THE GAMBIA TOUR 2: DAY 10 - 25th NOVEMBER 2012

MARAKISSA RIVER LODGE

Our day was spent in the south near the Senegalise border at Marakissa. We walked through an open area of woodland and rice fields before arriving at Marakissa River Lodge.

We arrived at 9am after an hour’s drive most of which was along a bumpy track, it was hot and humid. We got out of the car and found a beautiful Red Bishop, a male in full breeding plumage, a lovely bird that danced its song flight for us. Next we found a new bird for the trip list, it was a sunbird, a Voilet backed Sunbird, one that is usually very hard to find, we saw a pair of them for a few minutes. Then a Lesser Honeyguide appeared followed quickly by a levaillant’s Cuckoo, which showed briefly a few times. As we moved into the open we found a pair of the superb Blue-bellied Roller, and also a Fork-tailed Drongo, Black Flycatcher, Piapiac, Green Wood-hoopoe, Fanti Saw-wing, Tawny-flanked Prinia and we tried to track down some Leafloves but they failed to show. 

Further along the track we came to some more mature trees where we found, Splendid and Beautiful Sunbirds, White Helmet-Shrike and in the grass below the trees we found another new bird, a Black-winged Red Bishop, also in breeding plumage, we got good pictures of this one. Above us we saw Palm-nut Vulture, Long-crested Eagle, Shikra and Red-necked Falcon.

We got back to the car and drove a few kilometers further south to the river camp where we spent the rest of the day. The gardens are superb for birds with many little drinking pools, some dense woodland, a creek with large open pools and some open woodland. We amassed quite a list during our stay there, some of the highlights included two new species for us: a Grey-Headed Bush-Shrike, we saw one sitting on a nest, a Barn Owl seen roosting in the roof of the lodge. Many species were coming down to drink which we saw as we sat under a purpose built shade drinking cold drinks. 

We ate lunch at the lodge before some of us set off on a short ‘creek crawl’ into the mangroves. We had superb views of Giant Kingfisher, Orange-billed Waxbill and lots of the common marsh birds. Meanwhile the others, that stayed on dry land saw: Gonolek, Black-capped Babbler, Pied Kingfisher (feeding young at the nest), Common, Green and Wood Sandpiper, Greenshank, Black-winged Stilt and the usual plovers.

We also added a few new species to our butterfly list: we found an Olive-haired Swift, Grizzled Skipper and a Bush Charaxes, the whole area was alive with butterflies. Other wildlife seen was a Dwarf Crocodile (1.5 meters long), Sun Squirrel, Nile Monitors, some large toads and a lot of very interesting insects including a nest of bees, one of which stung, Mike on the head as walked under the nest!

The whole tranquil experience at the lodge was lovely and it was a shame to leave it but we had to drive back to our ‘adopted’ hotel and spend a second night there. The evening meal was very good and the entertainment was loud but also very good and there was football on the telly, cold beer, a great end to a lovely day.