25-26 Apr 2019: Searching for the Great Heart

Ticking birds off the list is, essentially, a diminishing return

Don Packett

A few days of very lean birding commenced after the Kunene River Lodge, and I had to work hard to keep my morale from plummeting like the rand against the dollar. As a chaplain I often lectured on the emotional phases of deployment, and also prepared overwintering teams for Antarctica and Gough Island to withstand the emotional turmoil of long-term separation. Basically, this was a situation of “Doctor, heal yourself”. One of the best solutions is to celebrate small victories, and I decided to celebrate every mossie sitting on a telephone pole. While listening to Ted Hawkins singing the blues, I came to learn that there are very few sparrows sitting on telephone poles in Ovamboland. Ted Hawkins was, in hindsight, not the best choice of music for a morale boost – his “Happy Hour” is enough to nearly make a birdwatcher out of me (see “Birding Terms for Dummies”).

I decided not to head directly into Angola, but first bird the Caprivi and northern Botswana, and hopefully find all the specials of that area. This meant traversing Namibia from west to east, and then returning the same route to the border at Oshikango. On my way I dipped on the Grey Kestrel, although scrutinising every palm tree and power line in the Onesi Dam area. At Sassenheim, where I camped, I dipped on the Black-faced Babbler, said to be easily found in the gardens. The next day I drove back-roads to Rundu, the Black-faced Babbler being a “sure thing” on these roads. The only sure thing was that I did not find the Babbler.

One would think, that with seven different coordinates of where to find the Souza’s Shrike, it would be another “sure thing”. I found that the Souza’s had surely moved out of that area.

But, with all this dipping the last few days, an ear-worm song had entrenched itself in my head. I found that I was unintentionally humming it, singing it, thinking it, whenever I was trudging through the thick Caprivi sand. It lifted my morale, as it lifted my heart. It made me keep on searching…

I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart

To hold and keep me by

I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart

Under African sky

Sometimes I feel that you really know me

Sometimes there's so much you can show me

There's a highway of stars across the heavens

The whispering song of the wind in the grass

There's the rolling thunder across the savanna

A hope and dream at the edge of the sky

And your life is a story like the wind

Your life is a story like the wind

I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart

I see the fire in your eyes

I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart

That beats my name inside

Sometimes I feel that you really know me

Sometimes there's so much you can show me

Johnny Clegg & Savuka - Great Heart