I had heard of sightings of a Pel's Fishing Owl at a site in Senegal - a bird I would love to see - so decided to follow that up. An enquiry to a Senegal birding facebook group assured me that the bird would be equally present at any time of year, but that the site might be flooded out. However they comfirmed that they were open for business even though a little wet, so I booked myself in for a two-night stay. The website for the national bus company was out of action (suspended for non-payment of maintenance fees!) but I found another company providing bus transport there: the advertised phone number still worked and they assured me that the bus ran on a daily basis, departing at 8pm and arriving in Tambacounda around 5am (from there I would need to take a taxi to the camp).
What they didn't bother to tell me was that the bus departure point had moved to another part of town - and that it was necessary to reserve a seat in advance. However my taxi driver rose to the occasion and found the new departure point for me, and someone who had reserved a seat did not turn up, so I made it to Tambacounda as planned, and on to the camp.
Once there, I learned that the owl had not been seen since the end of April, and would not be expected to be around that location during the rainy season. Whatever. I was already there so had to make the most of things.
The bird guide said he would take me out along the river in the boat that evening, even though we would not see the owl, and in the meantime I took a slow walk along the dirt access road (the only track open as the rest were still underwater). There were some birds around, some green vervet monkeys and a big troupe of baboons. My favourite of the day had to be the green wood-hoopoes: big, noisy birds (they sometimes gather for a group cackle) that seemed to be totally camera-phobic, so I spent a great deal of time trying unsuccessfully to get a shot of one and this was the best I eventually managed.Then I waited for the boat trip. The guide arrived, with the boat engine, but discovered that the boat had half sunk during the rainy season and would need a bit of work before it was suitable to go out in - he promised me we would go out the next day. Here are the site workers hauling the boat out of the river to dry out.
So, a much-needed early night.
Then the same again the next day, a long walk along the access road, with a few hours around the middle part of the day reading a book. No internet access at the camp so no temptation to 'just check for urgent emails' and end up working all day!I was too slow to get a photo of the rather beautiful red colobus monkey that sat briefly in the open part of a tree, and the birds were too quick for me that day too, but thankfully the unexpected banded mongoose froze on the track ahead when it saw me so I was able to snatch a shot. Shortly afterward, investigating a strange noise in the undergrowth, I saw glimpses of a whole mongoose family.
Evening came around again and I went down to the water for my boat trip. I wasn't too upset when they told me that two German guests had asked to do the boat trip so I wouldn't be alone (the price is double for a single-person trip), although rather surprised when we got on the water to find that it meant the guide spoke only German for the entire hour of the trip. Thankfully I recognised the various birds (and baboons) that we saw so it didn't really matter.
Earlier in the day I had tried to phone the bus company to make a reservation for the trip home, but they said I could not reserve without paying. & by this time I was a one-hour $45 taxi ride away from the bus terminal - or, with the alternative I found the next day, a two-hour $2.50 shared van ride away - so I declined that opportunity and decided to try my luck with the shared taxi alternative, hoping at least that I would be able to find a taxi going the next day and thus avoid an overnight trip. After the two-hour trip into Tambacounda, however, I found myself passenger number two for the shared taxi waiting to depart for Dakar; there are seven seats in the shared taxis. It took another five hours until a further five passengers came along, so we didn't leave until after 6pm. So another overnight trip, in a far less comfortable vehicle (no chance of any sleep!) which actually turned out to cost slightly more than the air-conditioned, wifi-equipped bus. So I made it home very tired, and pretty muddy, from my 'holiday', and with no owl sighting to tick off on my bird list, but at least I had escaped the curse of email for a few days.
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