Nature trip to the gambia and senegal

Crappy map of Senegambia showing the places we stayed and the direction of our trip.

For a finer one see the eBird link at the end of the report.

Tropical Africa! The promised land for every self-respecting naturalist and wildlife watcher. With its impressive biodiversity and its emblematic megafauna that has been the star in countless documentaries, it was clear that sooner or later I would have to go. But even so, until just before this summer, it was not something I had in mind to do this 2024, in fact I had not even thought of any specific international trip, waiting to resolve several personal and work issues (including my eternal phd ...). At the beginning of the summer, however, seeing that I would have some margin in terms of money and days off and also a desire not to spend all the summer at home, I was pondering options. I first contacted my friend Anxo Villalobos, whom I met while doing a study of seoane's vipers during my time in León, for his graduate thesis. He will be the first companion in this adventure. Like me, he is a complete naturalist, as enthusiastic about herps as he is about birds and mammals, which if we add to the fact that he is a great guy, makes him an ideal travel companion. 

We were wondering between several options for this trip, as we did not wanted something very expensive (I wanted to save money for future "pending" trips). So first we consider some places in Europe or the Middle East, but as you know, for me nothing is best than going to the tropics. And we found that there is at least one tropical place where you can fly from Europe for less than five houndred euros, and that is Senegal and The Gambia (Senegambia). In fact, this african region is the nearest tropical area to Spain, in terms of physical distance, and despise it does not have the wildlife possibilities of other parts of Africa, the price of the trip can be less than half that of going to those countries, so it seemed like an ideal option for our first African tropical experience. Even though they are more elusive animals (as will be explained later), Senegambia still holds much of the iconic african fauna in the remaining protected areas, with Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal standing among them the most. And further than this, the birding and herping possibilities are top, with most of the iconic sub-saharan specialities, so it was soon decided and we started to prepare the trip to this region.

The first necessary thing was to complete the trip team, for which we had at least to "recruit" another third member, and better if also a forth. We spent a few weeks contacting various friends, and in the end, to our surprise, we managed to assemble a team of four people. The first to join this adventure was a great naturalist and a good girl, who I met as a classmate of my master studies in Salamanca, Gabriela Crespo. A true lover of tropical Africa's fauna, who had already been the previous year in other countries in the area but did not hesitate to join this trip. Her knowledge of how to move around in Africa, her courage and enthusiasm were of great help during the trip, as well as her knowledge of French in Senegal, which the rest of the team did not speak. As for the four member, another good friend and in this case mate in the Timon Herpetological Association from Valencia, Javier Burgos. For Javi, it was his first trip outside of Europe. He didn't feel very confident with the decision at first, but he finally came and didn't regret it. In his case, his main motivation is the recording of videos, be it of birds, herps or any wildlife that he might see. He was our "sensible" element (which should always be in every team) and brought calm and serenity to the group for most of the trip (except maybe the last day, but I don't want to be a spoiler).

The four savannah explorers inside Niokolo-Koba NP with river Gambia in the background.

From left to right: Javier Burgos, Luis Albero, Anxo Villalobos and Gabriela Crespo.

Senegal and specially The Gambia are popular destinations for birdwatchers, which normally arranged organised trips, with a guide and a local driver that moves them around to see the target species. In our case, we wanted to avoid this kind of trip, firstly because we wanted to look for all kinds of animals, including of course reptiles and amphibians, which entails intensive day and night schedules that can be dizzying for any driver. Secondly, because of the price, as well as the freedom that comes with being able to drive ourselves freely, the contact with the country and the ability to improvise that comes with self-organized trips. Although I understand that they can work for many people, I am not a big fan of arranged guided trips, and for me they would lose that component of adventure that goes with organizing your own trip that I also like. So, we started looking into the options for getting around on our own, and that's where the headaches started.

