ES01 - BEST OF GABON - BIRDS AND WILDLIFE OF GABON

Visiting Lope and Mikongo in Lope National Park, the Bateki plateau and Sette Cama in Loango National Park. Walking for the most part is relatively...[more]

Briefly - 16 days – Birds & Wildlife of Gabon Dates: 14 to 29 August 2009
with Ian Davidson and/or Patrice Christy and local guides August 14 (Friday): Arrive Libreville; night train to Lope.
August 15: Day in Lope National Park.
August 16: Drive to Mikongo area in Lope.
August 17: Full day Mikongo area.
August 18: Full day Mikongo in primary forest.
August 19: Morning at Mikongo before return to Lope in late afternoon.
August 20: Train to Franceville and overnight
August 21: Drive to Lekoni.
August 22: Day Lekoni.
August 23: Drive Franceville for flight to Libreville and connect to Gamba and Sette Cama.
August 24: Day Sette Cama area.
August 25: Day Sette Cama area.
August 26: Day Sette Cama area.
August 27: Day Sette Cama area.
August 28: Transfer to Gamba for flight to Libreville. Check-in.
August 29 (Saturday): Early AM departure (00h20) for Johannesburg. FULL ITINERARY (subject to alteration & availability)

August 14 (Friday): Arrive Libreville and transfer to Owendo train station for journey to Lope. Early AM arrival and rest of night at Lope Hotel (room only). August 15: Lope National Park, lies in the centre of Gabon, and is composed of savannahs and primary forest. It is a reminder of what Central Africa was like during the Glacier Age. In this extremely rich habitat there are estimated populations of 4500 forest elephants, 2500 gorillas, 2000 chimpanzees, 50000 mandrills, 1000 leopard and large numbers of Red Forest Buffalo, Sitatunga, Yellow-backed Duiker, Grey-cheeked Mangabey, Moustached Monkey, Red-river Hog and there are over 400 species of birds. With time and patience we will see some of these. From the camp we will enter the forest using elephant trails and any old logging tracks. We spend time in two different parts of Lope National Park, two in the savannah edges in the area of the Lope Hotel from where we'll bird along the Ogooue River and inland looking for Yellow-throated Leaflove, Scarlet-spectacled Wattle-eye, Splendid Glossy Starling, Orange-cheeked Waxbill, Compact Weaver and Long-legged Pipit, Yellow-mantled Whydah, Blue-throated Bee-eater, and various species of swallow including Square-tailed Saw-wing and Red-breasted Swallow. In the scrub and forest edge we should find Black Bee-eater, Blue-breasted Bee-eater, Black-headed Batis, Naked-faced Barbet, Fiery-breasted Bush Shrike, Whistling Cisticola, Orange Weaver, Black-capped Illadopsis, Red-bellied Malimbe, Black-chinned Quail-finch, Forbes's Plovers and Green-headed, Tiny, Reichenbach's and Violet-tailed Sunbirds and in the evening perhaps Bates's and Swamp Nightjars. Overnight Lope Hotel. August 16, 17, 18: We have two nights deep in the forest at Mikongo Camp, an hour and a half drive from the Lope Hotel. It is from the conservation centre at Mikongo where we will access this central African tropical forest and it is from here that we'll look for primates and for the enigmatic Grey-necked Rock-fowl. Black Colobus, Crowned and Putty-nosed Monkeys, Western Lowland Gorilla, Chimpanzee, Mandrills, forest Elephant, various species of forest duiker and Red River Hog are most likely. Also in the forest we should encounter various species of hornbill including White-crested, African Pied, Piping, Red-billed Dwarf, the striking White-crested and the huge Black-casqued Wattled; also's to be seen include Snowy-headed Robin-chat, Great Blue Turaco, Guinea Turaco, Gabon Coucal, African Grey Parrot, various Gr eenbuls including Honeyguide, Golden, Red-tailed and if we are very lucky Lyre-tailed Honeyguide. Dja River Scrub-Warbler would be a very good find and Latham's Francolin, Black-bellied Seed-cracker, Vermiculated Fishing Owl and Red-chested Owlet could be encountered almost anywhere. Overnights Mikongo Research Camp. August 19: Today we return to Lope by late afternoon. Overnight Lope Hotel. August 20: Morning at Lope before afternoon train to Franceville. Overnight Poubara Hotel. August 21: Today we drive into the highlands of Gabon, the Bateki plateau, a deciduous woodland area (Brachystegia) where many interesting birds not seen elsewhere in Gabon occur. Overnight Lekoni hotel. August 22: Day Lekoni. Here we will hope to see Sooty Chat, Red-necked, Black-collared Bulbul as well as Black Wood-hoopoe, Double-toothed Barbet, Red-throated Wryneck, African Broadbill, Woodland Pipit, Petit’s Cuckoo-Shrike, Salvadori’s and Green-capped Eremomelas, Yellow-bellied Hyliota,  Angola Batis, White-winged Black Tit, Amethyst, Johanna’s and Western Violet-backed Sunbirds, and Bocage’s and Lühder’s Bush-shrikes and Cabanis’s Bunting. Overnight Lekoni Hotel. August 23:  Drive to Franceville for flight to Libreville to connect with flight to Gamba. From here we travel by boat to our lodge at Sette Cama, set on the edge of a huge lagoon. Excursions here include travel by boat and on foot.  August 24, 25, 26, 27: Days at Sette Cama. Flocks of African Grey Parrot are a sight to behold. Sabine’s and Cassin’s Spinetails flit overhead, and we may also see Chocolate–backed and Blue-breasted Kingfisher. The prizes here would be  Black-headed Bee-eater, Violet-tailed Sunbrd, Vermiculated and Pel's Fishing Owls. The lodge grounds are great for the endemic Loango Weaver and Red-tailed Palm-thrush. Mammals in this area include Forest Buffalo and Elephant, Hippopotamus and perhaps Servaline Genet.  August 28: Morning excursion before our boat transfer to Omboue for our flight to Libreville. Day room Libreville before transfer to airport for check-in for outbound flight. August 29: (Saturday): Early morning departure (00h20) for outbound flight to Johannesburg.

Reading Material
1. Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe. The Bradt Travel Guide by Sophie Warne, 2003.
2. Under the Canopy - advancing conservation in Gabon - Robert J Ross. Africa Geographic magazine, August 2004: 34-49
3. Birds of Africa south of the Sahara, a comprehensive field guide. Ian Sinclair and Peter Ryan, 2003.
4. The Kingdon field guide to African Mammals - Jonathon Kingdom. Academic Press, first published 1997 with subsequent revisions.
5. Birds of Western Africa. Nik Borrow and Ron Demey, 2001.
6. The edge of Africa. Carlton Ward jr et al - Hylas Publishing, 2003. 

Price (2009) [subject to availability and any ticketing surcharges

6 persons: Euro6901 per person sharing from Johannesburg. 7 persons: Euro6621 per person sharing from Johannesburg. 8 persons: Euro6413 per person sharing from Johannesburg. Single Room Supplement – Euro535 per person.