Ghana Days 12-14

Saturday 2nd

It was a fairly short drive to our first birding stop at Bobiri Forest and Butterfly Sanctuary. First up was a group of four Red-billed Helmetshrikes, followed by Honeyguide Greenbul, Yellowbill and many other forest birds. We even saw a few butterflies as well!

Bobiri

We then had a couple of hours drive before stopping for lunch. We checked into our hotel and then visited the nearby farmland bush at Atewa late in the afternoon. We’d left the intense heat of the north behind and hadn’t quite entered the humid coastal area so it was fairly pleasant. One tree held 55 White-throated Bee-eaters and we reacquainted ourselves with forest edge birds.

Sunday 3rd

Today’s expedition was to spend the day walking up the steep track at Atewa so Lynne decided to take a rest day while the three of us tackled the hill. 

Atewa

The track was steep in places but we took it slowly birding along the way. Birds seen included four Square-tailed Saw-wings, Fraser’s Forest-Flycatcher, Blackcap Illadopsis, a flypast Narina Trogon and a perched Forest Scimitarbill. 

Forest Scimitarbill

At the top we finally found a Blue-moustached Bee-eater after walking through four other territories. One wonders how long they and all the other forest specialists will survive here with the illegal logging that is going on here.

Blue-moustached Bee-eater

After a packed lunch we slowly made our way down, stopping regularly to photograph butterflies and other critters. Near the end we located a singing Yellow-throated Cuckoo, another of my wanted birds. We reached the bottom at 5pm; it was the longest walk of the trip, although it was only 11km.

Yellow-throated Cuckoo

Monday 4th

A change in weather with a very misty start although it soon burnt off. We walked the lower slope of the same hill at Atewa again. Although it was mostly the same species as yesterday there were still a plenty of new ones including a pair of Plain-backed Pipits that alighted on the main track. Western Nicator was eventually tracked down and in one spot we saw both Brown and Puvel’s Illadopsis. There was also Finch’s Flycatcher-Thrush and right at the end three Double-toothed Barbets which were the final addition for the trip list.

Plain-backed Pipit

Yellow-billed Kite

Black-and-White Mannikin

Speckled Tinkerbird

Splendid Glossy Starling

White-breasted Negrita

We returned to the hotel for lunch, showered and packed our bags ready for the flight home. We still had a couple of hour’s drive to Accra and stopped near the airport for dinner. 

Roadside stalls

Many wares are carried on one's head

Sitting underneath a mango tree

Where else would a trucker hang their laundry out to dry?

We checked in and relaxed before our respective overnight flights, three of us arriving back at Heathrow at 05.30. It had been a great trip with the total group bird list being 381 species seen or heard. 

Ghana Days 9-11

Wednesday 29th

We birded around the lodge for an hour while permits were being arranged for the rest of the day and saw the first grazers of the trip – Kob. We then drove around the Samole Loop where a pair of Abyssinian Ground Hornbills were feeding by the track but quickly moved into the undergrowth. We did the usual trick of playing a recording of Pearl-spotted Owlet and loads of birds came in to try and the mob this daylight assassin including Senegal Batis, Village Indigobird amid more familiar species such as Willow Warbler and Pied Flycatcher. We even enticed in a real owlet who then took the brunt of the mobbing.

Willow Warbler

Long-tailed Glossy Starling

Pearl-spotted Owlet

Yellow-crowned Gonolek

We carried on driving to Zaina waterhole where there was Beaudouin’s Snake-Eagle and Gosling’s Bunting. 

Gosling's Bunting

As the temperature soared to 40 degrees by the end of the morning, bird activity died away so we returned to the lodge for lunch and a long siesta. A single African Elephant cooled off in the waterhole below.

One of a group of Hooded Vultures that were hanging around the waterhole

In the afternoon we visited Brugbani Camp and Harabo Plains. We located some birds feeding near a burnt patch and identified Sun and Rufous-rumped Larks as well as Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark. Best of all were two Forbes’s Plovers, a much wanted wader that is mostly restricted to this region. We also saw Gambaga Flycatcher and White-fronted Black Chat. 

Forbe's Plovers

Gambaga Flycatcher

Sunlark

We remained out at dusk and saw Four-banded Sandgrouse, African Scops Owl, Northern White-faced Owl, Long-tailed and Plain Nightjars, whilst driving back we spotlighted some White-tailed Mongooses.

African Scops-Owl

Long-tailed Nightjar

Plain Nightjar

Thursday 30th

Another full day in Mole NP, visiting the airstrip area and Mognori Gallery Forest in the morning. Highlights here included Brown-rumped Bunting, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Dorst’s and Rufous Cisticolas and African Cuckoo-Hawk. We scanned a section of river and found a white morph African Paradise-Flycatcher while a bird swimming across the river turned into an African Finfoot.

