We had a walk to a patch of mangroves by the river, a morning drive out to a track where we had a couple of stops to look for birds and then back to the hotel for lunch and then packed up and the drive back to the airport.
A slightly more leisurely breakfast before we walked down a track to a patch of mangroves by the waters edge in the hope of Mangrove Sunbird. There were several birds in a flowering tree and a Pearl-spotted Owlet arrived in the tree in front of us. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten to put my card back in the camera so I didn’t manage to photo any of them. I changed the card from the bridge camera, (I found it later in my shirt pocket,). We had close views of Scissor-tailed Bee-eater and a lovely wire-tailed Swallow was resting on the bridge of a small boat. Fiddler Crabs were abundant on the mud in many colours and sizes. We walked along the mangrove edge but didn’t see anything new so we retraced our steps to the van and drove out a short way to a dirt track. We made couple of stops, one for great views of Shikra in a tree by the road and then by a track into the woodland. A Red-billed Hornbill seemed in afraid to see us and another Pearl-spotted Owlet was seen in a tree. There were a few butterflies about, including a Guineafowl and a couple of Whites. A little difficult to see was an African Paradise Flycatcher and Northern Yellow White-eye. We moved on to another spot with monkeys and a herd of cattle which had an attendant Red-billed Oxpecker and a few flowers to look at.
We also saw several birds of prey including Bateleur, Hooded Vulture, Wahlberg’s Eagle, Short-toed Eagle and Hammerkop.
It was very hot and it was good to get back in the van for the drive back to the hotel for lunch. As we were finishing, Peter called out from the concrete path to the river that he had a couple of Marsh Mongoose. We all dashed down but they had gone into hiding by the time I got there. We hung around quietly and there was some movement but not much and the others slowly drifted off to pack. David and I hung around and suddenly there was one hunting in the mangrove roots on the other side of the small bay. It sniffed about a bit and then disappeared into the mangroves. After a few minutes it re-appeared and ran across the small bay before crossing the road and going into the mangrove roots on the other side of the track. Brilliant views and a great way to finish the trip before checking out the African Spurred tortoises, loading the van and heading off to the airport in Dakar.
The drive was about 4 hours with a few ‘diversions’ around some road improvements. There were a few large lakes with various waders and a few gulls. We arrived at the airport with time to spare but going through customs took time, we had to scan our luggage before it was checked in. We also had to check in at the desk and fight for seats together, but it all worked out OK. The flight left on time, 23.05 and the break in Madrid went quickly before we were on the London flight and home at 8.25 am to a dry but considerably colder morning. Getting the car went smoothly and we arrived home safely following a really interesting break in Senegal.
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