Days 2-3

Dakhla Bay & Desert Campsite

On our first morning, we will go for birdwatching along the nearby coastline; we hope to see many migrant waders in the shores of Dakhla Bay, as well as osprey, West African crested tern (recently split from royal tern), Audouin’s and slender-billed gulls and greater flamingo. Several species of cetacean are occasionally seen offshore and so we will keep a look out for these in the distance. Some Pelagic bird species are often seen too, such as pomarine skua, razorbill or European storm petrel.

After lunch, we will be ready to move inland and towards our first desert location. Some of the highlights we hope to see along the way this afternoon include birds such as cream-coloured courser, crowned and spotted sandgrouse, cricket warbler, black-crowned sparrow-lark and Dunn’s lark. The flocks of desert Sparrows could contain one or two gorgeous Sudan golden sparrows as well, we will pay close attention to these as they fly by.

We will then arrive at our campsite, we will spend two nights here, at this campsite which has been specially set up for us, in the heart of the desert. The tents will be fairly basic, but any lack of luxury or comfort, will be highly rewarded by the vast wilderness of the landscape, and by the “wow factor” of spectacular starry skies once darkness falls. Night drives will be the major feature of this tour, so in order to compensate for this and give clients and guides sufficient time to rest, on most days we will not begin our activities until the early afternoon. After dark we will have long night drives looking for various nocturnal wildlife, including all of our highly targeted nocturnal mammals.

Days 4-6

Western Sahara

After breakfast on day 4, we will leave our camp and head to our next wildlife watching destination. We will stay here for three nights and our accommodation will be a permanent desert house. This house is the only permanent accommodation option in the area and, while comfortable, is still very basic. It will offer more in the way of facilities than our previous tented accommodation (while still being rustic and remote). We will have access to spectacular areas for nocturnal creatures, and we will continue with long night drives in search of wildlife. Both in the Desert House and our campsite, we hope to see Ruppell’s and fennec foxes, African golden wolf, sand cat, African wildcat, desert hedgehog and Saharan striped polecat (Libyan striped weasel).

Nocturnal birds too, so, good chance of finding Pharaoh eagle-owl, either at night or at a day roost. We will use our journey from the camp to the desert house as a spotlighting drive (the area in between is one of the very best for Sand Cat), so, we will not arrive at our accommodation until approximately 02:00 am on Day 5. We will then rest until the mid-late afternoon on day 5 and repeat with night drives on the following two days here.

Day 7

Dakhla

This is our last full day in the Western Sahara and once we leave the house we will make our way back to Dakhla. In the evening once we arrive we will enjoy a relaxing final dinner and will recall the great selection of encounters with exciting species.

Day 8

Home

After breakfast you will be transferred to the airport in time to catch your return flight home.

Please note that the itinerary stated above is correct as our planned intentions for the tour. However adverse weather conditions and other local considerations can necessitate some modifications of the itinerary during the course of the tour; any changes will be made to make the best of the time and weather conditions available to us.

This tour is available on different date (subject to availability) please contact us for more details about running this tour on a date which suits you more.