After breakfast we walked along the beach to the nearby Bijolo Forest Park. We were relieved to reach the park entrance after being mercilessly hassled by a relentless peanut seller most of the way. We met a local just inside the entrance who said that he would guide us around the park for free but we could give him a tip later if we wanted. He seemed like a nice bloke so we agreed and spent the next 3 hours in the park. Our guide’s name was Mass Sanyang and he turned out to be a truly excellent birdwatching guide and all-round naturalist. He was enthusiastic, seemed to enjoy seeing birds as much as we did and had an uncanny ability to find birds in thick cover after only having had the briefest glimpse of the bird flying in. 

Highlights of our walk around Bijolo were seeing Sun Squirrel, Green Vervet and Red Colobus Monkeys, excellent views of a Blue Breasted Kingfisher, nesting Senegal Parrots, good, close views of 3 Black Shouldered Kites on the wing, Little Bee Eaters, Lizard Buzzard, Oriole Warbler, Swallow-tailed Bee Eater, and Violet Turaco. Mass got particularly excited when he spotted a Greater Honeyguide perched near a huge bee’s nest. 

At the end of the walk we gave Mass a £10 tip and, as I preferred his style of guiding to Aladdin’s, I asked him how much he would charge for a half day visit to Abuko. He initially quoted £20 each but brought it down to £15 each when I told him that Aladdin would do it for that. We arranged for him to take us there the following day.

Aladdin arrived to pick us up from the hotel at 4:30pm and we headed for the Kotu area with another couple from England. We parked at the side of the road near a pond which lay between the road and Casino cycle track. There were a number of large, black pigs wallowing in the pond amongst the many birds, which included Black Egret, Great White Egret, African Jacanas, Black-winged Stilts, Marsh Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Squacco Herons and Western Reef Egret.

From here we walked along Casino cycle track. A stunning Blue-breasted Roller flew past and landed on a termite mound nearby while a pair of Grey Woodpeckers explored a couple of trees on the track. Other birds seen along the cycle track included Little Bee-Eaters, Whimbrel, Yellow Fronted Tinkerbird Yellow-billed Shrike and Purple Heron. We also watched the antics of the local Mudskippers in what appeared to be stagnant pools.

We reached Kotu Bridge and were treated to fantastic views of Pied Kingfishers as they hovered above the river. Too bad I didn’t have my camera with me. There was a single Grey Plover on the mud amidst masses of fiddler crabs, a Western Reef Egret stalked the shallows and Wire-tailed Swallows skimmed the surface of the water below the bridge. Carrying on along Kotu creek, we saw two Senegal Thick Knees, Tawny Flanked Prinia, Northern Crombec and a few different heron species. We made a brief visit to Fajara golf course where we saw Western Grey Plantain Eater and Black-headed Lapwing.

We reached Kotu sewage ponds just as the sun was setting and saw a large flock of White-faced Whistling duck, 12 Little Grebes, a single Little Tern, 3 Double Spurred Francolin and a Fork-tailed Drongo. The walk back to Aladdin’s car produced an African Harrier Hawk and African Palm Swifts.

Yellow-billed Shrike

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