Pricing

Birdwatching in the Gambia – Suggested Itineraries with Finfoot Birding Adventures

One Day Trips – Day trips around the coastal areas of The Gambia are very well known.

Koto Creek, Golf Course and Casino Cycle Track – The areas are best visited in early morning and evenings and are very close to most hotels.  Some of the birds that can be found here include Common Bulbul, Orange-cheeked Waxbill, Pied Crow, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, Bronze Mannequins, Village Weavers, Abyssinian Roller, Western Bluebell Roller, Splendid Starling, Cattle Egret, Senegal Thick Knee, Buffalo weaver, Malachite Kingfisher, Western-reef Heron, Zitting Cisticola, Wood Hoopoe, Robin chats, and Grey-backed Camaroptera.

 Abuko Nature Reserve

One of the last remnants of riverine forest and savannah.  Abuko has been protected since 1916. and is a supply for water in the area.  Species to search for here include Hamerkop, Black Headed Heron, Black Crowned Night Heron, Guniea Touraco, Violet Touraco, Pied Hornbill, African Pygmy Kingfisher, Northern Puffback, Bristle Bill, Green Hylia, Western Bluebill.  Mammals include Green Vervet Monkey, Red Colobus Monkey, Sitatunga and Bushbuck.

Three day tours – Places to visit and species to see

 Day one – Brufut Woods

We will be going to see many habitats, searching for new birds to add to our list. Starting at Brufut Woods, an important area of protected woodland.  Birds likely to be seen here include Double-spurred Franklin, Grey Kestrel, Long tailed Nightjar, Verreaux’s Eagle Owl, Lizard Buzzard, Harrier Hawk, White Helmetshrike, Little Weaver

Day two – Lamin rice fields

Habitat of grassland and agricultural land or fields that make superb birding in this area. Birds to look for include Pearl spotted Owlet, Bearded Barbet, Violet Barbet, Red Eye Dove, Vinaceous Dove, Painted Snipe, and White Face Owl

Day 3 – Tujering

An area of scatter vegetation where we can see, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Lanner Falcon, Penduline Tits, White Fronted, Black Chats, Eromomela, Viteline Masked Weaver and Whistling Cisticola.

Tanji Bird Reserve

is another protected and wonderful area very close to my heart as I was the first Bird Warden there.  Species here are likely to include Yellow-crowned Gonolek, Scarlet-breasted Sunbird, Four-banded Sandgrouse, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, Cardinal Woodpecker, Subalpine Warbler, Common Nightingale, Slender-billed Gull, Lesser-crested Terns and Kelp Gulls

Day 3 – Farabanta Bush Track

This place is fabulous for raptors because of the open savannah and vegetation.  Birds to look for include Barbet, African Harrier-hawk, Brown Snake-eagle, Martial Eagle, African Green-fruit Pigeon and Greyish Eagle Owl.

Pirang Shrimp Farm

Another excellent area for birding is an old abandoned shrimp farm. Birds included here are several species of Heron, Whydah, Yellow Bishop, Crested Lark, Black Faced Quail Finch, Variable Sunbird and Collared Sunbird.  Other areas of interest close will be the Old Bund Road and Carmalu Corner.

Up-country and Senegal

Day 1 – we will travel after an early breakfast from the hotel to drive to Banjul, the capital of The Gambia in order to take a ferry to cross to the North bank of the River Gambia to Barra.  During the ferry crossing there should be opportunities to see a number of birds including various terns, gulls and skuas to name a few.  From Barra we will take the North Bank Road towards George Town and continue to grow our list with species like Temmincks Courser, Quail Plover, Bush Petronia, Black-crowned Sparrowlarks, Black-rumped Waxbill.  En-route we will stop at Kaur wetlands where we will search for Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Kittilitz’s Plover, White-fronted Plover, Egyptian Plover (Crocodile Bird), Northern Anteater Chat, Namaqua Dove and Pratincoles.  After the Kaur wetlands we will proceed to take another ferry to Janjanbureh where we will spend two nights.  The accommodation here is simple but comfortable.

Day Two – After a pleasant evening and breakfast, we will cross back to Wassu and search for Little and Northern Carmine Bee-eater, Mosque Swallows and Black Coucal.  Onwards to Bansang quarry to look for Giant Kingfisher, Red-throated Bee-eater, Yellow-billed Oxpeckers and Black Crakes.

Day Three – After an early breakfast we will take a boat trip upstream to look for African Finfoot, Spur-winged Goose, Adamawa Turtle Dove, African Fish-eagle, Pygmy Goose, Red-necked Falcon, Western-banded Snake-eagle and hopefully  some Hippos until we reach Tendaba Camp by lunch.  After lunch we will be out and about in the vicinity of the camp looking for Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, White-headed Vulture, Brown-backed Woodpecker, Pygmy Sunbird, White-rumped Seedeater and Brown-rumped Bunting.

Day Four – While we are here at Tendaba, for the second day we will take a boat trip in either the morning or the evening depending on the tide.  We will look for Yellow-billed Stork, Marabou Stork, pgymy Sunbird, Blue-breasted Kingfisher, Little-green Bee-eater and African Blue Flycatcher

Day Five – Before we leave the Lodge we will do a morning walk behind the lodge before breakfast to see if we can find some species we may have missed during the previous days.  After breakfast we will head back to the coast where there will be many spots to add more birds to our list.

Revisit sites such as Brufut Woods, Tujering and Tanji where we may have missed species such as White-breasted Cuckooshrike and Spotted Honeyguide.

Costs – Around the coast and many birding sites are between £60 to £100 per person.  Up Country tours are from £250 per person.