Ghana October 2012 (1 Viewer)

From 2 October (with a late arrival on the previous evening) to 17 October 2012, I was on a private 4-participants tour arranged by my brother and organized by Ashanti African Tours http://www.ashantiafricantours.com/index.php/our-tours/biriding-and-nature/. I can only express my greatest praise for the organizers, it was simply fantastic what we got to see. And considering the local infrastructure, they did everything to make us as comfortable as at all possible.

We had tried to do our "homework" as well in preparing for the trip. One major welcome feature was the fact that one of our tour members (Paul Roth) was able to work on the species list received from Ashanti African Tours. That list had a completely different species sequence than the one used for the Birds of Ghana FG. Thus, it was most welcome that Paul was able to adapt the list to follow the book, adding the plate pages as well. Hopefully, this list, corrected for some minor printing errors which we did not find time to eliminate, will now be used in the future.

The main itinerary followed the one found at the Sunbirdtours website http://www.sunbirdtours.co.uk/GhanaGoldcoasttothenorth.htm. In fact, we had the same organization and the same main guide Robert Ntakor. I will thus not repeat the route in details as far as it followed the same paths. We did however, add an extension to visit the area north of Mole NP, with the main - but not only - purpose of getting to see the Egyptian Plover. I'll just list a few highlights or peculiarities later on.

Basically, it was still rather moist, with often a covered sky. This helped to keep the heat down. The delayed rainy season did not affect us much, however. Except that the northern savannah vegetation was still very green. The species coming in from the north such as Four-banded Sandgrouse were thus mostly not there yet, or they were not visible. It must be noted, however, that one never gets to see all the birds listed anyway. Just look at the Sunbirdstours list for the last 4 trips http://www.sunbirdtours.co.uk/documents/Webpage-Ghana.pdf. Only the ones with a 4 in front were seen on all four trips. We missed some of those, such as Wahlberg's Eagle. But we also had a fair number not seen on any of those trips, such as Red-chested Swallow and Black-bellied Seedcracker, to just mention two that were not part of our northern extension. We ended up with a group total of 388 seen species, my personal tally was 374, with 256 life bids!

Most Eurasian migrants were not there yet which did not matter much to us. Rather than going for a 400+ species list, we wanted to concentrate our attention on the local species anyway. Our main guide Robert Ntakor and his assistant Paul Mensah made every effort to assure we got to see as many of those hard to get forest species as possible. Their phenomenal knowledge of the sounds helped tremendously to focus our attention on the "right" individual birds. And it was only thanks to their unrelenting efforts that I did not fall much behind the best spotters in our group. Robert was also very good in remembering who had not seen a particular species yet on revious days.

Due to the size of the country and the road conditions it takes considerable time to get from one good location to the next. There are only two major roads, one leading north from Accra to Burkina Faso via Kumasi, the second largest city. The other road going east - west near the coast. Even those roads often have dangerous potholes, and all the other roads are often such that only slow driving allows a certain comfort. Our Ashanti African Tours driver Eric Arthur, named Kojo did an excellent job. We came to appreciate his skills even more after we had taken a hair raising taxi ride which was necessitated for logistical reasons.

The few decent hotels available, often made for long drives to and from the observation sites. Thus, despite the tropical "12-hour" nights, sleep became a rarity right from the beginning. We never had more than 6 hours of sleep, sometimes only a bit more than 4 hours. Plus some dozing on the way for those that managed to catch it despite the many bumps.

Traffic around Accra (the capital) and Kumasi is terribly time consuming. At one time, it took us a full two hours to get from our hotel out of Kumasi. But for once, I think this was the most fascinating two hours I ever spent in a traffic jam. Africa can be exciting for other reasons than birds. And I very much loved this insight into the very different culture.

I'll follow with some day-to-day impressions as time permits.

2 Oct: Shai Hills: the only Long-crested Eagle and Croaking Cisticolas for the trip. And the only northern migrant warbler, a Garden Warbler which was even singing. But it was also the only day with African Thrush in various places.
Sakumono Lagoon was the only major shorebirds and terns area visited, and the only place for the only Black Heron we had.

3 Oct: mostly spent at Kakum NP with its rightfully famous canopy walkway. Space is limited to place a scope on those tree platforms between the narrow walkways, but with our small group we managed to use all our three scopes to best results. We had much of the morning and late afternoon up on the canopy walkway, truly a major highlight of the trip for seeing many species in much better light than when watching from the forest floor. And that included good sights of several monkeys as well. Black-collared Lovebirds and Yellow-billed Turacos were best seen from up there. And on the walk back after dark a fine close view of Fraser's Eagle Owl near the park entrance. This was after our only Black-casqued Hornbills passed at dusk while we were still up in the canopy.

