Trip Report: The Gambia (January
19-26, 2001)
By Tony & Viv Day, Exmouth, Devon
E-mail addresss: tonyday@exmouth.demon.co.uk
There
is a selection of our (mostly not bird related) holiday snaps here.
Species
list here.
Introduction
& Strategy:
Whenever we can, we like to
break up the Winter with a week of sunshine, preferably in a country we haven't
visited before. We were hoping to go to
Thailand this year, but in the event had neither the time nor the money, so we
had more or less settled on a week in the Canaries - and had researched and
liked the look of Gomera. I then
started reading glowing reports on The Gambia - in particular the birding - and
we realised that we could do it for about the same price, and only an extra
hour and a half on the plane! On a trip
to Slimbridge in early December we found the book "The Birds of Senegal
& Gambia", bought it - and then just had to go. We booked two days later.
We are not expert birders,
and certainly not twitchers. Neither
are we great beach people - our idea of a good holiday is to see different places,
people, and cultures, eat different food, drink plenty of beer, and fit in some
gentle walking - during which we would hope to see some different birds. Apart from a week in Morocco, and a day in
Egypt, this would be our first time in Africa, so there would be plenty of new
experiences even if we only stayed in the vicinity of the coastal resorts. We had experienced - and overcome - the
culture shock of India on three trips to the sub-continent, and whilst we expected
this to be some sort of preparation for Africa, we also expected Africa to be
different, so decided not to be over ambitious on our first visit. We could only get a week away anyway, so
therefore did not plan any excursions "up country".
In the event the local
birding was so wonderful that we found ourselves "at it" every
morning - and still did not visit all the local sites. We liked the Gambia - and the Gambians - a
lot, and will no doubt return one day.
When we do we would hope to stay a little longer, and maybe explore a
little further.
Logistics, costs, accommodation, food, money, climate:
(Note: I am assuming
potential visitors will have researched the basics - by reading The Rough Guide
or Lonely Planet, for instance - and so I will not go into such matters as how to
get around, local customs, etc. I will
restrict myself to what it might be useful to others to know about our own
experience.)
We booked our holiday
through The Gambia Experience (Tel. 01703 730888), who we would thoroughly
recommend. They are a specialist
company focused solely on The Gambia, yet compete on price with the big
boys. Their brochure and website are
attractive and informative, and their staff knowledgeable. Their resort reps were good fun and,
importantly for us, Gambians. The
company offers Friday or Tuesday flights, therefore making stays of 7, 10, 11,
or 14 days possible (or longer, of course!).
We stayed for one week on a
bed & breakfast basis at the Senegambia Beach Hotel in Kololi. We liked the hotel - very pleasant staff,
good restaurants (though we also ate out a lot), and a variety of bars. The grounds are wonderful for birding, and
the hotel has its own resident Birdman (called Maas Chan, if I've spelt it
right!).
Don't change money at the
Senegambia - their rate is a rip-off (the lads that surround your coach at the
airport give as good a rate as you will get!)
Whilst we were there the local change offices (official and otherwise)
were all offering 21 dalasis to the pound.
The Senegambia was offering 18!
Warning: if you use plastic - anywhere, it seems - the amount is
converted to sterling first, and at a disadvantageous rate. Sometimes a surcharge is also added. The same applies when signing for things at
the hotel. Far, far, better to change
into dalasi and spend cash always. When
quoting sterling prices I'm rounding to 20 dalasi to the pound.
In the immediate vicinity of
the hotel are a range of restaurants, bars, minimarkets, change offices and
shops, plus a craft market, fruit sellers, and taxi stand. Meals ranged from about £1.50 for a main
dish up to about £10 a head for two courses and wine. (There are two, more
expensive, Lebanese restaurants which we didn't try - mainly because they never
seemed to have any other customers!)
Beer is from 10 dalasis (50p) for a bottle of the local Julbrew (very
drinkable and 4.7%) up to 22 dalasis for the same stuff in the hotel!
We particularly liked the
Indian restaurant (very good value buffet on Saturday nights) and the Ali Baba
bar, which has tables on the street from which you can watch the world go by,
and a pleasant garden at the back, with good reggae bands some nights. For African food, we couldn't better the
cheap and cheerful (and slow!) Bano café/restaurant, opposite the (also good)
Thai/Vietnamese. On no account go home
without trying the Bano's groundnut soup (makes a good light lunch on its
own)! Service everywhere is at a Greek
sort of speed, but cheerful and polite and to good European restaurant
standards.
The holiday cost £424 per
head.
The flight was with Monarch
Airlines - never our favourite airline as I dislike traveling with my knees
under my chin. I noted they had nothing
to say about deep vein thrombosis! The
flight is just under 6 hours.
Bird Guides:
We were undecided at the outset
about whether to use a local bird guide.
We had read mixed reports on the Internet, and thought it would be fun,
at least to start with, to try to identify birds on our own. This we did - in the Senegambia grounds - on
arrival and on our first morning - by the end of which we already had 25 lifers
out of 27 birds identified. (My
"target" for the week had been a modest 50 lifers - we planned to do
things other than birding!)
Dembo Sonko: On the
second morning we walked up the beach to the Palma Rima road and then in the
vicinity of the Casino cycle track to the beach near Kotu (four lifers from
five species). Sitting for a rest we
were approached by a young man sporting bins and a Sheffield RSPB badge. He having sexed a pied kingfisher from a distance,
and identified a couple of other passing birds, we felt he probably knew his
stuff, and decided to give him a try.
We asked how much for two to three hours on the Fajara golf course and
around Kotu and he quoted us £10. Not
too much to lose!
We agreed, and with that he
set off with us - back the way we had come!
In the half hour it took us to retrace our steps to the Palma Rima he
had found and identified a further twelve lifers on the same ground! He then whistled out a pearl spotted owlet
from a tree he knew it would be in, and by the end of the cycle track our score
just for that morning was up to 28 lifers.
Adding those from the hotel, I'd already surpassed my expectations for
the entire week! Six more lifers
followed at Fajara and Kotu before Dembo, our guide, left us at lunchtime.
We used Dembo for two other
mornings - at Bijilo and Abuko - and remained very well pleased with this
help.
His address is:
Mr
Dembo Sonko
Honey
Bird Guide
P.M.B.
733
Serrekunda
Banjul
The
Gambia
West
Africa
Tel:
Serrekunda (+220) 374060 8pm - 9pm daily
Fax: 393274
Dembo (left) with his driver, Abu
Dembo has since acquired an e-mail address, and will check his e-mails (at a cybercafe) once or twice a week. e-mail: dembosonko@hotmail.com
Maas Chan: The Senegambia has a "Birdman", Maas Chan, who
provides a weekly programme. This
ranges from a walk around the grounds (twice a week, donations) and a slideshow
(once a week) to trips to various locations, including Abuko, Bund Road, Kotu,
etc. For the trips he uses an open 4
wheel drive (with roll bars!) and takes from a minimum of four people
(viability) to a maximum of eight (capacity).
He
does a weekly "Birds and Breakfast" trip to Lamin Lodge, Creek and
Fields. We wanted to book for this
(which would have been on our second full day, Sunday) but we were the only two
interested, so it didn't run. We did do
his "Forest Awakening" trip - see diary (Tuesday) for an
account. This cost 450 dalasis (£22.50)
per person for almost a full day, including breakfast, which we thought fair
value.
We
found Maas a very likeable chap. He
gives the impression of being rather disorganized, and certainly runs
to Gambia Maybe
Time, but he knows his birds. He also
clearly loves his country and its people as well as its wildlife, and has been
involved in various conservation projects.
He is jolly in a quiet way, with a good sense of humour. I did find it necessary to walk right next
to him and listen very carefully, to be sure I saw everything he saw!
The
Senegambia programme is open to people staying at other hotels. I didn't think to write down his contact
number, but I'm sure the hotel reception would have it. Bookings are usually made by writing your
name in a rather dilapidated book in his "Bird Centre". This is a an open round hut next to the
swimming pool - to reach it you have to pass a notice saying "hotel
residents only beyond this point", but it doesn't seem to matter.
Maas (or someone
else in his absence) feeds the hooded vultures every day at 11.30 at the edge
of the hotel pitch and putt course.
This attracts a small crowd of non-birding types - some of whom attend
every day! It's quite fun to walk among
60 or so of these unfortunately ugly birds - who would probably take food from
the hand if you felt so inclined! Half
a dozen cattle egret get in on the act, and there are always black kite
overhead and in the palm trees nearby, but I believe they rarely land to take
the food. After eating, the birds take
a drink from a nearby puddle. Some of
the vultures also bathe, preen, and dry their wings, cormorant fashion!
The Gambia Experience: Our tour company offered a reasonable
selection of excursions for those unwilling to make their own arrangements,
including a very popular "roots" trip, one into Senegal, and a two
day trip up country. The only one we
had the time to take advantage of was their "Birds and Breakfast" (as
we were unable to do it with Maas). See
Diary for Thursday.
Climate, creepy crawly/flying things, health, etc.
Although very hot indeed in
the middle of the day (from around 10.30 - 16.30) the early mornings, evenings
and nights were pleasantly cool. It was
not at all humid, and at times a significant breeze was most welcome. The sun shone without cease during daylight
hours for the whole week.
We were very surprised at
the lack of flying insects - indeed we didn't see more than half a dozen
mosquitoes all week, despite a boat trip on the mangrove creeks and other time
around water.
Our hotel room was not air conditioned (this is an
optional extra, for about £7 a day, I believe) but had a ceiling fan which was
quiet enough to leave on all night. We
only had to sleep on top of the bedclothes on the last night, which was hotter
than the rest of the week. Some of the
locals had been complaining that the weather was "cold"!!!!
The most alarming creature
encountered in our room was a beetle as long as your finger in the washbasin
one day. I'm afraid he was washed down
the plughole (it could well have been a water beetle anyway?) and there-after
the plug was left permanently in the washbasin!
We are both used to being
bitten to glory in India (I notched up 65 bites below the knees on my first day
last year!) until we discovered the local potion, which worked wonders. In The Gambia, however, I went three days
before getting a single bite - without using any potions - and only got about
six all week. Viv used potions and had
even fewer bites than me. We both wore
long trousers, socks and closed in shoes whilst out birding in the mornings,
but beach type wear, sandals and no socks around the hotel in the afternoons.
We ate a variety of foods in
a variety of places, avoided the tap water (though I cleaned my teeth with it)
and declined ice in our drinks. We did
have several ice creams at the hotel, and bought fruit (bananas, oranges) from
local vendors. Neither of us had any
stomach problems (but then we have survived three trips to India without any
too, touch wood!)
Books:
We bought,
in the UK, "A Birdwatchers’ Guide to The Gambia" (Rod Ward) and "A Field Guide
to the Birds of The Gambia and Senegal" (Barlow, Wacher &
Disley) - both tremendously useful. Dembo
could tell us the plate number of any bird in the Barlow book, which saved a
lot of thumbing of pages in the field!
Diary:
Friday 19 January
Flight about twenty minutes
late (thanks to Gatwick air traffic control, we were told). First lifer from the aircraft steps - pied
crow! Cattle egret also at the
airport. Transfer coach had a blowout
en route to the Senegambia - skillfully controlled by the driver. A 40 minute wait at the (hot - about 35c)
roadside for a replacement coach brought a pair of black headed plover in the
verge opposite, hooded vultures overhead (both lifers!), several unidentified
brown jobs and raptors, plus a large swarm of interested children and their
mums from a nearby compound.
Having checked in, dumped our cases in our room, and
grabbed a pair of shorts, we had an hour or more of daylight to explore the
grounds. With beautiful sunbird, long tailed glossy
starling, red billed hornbill, Senegal coucal and white crowned robin chat in
the bag (as well as bulbul and the commoner doves) we were fairly gob-smacked
by the time it got dark!
Saturday 20
January
Up and dressed, awaiting the
dawn chorus, by not long after six.
And waiting, and waiting! It
doesn't get light (in January anyway) until 7 - when it does so very
quickly. Not much of a dawn chorus
either - the "Go Away Bird", as the locals call vinaceous dove
because of his call, is always up first.
He is usually followed soon after by the slower and lower "I am,
the red eyed dove", of his slightly larger cousin, but most birds don't
seem to wake until the sun starts to light up the trees from 7.30 onwards.
Senegambia breakfast (a
varied buffet) starts at 7, so we partook immediately they opened the door, and
were back out birding again by a quarter past!
Pairs of the spectacular yeIIow crowned gonolek feeding on the grass, with their
piercing calls and chatty immediate answer, amazed us. So did a small flock of tiny red-billed
firefinch, which we nearly trod on before they flew up. Not realising that birds came so small (or
so beautiful!), we started to examine the ground more closely - before the
morning was through we had flocks of bronze mannakin, pairs of the very 
pretty red cheeked cordon
bIeu, and a few lavender waxbill. Both
sparrows, brown babbler, yellow billed shrike, the attractive speckled pigeon,
and hundreds of village weaver, made for a very satisfying morning even before
the vulture feeding spectacle.
After lunch - and a siesta
to escape sunburn on our first day - we took a tourist taxi into Serrekunda for
the weekly wrestling match. Quite
different from what the guide books had led us to expect, but enormous fun - as
was "Marie's Pub" around the corner, where we called for a beer on
the way - to the surprise and delight of Marie and her other customers!.
Sunday 21 January
I have described above (see
Bird Guides section) how we walked to Kotu before meeting Dembo Sonko, and then
spent the rest of the morning with him.
Highlights for us, other than the pearl spotted owlet, were close views
of a perched black shouldered kite (which we managed to identify for ourselves,
prior to meeting Dembo!), a perched lizard buzzard that flew, then popped back
onto the wall to have another look at us, grey woodpecker, bearded barbet,
splendid and variable sunbird, Senegal thick knee, Senegal parrot, rose ringed
parakeet, little bee-eater and green wood hoopoe. Still on the cycle track, a wet area on our left produced 
waders large and small, including sacred ibis;
black-headed, squacco & green backed heron; black & great white egret;
spur winged plover.
At Kotu creek and ponds we
at last started to see birds more familiar to us! These included dabchick, greenshank, common and wood sandpipers,
bar tailed godwit, grey plover, ruff, whimbrel (we heard the much rarer curlew
calling!), grey heron and little egret.
We were also pleased to see so many black winged stilt, including
juveniles, at the ponds - not a lifer, but always such a welcome, elegant, bird.
Over a welcome beer at Kotu
with Dembo (though like most of his compatriots he doesn't touch alcohol) we
discussed a further arrangement. He
wanted to take us to Abuko, but we were not convinced we needed to travel that
far, so declined. We asked him if he
would accompany us to Bijilo the next day, and he readily agreed, for the same
price as today. We spent the rest of
the day eating, drinking, sunbathing and sleeping - with a turn around the
hotel gardens at dusk that did not produce any new species, but was
nevertheless most enjoyable.
Monday 22 January
Dembo appeared at our hotel
gate on the dot of 7.45am, as arranged, and we walked the short distance to
Bijilo Forest park, arriving as it opened.
We did the whole circuit, taking all morning. In all we saw some 28 species plus three just outside, adding 13
to our Africa list - 11 of them lifers.
The latter included red necked falcon, both wood doves, grey backed
camaroptera, northern crombec, northern black flycatcher, tawny flanked
prinia, grey hornbill, black necked weaver, and white
throated bee-eater. At least two of the
smaller birds were only seen thanks to Dembo's successful pishing, and some of
the others only because he knew where to look.
Find of the morning was at
the far, southern, end of the reserve.
Dembo suddenly beckoned us to follow silently down a side path to the
perimeter fence, where he started imitating a call that was unfamiliar to
us. He had heard a Klaas's cuckoo in
the distance (we hadn't!) but despite his persistent attempts, it did not seem
to be getting any nearer. Eventually we
gave up, and returned to the main path where it climbs a short hill. At the top we stopped for a banana and some
water, and as we were resting, Dembo suddenly got excited and there, sure
enough in the top a nearby tree, was the Klaas's, clearly in view. We could tell that he enjoyed seeing it at
least as much as we did!
Once again, we lazed in and
out of the sun all afternoon, with a turn or two of the hotel garden once it
started to cool down a bit. Even though
the Senegambia garden did not turn up a huge list for us during the week (it
looks like 31, but I'm still sorting my notes out!) it had the bonus that the
birds were very visible. We never got 
such good looks at the likes of gonolek, robin chat,
or yellow billed shrike at other locations - but in the gardens we could film
them really close up with the camcorder on the tripod. It also helped us get to know what were
initially LBJs, such as bulbuls, babblers, thrush, by their call, habits, and
general jizz, so that they were more readily recognisable out in the
"field proper". (Much like
the advantage of a garden at home, perhaps, except we don't have one!) Dembo joked that I was after his job when I
started identifying bulbul, babbler, gonolek, etc. by their calls!
Tuesday 23 January
Up in the dark for a 6.30
(well, ish) start on Maas's "Forest Awakening" trip. There were four of us on it, Viv and I, an
elderly gent who has worked all over the world as a civil servant - and has a
life list of 2,600 (!) and a young German woman. The latter was a relief, as in Maas's book it said a German name,
then in the "number of people" column it said "X4". I've nothing in general against Germans, but
they (indeed several nationalities, including Brits) can be a bit overpowering
en masse! Our visions of sunbeds in the
back of the 4WD, and breakfast tables being pulled together, were dispelled
when she explained that "X4" was, in fact, her room number! She turned out to be very pleasant indeed,
not a birder, but genuinely interested (and interesting - she had lived with an
African family, and traveled widely). I
digress.
With Maas in front with the
driver, we headed south down the new airport road for a while, then down a very
bumpy road/track - still in pitch darkness!
It was, of course, chilly - and a bit breezy in the back of the 4WD -
which Viv and I had foreseen and had dressed for accordingly, but not everyone
had! We stopped for a while to watch
the first light creep into the sky - and got some (I hope) wonderful photos of
a baobob tree silhouetted against a beautiful sky. We then drove on to the town of Brufut, where the driver stopped
to water the vehicle, and we were able to observe a rural community going about
their early morning business.
We reached Brufut woods by
the time it was light enough to see anything, and set off on a 2km walk, first
through forest, then scrub, then agricultural land, to Brufut bridge. The forest was very quiet, bird-wise, which
seemed to surprise Maas. We wondered
whether the stiff breeze and relatively low temperatures were to blame. The walk produced just 19 birds, mostly very
common ones, prior to reaching the creek and bridge. Our only two lifers were the first bird seen - pied hornbill -
plus black headed weaver. We added one
more to our Africa list - grey wagtail (which I was surprised to see,
apparently a good distance from any water).
There was a dispute about another - Maas's original i/d of yellow
bellied hyliata being eventually over-ruled by the elderly gent's insistence
that it was black and white flycatcher.
As the latter is described as a Gambian vagrant in the book we decided
not to tick it as either.
The area around Brufut
bridge was comparatively productive - a dozen birds including our first African
darter (not a lifer - we see it in India), our second bearded barbet, showing
beautifully, another grey kestrel and assorted waders. There was a fleeing kingfisher, but it was
not identified. On the road again, and
two lifers in quick succession - blue bellied roller, and the lovely African
green pigeon.
We then trundled and
squeezed our way down some tracks to a place called Paradise Inn for a
leisurely breakfast of the most delicious omelette and fresh bread. Eventually finding Maas afterwards, we
proceeded to Tanji - a bustling (and very interesting) fishing village on the
edge of the ocean, where we learnt that the tide was sufficiently out for us to
drive along the beach.
The beach near Tanji
produced sacred ibis (already seen on the cycle track) plus two more for our
Africa list - ringed plover and a party of sanderling doing what sanderling do,
at the edge of the tide. Hurtling along
the beach at good speeds in the 4WD was fun, though we had to make a small
detour inland to negotiate a headland.
It was also very productive! An
overhead mixed flock of pink backed and great white pelicans looked marvelous
in the sun and gave us two lifers, a long crested eagle became a third, and we
added oystercatcher, black tailed godwit, little ringed plover and turnstone to
our Africa list.
This stretch of coast is called Paradise Beach - with
very good reason. Totally uninhabited
(apart from the occasional herd of cows!), firm golden sand for miles, it is
much prettier then the overused and erosion-protected beach outside the Kololi
hotels. Rounding another headland, we
found a large gull and tern roost on a rocky outcrop - mainly grey headed gull,
sandwich tern and Caspian tern, but Maas was able to find royal and lesser
crested tern for us in his scope - another three lifers!
After a small lunch (we'd
hardly digested breakfast) at a beach café called the Osprey bar - and a most
welcome first Julbrew of the day - we set off back north, via some more tracks
that were slightly narrower in places than the 4WD! Here we added three more lifers - Veillot's barbet, namaqua dove
and melodious warbler.
It was now getting on for
three in the afternoon, and our older companion had to get back as quickly as
possible for medical reasons, so Maas was unable to make his customary stop at
a village school that he supports.
Standing in the back of the 4WD with me, as we rattled and bumped along
dirt roads, he pointed out yellow billed oxpecker on the back of a distant cow,
but I was unable to pick it out, I'm afraid.
All in all a super day. Though the birding was on the thin side at
times, my trip list was 55 birds, with 22 additions to the
Africa/Gambia/holiday list, 14 of them lifers.
On top of that we were able to see a number of villages and small towns
close up, which I found equally interesting, and our little party in the back
of the jeep had also bonded well, producing some good conversation.
Wednesday 24
January
After our second assignation
with Dembo on Monday, which went so well, he again suggested Abuko. We still were not sure that we wanted to go
there, but other birders at the hotel returned from a trip with Maas that
afternoon, and had seen a lot. They
were especially impressed by Verrieux's eagle owl with chick at a nest, which
could apparently be easily seen. We
therefore decide to that we would go there ourselves on our last uncommitted
day, and rang Dembo that night to ask him to make arrangements.
We duly met him, and driver
Abu, at the hotel gate at 7.30am, and set off in Abu's (fairly small) covered 4
wheel drive, arriving at Abuko for opening time at 8. We agreed that Abu would pick us up again at 11 - which Dembo
said would be time enough (we wanted to be back for lunch).
The education centre/hide is
not far into the park, and on approaching it Dembo spied great kingfisher
perched on a tree right beside it. We
got a good close look, but of course it flew whilst I was setting up the
camcorder. We then went up onto the
balcony of the centre, where Dembo showed us the eagle owl and nest. I got some good zoomed film with the
camcorder on the tripod - the chick was in the nest and facing us directly,
blinking its eyes like some motorized cuddly toy! Super! From the same spot we also just managed to see
black crake disappearing into the grass beside the crocodile pool - three
lifers already!
Number four was a gorgeous blue breasted kingfisher,
perched for a long time on a branch just in front of the photo hide, which it
shared with a darter, about a foot away.
They were too close to get them both in my lens simultaneously on zoom,
so I got some really good shots. After
they had gone, a hamerkop took up the same position, and there were plenty of
sleepy black headed, squacco, and night heron around the pool, too.
Before we regained the main
path we got a glimpse of double spurred francolin in the undergrowth, and
shortly afterwards snowy crowned robin chat (which had so far eluded us at the
Senegambia, though we had been assured there was one in amongst all the
(larger) white crowneds in the garden).
Dembo then whistled a common wattle eye out of the bushes, and with
glimpses of red bellied paradise flycatcher and little greenbul, we had notched
up nine lifers in under an hour!
We got six more before the
morning was out: a distant fanti saw-wing, lanner falcon and African harrier
hawk flying over, a scarlet chested sunbird, and white crested helmet shrike
posing for us beautifully. The last,
after a lot of searching, was green crested turaco - we'd been hearing turaco
consistently for a time, but hadn't managed to set eyes on one - and we
certainly wouldn't have done either, without Dembo's persistent vigilance.
