The Guiding Light - thumbs up for birding Namibia

I am always interested in guides and their view. Guides get around. Guides get to enjoy each place a number of times with different people, which gives you a completely different feel for a place each time. You can imagine the difference between taking a group through a park, where game drives shouldn't take to long and evenings are spent enjoyably chatting over a good red wine compared to a bird mad trip with a young frantic birding couple. The place itself feels different because of the people you take there. And guiding gives you a degree of authority on an area, and that is why people pay you to take them there over and over.

I came across a Josh Engel's blog today, "The Guiding Light". The first thing I read is "ADVENTURES IN GUIDING. LEADING BIRDING TRIPS AROUND THE WORLD," the subtitle. Then on to the post, and it says "Namibia is my favorite country in which I guide." Go Josh. The post is about a recent trip that he guided through Namibia and Botswana for Tropic Birds, a leading birding tour company.

Namibia is really something special and the birding community is starting to notice it. As a destination with more than 600 birds in a dry country, it is a rather remarkable birding spot. The deserts give unique birds and the birds themselves are interesting, just because they are there. Then there are other habitats including small sections of riverine woodland in the Caprivi and of course, my current hang out, the coastal wetlands that give us beautiful flamingos and interesting migratory waders. There are certainly countries with more birds in Africa, some a lot more, but Namibia is indeed a wonderful country to visit as a birder, or, like Josh, as a birding guide.

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