19-20 Dec 2019: São Tomé to Senegal

I was finally getting the hang of cheap flights in Africa – the secret was to have no expectations at all. The arrival time printed on the ticket is irrelevant; similar to the download time on a computer. You will arrive when the plane lands at your destination. Cheap flights never fly directly to where you wish to go - a scenic tour of the African skyways is always included. These flights also fly longer and further than expensive flights – and you need to stock up on extra food and water or you may barely endure the experience. Earlier the year my flight from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Libreville in Gabon was via Johannesburg in South Africa – a 5000 km detour, with a bonus of a 24 hour lay-over in Johannesburg. In addition, you are exceptionally blessed if you and your luggage arrive on the same flight. In Libreville the luggage handlers are slipped a few dollars and they will prioritise your luggage so that it departs on the correct flight. That does not mean that your bags will follow you to your connecting flight. One also needs to make certain to enter the plane amongst the first group of passengers - otherwise the overhead luggage compartment is filled and one inevitably spends the flight with a backpack on your lap.

My flight from São Tomé to Libreville in Gabon arrived a few hours late and I was very relieved to find Habiba Biallo, my tour guide in Gabon, still waiting at the airport. The restaurant at the Tropicana Hotel had already closed for the night so we bought take-away pizzas. Local knowledge helps – Habiba revealed that these were the best pizzas available in Gabon. A battle with the internet connection at the hotel followed before I was able to purchase a very expensive air ticket to Dakar in Senegal for early the next morning.

Joe and Meryl-Lynne Harwood from Escape to the Wild had again accomplished the near impossible in arranging Karanta Camara, the president of the Birding Council of The Gambia, as my guide in Senegal and The Gambia. Karanta had agreed to meet me in Dakar from where we would then bird southern Senegal before crossing the border into The Gambia.

Senegal, on the north-western coast of Africa, is one and a half times the size on England and one third the size of Texas. It also is a very flat country and its roads are amongst the best in West Africa. Around 612 bird species have been recorded in Senegal.

True to form my flight was delayed for a few hours and I only met up with Karanta late in the afternoon. He turned out to be a highly professional guide and a very agreeable companion for the next few days. We immediately headed south but the birding opportunities were severely curtailed due to the delayed arrival of my flight. It also meant that we would be travelling at night, something that one tries to avoid at all cost in most of Africa. After ten at night we eventually booked into a hotel in the town of Kosemar. I was beginning to feel very frustrated, as the last two days I had been unable to add any new birds to my list.

Karanta Camara & Vagrant Twitcher