A lot of Namibia may seem superficially desolate and considering a large portion of the country is hot, dry desert I can totally see why. Deserts are notoriously known as being among the some of the harshest environments on earth. With the Namib and Kalahari Deserts spanning large portions of the country, much of Namibia is nothing more than piles of sand or rocky soil with not a tree in sight. But look closely and you can still see the beauty. Beauty in the sandy dunes spanning the entire horizon. Beauty in the simple landscapes with not a single obstruction in sight to block the view. It’s picturesque in a minimalistic way. Look closely and you might see a few small shrubs, a bit of greenery, or a few resilient bugs. I always find myself feeling a sense of appreciation when I look closely at desert ecosystems to see that they are more than nothingness but a habitat with plants, insects, and animals well adapted to call it home.
Larks, like the desert habitats they often call home, are also seemingly desolate. Or at least upon first glance they may appear to be nothing more than boring little birds. Larks are cryptic, ground-dwelling, often pale, brown, or gray, and rather nondescript. Upon first glance they could be written off as boring. But look closely and you may be privy to the subtle beauty making each lark unique. And during the breeding season larks can be seen displaying overhead making them some of the most interesting birds in all of Africa. Their attractiveness comes not necessarily from their looks but from their in-flight calls and the singing of pleasant songs as they display overhead to impress a female. Truly these displays are something to behold and we were lucky to be targeting a few larks during our time in Namibia.
Gray’s Lark, a small grayish lark, blended in almost perfectly with its grayish gravel backdrop near the Namibian coast. Dune Lark, a small rufous lark, blended in perfectly to the reddish sandy dunes it calls home. These ground-dwelling birds are easily camouflaged to their environment. It’s almost as if they were designed to blend in. Perhaps this stellar camouflage is another thing that makes larks so cool. We enjoyed watching as each one ran around its perspective habitat.
I must add, Dune Lark is Namibia’s only true endemic bird and if you ever visit the red sandy dunes, I must recommend bending down to feel the silky soft sand run through your fingertips. It’s a sensory experience that I never want to forget. It was a bit of a challenge for us to finally see this bird and we missed it on our first attempt, but in the end, an early morning hike on rufous red sand dunes and excellent views of two birds, did not disappoint.
I would have thought Gray’s Lark would have been the tricky one considering the circumstances, but despite it being 11am with the sun already high in the sky and sustained 30mph winds with gusts well above 40mph, we managed a group of four rather easily.
Dune Lark 
Tractrac Chat 
Gray’s Lark 
Along with the larks we saw a few other nice birds in the general area such as Rockrunner and Hartlaub’s Francolin, both of which prefer to be amongst the rocks! Also, I must add that desert temperatures have quite the swing. During the day they can be extremely hot, but at night and in the early mornings before the sun has a chance to warm everything back up, it is very cold. We also were visiting during the winter and let me just say, winter is very real in Africa! I was absolutely freezing during the early mornings as we searched around for our target birds but despite the cold I still found the whole experience to be beautiful.
We didn’t spend much time in Namibia and we were nearing the end of our time with our truck so the anxious feelings of gearing up to sell it were starting to set in. So we crossed out of Namibia and headed down into South Africa. We had other destinations on our horizon.
Hartlaub’s Francolins 
Rockrunner