The Gambia: Day 4: Two Crossings and a Long and Dusty Road

10^th December:

Breakfast was forfeited in favour of an even earlier start in an effort to get a jump on the first ferry from Banjul across the mouth of the Gambia River to the town of Barra on the northern shore. As such we left in the dark and bundled into the back of a smaller minibus with enough gear for three days away and, in my case, two rather nice little almond tartlets that I snaffled from the buffet the night before to see me through to whenever the first meal of day occurred.

Ali had gone on the evening before and would have our bus fired up and ready to go once we disembarked.  We zoomed past a long line of waiting lorries and were deposited as foot passengers at the front, only to find the 0630 ferry leaving at 0620.  It was still and dark with just a hint of colour staining the sky. A portacabin opened its rear doors and some tables and chairs miraculously appeared and with it the opportunity for a much need double coffee helping and a delicious onion and cheese omelette in a slab of still warm french stick. Quality spotaneous dining!

And so we sat there with a crowd starting to build and watched the colourful comings and goings of the locals hawking their wares and a few ill clothed English tourists who were hopefully attracting more of the smattering of mosquitoes (and hawkers) than we were while other faced east and the rising sun and gave their thanks to Allah.

A quality dining moment...

The birding senses are never turned off though and Pied Crows were first up followed by a White Wagtail, a couple of Kites and a Lanner that cruised into the container ship dock and directly over a vessel of the same name.  Little Swifts started to descend and Caspian Terns patrolled the quay in the gloom like giant pointy billed bats.

Caspian Tern

Lanner

Fortified by our coffee and grub we started to move into the throng as the ferry returned from Barra. It was chaotic with a dozen people trying to ‘guide’ the lorries containing goods, people and livestock off the ship while others told the foot passengers to try and get on. After a couple of false alarms we eventually made it and clambered up onto the top front deck to get the best views as we crossed.

Western Reef Herons

Foot passengers only...

Caspian Tern and Grey Headed Gulls

Our delay had worked in our favour as there was now no need to stop for an early meal and the sun was now up enough that we should be able to add some species on the crossing.

Hundreds of Little Swifts swirled around the port as we pulled out and Hooded Vultures now lazily joined the Kites and Pied Crows in their search for their breakfast.

Little Swift

Little Swifts

Several Arctic Skuas loafed near the beach with frequent sorties after the terns present but we could not find any Pomarine. Gull-billed and Caspian were the most numerous species but we found more Royal as we approached the north shore along with a few each of Common and Sandwich. The odd Lesser Black-backed Gull was noted and a small group of Slender-billed Gulls drifted over the prow.

African Royal Tern

Caspian Tern with a large fish Tern

... and the same bird with a Lesser Black-backed Gull in attendance

Arctic Skua

The scene below us on the main deck was as manic as the exit we had already witnessed with people and mopeds jammed quite literally between the various closely packed vehicles and when we docked everyone tried to get off at once. There was hooting and cussing and much arm waving but it all seemed to sort itself out for what must be the daily commute for some people. The diversity of peoples was amazing; the colours, head scarves, hats and languages.  Local dialects would suddenly swing to English and back again. The Gambians are a demonstrative people and full of energy.

Wedged...

 

We wended our way through the tide of colour and dust and veered towards where Ali was parked up, beaming as usual.  The bus was about to be boarded when I spied a small group of very dull little finches in a dead tree in a compound. I knew they were different but had no idea but Paul was soon setting his scope up in the melee of passing human traffic for us to look at our first White Rumped Seedeaters.  They eat seeds and have white rumps – what more could you need to know?

White Rumped Seedeaters

The next umpteen hours were spent on the long road heading steadily east, shadowing the mighty river and occasionally getting glimpses of it or crossing a tributary.  Paul encouraged us to shout if we saw anything interesting so that we could stop and a wealth of species were encountered as we traversed the savannah grasslands.

