In the last post I tried to point out some of the options you have when deciding on a trip to The Gambia, now I'll share mine!
As a frugal pensioner who wants to spread my travel pound as far as I can comfortably push it my usual port of call for The Gambia is a package tour as the country is small, most places are in easy reach and I can find an attractive price for the basic holiday. What I then add on to that is at my own, I'll rephrase that there are two of us, our own discretion. Where and what to eat, where and how much to spend on drinks, whether or not to take any tours or trips.
This time I went with an open mind. I think I might have spent 2 weeks in Kotu in the past without ever venturing out on a trip, there again I have also paid a premium for a 10 day birding trip largely pre-organised, or even just a shorter one organised through a guiding contact I keep in touch with online. On my last visit I teamed up with a couple of guys I'd met in our hotel and took a couple of trips which, divided by three, worked out very reasonably priced.
As a rule of thumb, the guides try to get £100 for a full day trip that includes transport, £70 for a half day trip but supply and demand will indeed dictate what they get. Newcomers may well pay the whole fee and they are responsible for setting the bar fairly high in a country where the average wage is only a few pounds a month, never mind a day. Some would argue that a guide's season is limited, they have knowledge etc etc. Ok, whatever. Whichever way you look at it, a good guide gets paid extremely well but it also has to be pointed out that sometimes they have extended family to support too and I am happy to help inject some financial support in to the local economy.
This last occasion, as per usual I was approached by a guide who I haven't used before but know him from sight. Touting for business I said I would wait until I found someone to share the cost before deciding, but salesman as he was, he gave me another guest's name from our hotel who was in the same position. I sought out Laurence and together we agreed to take a trip with said guide at a price of £70 for the half day trip. As we were both in to photography as much as listing ticks we stressed that we wanted somewhere suitable for such.
Off we went and the first place we visited was a large dusty field on the edge of Farasutu woods in search of Black-headed Lapwing. I have been to similar places in the past, I had told this guide exactly what I expected and this was not the place I wanted to be. We were getting distant views and the Lapwings were constantly on the move to get away from us!
A record shot but no more. The guide was hostile to my observation that this wasn't what I had asked for!
We continued walking, something else I had asked to avoid as I continue my recuperation from a recent spinal operation, especially as I was carrying a fair weight of camera and lens.
In one of the bushes we past we saw and managed photographs of a Black-crowned Tchagra
We spotted African Harrier -hawk flying
and had a Woodchat Shrike on a farm building.
These were all the only ones I saw during the whole holiday which was also the case when we arrived at a fruiting fig tree that held numerous birds including Bruce's Green Pigeon.
and nearby another tree held a lifer for me, Pied Swallow.
and down on the ground, yet another lifer, Singing Cisticola.
Those two I would have overlooked had it not been for the guide too.
Back in the fig tree, one of only two sightings of Cardinal Woodpecker ( the other on my next trip) and that did give some super close up and interesting views as it attacked a fig!
What's he complaining about you might ask!
And perhaps you are correct, in fact more so when you see what came next!
The highlight of the trip was meant to be the two owls we were about to see. The guide took us into the edge of the forest and before reaching the first Owl we stopped where he pointed out Senegal Eremomela.
which I should have managed to photograph better ( over exposed as you can see) even if they were my best attempts to date. The Western Bonelli's Warbler on the other hand was virtually impossible to get a clear view of but I have never managed any photo before!
The Greyish Eagle Owl however, was much as expected. Asleep and obscured!
Next it was into the Farasutu reserve proper, another 50 dalasai which is less than a pound was requested for the entry fee ( why the guide doesn't include I don't know) and we are passed on to the local guide who took us to see the African Wood Owl.
Another sleeping beauty!
Now from previous experience I know that we were very close to a well known site for White-backed Night Heron where I have been taken to on a separate tour by the same guide despite him taking me to see the said Owl. That's how some of them work. They have special birds that they think will make the sale of the trip.
On this trip it wasn't the Owls I was sold on, it was the promise of Yellow-throated Longclaw which was to be our last port of call. First though we were taken back to where we had picked up the forest guide where there are a few seats, some watering holes( bowls of water) and the opportunity to eat our packed breakfasts as provided by the hotel. Again, from a purely photographic point of view not ideal because of distance to the subject, poor light and rather artificial set up.
Again though, they delivered.
Blue-spotted Wood-dove
Black-necked Weaver pair as well as the only Orange-cheeked Waxbill of my holiday.
The same applied to Klaas's Cuckoo which I managed to capture before it landed on the edge of a white plastic bowl.
and indeed a Stone Partridge too.
What on earth is he complaining about you may well ask?! That's already 16 species not seen anywhere else and one more to come and in fairness I agree to a large extent but you also have to remember that I'm lucky enough that my equipment is as good as it gets really so I am better equipped than most to take advantage over poor light and distance.
Our final visit was to that Longclaw site, and after a brief walk around some cultivated fields we were told it wasn't there today. We did get a compensatory Grey Kestrel though.... albeit at distance.
