Category Archives: Ecotourism

Birding West Africa – What It Is Really Like

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I recently discovered Mr Currie’s YT channel and really love his filming style as he shows the whole experience and what it is really like to go birding in various locations.  While it doesn’t seem  that he has been to Ghana, he has been to Sierra Leone which has many of the same birds you would expect to find in West Africa such as the Picathartes, Senegal Parrot, Pin-tailed Whydah and more!   The topography between the two countries is also very similar and it seems that Mr Currie also struggled to get clear shots of the birds. Sadly, Sierra Leone is off limits until the ebola crisis is over but Ghana remains a safe place to see many of these species.

West Africa is a location where you will SEE a lot more than you will be able to PHOTOGRAPH because the foliage is so thick and the birds are more shy of humans (for good reason).  The glimpses of the towns his Rockjumper group pass through are equally fascinating and familiar to me from my Ghana experience except for the money changer.  What I really loved was the enthusiasm of the local guide who genuinely cares about the birds.  I don’t know if he is a former poacher turned into a guide but I have seen this attitude many times all over the world, where the birds cease to be just a means of getting money and the person comes to genuinely appreciate them for the wonderful little creatures they are and cares about their welfare.

Enjoy the video!

Planning A Birding Trip To Ghana

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The first thing you need to do when planning a birding trip to Ghana or anywhere is to identify your main goals.  Since I am a parrot nut, I was targeting habitats where I was likely to see parrots that are known to live in Ghana and of course any birds that also live in the same habitats.  Ghana has an extremely impressive bird list!

MY TARGETS

African Grey Parrot – best chance was Kakum National Park.

Brown-necked Parrot – has been reported in Kakum.

Senegal Parrot – good population in Shai Hills Reserve.

Red-headed Lovebird – can be found anywhere along the east coast of Ghana or in the north.

Red-fronted Parrot (Jardines) – has been seen in Kakum and in villages north of Kakum.

Black-collared Lovebird – seen in the far west of Ghana.

Ghana ParksVISAS

Everyone needs a tourist visa to Ghana and you cannot get it on arrival.  You will have to get it in advance from the Ghanaian Consulate in your country.

Australia

UK

USA

THE PLAN

Since we were on a tight budget and needed to go to places accessible by public transport with taxis to exact locations I chose two of Ghana’s national parks – Kakum and Shai Hills.  Group birding tours will usually hit all of the parks highlighted on the map above but organize tours were way out of our budget.

I kept costs down by using IHG Rewards points to stay at the Holiday Inn, Accra.  From there, we took a taxi out to Shai Hills for a day trip.  We used local minibuses called “Tro-tros” to get from Accra to Cape Coast and another one that took us to Kakum where I had booked the Rainforest Lodge on Booking.com using the American AAdvantage portal.  We used public transport to get from the lodge to the park each day.  At both parks, we hired official guides from the ticket office.

During our stay at Kakum, I met a guide from Ashanti African Tours who was very helpful even though he was escorting an organized birding group.  He gave me the best tip on where to see African Grey Parrots.  I went to their office in Cape Coast hoping to use them for the day trip to Shai Hills but they don’t keep guides in Accra, they base themselves in Cape Coast.  They also gave me a good tip on where to find the Red-headed Lovebirds near Accra (although the birds proved to be very shy).   I do recommend them if you want to be more organized than we were!

Ashanti African Tours – Birdwatching

Ghana is a great place to SEE birds but not so great for photography.  The birds are more timid than in South Africa or even Madagascar and the terrain is much more jungly so most of the time we just got fleeting glimpses of the birds.  I couldn’t get a parrot perched to save my soul!  Plenty of “Video game birds” which is what I call those birds who fly swiftly overhead and I have to try to shoot quickly with my camera.  It’s like playing “Space Invaders”, hence the name!

 

What It’s Really Like To Travel In Madagascar

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While searching for video clips for my bird profiles, I stumbled across this amazing video which is uncannily like our tour.  It was filmed by an American on a Rockjumper Birding Tour which is a highly reputable South African company.

