A Report on Birds Observed on a Trip to Cameroon 16 April – 06 May 2016
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Cameroon April/May 2016 CAMEROON A report on birds observed on a trip to Cameroon 16 April – 06 May 2016 By Henk Hendriks Nyasoso village with Mount Kupe, looming in the distance Mount Cameroon Speirops Zosterops melanocephalus - Mount Cameroon 1 Cameroon April/May 2016 INTRODUCTION In October 2015 Hans Westerlaken told me that he had contacted a local guide in Cameroon who was able to organise a complete birding trip to this country for a reasonable price. He was trying to get a team of 4 birders together to undertake this trip. Knowing that Cameroon is probably the number 1 birding destination in Western Africa and having wanted to visit this country already for many years I was immediately interested. So when my brother Frans and Jan Hein van Steenis decided to join us, we had a nice team together and we could start to actually prepare ourselves for this trip. Unfortunately, because of the presence of Boko Haram in the extreme north of the country, we were unable to visit this area and had to skip for instance Waza N.P. Many of the big tour companies did not visit/ bird Cameroon in 2016 mainly because of the unrest in the Northern part of the country. Having said so, we never felt unsafe during our trip, not when we visited Ngaoundaba Ranch, Benoue N.P. and the Poli area in the north of the country either. So in the end we agreed on a 3-week itinerary which would give us the opportunity to observe most of the endemics, near-endemics and other specialties of Cameroon. VISA You definitely need a visa for Cameroon. A visa costs 90 € and was arranged through our local travel agency by me and Frans, while Hans visited the embassy in The Hague himself and arranged it on the spot and Jan Hein (living in Germany) arranged it through the consulate in Essen, Germany. GETTING THERE – FLIGHT We flew with Air France from Paris to Douala. The train ticket Brussels to Paris airport by Thalys, was included in the price. For a return ticket Hans paid only 499 €, whereas Frans, Jan Hein and I paid 633 €. Three persons, including me, were just one day too late to book the cheaper price. To ease the pain when we complained about this, they gave us an upgrade. MONEY The currency used in Cameroon is the CFA. (BEAC) During our stay the exchange rate was: 1000 CFA = 15 € We paid for the whole trip in advance and we only changed 100 € at the airport to pay for drinks, laundry and give tips. GETTING AROUND In the south we had a battered, old, sturdy but reliable 4x4 Toyota minivan at our disposal. This car performed well but had no AC and was rather uncomfortable. We travelled twice by train (sleeper train) from Yaounde to Ngaoundere and back. From Douala to Yaounde we used a VIP bus and from Yaounde to Edea we travelled in a NON Ac bus. In the north we had an old Toyota Landcruiser, which was in fact too basic. Road conditions were mostly not very good and that was the reason that travel times between sites were long and travelling not very comfortable. Our guide Benji was also far too optimistic about travel times. A trip of 6 hours turned out to be more 9 to 10 hours!! ACCOMMODATION Accommodation varied from nice hotels to basic hostals in the more remote areas like Mount Kupe, Benoue N.P. and Campo Ma’an N.P. FOOD & DRINKS Food was mostly good and very good at Ngaoundaba Ranch. We always had a large supply of mineral water at our disposal, which we really needed in this hot and humid climate. Cola, soda and especially beer was widely available. LANGUAGE Cameroon has two official languages: French in most of the country, English in the west (Mt Cameroon, Mt Kupe and Bamenda). Our guide Benji spoke English which made communication a lot easier. 2 Cameroon April/May 2016 HEALTH & SAFETY As malaria is prevalent in Cameroon, it is essential to take profilaxis against this disease in Cameroon. Without a Yellow Fever certificate it is impossible to enter the country and/or to obtain a visa for Cameroon. We even had to show this certificate at a security check point! During our stay only Frans suffered a few days from stomach problems which were probably food- related. Insects were a nuisance in some places like Mount Kupe and Benoue N.P. but generally it was not too bad. I took a small mosquito net with me, which I never used. There is often no possibility to attach your mosquito net! The people in Cameroon were very friendly and we never felt unsafe. The many check points especially in the south were a pain in the ass and cost us some time. We actually expected more security check points in the