The Gambia - January 2024 - Day 1 - Kotu Creek to Tendaba

Black Kites were everywhere

We awoke early, keen as mustard. The hotel is right on the beach at the mouth of Kotu Creek, and before it was light Mick and I were outside the front entrance eagerly scanning the sandbanks whilst waiting for breakfast to start. Senegal Thick-knee and Spur-winged Lapwing I think were the first birds, with a Common Sandpiper soon afterwards identified on flight pattern.

We grabbed some food quickly, by which time Yankuba had arrived, right on time. It was now vaguely light so we proceeded on foot to the bridge over the creek, only a short distance away. There were birds everywhere, a Blue-breasted Kingfisher feeding just meters from us, and a Giant Kingfisher slightly further downstream. Long-tailed Cormorants were drying out on poles, and the sandbars on the inland side of the bridge were covered with Thick-knees, Spur-winged Lapwings, Whimbrel and Greenshank, whilst Western Reef Heron and a Hamerkop were also seen. And that was just close to the water! When we examined the trees either side of the bridge we discovered a Northern Puffback, a Yellow-crowned Gonolek, Broad-billed Rollers, a pair of Little Bee-eaters, Oriole Warblers, Red-cheeked Cordonbleus and Red-billed Firefinches, whilst Wire-tailed Swallows and African Palm Swifts swooped above us. As first-time visitors to this part of the continent it was almost overwhelming. We had barely started and our list was about 50 - I imagine that all trips start here, it is super birdy and a great place to really get into it. The checklist is here. As an aside, this is where you can hire a guide on spec if you have travelled here for a non-birding holiday. On the far side of the bridge is a hut where the Guides all hang out, and you can speak with them and arrange trips.

It was time to go. We retrieved what we needed from our hotel room as we wouldn't be coming back for five days. At this point we were on the south bank of the River Gambia, albeit at this location it bends sharply upwards to the north before exiting into the Atlantic. The entire country is simply the river with some land either side, with one main road on the north bank and another along the south. So we drove south, back past the airport, to reach the place where it bends and we could start driving east along the southern road. Our next stop was the Farasuto Forest, a local reserve where the community has a vested interest in keeping it as a forest. As we arrived there were a paird of Pied Hornbill and a pair of Grey Hornbill in the trees just about the entrance, with Plantain Eaters alongside - these were a very common bird seen almost everywhere. The real prize here is the highly secretive White-backed Night Heron. Even though they know where it is the forest guardians have a hard time picking it up, it is ridiculously hard to spot. Eventually we figured out a way to align about four different gaps through branches in order to see it, but even then you couldn't see all of the bird. Still, it was great to be able to notch this one up, it's one of the top targets in The Gambia. A Palm-nut Vulture was also seen in this area. Returning to the car we drove to a different section of the forest to see a pair of Greyish Eagle Owls at a day roost site. The full list is here.

Our next stop was Pirang Forest, not too far away from Farasuto. Here we were treated to more staked-out Owls - Northern White-faced Owl and Verraux's Eagle Owl. Also here were a Spotted Honeyguide, African Paradise-Flycatcher and Northern Black-Flycatcher. 

It was a slow drive east towards Tendaba. Part of the reason is the roads are not big roads, another reason is that at every village, and sometime even in the middle of nowhere, there are manned roadblocks where you are forced to stop and explain to a soldier or a policeman who you are, what you are doing and where you are going. Yankuba handled most of these exchanges, but occasionally - and mostly this was the soldier version - Mick and I were asked questions. Pointless questions that only served to outline the hierarchy of authority, much like the machine gun. Like whether we liked The Gambia (we loved it), what we thought of the people (delightful, especially the soldiers), what birds we had seen (big ones!). It was all a complete waste of time and whilst individually these often took no more than a minute, longer if you were behind other cars, collectively over the course of the week we must have wasted hours. This is just how it is though, and I expect par for the course over much of Western Africa.

Our final stop was the Kampanti Raptor Bridge. The draw here is small area of swampy ground on the south side of the road, filled with Jacana, Squacco Herons and various other Egrets, whilst the surrounding trees held Lizard Buzzard, Grasshopper Buzzard, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Yellow-billed Shrike and a few different Doves. It had been an excellent day all in all, with close to 100 species seen, mostly very well indeed. We pulled into Tendaba Camp as the light was fading over the river, dumped our stuff and went for a walk by the shore as the sun set. Magical. We could scarely believe we were here.