BIRDING AFRICA THE AFRICA SPECIALISTS Upper Guinea Special Liberia and Sierra Leone Tour Leaflet 2023 © Tertius Gous © Tertius Rufous Fishing Owl 5-12 & 12-20 January 2023 Upper Guinea Special 2023 © Tertius Gous © Tertius Tour leader: Michael Mills BIRDING AFRICA THE AFRICA SPECIALISTS Birding Africa Tour Summary Tour Africa Birding Summary Tour Africa Birding Specials in comfort • Numerous Upper Guinea Specials: Black-headed Rufous Warbler, Yellow-bearded Greenbul, Rufous Fishing Owl, Emerald Starling, Gola Malimbe • Easy access to Sierra Leone Prinia Yellow-bearded Greenbul • No camping required Our Upper Guinea Special tour is one of several White-crested Tiger Heron, African Pitta, Yellow- Michael’s incredible focus, dedication and ability African tours that we have pioneered, and puts the headed Picathartes, Emerald Starling, Crimson to locate and show Africa's toughest birds is comfort back into birding this little-known region. Seedcracker, Turati's Boubou and Togo Paradise probably unequalled. He has led dozens of tours Gone are the tough hikes and rough camping Whydah. across the continent and his experience in locating required on other tours to Sierra Leone, without birds on just the soft est of calls or briefest of views compromising on the birds. impresses those who travelled with him. Tour Focus Our tour, uniquely, combines the best of Liberia © Tertius Gous © Tertius and Sierra Leone, in reasonable comfort. Sturdy Th is tour will provide a good chance to see most of Dates (2023) 4x4s are used throughout and all nights are the Upper Guinea forest specials. It is heavily bird Liberia 5-12 Jan accommodated in hotels or guest houses, with no focused although we may see several species of Sierra Leone 12-20 Jan camping required. It will be only the second-ever monkey and squirrel. birding tour to Liberia following our successful A bird species list will be handed out to you as part fi rst tour in 2020. of your tour booklet at the start of the tour and is Pro�isional Prices In Liberia our entire focus will be on the rich available beforehand upon request. Liberia (8 days) $3150 + $240 forests of the Mount Nimba area. Highlights here Th e tour coincides with the main dry season, may include Sierra Leone Prinia, Black-headed when getting around is easier. Many birds will be Sierra Leone (9 d) $3150 + $250 Rufous Warbler, Nimba Flycatcher, Gola Malimbe breeding or just have fi nished breeding during our and Yellow-bearded Greenbul, among many other visit. Both (16 days) $5990 + $490 forest species. Days will typically be warm and humid, although Th is is complemented by our abbreviated Sierra more pleasant at Mount Nimba. We are unlikely to Book online Leone tour that cuts out all camping and tough encounter any rain. hikes. Birding in Sierra Leone will be more Visit www.birdingafrica.com mixed with gallery habitats accessed at Tiwai Travel conditions are generally reasonable (we Deposit ($150) by credit card Island, lowland rainforest at Tiwai and Gola, and avoid long drives on bad roads), although service Email [email protected] moist savanna at Bumbuna. Top birds we will in hotels is oft en slow and water/electricity supply be searching for include Rufous Fishing Owl, unreliable. 2 | Upper Guinea Special 2023 Upper Guinea Special 2023 | 3 Emerald Starling Black-headed Rufous Warbler INTRODUCTION The Upper Guinea region holds the westernmost black Weaver, Olive-naped Weaver and Red-vented extent of Africa's lowland rainforests, separated Malimbe. from the main Congo Basin forests by the In recent times Ghana has become the country Dahomey gap. These forests stretch from central most people visit to see these birds. However, Ivory Ghana west across southern Ivory Coast and Coast and Liberia hold the greatest number of Birding Africa Tour Leaflet Tour Africa Birding Liberia to eastern Sierra Leone. They are home Leaflet Tour Africa Birding Upper Guinea endemics (both countries hold all to more than fifteen bird endemics, namely species), and specials such as Black-headed Rufous White-breasted Guineafowl, Rufous Fishing Owl, Warbler and Sierra Leone Prinia do not occur in Brown-cheeked Hornbill, Timneh Parrot, Rufous- Ghana. bellied Wattle-eye, Western Wattled Cuckooshrike, Green-tailed Bristlebill, Yellow-bearded Greenbul, Several birds are also mostly confined to the moist Little Green Woodpecker, Rufous-winged savanna and forest transition zone bordering these Illadopsis, Yellow-headed Picathartes, Sierra Leone forests, such as Turati's Boubou and Emerald Prinia, Red-fronted Antpecker, Sharpe's Apalis, Starling, and it is these species that are the main Black-headed Rufous Warbler, Nimba Flycatcher, focus of our Upper Guinea Special tour. Crimson Seedcracker, Gola Malimbe and Copper- tailed Starling. One of the challenges of birding the region is the generally poor infrastructure and bad roads, Another suite of forest species are confined to a necessitating long drives on bumpy roads and long slightly wider zone, from far western