Mognori Gallery Forest

African Paradise Flycatcher

African Grey Hornbill

African Grey Woodpecker

Another Pearl-spotted Owlet

Red-throated Bee-eater

Senegal Coucal

Lizard Buzzard

Bushbuck

In the afternoon we drove down to the waterhole. Amongst the waders were several Greater Painted-Snipe, whilst there was a good selection of herons and other water-birds. Towards dusk we headed over to the old airstrip where the star bird was a Greyish Eagle-Owl that sat on the old runway looking for prey on the ground.

Waterhole with our lodge at the top of the escarpment

Swamp Flycatcher

Wood and Green Sandpipers

Greyish Eagle-Owl

Friday 1st December

We checked out of the lodge after breakfast and made our way out of Mole NP and drove southwards. We turned off the main road towards our next stop. The road used to cross the river but now stops at the village of Daboya as the bridge was washed away in a flood. 

End of the road; people and goods are now ferried across

The ruined bridge is now a laundrette!

We met up with a local and carefully walked along a path by the river that was used as a toilet. We scoped a distant Egyptian Plover on a sandbank but after a short while two more flew in and landed very close to us giving superb views. We couldn’t spend too long here as we still had a long way to go so after giving them a good togging we walked back to the van past a tree with nesting Black-headed Herons.

Egyptian Plover

We drove back to the main road and continued south, stopping for perched Brown Snake-Eagle and Beaudouin's Snake-Eagle along the way. 

Beaudouin's Snake-Eagle

We hit Kumasi at dusk and had to drive around the north-eastern side to our hotel on the outskirts. It was another long day of mostly driving but well worth it for the views of the plovers.

Ghana Days 6-8

Sunday 26th

After breakfast we took a different Landrover into the forest but this one conked out so we had to send for yet another one. New birds for the trip included Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo, Grey Parrot, Forest Robin, White-tailed Alethe, Chocolate-backed Kingfisher and Fraser’s Forest Flycatcher. 

Chocolate-backed Kingfisher

Pale-breasted Illadopsis

We returned to the lodge late morning and then packed up and reloaded the Landrover for the return trip along the approach road. We decanted back into our minibus and drove to a Brenu Grassland.

The change of habitat gave us a different selection of birds including a pair of duetting Tropical Boubou, Black-crowned Tchagra and a variety of weavers and sunbirds. We continued onto the Rainforest Lodge back in Jukwa.

Black-crowned Tchagra

Tropical Boubou

Monday 27th

After checking out of  the hotel we made our way to an area of scrub and grasslands along the Jukwa Krobo Road. Here we found Blue-headed Coucal, Marsh and Brown-crowned Tchagras, Yellow-mantled Widowbird, Mottled Spinetail, more Rosy Bee-eaters and plenty of other birds before we had to leave for the long drive to our next site.

Guinea Turaco

Marsh Tchagra

Simple Greenbul (the name has nothing to do with its cognitive abilities!)

Common Fiscal, regularly seen whilst driving

We arrived mid-afternoon and checked into a new community-based lodge at Bonkro next to the Forest. This accommodation meant we didn’t have to walk far to the site. Next to a large boulder some benches had been built so we made ourselves comfortable and waited for the event. 

After 45 minutes, the first White-necked Picathartes was seen. It bounded along in front of us in a series of jumps and perched up in a nearby tree. Just as it vanished we got a message from one of the local villagers that had accompanied us along the walk that they had found a Pangolin! 

We were torn by wanting to go and see it and waiting for more Picathartes but after a minute we decided to go. It was only a minute away and we were soon watching one of these rare spiny mammals sleeping up a tree. We then realised we’d stepped onto a swarm of ants and had to rapidly leave the area and de-ant before we could resume our vigil on the benches.

Long-tailed Pangolin

A little while later another Picathartes came in and perched up and was soon followed by three more of these strange looking birds. They are a very unique family of birds that have no obvious looking close relatives. Over the next two hours we watched them bounce around the rocks and up into the trees, preening before eventually making their way to their nests to roost for the night. Fully sated, we made our way down the track as darkness fell.

White-necked Picathartes

After dinner we walked back to our cabins across the lawn and straight into another load of ants who took a particular liking to Lynne. A major de-anting session was required before it was safe to retire for the night.

Tuesday 28th

Today was mostly a driving day as we headed up north to Mole National Park. The journey took 12 hours as we moved out of the humid forests of the south and into the dry Sahel region. In the afternoon we did manage to see quite a few species at one short stop at Janikura Marshes. Raptors such as Booted Eagle, Grasshopper Buzzard and Lanner began to appear and the default pigeon became Vinaceous Dove with its ‘tomahawk-tomahawk’ call.

Grasshopper Buzzard

Spur-winged Lapwing

Vinaceous Dove

We checked into the Mole Motel which is on the edge of an escarpment looking down over the park. Just outside our rooms we could see down to the waterhole below.

waterhole at Mole