Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

We spent the whole day at the Kgalagadi Park. Early white explorers couldn't pronounce Kgalagadi so the name Kalahari became common use and has stuck ever since. The Park and semi-desert is huge, way to big to transverse in a day. So we followed a well known circuit of about 150kms stopping at all the water holes and using the mini-van as a mobile hide. This allowed us some great close-ups of the birds. We recorded 85 species many of which would not be seen again on the trip as we moved south firstly into the Karoo and then the Fynbos of the Western Cape. We were only allowed out of the mini-van at a few designated areas such as camps and picnic sites due to the presence of Lions, Leopards and Cheetahs unfortunately we didn't encounter any. Here are some of my better photos of the area.

 Acaia Pied Barbet

 Southern Ant-eating Chat

 Burchell's (foreground) and Namaqua Sandgrouse together

 Cape Robin-chat

 Crimson-breasted Shrike

 Familiar Chat

 Fawn-coloured Lark

 Cape (Ringed-necked) Turtle Dove

 Gabar Goshawk

 Groundscraper Thrush

 Kalahari Scrub-robin

 Kori Bustard

 Lanner

 Marico Flycatcher

 Namib (Southern) Fiscal

 Pale-chanting Goshawk

 Purple Roller

 Common Ostrich

 Pearl-spotted Owlet

Pygmy Falcon

 Secretarybird

 Tawny Eagle

 Verreaux's Eagle Owl

Waterholes are a magnet for small birds in the desert - spot the Yellow Canary amongst the Cape Sparrow, Sociable Weaver and Scaly-feathered Finch.