Best of the rest, Northern Cameroon Part 2

To describe Northern Cameroon as dusty would be an under statement! Never before has a camera been cleaned so many times ridding the sensor of dust particles and general grot. The long drive to the ranch was made worse by the main highway 'we're driving on it in the photo above' being uneven, dusty, busy, and the main road South to Yaounde! As we were travelling in convoy the rear vehicle got the lions share of the dust and certainly made for an uncomfortable journey despite the A/C working overtime.

Atmospheric it may be but imagine living here it you had a dust allergy?

Finally, the entrance to Narnia, Ngaoundaba Ranch a wonderful name and worthy of a high score on scrabble. Only 3 more km! Fortunately the track to the ranch was bird heaven and once on site at the famous Ng............... ranch Andy announced our presence to the avian gods in order that we would be treated well and ticking like Bustards!

The nights out from the ranch on the approach road were simply mega and we were treated to mind boggling views of a corking fully standarded up Male Standard winged Nightjar...........What a bird! In flight these were superb.
Standard winged less Nightjar!

The icing on the proverbial birding cake............BROWN CHESTED LAPWING. Having missed out on them before in Africa I was over the dust covered moon with delight at seeing a pair of these sought after waders after 3 days of trying and an entire afternoon devoted to finding a pair we found them not more than 200m from whee we parked the car for our nocturnal foray.........where were they hiding all that time?

White collared Starling , aka Ousel Starling another speciality of the area.
African Palm Swift, enabled me to test my avian flight shots skills..... better than nothing anyway!
Another Brucie bonus at night, Temminck's Courser, a one shot wonder that didn't like the camera flash
White-crested Helmet Shrike, common but mega
A cattle rancher wanders the dusty landscape, a Lapwing free zone
Bamenda Apalis, a really rare bird and a little corker that sang away at the tops of the trees and showed well through the scope.Endangered and very localised
Another top bird and a great bird of spotting by Bionic eyed Kennewell, Brown-rumped Bunting another highly sought after bird for the list and a well deserved find after many hours wandering around.

The camouflaged ranch vehicle enabling one to approach Giraffes closely for that ultimate views, shame there's no Giraffes around! Note the dust covered tyres and carefully painted bodywork. With Northern Cameroon drawing to a close we had a long train journey ahead of us to Yaounde and Southern Cameroon, complete with new habitats, a new family 'we hope' and some truly mythical highly endangered avian beauties.

The best of the rest in Northern Cameroon.Part 1

And so the journey continued though as it's July now, March is but a distant memory and this will be on the last few posts on Cameroon for certain now as I'd like to get things posted from the spring in North Kent and then post loads of piccies of stunning cripplers from the autumn as the birds make land fall in Kent and ignore places like Scilly and Shetlands...................then I woke up.
Benoue NP in Cameroon is a superb reserve complete with dust, more dust, even more dust, swat bees, tsetse flies, searing heat, Lions and Leopards, Hippos, excellent food 'it really is very tasty' and of course a host of stunning birds that I've wanted to see for many years. The accommodation is either run down, falling down or excellent and we had a cracking stay here in the wonderful seeing and a very comfty room complete with A/C and good showers. To reach the HQ it's a long dusty drive including the opportunity to try your luck at swat the Tsetse fly whilst seeing some birds on route. Our arrival at Benoue was met with a cold Coke, Leopards!!! distantly in the riverbed as the sun went down and a brilliant little African Scops Owl calling to us from the compound. Sadly the Pel's Fishing Owl was too distant to be enticed in by a Radioshack speaker!!

African Scops Owl

Lunchtime spread, SUPERB
One of the big surprises of the trip and a much wanted bird by many of us, Bronze-winged Courser spotted by the driver who thought it was a Temminck's Courser we'd seen the day before. Great bit of work by the keen eyed driver.
The Hippo pools, complete with enormous hippos that could be heard at night from the rooms despite being a fair way from the camp.
Four-banded Sandgrouse a few feet away from the vehicle photographed whilst Tsetse swatting
Double- spurred Francolin, widespread and easier to see here than Morocco. We also saw White-throated Francolin but sadly my camera was taking a rest in the vehicle whilst I did all the hard work in the field!
An Ant Lion prised from it's burrow as seen below, ready to devour anything that is foolish enough to fall in it's pit. There is also a thriving colony of these at Minsmere, Suffolk!!


Egyptian Plover, words can not describe this species, they're just too good . Cameroon is a reasonably reliable place to see them and ample compensation for ,myself who missed them in Gambia a few years back as I was a few days too late !!! Schoolboy error there then ! they're around for over 3 months !!

Hippo, noisy, dangerous and a sight to see. You would not want to get too close to these boys !

