GHANA- NOVEMBER 2019 International travel seems like it was so long ago, yet only a year has passed when myself and 5 mates went on a Rockjumper Birding trip to Ghana in West Africa. Ghana is one of the only West African countries that is safe to travel to (according to the Australian Government’s Smart Traveller Website). We spent a fabulous 17 days there with a trip list of 435 species seen or heard (417 for me personally) and a smattering of sightseeing, and history tossed in. There are no endemic birds to Ghana, however 12 Upper Guinea Forest endemics have been recorded, of which we saw four: Brown-cheeked Hornbill; White-necked Rockfowl (Picathartes); Sharpe’s Apalis and Copper-tailed Glossy Starling. This link gives a good coverage of the country in general: https://www.britannica.com/place/Ghana We started in Accra, the capital, and spent a half day in the city where we hardly saw another person. Easing into the birding we visited Sakuma Lagoon where there were many different species of waders, egrets and herons and the Akimota Forest Reserve to get our first taste of the local birds. Green Turaco, Double-toothed Barbet and Western Plantain-eater were conspicuous here. The next day we visited the Shai Hills Resources Reserve, where we easily found our target birds of White-crowned (Mocking) Cliff Chat, Stone Partridge and Blue-bellied Roller. In the afternoon we went to a section of Volta Dam, one of the largest dams in Africa, where we encountered the Mangrove Sunbird and the very localised, White-bibbed Swallow. Leaving Accra behind we headed west along the coast via Winneba Plains, a productive grassland for birds. Five of the eleven different species of cisticolas were seen here and our only Moustached Grass Warbler. An African Hobby and the uncommon Eurasian Hobby were seen in quick succession allowing great comparisons between the two. After lunch we visited the Cape Coast Castle built in 1653 by the Swedes and it became a notorious slave trading network in the 17th century, utilised by the English, Dutch and Danes. During the height of trading it is estimated that between 12 and 20 million West Africans were removed to the New World! Kakum National Park and surrounds became our home for the next four days where we concentrated on different habitats and our range of bird diversity intensified. We dreaded doing the canopy walk (350m long and 40-60m high) as we were uncertain to its ability to hold us all. An engineer in our group was reasonably certain it was ok! The views and the closeness were well worth it though. Birds such as the Upper Guinea endemic, Sharpe’s Apalis, Blue Cuckoo- shrike, Lemon-bellied Crombec, many species of barbets, sunbirds and raptors, Long-tailed Hawk being the best, were well worth the discomfort. Our only White-crested Hornbills were nest building not far off the platform and Brown- cheeked Hornbill was flying in the distance. An Akun Eagle-Owl and the slow - moving primitive primate, Potto were seen at night. Next, we headed north towards the Mole National Park, stopping en route at Nyamebe Bepo Forest Reserve for the bird of the trip, the much sought after, White-necked Rockfowl. A family group comes back to their rock shelter at night after spending the day foraging on the rainforest floor. We had to be still and quiet for 3 hours before dusk, a major feat for some of us. Sitting on a rock surrounded by tangles of vines, I formed a plan on where I thought the birds may go and adjusted my camera settings accordingly. With a combination of a lot of luck and good management the plan worked and I got one shot but it was a cracker.
The rainforests made way to the savannah and we started to see some large animals but nowhere near the density of southern and eastern Africa. Warthogs were fairly common, as were Baboons and we saw a couple of elephants. Defassa Waterbuck, Common Bushbuck and Kob were often seen on the plains below our lodge. Spotlighting was productive with nightjars, owls and sandgrouse being seen. Heading further north we visited the Volta River near the Burkina Faso border to search for the sought-after Egyptian Plover, being one of the few birds in the world in a monotypic family. Distant scope views were obtained of a couple of birds across the other side of the river, the family tickers were excited. On the way we visited the small village of Larabanga, famous for its traditional mud and stick mosque, supposedly the oldest extant building in Ghana. It was also the site of the Red-chested Swallow which we kept our eye out for as we were trying to listen to the talk! There was nothing to worry about as a pair turned up on the power lines. After the Volta River we visited the Tongo Hills and successfully saw the Fox Kestrel and Rock-loving Cisticola. At Tono Dam we spent a long time before all finally getting tickable views of a Rufous Cisticola. The last few days were spent in the Attewa Ranges, including a visit to the Bobiri Butterfly Forest. We had covered the majority of the country by this stage. Chainsaws were an ominous sound whilst trekking through the mountains. They were making way for a new bauxite mine which meant wholesale clearing. Whilst we felt privileged to be experiencing this last section of forest of its type in Ghana, it was also extremely sad to think what would happen to all the creatures of that living forest and no one would ever see it again. Bird highlights here included: Great Blue Turaco, Square-tailed Saw-wing, Puvell's Illadopsises, Little Grey Flycatcher, Black-throated Coucal and one only Blue-moustached (headed) Bee-eater. Western Bluebill and White-spotted Flufftail were highlights of the lower part of the ranges. All in all, an awesome trip with good company and guides. The locals that we came across were all very friendly and we very much enjoyed the food, culture and environment, and of course the sensational birds. As an exercise on our last long bus journeys, we decided to name our top 5 species for the trip and mine were: Violet Turaco, White-necked Rockfowl, Black-bellied Seedcracker, Blue-headed Wood-dove, and a toss-up between Narina’s Trogon and Blue-bellied Roller. For the finch type lovers 15 species were seen including: Red-winged Pytilia, Red-billed and African Firefinch, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, Lavender, Orange- cheeked and Black-rumped Waxbills, Quailfinch, African Silverbill and Bronze, Black and White and Magpie Mannikins. Dick Jenkin
The following pages include a small selection of Dick's photographs from the trip (these have been cropped heavily from the originals due to restrictions on space)
From top left: White-necked Rockfowl, Long-tailed Nightjar, Black-winged (Red) Bishop, Double-toothed Barbet, Red- billed Firefinch, Green Turaco, Black Bee-eater, Black-bellied Seedcracker
Left: Tit-hylia
Right: Lizard Buzzard
From top left clockwise: Abyssinian Roller, Slender-billed Weaver, Violet Turaco, Stone Partridge