They start out the video with a typical Star Alliance route from San Francisco to Johannesburg by way of Munich and Istanbul.  Not sure if they used miles or bought tickets but the SFO-JNB is a route that would be chosen by people wanting to use miles on business class and probably paying with United or US Airways miles (filmed in 2009).  I am not sure how they did the JNB-TNR segment but nowadays you can’t use Star Alliance miles so you have to pay for it.

Like us, they are picked up from the airport by their guide and do some local birding around Tana.  They seem to have a more relaxed itinerary, whereas we were more rushed and went straight to Andasibe.  The next day they went to Andasibe for birding and I recognized the lemurs and the Blue Pigeon, although we didn’t get any rails and these guys got several.  I had asked my guide to ignore snakes as I suffer from ophidiophobia and to make sure I didn’t see any.

I also recognized Hotel Vakona (These guys stayed there) where Ina & I had lunch overlooking the pond.  They went to the same Lemur Island.

They even hit the same traffic jams going through Tana as we did, nothing has changed in 5 years!

Next they visit some parks that we didn’t go to so I got to see a bit of Tsarasaotra Bird’s Island Park.  Then they fly to Fort Dauphin and drive to Berenty Private Reserve.  Next they fly to Tulear and visit several more parks and that’s the end of their tour.  What was fascinating to me is that they got a lot of the same birds I got in Ankarafantsika but they went to different places further south………..and they got several rare birds I didn’t get.

So I hope you enjoy this video posted by Rigdon Currie on YouTube and are inspired to visit Madgascar for yourself!

 

Did I Achieve My Birding Goals In Africa?

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During the planning stages of “The Mother of all African Adventures“, I was targeting areas in which parrot species could be found along with many other bird and mammal species.  I will copy the targets here and give you the results to show how goal planning can affect your trip.  Of course the trip will be blogged in detail over the next few months.

I have copied below the parrot species I was targeting which represent 17 out of the 24 species that are found in Africa and the neighboring island nations.  Successes will be highlighted in lime green.

PARROT SPECIES FOUND IN AFRICA

1. Rose-ringed Parakeet – Psittacula krameri.  We have seen them in several places in India and feral populations in Europe.  Not a priority but may see them during the trip.

Result:  Not seen on this trip.

2. Mauritius Parakeet  – Psittacula echo.  Habitat in Black River Gorges National Park, easily driven from hotel in Mauritius.

Result:  Seen well in Black River Gorges National Park.

3. Gray Parrot – Psittacus erithacus.  Has large range but many places difficult, expensive or possible unsafe to travel to.  Easiest place to see them near Star Alliance airport is in Ghana at Kakum National Park.

Result: Only a pair seen flying at a distance in Kakum National Park.

4. Greater Vasa Parrot – Coracopsis vasa.  Madagascar endemic, easiest place to find them near Star Alliance airport is Andasibe National Park.

Result:  Seen well at Ankarafantsika National Park.

5. Lesser Vasa Parrot – Coracopsis nigra.  Madagascar endemic, easiest place to find them near Star Alliance airport is Andasibe National Park.

Result:  Seen well at Ankarafantsika National Park.

7. Black-winged Lovebird – Agapornis taranta.  Found in Ethiopia.  Slim chance to see them if there is a long layover at Addis Ababa.

Result:  We had a scant hour of early dawn light to try to find them on a brief layover and failed to find any.  Needed more time!

8.  Red-headed Lovebird – Agapornis pullarius.  Habitat not easily accessible, best chance is in Ghana.

 

Result:  Poorly seen in dense foliage at University of Ghana, Accra.

11. Fischer’s Lovebird – Agapornis fischeri.  Found in Tanzania, targeting them in Arusha, Tarangire and Serengeti.

Result:  Seen well near Ndutu Safari Lodge on Serengeti border.

12. Yellow-collared Lovebird (Masked Lovebird) – Agapornis personatus.  Found in Tanzania, targeting them in Arusha, Tarangire and Serengeti.

Result:  Seen well at Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.

14. Grey-headed Lovebird –  Agapornis canus.  Madagascar endemic, easiest place to find them near Star Alliance airport is Anatanarivo’s Tsimbazaza Park.

