Drive to Kaolac - Hotel Relais - Friday 20th January

 

Mainly a driving day with stops for the birds at St. Louis, various roadside stops and a stop for Quail Plover before settling into the lovely Hotel Relais de Kaolac for two nights.

We met up for breakfast and then set off towards Kaolac. We stopped along the road to look at Grey-headed Gulls, Yellow-billed and Black Kites and an Osprey sitting on a buried tree stump before driving on to the causeway where we spent quite a bit of time scanning the birds. On the water there were Pink-back and Great White Pelicans, Reed Cormorants, Redshank. Along the edge we saw Redshank, Sanderling and Common Sandpiper and overhead were Slender-billed Gull, Sandwich and Common Terns with one Royal Tern that David and I were lucky enough to see. All along the waters edge were fishermen sorting catches of fish fresh from their nets and lot of chatting going on. There were boats coming in and going out all the time, all colourfully painted. 

It was soon time to go so we climbed about the bus and set off on the drive to Kaolac. Along the road we had reasonable views of Patas Monkeys and we had several short stops for vultures with White-backed and Hooded on a carcass and flying around. Down the road were some women hacking boughs off a tree, presumably for firewood. We also found a small flock of Pin-tailed Whydah with a few White-rumpled Seedeaters. As usual, there were Black and Yellow-billed Kites and Namaqua Doves everywhere. 

We stopped for lunch in a ‘service area’ and finished off with an ice cream before setting off again. We drove through Toubacouta with its large and very famous mosque before pulling into an area under some trees and getting out and walking across a ‘field’ of bushes and scrub. We met up with Carlos and his Spanish group and set off to walk the field. It was extremely hot but we were lucky when a Quail flushed after about half an hour, a second one flew across and a third was seen to land near a bush. Some patient stalking managed to find the bird sheltering in the shade and pecking about among the roots and we had some great views through the scope. Another bird was found feeding which came slowly closer and gave very good views. As we left the bird we saw a So uthern Grey Shrike and Desert Cisticola which we watched for about five minutes before the heat drove us back to the bus and the drive to the lovely Kaolac Hotel Relais. 

We had dinner in the restaurant and then had a quick look round, as we were heading back we found a Four-toed Hedgehog snuffling about in the gardens. The Spanish group were just behind us and we went to get Alan and Brenda who managed to see the hedgehog before it hid in some dense roots. One of the Spanish girls tried to get it out but wasn’t successful. They told us about a couple of bats they had been watching which were chewing on the wooden slats of the shelter by the edge of the grounds. We decided they were Straw-coloured Fruit Bats but no idea why they were eating the wood, you could see semi-circular holes where they had obviously been chewing before.