Wire checking became the main game and Aby Rollers became a regular feature along with the requisite dove species. However we also added two more of these too with several tiny Namaqua Doves that brought back happy memories of my coach trip to Abu Simbel in Egypt where the birds had to come to me and this long tailed pointy dove added itself to my list by flying alongside the coach much in the way that my first Gambian ones did on this journey.  The second was two plump African Green Pigeons that flew past as we got out of the bus to check on some Purple Glossy Starlings – a stop that netted us an African Jacana and Squacco Heron.

Abyssinian Roller

Abyssinian Roller

Abyssinian Roller

Northern Anteater Chats were dotted at intervals in pairs like giant entirely black Wheatears with Mourning Wheatear like primary and secondary flashes when they flew and we stopped to have a good look at one obliging pair. They are a prime tagert species north of the river.

Northern Anteater Chat

Northern Anteater Chat

Northern Anteater Chat

Northern Red Bishop with a tiny bit of red in the undertail... cute

Purple Glossy Starlings

Raptors were frequent and required a few stops in their own right.  Dark Chanting Goshawks became a feature and these long legged grey beauties were often seen in pairs and cinnamon winged Grasshopper Buzzards and chocolate Brown Snake Eagles also patrolled the roadsides. 

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Dark Chanting Goshawks

Dark Chanting Goshawks

Grasshopper Buzzard

Grasshopper Buzzard

Our first distant Brown Snake Eagle

A superb Ruppell’s Vulture sat up on a tree attracted us and while watching that we added Wahlberg’s Eagle too. Once again it was becoming a 'new birds everywhere' kind of day.

Ruppell’s Vulture

A heap of Vultures in an Acacia seemed to be mostly European Griffons with at least two scaly Ruppell’s and a single Hooded amongst them but these big brown Gyps vultures are problematical to say the least especially immatures. 

 

Griffon Vultures with a tiny looking Hoodie top left and dwarfed by the Griff behind it

And the same group with a Ruppell’s Vulture far right

Common and an ashy Grey Kestrel were seen and Shikras flicked across the road while both Beaudouin’s Snake Eagle (like an even paler Short-toed) and a pied winged Long-crested Eagle were also first seen from the moving bus – the former while getting onto a Woolly-necked Stork!

Grey Kestrel

Long-crested Eagle

Woolly-necked Stork - it was a long way up!

But as I have already said, these stops for a ‘what’s that!?’ moment always yielded further goodies including Mottled Spinetail Swifts that were close enough to see the spines and white polo and an exploding (from cover – not literally) Four Banded Sandgrouse with a curious yellow patch on the head! 

Mottled Spinetail Swift - Paul French

Mottled Spinetail Swift - Paul French

Four Banded Sandgrouse

A wet area hosted many hundreds of Spur-winged and Wattled Lapwings, a distant African Spoonbill and a snowy blizzard of mainly Cattle Egrets that included our first good views of Intermediate. Hamerkops flopped around and a party of African Sacred Ibis had better wild credentials that the couple I saw in France many years ago.   

 

Clockwise: Great, Western Reef, Intermediate, Little Egret

African Sacred Ibis

An almost dried up reedy pool there had three female Painted Snipe lurking in the fringes. They were certainly on my wish list and while watching them a Black Crake with luminous red legs and a yellow bill snuck past. A glance up and a Grey Woodpecker at last gave us a good view and a couple of Black-headed Plovers flew over while we were getting to grips with the rather odd looking West African form of Red-rumped Swallow.

Painted Snipe

Grey Woodpecker

West African Red-rumped Swallow.

Another shallow area had a more Cattle Egrets and Long-tailed Cormorant along with a glowing White-breasted Cormorant and a group of Ruff amongst the Slender-billed Gulls picking at the surface. I saw a Whiskered Tern but got on it too late to call – sorry folks.

Cattle Egrets and Long-tailed Cormorant

Slender-billed Gulls

Red-chested and Wire Tailed Swallows began to appear along with more Red-rumps and both European and Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters were clocked as we motored along.  It may have felt frustrating at times to keep on moving but I understood that there was a plan to keep to and a second all important ferry that we could not afford to miss.

