Day Tour OverviewThe city of Windhoek, Namibia is very rich in avifauna, with over 300 species possible in and around Windhoek, many of them near-endemics and other special species of Namibia. If you are unable to embark on a long birding safari, even a day birding trip to the hotspots around Windhoek will yield some highly satisfying birding.
This Day Birding tour takes place in and around Windhoek
The expert-guided birding tour can be booked as a small group private tour for dates that suits your travel plans.
Specials likely to be found on our Windhoek birding day trip
• Rockrunner
• Bradfield’s Swift
• Damara Red-billed and Monteiro’s Hornbill
• White-tailed Shrike
• Short-toed Rock Thrush
• Cape Penduline Tit
• Orange River Francolin
• Violet-eared and Black-faced Waxbill
• Acacia Pied Barbet
• Pririt Batis
• Carp’s Tit
• Rosy-faced Lovebird
• Chestnut Weaver
• Burnt-necked Eremomela
• Mountain Wheatear
In addition to the above, on the trips a little further afield the specials include:
• Hartlaub’s Spurfowl
• Rüppel’s Parrot
• Herero and Tractrac Chat
• Violet Wood Hoopoe
• Dune, Gray’s and Stark’s Lark
• Rüppel’s Korhaan
• Damara Tern
• Orange River White-eye
• Augur Buzzard
How it works
Our expert guide,with excellent local birding knowledge, will pick up guests early in the morning from where they are staying, be it in a hotel or guesthouse or elsewhere.
We will embark on our day trip in a comfortable, airconditioned vehicle. We will stop for lunch somewhere in the city, and you will be dropped off back at your accommodation at the end of the day, hopefully having ticked many special species!
For the day trip we are flexible and will create a customised itinerary according to your target birds, budget and time that you have available.
What you can expect
Windhoek is the capital of the country of Namibia, sits at 1700 metres above sea level (12th highest capital in the world) in the Khomas Highland plateau area between the Auas and Eros mountain ranges. It is home to about 400 000 people at a low density of only 63 per square kilometre and has over 300 sunny days per year.
There are a few key areas to visit to maximise your bird count here.
• The Daan Viljoen Game Reserve on the western side of the city provides excellent dry-country birding. You could see Monteiro’s and Damara Red-billed Hornbill, Rockrunner, Carp’s Tit, Rosy-faced Lovebird, Short-toed Rock Thrush, Burnt-necked Eremomela, Cape Penduline Tit, Violet-eared and Black-faced Waxbill, Great Spotted and African Cuckoo, Verreaux’s Eagle, Barred Wren-warbler, the white-capped morph of Mountain Wheatear, Pale-winged Starling, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, the stout-billed subspecies of Sabota Lark, Scaly-feathered and Chestnut Weaver, Icterine Warbler and Kalahari Scrub Robin and many others.
The park also hosts Gemsbok, Common Eland, Greater Kudu, Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra, Giraffe and other antelope, along with Common Rock Hyrax and Dassie Rat.
• East of the city is the popular Avis Dam, a spot that should see you several key species to your list. If there is water in the dam you could also see some interesting water birds, waders and warblers, including Maccoa and Fulvous Whistling Duck, Red-billed Teal, White-throated Swallow, Black-necked Grebe and others. A rarity like Dwarf Bittern might even pop up!
The acacia woodland surrounding the dam is generally good for Orange River Francolin, Rockrunner, Monteiro’s Hornbill, Black-throated Canary, Capped Wheatear, Desert Cisticola, Ant-eating Chat, Ashy Tit, Shaft-tailed Whydah, Acacia Pied Barbet, Rock Kestrel and many others.
• The Water Treatment works in the city is, as always, a productive if somewhat strange spot to visit. Only a birder would understand!
Here you could see loads of warblers, Maccoa Duck, Black-crowned Night Heron, Purple and Squacco Heron, African Swamphen, Black Crake, Common Moorhen or even Black-necked Grebe and Baillon’s Crake if you are lucky.
• Private game reserves in the area will give you the opportunity to combine birding with excellent game viewing with the possibility of seeing White Rhinoceros, African Elephant, Lion, African Wild Dog, Giraffe, Springbok, Gemsbok, Red Hartebeest, Common Wildebeest and more.
For those willing to start very early we could even reach the escarpment where we will focus on Herero Chat, Rüppell’s Korhaan, Pygmy Falcon, Karoo Scrub Robin, Pale Chanting Goshawk, Augur Buzzard, Vereaux’s Eagle, Cinnamon-breasted Warbler, Karoo Long-billed Lark, Sociable Weaver and many of the Windhoek species mentioned earlier. Most of these specials can be seen on our popular 3 night Endemics Blitz Trip or why not combine it with a visit to Sossusvlei which could be a great two or three-day trip.
Get in touch with one of our team members for more information at info@naturetravelnamibia.com