We were up and dressed by 7.00 am with a brief visit to the
‘shower,’ a large, plastic bottle filled with water from the well. Breakfast was fried eggs which we put into a
pocket in a half circle of bread with tea or coffee. We sorted out our luggage
and left our bags outside our tents while our guide and driver struck camp. David got caught out by a sudden gust of wind which upturned his tent on top of him.
We spread out a bit but mostly explored along the wadi to a water
seep attracting quite a few birds. A pair of Golden Eagles flew leisurely along
the top of the rock wall and the acacias at the edge of the wadi had Willow Warbler,
Bonelli’s Warbler, Whitethroat and Chiffchaff feeding up in the branches. There
were at least 5 Trumpeter Finches, 2 Rock Martin and a Blackcap along the seep.
On the walk back we took a side canyon which led up to pool. Half way up was a large, recent looking grave that had to be protected from the flooding water with a large, wired wall. Also, there was a much older grave which looked as if it had been robbed at some time in the past.
On the way back we stopped to photograph a very confiding Cricket Longtail and when we got back to camp it had all been packed away and
loaded into the cars, ready for the return journey. On the drive back to main road
we came across a pair of Cream Coloured Coursers and a Black Kite flew over.
On the walk back we took a side canyon which led up to pool. Half way up was a large, recent looking grave that had to be protected from the flooding water with a large, wired wall. Also, there was a much older grave which looked as if it had been robbed at some time in the past.
We made some stops on along the road for Bonelli’s Eagle,
Brown-necked Raven, Bar-Tailed Desert Lark and a quick look at a dead Polecat
on the side of the road. A sighting of a Lanner had the cars driving across the
desert. It settled briefly on a low pile of rocks and then moved from pile to
pile before flying off into the distance and we returned to the road. We drove
to the first area for Desert warbler where we walked in a semi-circle round a
small acacia thicket but no joy. We did see a Desert Hare and more Desert Sparrows.
A little further on we stopped at a second, more likely area
and again spread out across the landscape. There were several sand lizards and
I was lucky enough to flush a Fennec. Unfortunately it ran through the bushes
and I lost it before I could call anyone else. After some time a call from the
distance had us hurrying to where Brendan had found a Desert Warbler. It was
feeding as it flitted through the bushes giving good views through the
binoculars. Mohammed must have wondered where we’d got to as we were shortly fetched
by the cars.
Continuing on our way we drove out to Tuesday’s lunch stop and
there was my radio that must have fallen out of my pocket as I climbed into the
car, none the worst for its time in the desert, one of the advantages of no
rain. The Assouerd Road goes more or less straight across the desert but there are a few places where it crosses escarpments and the rock formations can be intrresting. This one is known as the Spinx but has to be seen from the right angle. The road is also prone to sand being blown onto it.
We were going to stop at Gleb Jdiane again for lunch but
there was a lot of police activity along the road due to a couple of accidents
as a result of drugs busts – one car had a large stash of marijuana in a pile
beside the road and another one had been shot off the road by the police, according
to our driver so we made a brief stop at a ‘shop’ at the side of the road just
after Gleb Jediane for stuff for lunch and drove on to the Bin Anzerane road where
we stopped in a compound for a very tasty lunch of bean stew. As we waited for the boys
to get lunch ready we walked around the area seeing Temink’s Larks, Thekla
Larks and Red-rumped Wheatears. As we were finishing our lovely bean stew Macky,
the second driver, pointed out a small skink that was trying to bury itself
under a back tyre. On examination it was seen to have very small, vestigial
forelimbs and to have lost the end of it’s tail. We released it into a mudbank near
an irrigation ditch and it rapidly dug itself underground. Further research
found it to be a Senegal Sand Skink (Dumeril’s Wedge-snouted Skink) A walk
along the irrigation ditch eventually found a green/pink toad which turned out
to be an African Green Toad.
We drove back to our accommodation in Dakhla to have a
shower and freshen up and then we went out to the friendly café on the edge of
the square where we had coffee and Moroccan tea – with the required ceremonial
of tipping glass into glass until there was a good head of froth on the glass. Some work had been done on the apartments while we were away and we now had a TV and wifi! but the plumbing hadn't improved much.
Around 7.30 we were collected and taken to the Sammarkand where we had a lovely Tagine before returning for bed.
Click here for our route
Around 7.30 we were collected and taken to the Sammarkand where we had a lovely Tagine before returning for bed.
Click here for our route
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