Lunch was taken off a seemingly random roadside track at Kaur that led to an isolated stone building complete with toilets and an outdoor seating area where we were served a fine lunch overlooking the vast sinuous river bordered by mangroves and the rich alluvial farmed floodplain.

It was scorchingly hot but I still managed some pre and post food scanning and picked up some palearctic migrants such as Barn Swallow and Sand Martin amongst the Red-rumps with their sliky white underparts and very odd calls. They also appeared bigger and longer tailed that those I see in the spring in Lesvos. Yellow Wagtail, Whinchat and Woodchat were also seen.

West African Red-rumped Swallows

A yellow winged Grasshopper that rattled when it flew

A single Yellow-fronted Canary came down to drink with a couple of Namaqua Doves and up above a White-backed Vulture drifted over with some other Gyps and a Palm Nut Vulture while four Woolly-necked Storks were perched in a dead tree way down by the river.

Yellow-fronted Canary

Namaqua Dove

Sunbird activity attracted me and four Beautifuls were fighting over a flowering shrub and amongst them were a pair of even tinier Pygmy Sunbirds decked out in green and gold with even longer central tail feathers.

Paul picked up a song and we soon had stripy headed male Gosling’s Bunting in the scope. This newly split species was until recently known as Cinnamon Breasted Bunting. With time pressing we had to move on albeit with a brief stop for three Black-headed Lapwings that were trying to find some shade under a tiny bush.

Gosling’s Bunting

Gosling’s Bunting

Black-headed Lapwings - it was very hot and hazy

Flocks of what would turn out to be Red-billed Queleas undulated across the landscape and a circling spiral of black and white became Great White Pelicans enjoying a thermal.

Great White Pelicans

We bumped off and pulled up at a watering hole. ‘There’s one over there to the right’ said a voice from the front.  ‘What was?’ said I... ‘Egyptian Plover’ came back the reply...

Cue a rather childish OMGOMGOMG moment when I tried to stand up in the bus and look through my bins and camera at the same time. ‘Don’t panic!’ said a little voice inside that had no idea whatsoever about the importance of seeing this bird.

The bus was vacated in an orderly manner and the next forty minutes were spent ogling what has to be one of the most mythical and striking of all the wading birds.  Two of these Courser like beauties were immediately on view and showed wondrously at close range as they stop-start fed around the margins of the lagoon of Njau.

Egyptian Plover

Egyptian Plover

I was captivated by the striking combination of glossy black, duck egg blue and warm peach; by the black and white stripes and odd angles and the short blue legs.  Six birds were seen around the periphery and were moved on by the cattle a couple of times showing their intricate wing markings.

I have often heard birders tell of how high up their most wanted and then most loved list this species is placed and I can see why.  I could have spent hours there as there were, like every other stop, so much more to see.

Click here to watch a short video and do not forget to select HD quality!

Oddly, the highlight, at least for Solomon and Santos was my discovery of a small very drab grey brown flycatcher. In fact I described it as just that and thus Swamp Flycatcher was added.  This is a bird further west than they had ever seen the species before and it was not really on our potential list for this trip so there were handshakes exchanged and smiles shared.

Swamp Flycatcher

Many finches and weavers were coming down to drink and feed and several Red-billed Queleas were noted among the Northern Red Bishops along with our first scaly Cut-throat Finches and the now usual assortment of Waxbills and Bronze Mannikins.   

Bishops and Queleas

Red-billed Quelea - another childhood bird for me in the bag

 A male Common Redstart offered up a tail shimmy and our second male Gosling’s Bunting dropped in but was pushed off by the return of a stunning male Sahel Paradise Whydah with his rich chestnut breast and preposterously oversized two tail feathers that looked like they would have been more at home on vulture. You could not help but laugh when it took flight!

Gosling's Bunting

 

Sahel Paradise Whydah

Sahel Paradise Whydah

Pied Kingfishers hovered and two Little Grebes were out in the middle while Spur-winged Lapwings, Cattle Egrets and a couple of Stilts and Greenshanks fed around the edges.

Long-tailed and Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling milled around and a Piapiac photobombed one of my Egyptian Plover shots but actually gave us our best views of this species by doing so. 

