Our first full day and we had a leisurely breakfast before
attending the travel company's welcome meeting where we were told that there
would be a free guided birdwatching walk around the hotel grounds later that
day. After the meeting we walked across the road to the Senegambia Hotel to see
what it was like but mainly to do some birdwatching in the fairly extensive
hotel grounds. We arrived just after the hotel staff had finished feeding the
local Hooded Vultures and there were lots of them in the trees or on the lawn
along with a few Pied Crows. We spent an hour strolling around the gardens and
birds seen included White crowned Robin Chat, Broad billed Roller and Splendid
Sunbird.
Hooded
Vulture
After a leisurely afternoon by the pool we went to the hotel’s croquet lawn at 5pm to meet our guide, whose name was Aladdin, and about 15 other hotel guests for the guided birdwatching walk around the hotel grounds. Aladdin proved to be a competent guide. He certainly knew his birds and with him we saw Variable Sunbird, Yellow billed Shrike, Whimbrel, a pair of extremely noisy Wattled Lapwings, Senegal Coucals, Red cheeked Cordonbleus, Lavender Waxbills, Red billed Firefinches and my favourite bird of the whole trip – the beautifully coloured Yellow-crowned Gonolek. After the walk we booked Aladdin to take us on an evening excursion the next day to the Kotu area, including Casino Cycle track, Kotu Sewage ponds and Fajara golf course. His price for the trip would be £10 per person. I also asked him how much he would charge for a half-day visit to Abuko Nature Reserve and he told us it would cost £15 each.
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