The West Coast National Park

We were planning on leaving at 05:00am so we could be at WCNP when the gates opened, but it never worked out that way. We only left at 06:00am and only arrived at the gate at 07:30am. The excitement was crazy! We had not been to any National Park for over 3 years.

As we entered the gate, I stopped and got my camera ready, window mount, lenses and foodstuffs, so that there would be no other distractions.

And there it was, our first bird. The biggest bird in the world, the Ostrich. Actually 3 of them standing right next to the road.





I took a few pictures and just sat there looking at them, trying to study all the features on this huge bird. Amazing to see the holes behind the eyes, which I presume are the ears. The thighs are huge “ massive drumsticks”. Then looking at the feet, now I know why they say there have been times that an Ostrich killed lions by kicking them with those “claws” or are they called talons because it’s a bird. What I found pretty neat was that each time they ate something; you could see this lump move down its neck. Slowly they moved away, further from the road. We stayed there quite long taking this opportunity to watch them because we thought we would not see anymore. Surprise, surprise! We saw many more.

We moved along the entrance road slowly hoping to see some other animals too. My wife said I must stop and back up and as I did we saw what I think was a duiker, but this fellow moved away quicker than the wind was blowing. At least we saw him. Sorry no pic!


Further along I saw what I thought to be some kind of Falcon, just hovering in the air. Then it would suddenly swoop down and come back up. It seemed to be hunting, but it did not get anything while we were watching. It was pretty far. I did take a few pictures but not very clear. It looks like a Black-Shouldered Kite.



We saw so many little birds, but they would never sit still long enough for us to ID them. I must say it was great fun, just sitting alongside the road looking at the birds and trying to ID them. We also saw this little Dove, I think it’s a Namaqua Dove.



By this time we had only reached the fork where you turn right and go to the Langebaan gate or continue straight and go to Kraalbaai. We decided to take the turnoff and go toward Langebaan gate. Along the road we saw a turn off to Duinebos, which is accommodation, so we took this short gravel road and saw small little birds sitting in the middle of the road. I stopped quite a distance away from them and took some pictures I saw later when we came home that they were Namaqua Doves.



To be continued!