4 Oct: while still in the general Kakum area, we visited a Preso River bridge for Rock Pratincole, a major species as far as I was concerned. It was also the only place where we had White-troated Blue Swallow. Preuss's Cliff Swallow were seen briefly on the way back. The river had too much water for African Finfoot; we missed this species on the whole trip because of too much water in the areas accessible to us.

5 Oct: again spent in the general Kakum area, with the only observation of African Grey Parrot and Grey-headed Bristlebill. And the only African Pygmy Kingfisher, Puvel's Illadopsis and Magpie Mannikin for our trip, but also the only good looks at Red-billed Dwarf Hornbill.

continuation from post #2

6 October: in the morning, we birded in the western part of Kakum area, with a first most fascinating displaying Rufous-sided Broadbill capturing our attention. This was the only place where we had good views of Chocolate-backed Kingfisher and Sabine's Puffback.

But the most outstanding event was to see a Long-tailed Pangolin. It had been illegally captured alive with its young by a poacher/hunter. Our guide decided to buy the two from him to give this rare animal a chance in a hopefully safer environment. Thus, we took the two with us for later release at Ankasa NP. The long drive westwards with our stop-over for lunch and at the hotel must have put quite a strain on our unexpected guests. And releasing the animals in a completely new environment must also have been a problem for this pangolin female. They are known to adhere rather strictly to a small home range. But because of that, a release in the capture area would have meant an almost certain recapture by the poacher. Thus, we figured any stress was better for these two pangolins than ending up in a pan. The pictures show the young alone and with its rolled-up mother. They remained most of the time in this position during the transport.

On the way westwards we passed the only site for Orange Weavers on our trip.

We had Carmelite Sunbird at the hotel in Half Assini. The drive from the hotel to Ankasa NP takes about 90 minutes, with the need of a four-wheel drive vehicle for the part in the park. Thus, we only had a late afternoon and evening there.

7 Oct: most of the time was spent at Ankasa NP with good views of Hartlaub's Duck, Cassin's Flycatcher, later Blue-breasted and White-bellied Kingfisher at ponds; Blue-headed Pigeon on the forest road in the morning. And a beautiful Long-tailed Hawk again on the forest road on the way out. Great Blue Turaco was the special highlight of this day for me. Much of the afternoon was needed for the drive back east. We had a late afternoon along the Brenu Beach road, where we had the only Lanner Falcon of our trip. This was also the only place where we saw the peculiarly flying Fanti Saw-wing.

8 Oct: birding north of Kakum first, we had the only excellent views of Yellow-throated Green Cuckoo, Red-vented Malimbe and male Black-bellied Seedcracker.

The undisputed highlight, however, was the late afternoon visit to a Yellow-headed Picathartes place further north. A year ago, I had not even known such a bird existed, despite the fact that its only close relative is even on the cover of HBW vol. 12. I must admit that this species was not originally a high-priority species for me (contrary to my brother). But after having seen this species, it is as if it had left a spell on me. A somewhat similar feeling like I had many years ago when visiting Uluru/Ayer's Rock in central Australia. I had never thought that rock would leave such a special impression on me. Here, the same was repeated with the Picathartes that looked so much like a plastic bird. Very strange and impressive indeed.

9 Oct: Most of the time was spent driving from Kumasi to Mole NP, with a major portion over a very bad road that took up so much time. Total driving time was about 9 1/2 hours, and birding thus had low priority. We did, however get our best looks at the Violet Turaco. This species originally had highest priority for me of all the species for this trip. On the way, we also had our only view of a Familiar Chat.

10 and 11 Oct: Mole NP both days, on different loop tours. There was even a lone veteran (65 years estimated) Bush Elephant with only one tusk. Since there were not supposed to be any elephants around at this time, we were delighted.
Saddle-billed and Wooly-necked Stork, Spur-winged Goose, African Fish Eagle, Martial Eagle, Lizard Buzzard, Forbes's Plover, Red-headed Lovebird, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Greyish Eagle Owl, Long-tailed Nightjar, Red-throated Bee-eater, Black Scimitarbill, Blue-bellied and Broad-billed Roller, our only Abyssinian Ground-Hornbills, Red-shouldered Cuckoo Shrike, Snowy-crowned Robin Chat, Oriole Warbler, Swamp Flycatcher, our only Spotted Creeper, as well as Western Violet-backed Sunbird, African Golden Oriole, Red-billed and Black-bellied Firefinch and Togo Paradise Whydah delighted us here, among many others.
Unfortunately, the bridge at the eastern park boundary was flooded. Thus, we missed the chance for some of the riverine species.

