Instead of travelling back to Joburg on the N1 I had decided to do a "slight" detour through the Northern Cape on my way home. I headed to Springbok and on to Port Nolloth hoping to see Barlow's Lark (sadly this endemic was missing in action despite my driving up to 15 kilometers beyond Alexander Bay) before returning to spend the night at Springbok before continuing to Pofadder the next day.

Here are some shots taken on the road to Springbok form Cape Town:

Once more on my journey through the Cape I was overwhelmed with the number of Bokmakierie I was seeing (this time near Clan William where I hunted for Protea Seedeater with no success).

The scenery on the trip to Port Nolloth certainly made the detour from Springbok worth my while:

As I drove down to the beach in Port Nolloth I was rather surprised to see a small flock of Greater Flamingo in the sea:

As I left the town of Port Nolloth on the road to Alexander Bay I spotted a Chat and seeing white rump I knew that I had finally found my Tractrac Chat! I have spent a lot of time hunting in the Karoo for this chap!

I drove the whole way to Alexander Bay looking for Barlow's Lark - even continued with the hectic gravel road on the north-eastern side of Alexander along the Orange River without spotting any. Here are some scenery shots of this barren area:

One consolation, apart from the Tractrac Chat, was that I saw Cape Long-billed Lark that I had seen around De Hoek Nature Reserve but had been unable to photograph properly!

This juvenile Capped Wheatear was a good sighting on the way back to Port Nolloth (while it's parent showed me how to take off and land perfectly):

There are two birds from this route that I am yet to identify:

I had some great raptor sightings on the way back to Springbok (Lanner Falcon, Pale Chanting Goshawk and Greater Kestrel):

As the sun was setting, I climbed a koppie in Springbok looking for Cinnamon-breasted Warbler (all I got were some scenery shots):

Well, that won't be remembered as the best day birding for me - just about every bird I looked for was missing, apart from Tractrac Chat! However the scenery was great and some good species were added to my list of birds seen in 2012 and during my 3 month Sabbatical.