6-7 July 2019: Nsuta Forest

There is pleasure in the pathless woods…

There is rapture on the lonely shore…

There is society where none intrudes…

By the deep sea and music in its roar…

I love not man the less, but Nature more…

From these our interviews, in which I steal…

From all I may be, or have been before.

To mingle with the Universe and feel…

What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.

Byron

Kwame Aitpillah

Klaus and myself were very sorry to say goodbye to Illias and our driver Justice, and somewhat apprehensive if our new guide, Kwame Aitpillah, the owner of a local guiding company, would live up to the high standards set by Illias. We were pleasantly surprised as we birded the deep recesses of Nsuta Forest. It seemed as if Kwame transformed into a forest creature the moment we set foot in the forest.

Superlatives are very limited when it comes to describing Kwame’s skills. Klaus and myself came to the conclusion that he has bionic ears and eyes. He finds skulking forest birds hidden behind leaves where just a single eye is visible. He sees better and in more detail without binos than yours truly with an expensive pair of Swarovski’s. He hears a single tweet, id’s the offender, hunts it down and puts the scope on the bird in less time that it takes me to focus my bins. Furthermore, he talks the language of the forest, and the birds conduct lengthy conversations with him. His ability to direct a client onto a bird is impressive, and with his friendly and accommodating disposition this turns him from an excellent into an astounding guide. As I said, superlatives are very limited when it comes to describe Kwame’s skills

Little Bee-eater

During the course of two days, while trampling the moist forest paths and suffering in the 90% humidity, we found near to fifty new forest birds such as Western Bronze-naped Pigeon, Western Nicator, Naked-faced-, Yellow-billed-, Yellow-breasted- and Hairy-breasted Barbets, Red-fronted Parrot, Sabine's Puffback, Tit Hylia, Chocolate-backed Kingfisher, Gabon Woodpecker and Black-bellied Seedcracker, to name but a few. Another few good days in Africa – except for the flippen chicken and fried rice!