The most complicated thing of all was finding a way to rent a car without a private driver to get around on our own. Senegal and Gambia are fairly stable democracies for African standards, and also fairly safe countries for tourists, but nevertheless it seems that few europeans decide to move freely around without a guide, so this information may also be useful to anyone reading this report and who is thinking of travelling there in the future. For what we saw, most rental car companies, apart of being quite expensive, charge you with about 0.3 euro per kilometer if you move more than 75Km a day, which makes impossible to do a nature roadtrip as we were planning without expending a huge amount of money. It seems they do that to avoid that you can steal the car or take it to another country (but, if you are going to steal it, you wouldn't come back to pay the kms, no?). For all these reasons, we finally had to discard the initial idea of flying to Dakar, Senegal, visiting only this country, since all the rental car companies there seem to apply this policy. Looking in neighbouring Gambia, which seems a bit more touristy, we found the local company AB Rental Car, which was the one that saved our trip. Contacting them, they offered us a 4WD for a moderate price and with a much lower mileage charge than in the rest of companies. What made us a little suspicious was that they asked for the entire payment in advance and verbally, without sending any documentation or contract, but after seeing some good reviews and being the only reliable option we finally did it, and everything went well. That must be how things work in Africa... Then so, our trip would begin in The Gambia, and following the river basin that gives this country its name, we will go towards Senegal's Niokolo-Koba and ending in the Bandafassi-Dindéfelo area. 

I advise to my herp-loving friends that this will be perhaps the trip report with less herp content of my website. And not because I haven't tried to see herps, but because this has been a more "miscellaneous trip", focused on various animal groups, and which I have tried to take more calmly than the previous ones. In this case my companions were not as crazy about herping for hours as in others, and I have tried to adapt and enjoy everything just the same, although the birds, due to their diversity and ease of seeing (in general) will perhaps be the ones that have the greatest prominence... but hey I don't want to spoil a lot since we are at the beginning of the report! The photos of fauna, as in my last trips, are a mixture of better photos with the reflex camera and others with my compact camera, in cases where it was not worth it for me to mount DSLR equipment, as well as other that my companions have kindly lent me.

We arrive to Banjul Airport in The Gambia late in the evening, and all (except Gabriela) were surprised by the chaos of this small, but still busy, african airport, with lots of people coming to "help us" or something. However, after the formalities, we found the employee of the rental company, picked up the car (a Mitsubishi Pajero, a curious name at least for Spanish speakers), changed money and got ready to move to the first accommodation for that night, called Sunshine Guesthouse, located in the small town of Bafuloto near the airport. A simple local house but quite comfortable, with fans in both bedrooms, although if you turned on the big one the whole electrical installation collapsed, so I had to sleep in African heat. The owner made us a typical Gambian dinner, that is, rice with chicken and a very spicy onion sauce. We would get used to this during the rest of the trip, as all meals were basically variations of this idea. After dinner, and as would happen on several nights of the trip, Gabriela and Javi were tired and decided to sleep, while Anxo and I decided to take a walk around the area to see the first species. The surroundings were not too promising, on the outskirts of the city, but walking towards some mangroves we were able to find a couple things, such as some amphibians, a cool whip scorpion and the first galagos or "bushbabys" of the trip, friendly nocturnal primates that we would see a lot later but we did not manage to photograph. The next morning we went out to have breakfast in the garden (a spicy noodle sandwich), and we thoroughly enjoyed the first African birds of multiple species that were seen, including the paradise-flycatchers that nested on the garden, and the beautiful bearded barbet, among many others.

We move forward from the metropolitan area of Banjul getting a little inland, but still not further from the coast. This coastal area of The Gambia, along with the neighboring Casamance in Senegal, is the region of Senegambia with more rainfall and, in spite of being densely populated, still host some fragments of natural forest, and some animal species typical of the west african rainforests, absent on the rest of the Gambia basin, which is dominated by guinean savannah. Shortly after leaving Bafuloto, we got stuck with our car in the mud for the first and only time on the whole trip, despite having a 4x4 and being on a road in the middle of the city. However, being the rainy season all the Gambian roads are real mudholes, and we learned late that it is better to cross through the middle of puddles, where trucks pass and the ground is more compact, than to try to go around them. This is what Anxo, who was driving in this case, did, resulting in all four wheels completely buried in the mud. The locals at first watched our clumsy trials to get the car out by putting rocks and sticks in, but finally they decided to help us. They did not hesitate to get themselves into the mud up to their knees with shovels to try to free the car. Although, in the end, it was a tanker truck that stopped and towed us out how we were able to get out. African kindness knows no bounds, as they even refused to accept money for having helped us. An example of the prejudices that often exist in Europe about Africa, there it would be strange to have received so much help without asking for it...