Cameroon hikes combined with camping. We have researched © Tertius Gous © Tertius to Gambia, including Red-billed Helmetshrike, and explored the area to find the most comfortable Buff-throated Sunbird, Melancholy Woodpecker, way of seeing these birds, offering a tour that Accommodation and meals be conducted at a manageable pace. Terrain where Fire-bellied Woodpecker, Kemp's Longbill, Ahanta brings access to the region in a significantly more we walk is generally flat, except at Mount Nimba Francolin, Yellow-casqued Hornbill, Western comfortable way, suitable to a wider range of Accommodation is fairly basic, but generally where it is quite rocky on top. Some river crossings Piping Hornbill, Western Pied Hornbill, Western travellers and bird enthusiast. Although some comfortable; no camping is required! At Tiwai may be made on basic, local bridges or by wading White-crested Hornbill, Blue-moustached Bee- of the Upper Guinea endemics are very rare Island participants may be required to share rooms through shallow water. eater, Red-cheeked Wattle-eye, Western Yellow- at sites visited (White-breasted Guineafowl, (depending on group size) and all rooms have billed Barbet, West African Wattle-eye, Fanti Western Wattled Cuckooshrike and Red-fronted shared (within the group) ablutions. At Gola North Drongo, Grey-headed Bristlebill, Baumann's Olive Antpecker), we visit sites on this tour at which all ablutions are also shared. Running water is not International flights Greenbul, Fanti Saw-wing, Grey-hooded Capuchin Upper Guinea endemics have been found. always available and electricity often unreliable. Participants are required to make their own Babbler, Yellow-chinned Sunbird, Chestnut-and- Meals are generally simple. Most lunches will be international flight reservations. taken in the field. The Liberia tour starts with dinner and Water is not safe to drink so we supply free bottled accommodation in Monrovia on 5 January 2023, water in the vehicle that you can take to your and the Sierra Leone tour starts with dinner and rooms for drinking and brushing teeth. Beers and accommodation in Liberia (if on the Liberia segment) and Freetown (if only on the the Sierra soft drinks are widely available. Gous © Tertius Leone segment) on 12 January 2023. Group size The Liberia segments ends in Monrovia on the evening of 12 January 2023 (excluding Maximum 8 participants in three 4x4s. accommodation or dinner) and the Sierra Leone segment on the evening of 20 January (excluding dinner and accommodation). Walking Participants can depart any time after 16h00 on the This tour requires only a moderate degree of day that the tour ends. fitness. Most walks will last less than five hours and 4 | Upper Guinea Special 2023 Upper Guinea Special 2023 | 5 Sharpe's Apalis DAY-BY-DAY ITINERARY © Tertius Gous © Tertius --------------- Liberia ----------------- Reserve was proclaimed to protect the habitat. Unfortunately most of the surrounding lowland Day 1 (5 Jan): Arrive Monrovia forest falls outside of the reserve and is being hacked away, and many of the early, mouth- Birding Africa Tour Leaflet Tour Africa Birding Leaflet Tour Africa Birding Welcome to Liberia, a place few other birders watering finds come from these forests that are no have been to or explored! We stay overnight not longer pristine. far from the airport. Watch out for Chestnut-and- Still, Nimba offers spectacular birding with easy black Weaver in the garden. access to the habitats at the top of the mountain, and must rank as the place in the world requiring Day 2 (6 Jan): Monrovia to Yekepa/Mt Nimba the least effort to see the localised Sierra Leone A new tar road leads northwards out of Monrovia Prinia. Based out of our air-conditioned hotel and takes us almost all the way to Yekepa town at at the foot of Mount Nimba we will make daily the foot of Mount Nimba. We will make several forays to the surrounding areas in search of various stops along the way to look for our first specials, special birds. Most significantly, we can drive to the and will bird in the afternoon as we approach top of Mount Nimba allowing easy access to the Yekepa. We already stand a chance of seeing Black- localised and rare Sierra Leone Prinia. headed Rufous Warbler and Crimson Seedcracker. Here too we hope to find Long-billed Pipit Overnight in Yekepa. (bannermani; Bannerman's Pipit), Red-tailed Leaflove, the local race of African Stonechat, Day 3-7 (7-11 Jan): Mount Nimba Western Square-tailed Drongo and Grey-winged Robin-Chat. Lowland forest and swamps are Mount Nimba, sub-Saharan Africa's highest home to Gola Malimbe, Black-headed Rufous mountain west of Mount Cameroon, holds some Warbler and Rufous-bellied Wattle-eye. A long of the richest forests on the continent. This area list of other birds will be on our radars, including was the subject of an intensive ornithological study Ahanta Francolin, Grey-headed Bristlebill, 50 years ago before iron-ore mining wrecked the Square-tailed Saw-wing, Red-shouldered top of the mountain.