Western Sahara's Desert Wildlife (Birds)

The territory of Western Sahara may have a chequered history, but it is home to a remarkable collection of mouth-watering birds and mammals, many of which are very difficult to see elsewhere, including Golden Nightjar, Pharaoh Eagle-Owl, Sand Cat and Fennec Fox. On this adventurous new tour, we’ll venture deep into these windswept north-west African deserts in search of their elusive wildlife.

We’ll fly into the coastal town of Dakhla, where we’ll stay in a comfortable tourist hotel for two nights. The shores of Dakhla Bay support abundant migrant waders, as well as Audouin’s Gull and West African Crested Tern, while the critically endangered Atlantic Humpback Dolphin can occasionally be seen offshore.

Moving inland, we’ll scour the deserts for such exciting birds as Crowned Sandgrouse, Cricket Warbler, Cream-coloured Courser and Dunn’s Lark, while a flock of Desert Sparrows could contain one or two gorgeous Sudan Golden Sparrows. At night, elusive and exciting nocturnal birds include Pharaoh Eagle-Owl and the near-mythical Golden Nightjar, which was only recently confirmed as breeding in Western Sahara. While mammals are not the main focus of this tour, while in the desert we’ll head out with spotlights after dark in an attempt to find some of the Western Palaearctic’s most rarely seen animals. Hoped for mammals will include Sand Cat, Ruppell’s and Fennec Fox, African Golden Wolf, Saharan Striped Polecat, Desert Hedgehog and African Wildcat.

We’ll base ourselves for three nights in a basic but comfortable desert house. While certainly far from luxurious, this is the only permanent accommodation available from which to explore the surrounding area; it will also provide an intimate experience of this vast landscape, and magnificent views of the starry sky at night. Returning to Dakhla for the final two nights of the tour, we’ll spend our last full day again exploring Dakhla Bay in search of migrant and resident birds, and potentially for cetaceans.