SOUTHERN TRIP
LOWLAND RAIN FORESTS AND COASTAL TRIP
Day 1: Arrival in Yaounde
Yaounde is the Political Capital of Cameroon, located at the heart of the African Tropical Lowland forest. At the Yaounde-Nsimalen international airport, you will be greeted by your local guide and directly transferred to your hotel for a short briefing, dinner and overnight.
Day 2: Birding forests around Yaounde
Very early in the morning, I will take you to a Picathartes caves, just at 35 Km from Yaounde town. You will be surprised by a very good forest landscapes just at the edge of the second biggest city of the country! In this forest, you will be amazed by the great number of birds including the enigmatic Red-headed Picathartes, the colorful Emerald Cuckoo as well as Didric and Klass’s Cuckoos, Naked-faced Barbet, Cardinal Woodpecker, Speckled Mousebird, Yellow rumped Tinkerbird, Petit’s Saw-wing, Brown-backed Scrub Robin, Banded, White-chinned and Towny-Flanked Prinias, Masked Apalis, Common Wattle-eye, Green-headed Sunbird, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Splendid Glossy Starling, Black crowned and Orange Checks Waxbill, Yellow-fronted Canary and the beautiful Grosbeak Weaver. We will have a lunch in Yaounde and in the afternoon, we will visit some forest patches and lakes.
Dinner and overnight in Yaounde.
Day 3: Yaounde – Kribi – Campo Ma’an National Park
After an early breakfast, we will carry out a morning bird-watching in the forests around the capital city before taking off for Kribi, with two main stops on the way. At the stop at the Sanaga River near Edéa, we will observe on sandbanks numerous lovely Grey Pratincole and some African Skimmers, White fronted Plovers and White-headed Lapwings remarkable by their pendulous yellow wattles. While birding along, we might also see White-chinned Prinia, Green Crombec, Spectacled Weaver, Palm-nut Vulture, Red-necked Buzzard, Blue-headed Coucal, Green Hylia Western Nicator, and others. Our second stop will take us to a Bridge where we have the opportunity to contemplate the faithfull Rock Pratincole reheating on the sun, a large numbers of Preuss’s Cliff Swallows with their nests under the bridge, Mottled, Sabine’s and Cassin’s Spinetails, Lizard Buzzard, African Harrier Hawk, Common Sandpiper, African Green Pigeon, Grey Parrot, Grey-crowned Negrofinch and more.
We arrive Kribi in the afternoon and after Checking in, we relax on the beautiful white sandy beach while watching some water birds. Our dinner will take place at the beach with some fresh and succulent grilled fish directly from the sea, then overnightat Jully Hotel in Kribi.
Day 4: Kribi – Campo Ma’an National Park
The Campo Ma’an is located in the heart of the equatorial forest in the far south west of Cameroon. It shares its western boundary with the Atlantic Ocean and its southern boundary with the Equatorial Guinea. Because of this interesting location, Campo Ma’an has coastal ecosystems and freshwater rivers, as well as tropical lowland forests and mountainous areas. This precious National Park is therefore a site with great biological diversity, including more than 350 bird species.
Today, we travel to Campo National Park through the forest while birding along the way. Our first main stop will be to admire the lobe waterfalls while enjoying surrounding water birds. on the way, we will visit the Ebodje Marine Tordus site. On our arrival in the evening, we will directly go to the Picathartes site to observe the famous endemic bird returning to its nest for the night. Overnight in Campo guest house.
Day 5: Birding at the Campo National Park.
After a very early breackfast, we head to the Campo National Park. Our main target here is the marvelous and enigmatic Red-headed Picathartes. I am 99.99% sure to show you this endemic bird just at 14 minutes walk from our car. We will also see most of the typical tropical lowland forest birds including the majestic Great Blue Turaco, Green Turaco, Yellow-billed Turaco, Long-tailed Hawk, Black Guineafowl, Rufous-sided Broadbill, White-spotted Flufftail, Afep Pigeon, White-crested Turaco, Chocolate-backed Kingfisher, African Dwarf Kingfisher, all the forest Hornbills (White-crested, Red-billed Dwarf, Black-and-white-casqued, Black-casqued Wattled Hornbill), Blue Cuckoo-Shrike, Cassin's Flycatcher, Western Black-headed Oriole, Black-winged Oriole, Black-shouldered Puffback, Western Nicator, Yellow-throated Nicator, Shining Drongo, Malimbes, all the forest Greenbuls, Rufous-sided Broadbill and more, overnight in Campo guest house
Day 6: Campo - Kribi
Birding at the Campo region, back to Kribi, visiting the Ebodje Marine Tordus site on the way, Birding by boat and visiting a pygmy settlement, overnight in Kribi.
DAY 7: Kribi – Douala, and night-flight
Breakfast, travel to Douala, birding on the way. Around Douala, we will be doing bird-watching at the rivers and fresh waters bordering this city, with the expectation to see the Near-threatened Hartlaub’s Duck and the rare African Finfoot. After this we will have the final dinner and resume of the tours, then drive to Douala International airport for flight back, end of the trip.
DAY 5 Birding in Campo National Park. Here we will see the famous endemic Red-headed Picathartes and most of the typical tropical lowland forest birds including Great Blue Turaco, Green Turaco, Yellow-billed Turaco, Long-tailed Hawk, Black Guineafowl, Rufous-sided Broadbill, White-spotted Flufftail, Afep Pigeon, White-crested Turaco, Chocolate-backed Kingfisher, African Dwarf Kingfisher, all the forest Hornbills (White-crested, Red-billed Dwarf, Black-and-white-casqued, Black-casqued Wattled Hornbill), Blue Cuckoo-Shrike, Cassin's Flycatcher, Western Black-headed Oriole, Black-winged Oriole, Black-shouldered Puffback, Western Nicator, Yellow-throated Nicator, Shining Drongo, Malimbes, all the forest Greenbuls, Rufous-sided Broadbill and more, overnight.