Result:  Seen at Ankarafantsika National Park.

15. Red-fronted (Jardine’s) Parrot – Poicephalus gulielmi.  Targeted in Arusha National Park and possible Ghana.

Result:  Seen at a distance at Arusha National Park, Tanzania

16. Cape Parrot – Poicephalus robustus.  Southern coast of South Africa.  Will try to find them as close as possible to Port Elizabeth.

Result:  Seen well in King William’s Town, South Africa.

17. Brown-necked Parrot –  Poicephalus fuscicollis.  Subspecies of Cape Parrot.  Have seen in Magoebaskloof, planning on return visit.

Result:  Seen well at Magoebaskloof, South Africa.

18. Brown-headed Parrot – Poicephalus cryptoxanthus. Easiest to find in northern Kruger National Park.

Result:  Seen well at Pretoriuskop Restcamp, Kruger National Park.

19. Red-bellied Parrot – Poicephalus rufiventris.  Found in Tanzania, targeting them in Tarangire.

Result:  Seen well at Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.

21. Meyer’s Parrot – Poicephalus meyeri.  Several subspecies spread out over southern and central Africa.  Best places to target them are northern South Africa and Tanzania’s Tarangire and Serengeti.

Result:  Seen well at Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.

24. Senegal Parrot  – Poicephalus senegalus.  Wide-spread in West Africa but easiest place to see using Star Alliance airports would be Shai Hills, Ghana near Accra.

Result:  Seen briefly at Shai Hills, Ghana.

By “seen well” I mean that the bird stuck around long enough to have a good look and get photos.  In some cases, all we could see were birds flying rapidly through the trees or scrambling through foliage.

FINAL TALLY

17 out of 24 parrot species targeted.

15 out of these 17 were seen.

11 out of these 15 were “seen well”

That’s actually not bad when you consider how unpredictable wild birds can be, and it only happened because I did TONS of research to give myself the best possible odds!

 

More On Choosing An Eco-Lodge

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When I first started this blog, I wrote a post on how to choose an eco-lodge.  Looking back, I still agree with everything I said back then.  But there was one element I forgot to mention until I saw this post by an award-winning travel writer and editor at large for National Geographic Traveler magazine, Mr Costas Christ.  In his outstanding article, he talks about how the lodge should reflect the culture of the country its in.  The Tambopata Research Centre looks like its in Peru.  Selva Verde looks like its in Costa Rica.  Hornbill Camp looks like its in India.  And these as well as many other I have blogged about make a point of employing local people and contributing to the local economy.  I could go on, but this is one very important factor that sets a fantastic eco-lodge apart from just a good eco-lodge.

Tambopata Research Centre

Parrot Conservation Indonesia Part 2 – Ecotourism

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In yesterday’s post, I introduced you to Mehd Halouate and his work with the World Parrot Trust.  Today, I will show you some of the eco-tours he and his wife, Lena are operating throughout Indonesia.  First, have a look at his website and see the tours organized for 2014-2016.

Use your miles to get to Indonesia and save your money for the tour and to spend locally!

Tours for 2014
Tours for 2015
Tours for 2016

If you enjoyed my series on West Papua from March 2013 but were afraid to go on your own, the good news is that Mehd & Lena are offering all the same destinations with more time at each one on this tour.

Bruny Island Penguin Rookery

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In my other post, I mentioned that you will drive past a Penguin Rookery which is well signed.

P is for Penguin

IMG_7562

Penguins start coming ashore after dark.  Your lodge will tell you when to go as it varies at different times of the year.IMG_7653

They have excellent information about the Little Penguins as you enter the Rookery.  Entry is free and they have strict rules against flash photography.  I did the best I could while someone used a red lamp to highlight a penguin.  There was no moon and it was really dark.  We brought blankets from Captain Cook’s as it was pretty cold even in Autumn!IMG_7656 IMG_7657 IMG_7658

Sorry, this was the best I could do with no light!IMG_7654aSince I couldn’t get a good shot, this one from Wikipedia will have to do.

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