Birds of Etosha National Park
Given how many amazing birds we saw in Etosha National Park, I felt like they deserved their own blog entry. They’re small, but there’s lots to see. 
I have to start with my favorite, the lilac breasted roller. It’s the national bird of Botswana, and I first saw it there back in 2011. It continues to be one of the most beautiful birds I’ve ever seen. How could I choose a favorite photo? I’ll include only four:
Also, you are probably familiar with the biggest bird of Etosha, right? The ostrich is a silly looking animal, but also quite interesting. The males are black and the females are grey, so this one is a male:
Not sure what kind of dance is going on here:
And one more shot in front of the salt pan:
And a little video of how they run!
We saw a number of other really large birds at Etosha. This one is called a kori bustard. 
These are called secretary birds! They’re huge too!
Not quite as large, but with beautiful “hair” is the grey go-away-bird. Yes, that’s really what they’re called, because of their call. 
Some birds eat meat, and they look a little less friendly. According to our best identification efforts, we think this is an ovambo sparrowhawk:
And a southern pale chanting goshawk:
And, of course, vultures eat dead meat and they’re pretty intimidating:
You might be able to tell that the vulture on the right is way bigger — it’s a different kind called the lappet-faced vulture.
Here are some white-backed vultures with a jackal and an even bigger, uglier bird called a maribou stork. 
Some of the most common birds were quite unusual to my eye, like this cape glossy starling:
Another super common bird was the helmeted guinea fowl. They’re the chicken of Southern Africa: 
One morning we woke up early to walk to a watering hole that was near the campsite. Unfortunately, there were no big animals drinking. Just hundreds of guinea fowl: 
Maybe you need to see the video to get a sense of how peaceful it was, the sounds of the guinea fowl and their quiet sounds.
That morning, we also spotted this red-billed hornbill, which made the early wake up worth it.
At a different watering hole, we saw this great egret. Most of the time, we weren’t able to get so close, because it is forbidden to get out of your vehicle, but at certain campsites, there are watering holes with viewing platforms surrounded by glass. So, I was in the “cage” and not the bird, and we were able to get really close. 
So many expressive faces! 
There were many more beautiful birds, some not identified or I wasn’t able to capture a picture.
I totally had a moment with this little owl, maybe a pearl spotted owlet, but didn’t have my good camera on me. So all I have is the memory and this blurry phone picture:
The challenge of capturing these creatures with photography was a lot of fun. Sometimes I was happy with the results, and sometimes not.
Sometimes I caught the bird in his natural habitat, and sometimes just on the ground. 
And sometimes I just marveled at the nests themselves, often quite spectacular:
Which is your favorite bird?
The night before we got to Etosha National Park, our guides asked us if we wanted to sign up for a night safari (at additional cost). We said yes, of course! The more animals, the better! But after a long day of animal spotting, driving around in the truck on bumpy roads, and breathing in dust, we got to the campsite late, and we were exhausted. 
There wasn’t enough time to eat dinner. We rushed to set up our tents before the sun set.
He kept the light to the side of the lion, so as not to blind her or anger her.
Etosha National Park is a mecca for animals. It’s really big, about the size of New Jersey, and overall, the climate is pretty dry. There’s a huge dried out lake, called a salt pan, in the middle of it. The salt pan is the size of Rhode Island, and looking out over it feels like looking out at the ocean. The salt pan is flat and goes as far as the eye can see. It makes for great photographs where you can mess with perspective.
We saw it stalking a red hartebeest, but then ultimately deciding to take a nap under a tree. 
Actually, I attempted to film it out the window of the truck, as we drove, and you can sort of experience what it was like:
While the guide was telling us about the desert, trackers were out looking for creatures, by identifying tracks in the sand. 
The black part is actually iron, which is magnetic. Check out what happens when the you put a magnet up against the sand!
The Namib Sand Sea is a 
The guide found it by digging underneath the trapdoor, which I believe I stepped on, but he still spotted it. Unsuspecting bugs step on the trapdoor and then the spider gets them! Totally incredible.
But onto an even more frightening animal! I don’t think of myself as a snake person, and especially not when they’re venomous, but it was pretty exciting when the guides spotted a Peringuey’s Adder, or Sidewinder Snake. The guide said that if you get bitten, you won’t die, but “you might wish you had.” Their venom attacks in two ways, with a neurotoxin and a cytotoxin, so you could end up having to get a limb amputated. There’s no counter-venom, so you can only treat the symptoms. Awesome. Our guide seemed surprisingly calm, considering he was barefoot. Mostly the people in the group just seemed excited to see the way this snake moves sideways. Which is pretty cool, but I tried to keep my distance.
It’s amazing to me how all of these animals have ways of hiding — the spider under his trapdoor, the gecko who drops his tail, and the camouflage of the chameleon. Even the scorpion wanted to hide! Below is a different chameleon, by the way, but the same species as the other one, who was so much paler! He’s camouflaging with the bush.
One animal that wasn’t shy was the tractrac chat bird, who came right over when we stopped for snacks. The birdies apparently know that the guides carry worms to feed to the lizards, and sometimes the guides will share with the birds too. Some great photographs were acquired as a result.
The Namib-Naukluft Desert is considered the world’s oldest desert, and it’s huge — about the size of Massachusetts and New Hampshire combined. It runs up the coast of Namibia.
There was so much so see, from the little beetles scurrying across the sand, to the expansive views across the desert.
We took a jeep to get closer to the main area we were going to visit, but then had to walk a ways to get there.
We still had one more hike to get in this afternoon, to the small Sesriem Canyon.
It was a particularly great shower that night, and a delicious dinner (sausage, garlic bread, cheesy squash, corn on the cob, and champagne). Then we hung out around the campfire and chatted.
As you can imagine, we were ready for some sleep after this sunny, busy day. Being south of the Equator, it was winter in Namibia, so days were short and we packed a lot in. It was hot during the day, but got quite cold at night. So we curled up in our sleeping bags and went to sleep.
I hope all of my American friends had a relaxing and fun Fourth of July yesterday! I thought this would be a good opportunity to remind everyone about our country’s history, which did not begin with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. We hear a lot about the British empire, but many other groups of people helped shape the country we live in today.
See these drawings from 
Cape Town is a model for how to fight for systemic change on many levels. The city made headlines this year because the government announced “Day Zero” for April 12, 2018 — the day when the city would run out of water and taps would run dry. Cape Town’s citizens took action, and made 
There are watering holes to check out wildlife on safari, vast expanses of desert, and the biggest canyon in the African continent. Do yourself a favor and do a 
I ventured into Downtown Boston on Friday, and the city is still beautiful as ever.
Before break, my advisory participated in a Yankee Swap of homemade items, and it was so great to see what everyone came up with! These are just a few of the gifts that the kids made:
