In November I visited The Gambia along with ten travellers from Quest Nature Tours. Why The Gambia, you may ask? This tiny country is not well-known to the international community, but it is an attractive ecotourism destination. The Gambia is a stable, English-speaking democracy that has a relatively high diversity of species given its tiny size.
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| Egyptian Plovers |
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| Guinea Baboons (Papio papio) |
Its borders follow the Gambia River (with some buffer on either side) and it is surrounded entirely by Senegal. The Gambia is a popular destination for Brits and other northern Europeans due to convenient direct flights and beautiful beaches. While most tourists stay close to the resorts along the coastline, there is so much more to see in The Gambia by traveling up-country.
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| Scarlet-chested Sunbird |
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| Black-headed Lapwing |
In west Africa there is one distinct rainy season which usually occurs between May and September. This contrasts with east Africa which typically has two rainy seasons (one from March - May, and a shorter one from October - December). Our trip to The Gambia was timed to occur at the beginning of the dry season. Many birds were active and still in breeding plumage, while our days would largely be rain-free, making birding easier.
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| Beautiful Sunbird |
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| Greater Blue-eared Starling |
We began the tour with two nights at a resort along the Atlantic coast. Each day we were up early to make the most of our explorations before the heat of the day set in (but not too early, since sunrise isn't until 7 AM). We acquainted ourselves with some of the spectacular bird species that call this corner of Africa home. Our first morning at Brufut Woods was a bit overwhelming given the colour and diversity of the species. The vast majority were new for me as well, as this was my first time visiting sub-Saharan Africa.
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| African Gray Hornbill |
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| Western Plaintain-eater |
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| Northern Red Bishop |
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| Hamerkop |
Some of the highlights from Brufut included Guinea and Violet Turacos, an exquisite African Pygmy Kingfisher, Red-cheeked Cordonbleu, Northern Puffback and four species of sunbirds. We enjoyed watching the antics of Rainbow Agamas and Gambian Sun Squirrels, too.
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| Red-cheeked Cordonbleu |
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| Northern Puffback |
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| African Pygmy Kingfisher |
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| Rainbow Agama (Agama agama) |
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| Blue-spotted Wood-Dove |
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| African Wood White (Leptosia alcesta) |
We drove east for a couple of hours towards Tendaba Camp. Located on the shores of the mighty Gambia River, and situated near the wild and vast Kiang West National Park, this would be our base for two nights.
Our morning boat trip up a mangrove-lined tributary was simply amazing. We set off shortly after dawn in an uncovered boat with our local guides and experienced a huge diversity of species throughout the morning.
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| Mangrove boat trip at Tendaba Camp |
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| Reed Cormorant |
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| African Sacred Ibis |
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| Malachite Kingfisher with an Atlantic Mudskipper (Periophthalmus barbarus) |
Mouse-brown Sunbirds were feeding nestlings in their river-side nests, the air was filled with the songs of Brown-throated Wattle-eyes, and Blue-breasted Kingfishers were perched around every bend. We found our only African Blue Flycatchers of the trip and enjoyed our first views of Yellow-crowned Gonoleks, Malachite Kingfishers and both European and White-throated Bee-eaters.
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| Mouse-brown Sunbird |
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| Brown-throated Wattle-eye |
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| Blue-breasted Kingfisher |
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| White-throated Bee-eaters |
Among the high diversity of wading birds were specialties like White-backed Night Heron (on a nest!) and Goliath Heron, the world's largest heron species. The latter was a personal highlight as it represented my 5,000th world bird species. It was great to share the moment with everyone!
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| White-backed Night Heron |
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| Goliath Heron |
The scrubby habitats around Tendaba and in Kiang West National Park were filled with a different subset of species. We tracked down our first White-crested Helmetshrikes and found a scarce Brown-necked Parrot, while we also enjoyed birds like Grasshopper Buzzard, Purple Roller and Bruce's Green-Pigeon. We loved watching the antics of Guinea Baboons, Green Vervet Monkeys and Patas Monkeys.
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| Brown-necked Parrot |
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| Green Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus sabaeus) |
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| White-crested Helmetshrike |
We pushed further upriver by bus, reaching Janjanbureh Island for a two-night stay. The drive between Tendaba and Janjanbureh was made a touch longer as our bus got stuck on a muddy road. Thanks to some quick thinking by Mustapha and our driver, Momodou, we were able to source a tractor from a nearby town to free our bus, and we weren't delayed for too long. While we waited I took the group birding and we found African Green Bee-eaters and had incredible views of a Pearl-spotted Owlet.
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| African Green Bee-eater |
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| Pearl-spotted Owlet |
One highlight of our time at Janjanbureh Island was a long boat trip along the Gambia River. This particular vessel was quite comfortable with an open upper level, covered lower level, bathroom and a cooler full of cold drinks. Though we were unable to find any African Finfoots (a scarce resident along the Gambia River), we found around 70 bird species including White-backed Vulture, Rüppell's Griffon, Palm-nut Vulture, Levaillant's Cuckoo and Woodland Kingfisher.
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| Birding from the upper deck |
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| Borassus akeassii palms |
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| Rüppell's Griffon |
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| Palm-nut Vultures |
We also found Western Red Colobus monkeys along the riverside and spent some time with a few West African Chimpanzees. These chimpanzees were introduced here many decades ago and they have a self-sustaining population along some of the river islands.
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| Wesern Red Colobus (Piliocolobus badius) |
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| Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) |
My next post will cover the remainder of the trip. Stay tuned.
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