Trip down the Kuiseb Delta

A couple days ago I wrote a post about reading that the Kuiseb River had flooded. Yesterday I was in Walvis Bay with family, and after lunch we decided to go and have a look.

The river was flowing strong. It was adventure trip to go out along the river bed, as the main road along the river is basically covered in dunes.

One highlights for me was finding areas where Dune Larks were fairly abundant. It's a bird I know very well from my time on NamibRand Nature Reserve, but I wanted to find a reliable place to show birders these birds around Walvis Bay. I will need to do some more exploring before I know the area well.

Dune Larks are a Namibian Endemic. Really they are the only bird that is a true endemic, having 100% of their population in Namibia. They are exclusively found in the Namib Sand Sea, so finding them always means getting into the dunes.

The trip was rather fun. We had my wife's grandmother along, celebrating her 83 birthday. It was rather amazing that she managed all this dune driving, including a spell of getting stuck (that wasn't me, I promise.)

The Kuiseb river and Kuiseb delta are amazing areas. The Kuiseb river stops the huge Namib Sand Sea from spreading north. If you look at the Kuiseb from a satellite photo (example here), or on Google Earth, you will see this dramatic line.

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