2 Jul 23 - Angola - The Final Morning At The Tundavala Escarpment

We were back at the Tundavala Escarpment for our last morning in Angola. This time we turned off on a track to the North West of the main car park. After two or three miles we parked up & walked down to the escarpment edge. We were hoping to see the endemic subspecies of White-headed Barbet, which is an isolated population from the main East African population, and our last Angolan endemic species, Angola Slaty-flycatcher: but we couldn't find either species. However, there was plenty of other species feeding in the same area.

Walking down to the escarpment edge at first light

Mud blocks for another house

After walking for a couple of miles, we reached the escarpment edge

Richard, Phil & Niall just settling in

There was a bonus stream which was attracting in a few species for a drink

Common Bulbul: This is the tricolor subspecies which occurs from East Cameroon East to South Sudan & central Kenya and South to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, North Namibia, North West Botswana and North & West Zambia

African Yellow White-eye: This is the anderssoni subspecies which occurs from South & East Angola & North Namibia to the South East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, South West Tanzania, the Zimbabwe plateau & North West Mozambique

Fulleborn's Longclaw: This is the ascensi subspecies which occurs in grasslands & Brachystegia woodlands of Central Africa

Holub's Golden Weaver: This monotypic species occurs from Gabon to Angola, Uganda, Kenya, Botswana & Mozambique

Angola Waxbill: This monotypic species occurs in Angola & Namibia

Angola Waxbill: We had seen a few in Lubango area, but this was the first time I had managed to photograph the species

Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax: There is an isolated population in Angola & Botswana. Their main range stretches from South Egypt to South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia to Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique & North East South Africa

Having drawn a blank on the Angola Slaty-flycatcher, we headed back to the barbeque area to have another look there, as we knew there were other records from that location. We wandered around for over an hour, but still failed to find one. But the local Congo Rope Squirrels were more obliging.

Congo Rope Squirrel: Finally, one posed close to me

Angolan Ichneumon Wasp sp.: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to confirm this was an Ichneumon Wasp sp. from my published photos

We were running out of options for finding an Angola Slaty-flycatcher. Niall decided we should try a couple of other areas at the top of the escarpment that we hadn't visited before. I will cover the results in the final Blog Post.

1 Jul 23 - Angola - Below The Tundavala Escarpment

We had enjoyed a successful morning at the Tundavala Escarpment where we had been lucky to see an endemic Swierstra's Francolin. The plan for the rest of the day was for an hour & a half drive to Bruco to the South West of the Tundavala Escarpment. There were some fantastic views as the road wound down the escarpment.

The view from the Serra da Leba Escarpment

Another view from the Serra da Leba Escarpment

Another view from the Serra da Leba Escarpment: This escarpment was easily the prettiest part of Angola, even beating the views of Calandula Falls: which are Africa's second largest waterfall

We stopped at one viewpoint to walk down a section of the mid escarpment while Niall drove down to a lower viewpoint to wait for us. There was a Grey-headed Bushshrike by the first viewpoint, but just like every Bushshrike we saw, it was really skulking. After a couple of minutes of hiding in one of the trees, I managed to get some photos as it flew out of its last tree.

Grey-headed Bushshrike: This is the interpositus subspecies that occurs from Angola to West Zambia

Grey-headed Bushshrike: It is a widespread species that occurs over much of Sub-Saharan Africa

Grey-headed Bushshrike

Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax: I tried pishing to get the Grey-headed Bushshrike to show, with no success. However, it interested this Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax

There were flocks of Bradfield's Swifts & Rock Martins along the escarpment edge

Bradfield's Swift: This is the nominate bradfieldi subspecies which occurs in the deserts & arid savanna of South West Angola & Namibia. A second subspecies occurs in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa

Bradfield's Swift

Bradfield's Swift

Bradfield's Swift

Rock Martin: This is the anderssoni subspecies which occurs in North & South West Angola and North & Central Namibia

Looking down to the plains below

After about thirty minutes of walking down part of the escarpment, we were back in the 4WD & heading to a dry forest area at the base of the escarpment. The avifauna changed to some lowland species like Grey Go-away-bird, Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill and White-tailed Shrike that I had seen back in my 1990 trip to Botswana.

