Tendaba Bush Camp is on the south side of the river Gambia, but the more interesting mangrove habitat is on the north side. The highlight of the day, indeed possibly of the trip, was a three hour boat ride that crossed the river and then wound its way through some creeks in a large loop. There are birds everywhere, particularly Herons and Egrets as you would expect, but also Waders, Terns, Gulls, Kingfishers, Raptors, Bee-eaters and Swallows. This was one of highest lists of the entire trip in terms of diversity.
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| Crossing the Gambia River |
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| African Darter |
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| Goliath Heron |
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| Malachite Kingfisher |
Mick and I were not the only passengers in the boat, they managed to load up a few more and then we were off, just before 8am. The river at the point is very wide and it take some time to cross it - all you can initially see on the other side is a wall of green. Gradually though an opening starts to appear, and then you're in, leaving a few Gull-billed Terns and Grey-hooded Gulls behind. There are African Darters and Cormorants everywhere, dripping off every tree. Grey Heron and Western Reef-Heron were very numerous, with Hamerkop, Squacco and Striated close behind, and Purple and Goliath Herons one apiece. As the creek meanders in wide loops northwards, exposed banks hold Yellow-billed and Woolly-necked Storks, as well as more familiar species like Greenshank , Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper. Every suitable perch has a Kingfisher on it, we notch up over 30 Pied Kingfishers, as well as several Blue-breasted and Malachite Kingfishers, and taller bare trees have flocks of Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters resting in them. At one point we got out of the boat and went for a short walk to see an immense Baobab tree and look at a shallow lake that doesn't connect with the creek. In short a brilliant three hours with birds everywhere you looked, even though photography was a bit of a challenge - had we been in our own boat we might perhaps have done better.
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| Pied Kingfisher |
Back at Tendaba we packed up, had an early lunch and then set off east along the south bank road. Our destination was the island of Janjanbureh (until quite recently known as Georgetown), a frequent stop on birding itineraries due to the Bird Safari Camp at the west end of MacCarthy island that operated until about 2012. As this was an afternoon of largely driving, the birding component was rapid stops either when we saw something interesting or when we passed some good habitat. This included a pair of Bearded Barbet and a Dark Chanting-Goshawk near Nema, some good birds included a Long-crested Eagle at Soma Saltmarsh, and once on the north bank, Mottled Spinetail in with African Palm Swift near Sukotto, and at Nheyen Sanjal we found Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark by the side of the road.
Jakau-ur Wetland was rather quiet, but Njauri Reservoir was a lot better with our first Red-throated Bee-eater, a Red-rumped Swallow, and big flocks of finch-like birds including three Sahel Paradise-Whydah with their immense tails.
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| Sahel Paradise-Whydah |
Our final stop before taking the ferry across to the island was Wassu Quarry, recommended due to an active Red-throated Bee-eater colony. This also gave Yankuba a bit of a break as we broke out the cameras and tried for some pictures. Also here were some Sahel Bush Sparrow, big numbers of Black-rumped Waxbill, and also one of our only Northern Grey-headed Sparrow.
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| Crossing from the North bank to Janjanbureh |
We dumped our stuff at the Baobolong Camp before a dusk drive on the Georgetown Bush Track, just east of the town. The highlight here were a group of four Four-banded Sandgrouse, but the whole place felt really birdy. Back at the camp we discovered that there are some kind of celebrations occuring throughout Janjanbureh, and it is very noisy.
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| Four-banded Sandgrouse at dusk |
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