 |
| Patterns in the sand |
Next stop was for Fulvous Babbler, a species which had been totally unresponsive yesterday. Another Nomad, another species, we were getting withdrawal symptoms having not met a Nomad for several hours. Our site this morning was much better however with our driver pointing out two birds sitting up high on a date palm tree just a few feet from the cars. As Jaffa played the tape they showed well and then continued about their business in the vicinity, enjoying themselves feeding amongst the crops and flying around in the trees in noisy sociable groups - typical babblers! Long-billed Lark also made an appearance here.
Once we had sated ourselves we were off looking for Houbara Bustard. The group had mixed feelings as the birds here are introduced by Arab sheiks keen to hunt them, to are not really countable as a wild sighting, but it would be good to see them in their natural habitat whatever.
 |
| Desert Warbler |
All this driving was frustrating Andrew the Botanist, who was appeased by a couple of leg-stretching breaks where we wandered around taking landscape shots - within seconds Andrew had disappeared, lying prone with his nose pressed against a flower, camera in hand and another species recorded for his pleasure. We had soon learned that if you want to find him, look in the vegetation!
Hoopoe Lark were calling their distinctive whistle and we saw a few displaying. Desert Lark and Bar-tailed Lark were also flying around us in large numbers. We found Spotted Sandgrouse as our first new bird - with Andrew calling them - a rather obliging group which allowed us to get very close in the car. Next were Crowned Sandgrouse, this time called by Lee. They were equally obliging, and if you haven't tried to find these birds before you will not appreciate how ridiculous it was, we could almost have reached out and touched them. Our skilful drivers were keen to ensure we had the best possible experience, without any stress or interference to the birds.
The Bustard continued to elude us, and we took the opportunity to stroll around looking at lizards, crickets and flowers, as well as making full use of the exercise out of the car.
 |
| Our shady lunch stop |
Today it was a lamb meatball and egg tagine, prepared Berber-style. Served with the usual mixed salad and fresh bread, it was delicious. Bananas and oranges were our dessert.
Unfortunately only two of us took advantage of the freshly brewed tea as Andrew once again found us a bird - a Martin which we initially thought was Crag Martin but on closer inspection appeared to be more like Rock Martin with a paler plumage, a more steely blue rather than the warm darkness usually encountered. Many photographs were taken of these birds and it will be interesting to see what the verdict from the "experts" is.
 |
| Crowned Sandgrouse (male) |
We returned to the hotel for a two-hour break before moving off out again for a late afternoon visit to the lake were we stopped a couple of days ago. Here we had the usual entourage of nomads selling goodies, this time Pete was joined by Lee who took a fancy to a couple of pieces of fossil filled rock. Much banter ensued, ending with a rather silly moment which will mean nothing in the telling, suffice it to say that Lee made an inappropriate comment which ex-teacher Andrew told him would have got him detention at school! We started to laugh and ended up having "a bit of a moment"! The hysteria continued later in the evening when we did a night drive into the desert (more of which later)
We did managed to do some birdwatching even with all that laughter, and I added Little Stint, Common Redshank for my trip list.
 |
| Lizard |
We were off on a night drive into the desert.
All started well, with our moving from the lake to a local roadside cafe. Yes, I know it seems as if we did a lot of stopping and drinking on this trip, but we were in the field for around 12 hours every day, and there were two coffee-addicts in my vehicle. Anyway, after we had stocked up on biscuits and sweets we were off into the fading light. . . . For the drive of a lifetime!
How our drivers had any clue where we were absolutely flummoxed us - the moon stayed on the right-hand side of the vehicle, and that is a much as I can say! We continued driving for some considerable time, the majority of it off-road, down tracks of previous visitors' tyres in the sand. Occasionally we had the delight of a drop down a rather steep gradient - not ideal for those with back problems, but we coped. A hare appeared in our headlights and the driver was off in pursuit - then commenced the most ridiculous couple of minutes of the whole trip where the car and hare were in harmony almost dancing through the desert - the hare was far more agile and shot off into the scrub while we dissolved into gales of laughter, tears teeming down our faces and totally unable to speak for some considerable time. Our driver added to the hysteria by commenting about a possible hare tagine picnic the next day!!
 |
| The Land Behind the Dunes |
On a serious note, we did see a small shrew-like mammal and two Egyptian Nightjars, which was brilliant.
easy -!).
