I left Springbok (where I camped at the Springbok Caravan Park) at dawn and headed towards the Koa Dunes about 25 kilometers outside of Pofadder. My goal was to find Red Lark. From there I traveled in to Pofadder (my first time ever) and then took a drive to the border "town" of Ontseepkuns to look for Dusky Sunbird and Rosy-faced Lovebird. I arrived back in Pofadder around 4pm and decided against camping in the hot, dry and dusty little town - and instead made it to Augrabies where I would spend the next two nights.

Here are some shots taken on the way to the Koa Dunes. The dark red soil in the area made for fantastic scenery shots:

I was delighted to find my target bird for the morning - on the red sand dunes at Koa - the Red Lark (I was mostly frustrated that the birds stayed on the eastern side of the road which meant that all my shots were into the harsh morning sun - I had one sighting where a bird flew and perched on the other side of the road):

I also spotted this Lark in the same area as the Red Lark and believe it was Fawn-coloured Lark:

I spotted Ludwig's Bustard flying over the dunes but by the time I had stopped the car and grabbed my camera all I got was a shot of it disappearing into the harsh morning sunlight!

Once I had photographed the Red Lark (it was scorching hot around the dunes and it was only 8am - and the flies and miggies were hectic - bugging me and biting me - not nice) I decided to stake out the waterhole. I grabbed a sleeping bag and threw it over my head to keep the heat and insects away and settled down to get some decent shots of birds coming to drink. I think my presence caused many species to stay away - I was hoping to spot Sclater's Lark but was disappointed. I endured about an hour in the blazing sun before being forced to move on!

A small flock of Namaqua Sandgrouse came to drink, but sadly this was while I was staking out the waterhole from the comfort of my car (these shots would have been amazing if I had been under my sleeping bag next to the fence).

I spotted these mammals around the waterhole during my stakeout:

On the day I spotted a number of Chats during the day - certainly there was a Familiar and a Karoo in the sightings, and possibly a Sickle-winged species as well:

I was amazed at the many creative Sociable Weaver nests I was seeing and just had to stop and take a few photos:

There is a dirt road that heads north just outside Pofadder (definitely the worst condition road I drove on the whole trip - and it lasted for a very long 25 kilometers - but the scenery was incredible and the bird life at Ontseepkuns well worth the drive). Here are some scenery pics I took along the way:

The "town" is really just a border outposts, some vineyards and a resort or two on the Orange River - sadly some buildings are run down - but still it is a place with real character!

No sooner had I arrived and checked out the tall palm trees than I heard the harsh calls of Rosy-faced Lovebirds. It took a lot of work to get this single shot even. I would see them in flight but was not quick enough to photograph the action.

The other lifer that I got at Ontseepkuns was this Dusky Sunbird (which I would see a lot more of at Augrabies Falls):

A bird that I have never gotten close to is Pale-winged Starling - in fact, I had no idea that they had a bright orange eye. It was super to get close to these birds:

Here are a few other sights I had in the area (the first shot is of what I thought at the time was a Lark but after spending time looking at the poor quality photo I think may be Lark-like Bunting):

I decided to drive through to Augrabies that same day and pitched my tent at the Augrabies Falls National Park.