The (Lack of) Bird(s) Sanctuary

On our way back from Chobe, on Katie's and my recommendation, we decided to check out the Nate Bird Sanctuary. Which according to Lonely Planet is a worthy stop filled with life; the only hint of hesitation in the text being that there was not going to be flamingos during the current dry season. They forgot to mention that not only are the flamingos not there during the dry season, but nearly all signs of life. After visiting, I have now chosen to re-title it The Nata Tourist Trap Salt Pans That Say They Have Over 150 Species Of Birds, But Really Only Have One Ostrich That Is Super Far Off In The Distance And Runs Away When You Get Within Four Miles Of It Sanctuary. Or the NTTSPTSTHO150SOBBROHOOTISFOITDARAWYGWFOI Sanctuary, for short.


After a 30 minutes of driving through the park of flat, treeless plains with everyone questioning my judgment/sanity/reading ability. We finally arrived here, the look out point described by the woman at the park entrance for the best viewing...



Ian and I decided to pull out the binoculars to get a better look at the plentiful amount of the lack of life this sanctuary provided. With so much of nothingness to be seen it was a mystery why we were the only ones in sight.
But to our astonishment (and probably its), we saw a lone ostrich off in the distance (look in the center of the photo right on the horizon, yeah that is not a smudge on you monitor but a fully grown ostrich). One can only image how fortunate and enthralled we were to see this creature so up close and personal in such a natural habitat. (Keep looking you'll find it eventually.)



By personal intrigue or maybe some ancient magic, we were lured in to venture into this unknown and barren land which soon proved to be a nearly fatal mistake.



We struggled, questioning if we had made the right life choices (ie if we should have chosen a colder location for study abroad). Around this time, Nepal was looking like a far better decision.



After much strife, stumbling and bumbling through what felt like the purgatory waiting room for hell we decided to embrace our predicament and film a music video for Waka Waka.



When we finally found the van again, we realized that we must have done something right to appease the poltergeists that ever so deviously chose to torment us, or we turned around when we heard the van honking... But on my way out I found a mysterious feather sitting on the ground - was this a sign that at one time this barren and uninhabitable landscape did possess life or was this another diabolical scheme put on by those tricky tormentors?