I later discovered the Longclaw hasn't apparently been seen all season!
TBC
As a frugal pensioner who wants to spread my travel pound as far as I can comfortably push it my usual port of call for The Gambia is a package tour as the country is small, most places are in easy reach and I can find an attractive price for the basic holiday. What I then add on to that is at my own, I'll rephrase that there are two of us, our own discretion. Where and what to eat, where and how much to spend on drinks, whether or not to take any tours or trips.
This time I went with an open mind. I think I might have spent 2 weeks in Kotu in the past without ever venturing out on a trip, there again I have also paid a premium for a 10 day birding trip largely pre-organised, or even just a shorter one organised through a guiding contact I keep in touch with online. On my last visit I teamed up with a couple of guys I'd met in our hotel and took a couple of trips which, divided by three, worked out very reasonably priced.
As a rule of thumb, the guides try to get £100 for a full day trip that includes transport, £70 for a half day trip but supply and demand will indeed dictate what they get. Newcomers may well pay the whole fee and they are responsible for setting the bar fairly high in a country where the average wage is only a few pounds a month, never mind a day. Some would argue that a guide's season is limited, they have knowledge etc etc. Ok, whatever. Whichever way you look at it, a good guide gets paid extremely well but it also has to be pointed out that sometimes they have extended family to support too and I am happy to help inject some financial support in to the local economy.
This last occasion, as per usual I was approached by a guide who I haven't used before but know him from sight. Touting for business I said I would wait until I found someone to share the cost before deciding, but salesman as he was, he gave me another guest's name from our hotel who was in the same position. I sought out Laurence and together we agreed to take a trip with said guide at a price of £70 for the half day trip. As we were both in to photography as much as listing ticks we stressed that we wanted somewhere suitable for such.
Off we went and the first place we visited was a large dusty field on the edge of Farasutu woods in search of Black-headed Lapwing. I have been to similar places in the past, I had told this guide exactly what I expected and this was not the place I wanted to be. We were getting distant views and the Lapwings were constantly on the move to get away from us!
A record shot but no more. The guide was hostile to my observation that this wasn't what I had asked for!
We continued walking, something else I had asked to avoid as I continue my recuperation from a recent spinal operation, especially as I was carrying a fair weight of camera and lens.
In one of the bushes we past we saw and managed photographs of a Black-crowned Tchagra
We spotted African Harrier -hawk flying
and had a Woodchat Shrike on a farm building.
These were all the only ones I saw during the whole holiday which was also the case when we arrived at a fruiting fig tree that held numerous birds including Bruce's Green Pigeon.
and nearby another tree held a lifer for me, Pied Swallow.
and down on the ground, yet another lifer, Singing Cisticola.
Those two I would have overlooked had it not been for the guide too.
Back in the fig tree, one of only two sightings of Cardinal Woodpecker ( the other on my next trip) and that did give some super close up and interesting views as it attacked a fig!
What's he complaining about you might ask!
And perhaps you are correct, in fact more so when you see what came next!
The highlight of the trip was meant to be the two owls we were about to see. The guide took us into the edge of the forest and before reaching the first Owl we stopped where he pointed out Senegal Eremomela.
which I should have managed to photograph better ( over exposed as you can see) even if they were my best attempts to date. The Western Bonelli's Warbler on the other hand was virtually impossible to get a clear view of but I have never managed any photo before!
The Greyish Eagle Owl however, was much as expected. Asleep and obscured!
Next it was into the Farasutu reserve proper, another 50 dalasai which is less than a pound was requested for the entry fee ( why the guide doesn't include I don't know) and we are passed on to the local guide who took us to see the African Wood Owl.
Another sleeping beauty!
Now from previous experience I know that we were very close to a well known site for White-backed Night Heron where I have been taken to on a separate tour by the same guide despite him taking me to see the said Owl. That's how some of them work. They have special birds that they think will make the sale of the trip.
On this trip it wasn't the Owls I was sold on, it was the promise of Yellow-throated Longclaw which was to be our last port of call. First though we were taken back to where we had picked up the forest guide where there are a few seats, some watering holes( bowls of water) and the opportunity to eat our packed breakfasts as provided by the hotel. Again, from a purely photographic point of view not ideal because of distance to the subject, poor light and rather artificial set up.
Again though, they delivered.
Blue-spotted Wood-dove
Black-necked Weaver pair as well as the only Orange-cheeked Waxbill of my holiday.
The same applied to Klaas's Cuckoo which I managed to capture before it landed on the edge of a white plastic bowl.
and indeed a Stone Partridge too.
What on earth is he complaining about you may well ask?! That's already 16 species not seen anywhere else and one more to come and in fairness I agree to a large extent but you also have to remember that I'm lucky enough that my equipment is as good as it gets really so I am better equipped than most to take advantage over poor light and distance.
Our final visit was to that Longclaw site, and after a brief walk around some cultivated fields we were told it wasn't there today. We did get a compensatory Grey Kestrel though.... albeit at distance.
I later discovered the Longclaw hasn't apparently been seen all season!
TBC
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