north, because of possible terrorist attacks in the area, but on the contrary there were hardly any and the ones we encountered were quite lenient. WEATHER As we visited Cameroon at the start of the rainy season we anticipated some rain but this never really hampered our birding significantly. We had heavy rain for 1 hour at 2000 metres on Mount Cameroon, some rain one day at Mount Kupe, a heavy downpour one afternoon at Benoue N.P. and we lost the greater part of an afternoon because of rain at Campo Ma’an N.P. But the weather in, especially the lowlands, was hot to very hot and very humid. In the mountainous areas of Mount Cameroon, Bamenda Highlands and Mount Kupe the temperatures were more pleasant but as a result of the heavy and steep climbs at Mount Kupe, we still sweated a lot. In the north the weather was dry and very hot. BIRDING This trip is not really suited for people who like their comforts but the birding results can be spectacular. It was in fact a pretty tough trip because of the combination of the weather conditions, long, uncomfortable drives, some long and demanding climbs and some basic accommodations. So you have to be reasonable fit and mentally prepared for these conditions. Our trip was made later in the year than most birders visit Cameroon and we noticed that many species were breeding, feeding young and as a result some species were less vocal and hardly responding at all to playback. Having said so, we still saw great birds. We visited the lowland area of Campo Ma’an, the mountain areas of Mount Cameroon and Mount Kupe, the Bamenda Highlands, the Adamawa plateau at Ngaoundaba Ranch and the gallery forest and dry woodland of Benoue N.P. Highlights were Red-headed Picathartes (or Grey-necked Picathartes), Gabon Forest Robin and Yellow-lored Bristlebill at Campo Ma’an N.P., Egyptian Plover, White-necked Francolin, Andamawa Turtle Dove and Bannermann’s Pipit at Benoue N.P., great views of “difficult” species like Spotted Thrush-Babbler, Grey-winged Robin-Chat and Dybowski’s Twinspot at Ngaoundaba Ranch, Heuglin’s Wheatear, unexpected Emin’s Shrike, White-fronted Black Chat and Brown-rumped Bunting at Poli. In the Bamenda Highlands we found Bannerman’s Turaco, Bannerman’s Weaver, Banded Wattle-eye, Bamenda Apalis, Yellow-breasted Boubou, African Broadbill, Bocage’s Bush- shrike, Neumann’s Starling, Bangwa Forest Warbler and Grey-headed Oliveback. During our climb up Mount Cameroon we observed a nice flock of Cameroon Speirops at the treeline, good numbers of Cameroon Olive Pigeon and Mountain Robin Chats. During our stay at Mount Kupe we saw the rare Green-breasted Bush-Shrike, Fiery-breasted Bush-shrike, several flocks of White-throated Mountain Babblers, Grey-headed Broadbill, White-bellied Robin-Chat, Black-necked Wattle-eye, Grey-headed Bulbul, White-tailed Warbler and Ursula’s Sunbird. We had great views of Grey Pratincole and African Skimmer on the Sanaga river near Edea. We did not have time to bird Korup N.P. which meant we missed goodies like Bar-cheeked Trogon, Sjostedt’s Owlet and Eastern Bearded Greenbul. As we did not visit the far north we missed the opportunity to try for Quailplover. At Mount Kupe the Mount Kupe Bush-shrike was only heard on one day. Our local guide told us that February is better for bush-shrikes as they are more active and vocal in that month. Missing White-collared Starling at Ngaoundaba Ranch was unexpected. Apparently this nomadic species moves to other areas end of April as we did not observe a single bird during our 3 days at this site, or we were just plain unlucky. 3 Cameroon April/May 2016 EQUIPMENT Jan Hein brought his scope on this trip and this was VERY useful for scoping birds in the canopy. We also collected a good selection of bird songs on our MP3 players and telephones, which we used daily to attract species. We all brought rubber boots with us, which we regularly used. REFERENCES -ULTIMATE CAMEROON 2 – 29 MARCH 2014 by Nik Borrow (Birdquest) -CAMEROON 4 – 31 MARCH 2012 by Nik Borrow (Birdquest) -Kameroen 28/01 – 27/02/2010 by Geert Beckers -Birding Cameroon, Part 1, Northern Cameroon: Guinea Woodlands to Sahel by Mills M., Cohen C.. Bulletin: ABC Bulletin 10.2 September 2003 p 111-116 -Birding Cameroon, part 2. Southern Cameroon: forests, low to lofty by Mills M., Cohen C. Bulletin: ABC Bulletin 11.1 March 2004 p 51-58 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Hans Westerlaken for taking the initiative in the first place to organise this trip. Jan Hein van Steenis for always carrying the scope with him, even on the steepest hill sides and for the excellent taping during this trip, which gave us many good species.