Egyptian Plover with a Piapiac

 

Piapiac

Five Green Wood-Hoopoes chattered as they crashed through in a group and a Grasshopper Buzzard circled above us.

Grasshopper Buzzard

All too soon it was time to move and retrace our steps back west a short way towards the ferry crossing at Far Fanhan.  The route back took us past a huge swirling flock of White Storks, three Marsh Harriers and a couple of ringtail Montagu’s Harriers to make it feel more like Europe but two Wahlberg’s Eagles and more flocking Queleas soon disrupted that feeling.

White Storks

There was time for one more stop before the run on the ferry and a seemingly random roadside field very quickly gave up two larks and a wader. A Singing Bush Lark briefly came up from cover to be joined on the tally moments later by a fine male Chestnut Backed Sparrow Lark that sat obligingly in front of us until we realised that there was probably a female on a nest very nearby which was indeed the case. 

Chestnut Backed Sparrow Lark

The main quarry here was Temminck’s Courser and two were seen tottering around the tilled field with black, white and ginger bandanas and chestnut bellies.  They were always running away and usually stopped facing away from us but with patience they would eventually show off that striking belly pattern.  It was very hot and the heat haze was causing viewing problems even through bins.
A couple of Prinias flicked away as we headed back to the cool of the bus.

Temminck’s Courser

Temminck’s Courser

Temminck’s Courser

Before too long we came upon the end of the ferry queue leading through the mangrove swamp which very quickly became the side of the ferry queue as we merrily drove past the entire two miles of parked up lorries and such like and slotted ourselves neatly fourth in line at the front alongside three cars.  Our guides slipped out and came back with the ‘Big Boss’ who enthusiastically welcomed us and vigorously shook our hands and promised us that he was Soloman’s friend and that we would be on the next ferry.

Looking back up the queue from our exhalted position at the front

The, as yet, unopened bridge

It was hot and sweaty without the air con on but we stayed in the bus and bought drinks and biscuits from the people clustered at the windows while the colourful stalls alongside the queue sold just about anything imaginable.

I'm sorry Paul, but it had to be done... 'Honestly Sir, this hat is a bargain and much better than that silly Tilley you are wearing and it did not need to go through an Elephant first! Yours for 500 Gambian Dalasi and I'm cutting me own throat...'

Wire-tailed Swallows and Pied Kingfishers fed from the moorings and a darter that looked like a Violet Dropwing used a car aerial as a look out.

Getting vehicles off of this little ferry was even more hazardous than they big one.  Huge lorries occupied the central area that, upon disembarking, removed so much weight that the boat would rise dramatically making the angle of the exit ramp all the more acute until it got so bad that already squashed mini-ramps had to be utilised to stop the cars and pick-ups at the back of the boat nose diving into the ground!

It was our turn next and we were asked to get out of the bus and wait to become foot passengers.  Cars first, then four two big lorries and a couple more cars and then it was meant to be Ali’s turn with the bus.  The remaining space was tiny and we were told to get on board and not worry.  I am still not sure quite how he got the bus up that ramp and into the gap but we could hear all the shouting and imagine the wild gesticulating!

We were soon underway for the short crossing across the placid river with the new road bridge spanning the distance to our right. This will open in January but even then will only take cars and foot passengers so the poor lorry drivers will still have an interminable wait to get to the southern shore.

A similarly chaotic scene greeted us on the other side with added eau de poisson and some Green Vervet Monkey action!

Green Vervet

The rest of the evening was spent on a steady drive back into the setting sun as we made our way to the famous camp at Tendaba passing a few Aby Rollers, Dark Chanting Goshawks, Lizard Buzzards and an obliging Brown Snake Eagle along the way.

Brown Snake Eagle

I have a vague recollection that it was pretty dark when we arrived at the camp. Communal dinner was followed by a brief log and then an attempt at a shower before some faffing with mosquito nets and being lulled to some semblance of slumber by the cyclical drone of the ceiling fan and thankfully not by a million blood thirsty insects.