We left the Hotel Terminus in N'dalatando for the long drive to Muxima at dawn. There was no need for a pre-dawn departure, given it was going to be a long journey & it would be well into the heat of the day whatever time we left. Google Maps shows it as a three & a half hour journey to complete the 140 miles, but this was optimistic given the potholes on the road. But we did stop along the way for a roadside coffee & breakfast break. There was also a Birding stop to check another bridge over a river.
Lesser Striped Swallow: The more extensive & paler orange in the face confirms the identification from Greater Striped Swallow. This is the unitatis subspecies which occurs from Gabon to Southern South Sudan, Kenya & South Somalia and, as far South as, Central Angola, East Zambia, Zimbabwe, East Botswana, Mozambique & East South Africa
Lizard Buzzard: This was seen at a roadside stop just before Muxima. This is the meridionalis subspecies of this widespread & delightful small Raptor. It occurs from South Kenya to Angola, North Namibia & the North of South Africa. A second subspecies occurs in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa
After a few roadside stops, it was close to midday before we arrived in Muxima. The first stop was the river bank in town. Unfortunately, the river was high & a good scan failed to reveal any of the Egyptian Plovers that get seen later in the year by the tour companies. Potentially this was a problem of visiting in June, as Egyptian Plovers do migrate along the river systems dependent on water levels. On my trip to Gambia in 1994, we reached the classic spot at Basse at the start of March: only to find they had already disappeared. After a couple of days of unsuccessful searching, we took a taxi over the border to a river crossing further upriver in Senegal & found a pair. Ironically, we returned to Basse via a different route, which avoided the Senegal customs post who had demanded a bribe from the taxi driver to allow us to cross, and found a second pair of Egyptian Plovers upriver of Basse and in the Gambia.
The Fortress of Muxima dominates the river: The Fortress was built in 1599 to help the Portuguese advancement into interior Angola and as a defensive position. It helped the Portuguese build up trading relationships especially in the ivory & slave trades. Another European colonial power that contributed to these two evil trades and which like the British, won't have paid reparations for their actions to help Elephant numbers recover or to the descendants of the slaves
We drove onto a set of dirt tracks East of Muxima to explore the Miombo woodland, parking the 4WD at various points to allow us to explore the area on foot. The Avian highlight was our first Angola Batis: which was my only Tick of the day. The track was fairly quiet, but it was the heat of the day. Still we had a full day planned for the area on the following day.
Birding the tracks near Muxima: Apart from a few locals on motorbikes, we had the tracks to ourselves
Birding the tracks near Muxima: These grassy verges had plenty of Butterflies in them. Such a change from the UK, where verges like this would be cut back regularly by farmers or poisoned by the pesticides they spray on them
Bohm's Spinetail: Every now & then, a party of Bohm's Spinetails appeared over the track
Bohm's Spinetail: They have such a stunning shape for a Swift
Bohm's Spinetail: They are a small Swift with the pinched inner secondaries and short, broad wings
Bohm's Spinetail: Zooming into the last photo to show the spines
Mottled Spinetail: They are not as extreme a shape as Bohm's Spinetail and they have a proper tail with spines
Mottled Spinetail: This is the benguellensis subspecies which occurs from West Angola to Mozambique. Other subspecies occur from Senegal to Kenya & Tanzania
Mottled Spinetail: The pinched inner secondaries are one of the identification features
Mottled Spinetail: Zooming into the last photo to show the spines on the tail
Angola Batis: Male. Males are hard to tell from the very similar Chinspot Batis. They can be separated by their short white supercilium, rather than long, white supercilium that a male Chinspot Batis shows. If they have a female with them, the identification is easier as a female Angola Batis does not have the orange chin spot that gives the Chinspot Batis their name. Finally, they can be picked out on their song, which is how Niall first identified this individual. This monotypic species occurs from Forests of West Angola, to the adjacent Democratic Republic of the Congo & South East Gabon
Southern Red Tip: This was a common Butterfly along the edges of the track
Delta emarginatum: A superb abdomen shape. This is a female Delta emarginatum, collecting mud for its nest pot. It's one of the Potter Wasps & it is common throughout much of Africa. Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify this Potter Wasp from my published photos
Later in the afternoon, we explored some of the tracks in the Kissama National Park. The name is a misnomer as there appeared to be no attempt to protect the area & in an hour of driving along tracks, we found two villages with their associated cultivations & fires being lit in the grassland. Overall, it was as productive a set of tracks as we had found closer to Muxima. We left before dark, as we still had over an hour to our accommodation for the evening. we arrived at dusk at the Carpe Diem Resort Tropical. This was a nice low key & spread out hotel complex located on the beach to the South of Muxima. The only drawback with the location was it was going to be a long hour & a half drive back to Muxima in the morning.
