BIRDING AFRICA THE AFRICA SPECIALISTS Gabon Main Tour and Coastal Extension Tour Leaflet 2021 © Tasso Leventis © Tasso Black Guineafowl 19 September - 1 October + 1-6 October 2021 Gabon 2021 Rosy Bee-eater BIRDING Tour leader: Michael Mills AFRICA THE AFRICA SPECIALISTS Birding Africa Tour Summary Tour Africa Birding Summary Tour Africa Birding Congo Basin Forests • Superb lowland forest birding at Ivindo/Makokou/Ipassa and Lope • Excellent grassland birding at Lékoni • Breeding African River Martin, Black-headed Bee-eater and Rosy Bee-eater Leventis © Tasso Michael's incredible focus, dedication and ability to Our Gabon tour provides a comprehensive itinerary Finally, the Coastal Extension will visit some of the locate and show Africa's toughest birds is probably covering the best birding sites in Gabon, including best sites in the Gamba-Loango complex to fi nd unequalled on the continent. He has led dozens of visiting the coastal savannas to see one of Africa's African River Martin, Rosy Bee-eater and Black- tours across Africa and his experience in locating top bird spectacles, namely African River Martin on headed Bee-eater on their breeding grounds. birds on just the soft est of calls or briefest of views its breeding grounds. impresses those who travel with him. Th e Main Tour focusses on the rich Congo Basin Tour Focus forests of the Ivindo Basin, accessed from Makokou, Dates and Lope National Park. We also visit the diverse Gabon off ers a good list of specials for world listers Main Tour 19 Sep - 1 Oct 2021 grasslands and woodlands of the Lékoni area on and a wide array of species and other wildlife for those with a more general interest. Th is trip has Coastal Ext 1-6 Oct 2021 the Bateke Plateau. On the Coastal Extension we visit the savanna-forest mosaics of coastal Gabon at a strong focus on watching birds, but there are Gamba, where African River Martin and Rosy Bee- opportunities too for some good mammal watching and bird photography. On previous trips we have © Callan Cohen African River Martin eater breed. Pro�isional Prices + Single seen Western Gorilla and Mandrill. Main Tour $TBA + $TBA In the Lope area we will search for scarce lowland Let us know if you have target species or want to Coastal Extension $TBA + $TBA forest birds such as Bates's Nightjar, Fiery-breasted Bushshrike and Dja River Warbler. Th e Ivindo know more about the species we might encounter. A species list will be handed out to you at the start of Includes all ground costs Basin, accessed from Makokou, off ers some of the richest lowland forest birding on the continent, the tour and is available beforehand upon request. and here we hope to see Black Guineafowl, Bare- Th e tour is timed to coincide with the arrival of Book online cheeked Trogon, Gosling's Apalis, Brown Nightjar, African River Martin on it's breeding grounds, right Spot-breasted Ibis and Yellow-footed Flycatcher. Visit www.birdingafrica.com at the start of the rains. We expect some rain on Finally, in the Lékoni area the grasslands should tour, mostly as aft ernoon thunderstorms. Days will Deposit ($150) by credit card hold Congo Moor Chat, Black-chinned Weaver, be warm to hot. Email [email protected] Black-collared Bulbul and the undescribed Teke © Tasso Leventis © Tasso Black-headed Bee-eater Cisticola. 2 | Gabon 2021 Gabon 2021 | 3 Accommodation and meals International flights INTRODUCTION Vermiculated Fishing Owl Accommodation and meals are generally fairly Please plan to fly in to Libreville by the night of the good by African standards, and vary from private following dates: Gabon, lying on the equator lodges and to small hotels, although the hotel at in western Central Africa, is • Main Tour: 19 Sep 2021. Lékoni is quite run down. Rooms mostly have largely blanketed in lowland private facilities and hot water, when electricity is • Coastal Extension: 1 Oct 2021 Congo Basin Forest. Unlike available. Service is often slow. most of the rest of Central Birding Africa Tour Leaflet Tour Africa Birding Departure from Libreville not before the night of Africa, extensive tracts of forest Leaflet Tour Africa Birding Meals are generally Western-style. Please advise if the following dates. remain even outside protected you are vegetarian and what foods you enjoy, so that areas, and good birds can be • Main Tour: 1 Oct 2021 from 10 pm onwards. we can cater for you. seen even during stops on some Water is not safe to drink so we supply • Coastal Extension: 6 Oct 2021 from 10 pm. of the longer drives. Due to potential delays with internal flights complimentary bottled water in the vehicle. Some of the best lowland we recommend that participants fly out on the forest birding is to be had in night of 7 Oct. the Ivindo Basin, which we Walking Please email [email protected] a copy of will access from Makokou. An This tour requires a moderate