12 Oct: another long driving day, now departing from the Sunbirdtours route by heading north to Bolgatanga. On the way out from Mole NP, a visit to the ancient mud-and-stick mosque of Larabanga was of special interest to me. Red-chested Swallows there as well. There was again not very much time for birding. However, we had our only but most spectacular sighting of Northern Carmine Bee-eaters along the road.

13 Oct: a visit to Tono Dam in the morning. Not much activity over all; it may have been too hot. Species deserving special mention were Senegal Thick-knee, White-headed Plover, Malachite Kingfisher, Abyssinian Roller, Northern Crombec, Piapiac, Chestnut-bellied Starling, and Village Indigobird.

In the afternoon we headed towards the north-eastern corner of Ghana to a site for Egyptian Plover on the White Volta. The road to get there was pretty bad with all its deep potholes, but the sight of this most interesting plover made it very much worthwhile to get there. A more than fifty year old dream had finally come true for me. There were other shorebirds such as Marsh Sandpiper, but they were of decidedly lesser interest to me at this point. We also passed a colony of White-billed Buffalo Weavers which is apparently a rare species for Ghana.

14 Oct: another day spent mainly in our small bus, driving from Bolgatanga to Kumasi with a few short stops. Beaudouin's Snake Eagle and African Moustached Warbler were the only special species that I got good looks at.

However, before we set out on our long journey, we visited the picturesque Tongo Hills area for Fox Kestrel, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Sun Lark, Rock-loving Cisticola and Mocking Cliff Chat in particular. Cinnamon-breasted Rock Bunting was omnipresent as well.

15 Oct: back on the tracks of Sunbirdtours, the morning was spent at Bobiri Forest Reserve. Narina's Trogon was one of the major species we went after.

After another longish drive, we spent the later afternoon in the foothills area of the Atewa Range. Western Bluebill was the most spectacular new species there.

16 and 17 Oct: Atewa Range to the top; originally, our trip was to end on the 16th, but as there was no plane for those of us who needed to fly via Lisbon, three of us got an extra day. It was particularly the additional time of the afternoon of the first day that was welcome. We walked a total of close to 36 (20 plus 16) kilometers; with on each day about 700 meters elevation change. Quite a bit more than what is customary for me. Major new species were Crowned Eagle, African Hobby, finally at least a short glimpse of a White-spotted Flufftail, Black Cuckoo, Blue-headed Bee-eater, Square-tailed Saw-wing, and after very many attempts finally some views of Western Nicator. Also Lemon-bellied Crombec, Grey-throated Flycatcher, Bioko Batis, and the elusive Red-cheeked Wattle-eye, Many-coloured Bush-shrike and Shining Drongo.

OK, that's it now. This was a tour very much to be recommended if you are with a guide who knows the bird voices very well. If we had tried to do this on our own - maybe with just a local driver, we'd have experienced lots of frustrations, I'm sure. As it is, this was a very intensive but most rewarding trip indeed.

Thnaks Robert, a very enjoyable trip report. I fully intend to visit Ghana one day so it's useful to have recommendations. Yellow-headed Picathartes would certainly be my no. 1 target bird. Nice photo of the Blue-headed Bee-eater, one of my favourite birds from my only trip to Africa (Kenya).

Edward said:

Thnaks Robert, a very enjoyable trip report. I fully intend to visit Ghana one day so it's useful to have recommendations. Yellow-headed Picathartes would certainly be my no. 1 target bird. Nice photo of the Blue-headed Bee-eater, one of my favourite birds from my only trip to Africa (Kenya).

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Very enjoyable Robert, thanks. I'm there for a short trip (10 days) next easter so am looking forward to some of those birds (forests only, not Mole or the north). BTW the bee-eater is now split from the East African birds as an Upper Guinea endemic, "Blue-moustached bee-eater" by most authorities.

cheers, alan

lewis20126 said:

Very enjoyable Robert, thanks. I'm there for a short trip (10 days) next easter so am looking forward to some of those birds (forests only, not Mole or the north). BTW the bee-eater is now split from the East African birds as an Upper Guinea endemic, "Blue-moustached bee-eater" by most authorities.

cheers, alan

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Thanks for your comments, Edward and Alan. Our guide Robert Ntakor had mentioned the split. I tend to adhere to the book's name at this point. But should I get a chance to see the East African version, I might be more willing to accept the split for me. Though I'm not really into getting as high a species list by numbers as possible. It's more the types of species that interest me. And the Picathartes is certainly one of the most special types I have seen worldwide. Well worth a trip, indeed.