Ghana - classic southern circuit (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

finally, a report of a 16-day Spring tour in the West-African forests of Ghana is finished.
The aim was to see as many birds that should be targeted in the upper Guinean forests as described here: http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/ebafactsheet.php?id=80
(actually, we still managed to miss 9 birds from that list!)

Many birdwatchers visit Ghana and only visit some of the sites we did, but they include the Northern Savannah (Mole National Park). The advantage is they have a bigger bird list and a change in landscape, + the savannah is a bit easier to bird.

The disadvantage is they miss some of the species that are more unique to the Guinean forests, while most of the savannah species can be seen from Gambia / Senegal to Cameroon.

Anyway, here is the report: http://users.ugent.be/~hmatheve/hm/GHANA16.html

Nice report - I assume Nimba Flycatcher is finished at Atewa? We missed them a few years ago and think that the removal of large trees was a problem. I've also missed it on Mount Nimba!

cheers, alan

really finished I don't know (I haven't checked what others have seen the past few years), but we missed it.
It's a bit frustrating to go for as many goodies, and realizing that most of the spectacular stuff is almost not seen in Ghana (WB Guineafowl, Western Wattled Cuckooshrike, Rufous Fishing Owl,...).

I guess a visit to a country more to the West will eventually come in the (far?) future to see those. We did quite well for the 'classic' targets though.

One note about our guide:

We normally don't use guides, and this sounds cliche, but Robert Ntakor is a top top guide for a very reasonable price. He used to work for Ashanti but he is now taking the risk of building up his own guiding company, together with his trusted driver and possibly some more guides in the future.
He suggested 3AM wake up times, wasn't afraid to go nightbirding untill the middle of the night, was suggesting changes in the schedule all the time in order to maximise our chances seeing target birds (he would never walk out of an area knowing there was still something in for us) and he is a birding machine knowing everything by call and has a very sharp eye for what was some of the hardest forest birding I have experienced. Birds were usually high up in the trees and very quick out of view.
How e.g. Robert tracked a pair of Red-fronted Antpeckers for some 100ths of meters through the forest (no trails), until we all had views, was nothing short of brilliant.

Robert is on Facebook and happy to (quickly) answer any questions regarding to a Ghana birding tour.

Really good report

We went last year with Ashanti (trip report is on here) - dropped Attewa as Ashanti recommended couple of visits to Offinso Forest which is north of Kumasi on road to Mole, so meant Mole was worth doing as it offered a few lifers for us.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=300137&page=2
Apart from Nimba Flycatcher which most people had missed at Attewa everything else was found elsewhere.