Emin's Shrike and Chad Firefinch GPS Birding at it's best

I've decided to stick out a few more posts on Cameroon then get back to the local Birding scene before the Autumn rush of birds......................... In my dreams !!
Two top target birds in Cameroon were Chad Firefinch a recently discovered species in N Cameroon and Emin's Shrike a scarce patchily distributed Shrike that looks a bit like a dwarf Red-backed! A few years back Nigel Voaden had discovered these species near Poli and armed with a GPS, google earth maps and our trusty drivers we set off early in the morning to reach our destination following what appeared to be a maze of dirt tracks to an road that led up into the hills. On arrival we met some guys driving back from the hills and once Michael had spoken to them we awaited a local worker to accompany us up to the site that was a mine set in the hills and guarded. Much waiting later we eventually headed off up the road a little rough in places but seemingly drivable until eventually our drivers decided the terrain was too rough and we walked the remainder of the way a few km or so in the early morning heat until we arrived at the camp. A brief stop on the way up allowed a few us to see an Ortolan Bunting probably only the 3rd Cameroon record. At the camp a few phone calls ensued whilst permission was verified and we set off further up the hill GPS in hand with the security guards until X marks the spot, distance further to travel 0 metres !! Within no time at all Chad Firefinches were heard calling and in the next hour or so we got some great views and some reasonable shots. Job done, another Firefinch under the belt and lots of back slapping much to the amusement of the locals!!!

The track up to the Firefinches, hot, dry and at times a bit steep but worth the effort

The site of the Ortolan Bunting................. You should have been here 5 mins ago, just like birding back in North Kent !!!
The troops emerge from the Chad zone, another lifer UTB and all dusted up
A short drive away down the hill and again following the magic GPS box we arrived at another indifferent site and wandered off in a rough line into the area to look for Emins' Shrike in the midday sun, very hot, sweaty, uncomfortable and generally very quiet bird wise. Eventually the shout came up from Bionic eyes Merrill, 'EMIN'S SHRIKE' and there it was Red backed Shrike minor sitting quietly in a tree. Very flighty at times it showed well through the scope and a thoroughly well deserved new bird.
Emin's Shrike

A final bonus at the Chad Firefinch site was this Adamawa Turtle Dove perched up near the camp for a few minutes a tricky bird to see and Cameroon is the best place.

Pick of the Bunch,photographing people

Over the years I've come to the conclusion that photographing birds is much easier than photographing people, unless of course they don't know that you're taking the photo 'easier said than done' !!
Above is a poor photo of the Arabian Bustard at Waza, but at least we didn't have to ask it's permission, make sure it didn't look too staged, and with 5 plus cameras all pointing at it at once, it didn't take offence and cover it's face up..............having said that I remember trying to photograph a Puerto Rican Scops Owl many years ago that kept on covering it's face with one of it's wing when we shone a torch on it!!

Anyway, above is part of the crew taking to the water at Garoua in a decidedly 'low' boat for an Egyptian Plover photo session. ............................ It didn't sink !
A local man cycles past unaware that he's being photographed, very natural and a good depiction of normal day to day life in Cameroon,
Also this chap goes about his business selling goods
Martin negotiates a rock race having just seen Rock Firefinch, little did he know that he was just about to tick off a new species for Cameroon, Jos Plateau Indigobird !!
Ian, ponders his next tick or trip as the trip is temporarily held up in North Cameroon
M. C Hemme takes a well deserved rest from ticking, he's a busy man on the World birding circuit
This lovely framed shot depicting market life in Maroua, complete with fruits, workers, and only after I looked at the photo did I notice that although taken from the cover of the vehicle and they were unaware, when a mans' got to pick their nose, who should stop them, life goes on even though it detracts from the photo. Click on the photo to see what I mean !!!
This young lady evidently has brilliant eyesight as many local do, not destroyed by viewing computer screens all day !!
When time allows I'll post more piccies but I'll leave you with this one of Andy sapping up the atmos post Emin's Shrike in intense heat, his feet needed cooling down, whilst Ian stays down wind of the exposed socks !!

Long necked mammals and Pristine Prinias

Continuing our journey around Northern Cameroon and Waza NP, the birds were falling thick and fast, tick after tick, avian and Ixodes. One of the real highlights of a trip abroad is seeing a good old prinia of which some are in particular very smart, in fact very non- Prinia like, with plumage colour other than brown, but in keeping with true Prinia fashion, River Prinia did not disappoint. An absolute belter brimming with brown tones and a super long tail, this restricted species showed iself to it's small group of admirers, overcome with excitement and in awe of it's true beauty, a species one will never forgot and worthy of a another addition to the World List. Study the picture above and weep at this fantastic avian creation, and with an excellent call as well.Always good to see a few Owls on a trip and every morning and evening we heard the distinctive snoring of the resident pair of Barn owls in one of the chalets that posed nicely one evening for a photo session in the flashguns.

A stunning male Pallid Harrier one of many seen at Waza patrolling the park, always a good bird to see, almost as good as seeing one at Elmley RSPB in Kent.
Malachite Kingfisher, a common species though not on the Elmley species list, one of the easier open country Kingfishers to see.
Namaqua Dove, scarce in Israel but abundant in Waza, seen in the hundreds.
White-bellied Bustard a territorial bird that we saw several mornings in exactly the same spot whilst looking for Arabian Bustards


Giraffes, and illustrating how they go about having a drink!