The Damara Tern is an intra-African migrant, known to breed only in South Africa and Namibia but possibly also in southern Angola (Brooke 1981b, d). The South African population is c. 150 pairs (Cooper et al. 1984). In Namibia, there are c. 12 000 adults between the Kunene River (1711BC) and Sandwich Harbour (2314AD)(Simmons 1993b) and c. 1450 birds south to the Orange River, with highest densities in the central coastal areas (Simmons et al. in press).