degree of fitness. your proposed flight details for approval before impressive diversity of rarely- Most walks will be done at a gentle pace on flat paying for your ticket. seen forest birds can be found terrain, although there will be a couple of longer here, and will be the main focus hikes lasting 3-4 hours. Conditions underfoot can of our trip with three full days be a bit muddy at times. Group size here. Highlights could include Maximum 9 participants Black Guineafowl, Plumed Guineafowl, Rachel's Malimbe, the sought-after Congo Serpent Eagle, Gabon Batis, Bare- cheeked Trogon and African Piculet, to name just a few. The other main forest site we will visit is Lope National Park, which protects a rich area of savanna-forest mosaic. Forest mammals, including several species of primate, are a strong attraction here and on the birding front we hope to find Dja River Warbler, Fiery-breasted Bushshrike and Leventis © Tasso Rufous-bellied Helmetshrike. An extra dimension is added to the Main Tour by congregate from late September to breed in colonies visiting the grasslands and miombo woodlands of by burrowing into the white coastal sands. Watching the Bateke Plateau at Lékoni. A good list of open- their courtship displays is one of the greatest birding country birds can be seen here, including Finsch's spectacles on the Africa continent, and our entire Francolin, Black-collared Bulbul, Black-chinned trip is timed so that we can witness this spectacle. Weaver and the undescribed Teke Cisticola. Other birds we hope to see here include Loango Finally, on the Coastal Extension we visit the Weaver, White-backed Night Heron, Black-headed coastal savannas of southern Gabon where large Bee-eater and African Finfoot. © Tasso Leventis © Tasso Black-headed Bee-eater number of African River Martin and Rosy Bee-eater 4 | Gabon 2021 Gabon 2021 | 5 DAY-BY-DAY ITINERARY This itinerary is for guidance only; the (rare), Sooty Chat, Yellow-mantled Widowbird, sequence of sites visited may be adjusted Fawn-breasted Waxbill, Locust Finch (rare) and Leventis © Tasso before the tour. Long-legged Pipit. Patches of miombo woodland are scattered around, Birding Africa Tour Leaflet Tour Africa Birding Day 1 (19 Sep): Arrive Libreville and add a good variety of extra species, such as Red- Leaflet Tour Africa Birding Welcome to Gabon! Once you have dealt with throated Wryneck, Western Black-headed Batis, arrival formalities and collected your luggage, Souza's Shrike (rare), Tinkling Cisticola, White- proceed to the arrivals hall, watching out for a winged Black Tit, Grey Penduline Tit, Red-capped board showing your name or 'Birding Africa'. From Crombec, Neddicky, Salvadori's Eremomela, the airport we transfer to our hotel for an overnight Green-capped Eremomela, Western Violet-backed stay in Libreville. Sunbird, Wood Pipit and Cabanis's Bunting. Finally, smallish patches of dense, dry forest hold Day 2 (20 Sep): Libreville to Franceville a variety of forest birds, of which Angola Batis, Gorgeous Bushshrike (sometimes splits as Perrin's The tour starts with a morning flight from Libreville Bushshrike) and Black-backed Barbet are the most to Franceville in the south-eastern Gabon. In the interesting, although we may also see Western afternoon we'll start our birding in the vicinity of Bronze-naped Pigeon, Double-toothed Barbet, Franceville, which lies in a mosaic of forest and Bocage's Bushshrike, Black-shouldered Puffback, savanna. Overnight in Franceville. Lühder's Bushshrike, Square-tailed Drongo and Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat. Day 3 (21 Sep): Franceville to Lékoni Congo Moor Chat An early start will see us driving the relatively short distance from Franceville to Lékoni. However, en Day 5 (23 Sep): To Franceville inside Ivindo National Park, and we'll take at least route there is plenty of good birding to be had, one boat trip up a forested river. We'll be based in and we'll search for Black-headed Bee-eater at the We have a full second morning to bird the Lékoni Makokou during all of this time. interface between forest and savanna. The morning Leventis © Tasso areas, before returning to Franceville in the will be spent in more forested habitats, and in the afternoon. Overnight in Franceville. The primary forest at Ipassa will be our main afternoon we'll bird the grasslands and woodlands focus, with a long list of spectacular birds on offer, nearer to Lékoni. Overnight in Lékoni town. Day 6 (24 Sep): Franceville to Makokou many requiring patience to see. Mouthwatering possibilities include Black Guineafowl, Plumed The long drive though the forest zone from Guineafowl, Latham's Forest Francolin, Olive Ibis Day 4 (22 Sep): Lékoni Franceville to Makokou is the only thing on our (rare), Blue-headed Wood Dove, Sjöstedt's Owlet, The Lékoni area is famous for spectacular grassland mind today.