Mystery cleared!

I received the following email from my friend, Rob de Rover. Email received from Rob de Rover: Hi Sybrand I have to admit that the...