The habitat at Bruco reminded me of some parts of Namibia

Looking back at the escarpment

Namaqua Dove: Female. This is the nominate capensis subspecies that occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, Socotra & Arabia. A second subspecies occurs in Madagascar

Little Bee-eater: This is the meridionalis subspecies that occurs from the Congo basin to East Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central Angola, Uganda & West Kenya South to the Eastern part of South Africa

Red-billed Quelea: This is the lathamii subspecies which occurs from Gabon, the Republic of the Congo & Angola to Malawi, Mozambique & South Africa. They are one of the most abundant avian species in the world

Malbrouck Monkey: Adult

Malbrouck Monkey: Juvenile

Skink (Panaspis wahlbergii): Panaspis wahlbergii is the species of Skink that appears to be the best fit on range. Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Lizard species from my published photos

Epaulet Skimmer: This doesn't look too dissimilar to a Black-tailed Skimmer. Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Dragonfly species from my published photos

Some of the local cattle

We had been looking for the regional endemic Cinderella Waxbill, which is a scarce & tricky species to find at Bruco. Sadly, we were unlucky. It looks like we had used all of our Birding luck for the day with the views of the Swierstra's Francolin. We stayed as late as we could & had a long drive back to the Casper Resort in the dark. In reality, we couldn't complain about how the day had gone.

30 Jun 23 - Angola - It's Time For A Chat

It was another day with a long two hundred & fifty mile drive from Huambo to Lubango. We left at dawn and stopped after a couple of hours for an en-route breakfast break. It was a largely uneventful six hours drive that wasn't helped by a long stretch of dirt tracks around many miles of tarmac road that was closed off: presumably for resurfacing although it looked like no work was taking place on the road. The only highlight of the drive was a pair of Lanner Falcons.

Lanner Falcon: This is the nominate biarmicus subspecies which occurs from Angola & the South of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Kenya & South Africa

Finally, we arrived at the decent looking Casper Resort in the middle of Lubango. Despite the decent appearance there were the usual problems with the slow arrival of meals and also a barely functioning wifi, which was a surprise given it looked an upmarket hotel. After a slow late lunch snack, we left the hotel for the stunning escarpment area at Tundavala. This was easily the best looking location we visited in Angola with some cracking rock formations and the vertical escarpment edge, overlooking a much lower plain. There was a fair bit of light woodland a couple of miles before the escarpment edge. We tried a couple of brief stops before continuing on to the top.

Pale Flycatcher: This was a fairly common species in the woodland. This is the murinus subspecies which occurs from Gabon, Republic of the Congo, & Angola to the South East of South Sudan, West & South Kenya, and South to North East Namibia, North Botswana, West & South Zambia & Zimbabwe

The top of the escarpment included areas of large stone boulders. This was surrounded by larger areas of grassland which is undoubtedly, burnt regularly as that is a national past-time.

Some of the boulders were very attractive

Another large boulder

The area was largely open grassland behind the boulder fields and the escarpment

Some areas around the boulders had wild flowers growing, which shows how good the habitat could be if the locals stopped their burning obsession

The road ends by one of the more impressive areas of the escarpment with stunning views over the plains below.

The view from the escarpment over the plain below

The escarpment edge had parties of Bradfield's Swifts and Rock Martins which appeared & as quickly dispersed again

These young girls were chasing each of the tourist groups wanting money for posing for photos

The top endemic that we were looking for this afternoon was the gorgeous Angola Cave-chat. We were glad to quickly see the first of several Angola Cave-chats.

Angola Cave-chat: This monotypic endemic occurs in the rocky caves & gorges of West Angola

Pied Crow: This monotypic species occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, Aldabra & the Comoro Islands

Pied Crow: Pied Crows were an erratic, but regular, species that we saw while driving, but this was the first time we had seen them at a Birding site

Wailing Cisticola: This is the namba subspecies which occurs in the highlands of West Angola

Wailing Cisticola

Violet-eared Waxbill: This monotypic species occurs from Angola to Namibia, Zambia, South Zimbabwe, Botswana & Northern South Africa

Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax: Yellow-spotted Rock Hyraxes seem to enjoy a lazy life: with some stunning views from their territories and probably a safe life providing they can keep out of sight of large Raptors

Namib Rock Agama: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison for helping to identify a number of the Lizard species from my published photos

We carried on Birding until dusk & it was nice to only have a twenty minute drive back to the Casper Resort.