19 May 2019: Turning South

Not everyone will understand your journey

That’s fine

It’s not their journey to make sense of

It’s yours

Be patient, breathe, and live in the moment…

Maya Angelou

I am a slow learner, and sometimes the lesson takes time to germinate in my grey matter. The last few days I have come to the conclusion that I am actually just touring Africa, and ticking the birds I come across next to the road. I spend very little quality time birding, and much too much time travelling. This truth is reflected in the limited amount of birds, especially endemics and specials, that I have ticked in Namibia and Angola.

The original plan was for me to drive up to Kinshasa in the DRC, cross over into Brazzaville in the Congo, and then bird the West African countries before turning south again. I have come to the reluctant realisation that this will once more entail a lot of travelling, and not much birding.

So, at Ndalantando, some 200 km east of Luanda in Angola, I turned around and pointed Daai Dêng’s nose southwards, back home. I will have to rethink, and re-plan my Big Year. My concept of operations (military terminology) will have to be adapted to the most effective manner in which to utilise my time and available funds. I will have to fly more, and utilise more professional bird guides. The reality, however, is that this is going to be much more expensive than initially planned.

Grey-headed Kingfisher, Dondo

On the positive side, I did manage to find a Grey-headed Kingfisher at Dondo bridge, and the evening I camped in the compound of an Angolan fire station/police station.

Camping at Firestation