Hi ,

I just came across this amazing video about the benefits of birding. It is absolutely worth 4 minutes of your time. 

Good for the brain, the soul and the body. Good for the environment. Educational and you get smarter. 
I liked the video so much that I am sharing it with everyone I know. 

If you listen to the Naturally Adventurous podcast, you will probably, just like I did, recognize the voice of Ken Behrens  (Tropical Birding) as the narrator. Ken does a really good job here, I think. 

So what are your main takeaways from your birding hobby?

I promised you an update on Namibia in October. I still have some kinks of getting it all up on the 7 Wonders Birding Website, but it shall hopefully be up this week. 

In any case. I attach the core program of five days with Etosha NP and Okinjiva Lodge. The idea with this program is that, as always, you shall be able to, if you are short of time, reach the destination during one weekend from anywhere in the world, do the trip and travel back the following weekend and be back at work next Monday. 
If you have more time (and it will definitely be worth spending more time), you'll add 1-4 days for endemic birds, and 5 days for the Okavango River on the border to Botswana. 
The core program give a lot of focus on trying to see a Pangolin while at Okinjiva, which is probably the best place to see any species of Pangolin in the world, unless you get lucky, like this girl who is in Namibia right now with her motorbike. One crossed the road in front of her in the middle of the day!

It is cool to watch these videos from Itchy Boots, as she is in Namibia right now.  Here is another video from Etosha National Park, posted only a few days ago, in which you can get a feel what it looks like where we are spending the second part of the short core tour.

Namibia only has 1 million inhabitants, most of them living in the capital Windhoek. There is lots of empty space and consequently very few new cases of COVID. 

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, the birding and trekking trip to Kilimanjaro with a pre trip in the Usambara, and the possibility to do a one week safari in Serengeti and Ngorongoro are practically confirmed. 

I have just uploaded the itinerary to the 7WB website. I shall get it onto the front page and to the calendar over the coming days. 
It is possible to do the Namibia program first and then continue to Tanzania for the Usambaras and the Kilimanjaro birding trek if you have month or more to spend in Africa..

I shall let you know when I have updated the website with all these trips. 

The Southern Spain itinerary still has no one signed up, which is a shame. I am still keen to run this trip if we get a minimum of two people. We could run it a month earlier September 12-17, and then add a few days for raptor migration at Tarifa and the introduced population of Waldrapp (Northern Bald Ibis). 

Finally, I also want to mention Uganda. It is open right now. No quarantine. People are visiting the gorillas. Shoebill is being seen. 
I am suggesting a new date for Uganda - Sep 4-10, since Aug 30 is really too close in time for me. 

 

Thanks for being a loyal subscriber to this newsletter. Don't hesitate to reach out with questions or suggestions. 
Tomorrow I am off to Plataforma in Northern Peru for Scarlet-banded Barbet, and later I'll continue with Northern route from Tarapoto, via Abra Patricia and the Owlet Lodge to the Marvelous Spatuletail at Pomacochas. 

Saludos

 

Gunnar

P.S. There are plenty of Peru trips scheduled for the fall which you can check in the Kolibri Expeditions calendar.

 

Peru continues on an all time low in number of new cases. The third wave may be coming, but for the time being all looks quite good, and the vaccination program is being intensified. Now 25% of the adults have been vaccinated. It is not enough of course, but there is very good vaccination coverage of the elderly people, which should keep mortality down when the third wave hits.