By the time we left the
reserve, we were more than half an hour late for our transport - but not, of
course, according to Gambia Maybe Time, so it didn't matter! The morning had seen 37 birds, with 16
additions to the week's list - and all those except the night heron were
lifers.
Thursday 25
January
An even earlier start today
- at 5.40am! "Birds and
Breakfast" with the tour company (Gambia Experience) The coach is already at the Hotel gate and,
as I feared, has a good few people on board.
By the time we pick up at a couple more hotels, we number about twenty,
of whom the birders are a small minority. In the event, though I would have
preferred a smaller group, it turns out to be a good morning's birding - and I
doubt we would have seen much, if anything, more had the group been a quarter
of the size.
There is just one dog awake
as we leave the darkened streets of Kololi, and head for Serrekunda. The City itself is starting to wake, with a
stream of bush taxis already on the road, but by the time we turn off the main
Birkama highway, it is till pitch black.
Amazingly, the full size tour coach negotiates a mile or so of dirt
track, before we reach Lamin Lodge (pictured).
Here, still in total darkness, we are ushered across a rickety wooden
bridge (with no handrail one side!) - why didn't we bring the torch?
We fetch up in a small, open
sided, wooden restaurant just as the first hint of grey is lighting the
horizon. A welcome cup 
of coffee later, it is light, and we pick our way
along a wooden jetty to the boats. Viv
and I are among those loaded very gingerly into the first one - a long,
ancient, affair, with barely a couple of inches of freeboard and just room to
seat two abreast. The second boat seats
one abreast, whilst the third, larger, safer looking craft, has most seats
facing inwards. Each has a bird guide
sat in the bow, and a man with a paddle at the stern.
We set off, the three boats
abreast, in reasonable quietness, across a mangrove lined lake and into a
creek. The guides identify two African
spoonbills overhead, and our second lifer for the day is a flying long tailed
cormorant - surprisingly the only example all week of this apparently almost
abundant bird. On a mudbank in the
creek we add curlew and curlew sandpiper to our African list. The twenty three birds seen on the hour long
cruise include osprey (wonderfully common in The Gambia), black egret, black
headed and reef heron, a selection of waders, and black shouldered kite.
As we retrace our ripples
back to the Lodge, green vervet monkeys are awaiting us on the roof (we also
saw these close to at Bijilo, and red colobus ones at Abuko). A buffet breakfast is served, following
which we set off for a slow (2km?) amble with the three guides. Mine is the only scope in the party, and
much in use - the guides suggest various cash raising scams! We pass wetlands, and then meander through
smallhldings where various vegetables, herbs, etc are being tended.
Highlights for us include
green backed eremomela (lifer), a good view of namaqua dove, pipiac (only our
third!), splendid views of little bee-eater, a fairly far off short toed eagle (lifer),
and two intermediate egrets on the ground (lifer). We then find rufous crowned roller (lifer), our second grey
woodpecker, and a first for Africa fork tailed drongo (seen as black drongo in
India, I believe) - all in the same tree!
At this point one of the
guides takes my scope from me, whispers "I know where there is an
owl" and beetles off up the track.
When we reach him he has it trained (but at almost impossible angle for
anyone over two feet tall) on part of the back of a very well hidden white-faced
scops owl - goodness knows how he found it.
I can't see it for the life of me, but Viv manages to as, in some cases
with difficulty, do twenty holiday-makers, one by one. I still can't see it, but I'm not going
anywhere until I do! The guide stays
behind with me, and after a deep breath we make a fresh start and yes, there it
is. Phew, and how embarrassing - it's
my scope after all!
The only other event of the
morning is a willow warbler, which comes as a bit of a surprise, and is a first
outside Europe.
Friday 26 January
Departure day, but the coach
doesn't go until 13.30. We spend most
of the morning in the Senegambia grounds filming (much of it wasted as the film
is damaged when the camcorder comes adrift from the tripod!) and retiring from
the sun at intervals to do a bit more packing.
We don’t find anything new - despite looking really hard for our missing
yellow fronted tinkerbird, which is common, supposed to be here, and has been
heard by other birders staying at the hotel!
Still, having had lifer after lifer for each of the past seven days, I'm
not complaining!
Full
species list will
follow