Our second hosting was Tumani Tenda Camp, placed on the shore of a beautiful mangrove, and hosted by a friendly local community. And they had beer, what else do we want? On our way, after the incident with the car, we stopped in a little patch of forest called Farasutu Forest, one of this last examples of coastal forest that is still in The Gambia. This forests are similar to a rainforest but most of the water for the trees comes from the soil, as they occur at the bottom of small depressions that lead to rivers. They are tangled with lots of bushes and vines, so looking for animals inside can be very difficult, specially snakes, of which there are several top species in these Gambian forests, such as the western green mamba or the savanna forest cobra, my two top snakes for The Gambia, which of course did not wanted to show here. When we get to the forest entrance, it was fenced with a little wall, but we saw no people inside, so I came in and the place seemed a little abandoned. Still, the sensible one of the group, Javi, was wary of entering the forest, in case they might say something about trespassing on private property. After a little discussion, we decided to ask a random villager nearby, who told us to go in without any problem. With this official permission, we finally convinced Javi and in we went.

As said, we did not find any snake in spite of looking carefully, but on this first morning we were able to see numerous new species of birds, which we enjoyed very much, as well as the forest scenery and the impressive baobabs in the nearby fields. We also saw our first (elusive) patas monkeys. But with no dubt the top moment in Farasutu was to find a little mammal trapped inside a cistern, which at first seemed a rat to us, then a porcupine cub, but finally we agreed that it was a little mongoose. First, our herper soul came out, and we tried to save it using our snake tongs and hooks, as we do with snakes on this kind of situations. When we saw that it was not working, the hero soul of Javi came out and he took a snake glove and try to catch the mongoose, but it went to the water. Finally, Anxo took it out with the hook and allowed him to be free into the forest. Another top moment in the nearby mangroves was to find a difficult bird species, the shinning blue kingfisher (Alcedo quadrybrachis), the rarest kingfisher in The Gambia, but it flew before I could take a picture. That night we went out to a forest area near Tumani, but we did not find anything interesting, snakes were still reluctant to show. 

The following day we went to one of the best preserved gallery forests on The Gambia, Pirang forest. This one is much more bigger than Farasutu, with older trees, and inside of it you truly have the impression of being on an african rainforest. Our herping and birding targets here were similar to the ones in Farasutu, but unlike there, in this case we were accompanied by a local guide, Marianne, from the association that is dedicated to the protection of this forest. Thanks to her help we were able to access many remote parts that hardly have trails. Although she is mainly a bird guide, which is what most people come to see here, she told us that she sees green mambas and other snakes quite often, and she was not bothered by my frequent escapes off the trail to look at promising areas for them. However, despite us being looking hard all morning, the snakes did not want to be seen again, herping in Africa seems to be tougher than we thought...

As for the birding part, the things were much better, and thanks to Marianne we were able to see one of the top species of the forest, the biggest owl of Africa, the Verreaux's eagle owl (Bubo lacteus) on his daytime resting perch at the top of a big tree. We saw it quite close and was one of the top birding moments of the trip for sure! We also saw some other forest specialities, such as the western pied hornbill (Lophoceros semifasciatus), and tried other as the green turaco with no luck. The fact that we didn't arrive very early probably also affected our chances of seeing animals, both reptiles and birds, something to bear in mind for other occasions. We said goodbye to Marianne, thanking her for her help and her great knowledge of this forest, which is worth visiting just to see it.

Verreaux's eagle owl (Bubo lacteus)

For the afternoon, I looked carefully for potential areas of herping on satellite images, and found a savannah area with paths to walk, a good road to roadcruise and a promising pond, so first we went on late afternoon with daylight to explore it. We saw a couple birds and the area looked quiet (except for some locals playing music on the background) and great to go on the night, so after dinner we came back. This night we were the four of us, as even Javi managed to come. First we did some roadcruising with no results, so instead we start walking to the pond. Shortly we found some amphibians, which appeared to have been breeding the weeks before, as the puddles on the road were full of tadpoles. A couple toads were on heat still, and following its call we found a friendly-looking species, the smiling running frog (Kassina fusca). However, snakes were still reluctant to show, and the situation was starting to be a bit frustrating for me. Finally, just a couple meters before getting back to the car, I saw a big fat snake just uncovered on the top of a termite mount. My first ever python on the wild, the royal or ball python (Python regius). This species is very popular as a pet, but as I am not a big fan of keeping animals, I had never seen a specimen like that, at least as far as I can remember. It was incredible to see this species in the wild, and even more so with a large specimen of almost its maximum size, not very long but strong and robust. Finally, the first snake of the trip. The specimen would soon live up to its name, unfortunately for the photos, curling up into a ball with its strong coils and hiding its head, so the photos are not as good as they could be. In any case, it was amazing to be able to see this constrictor and its incredible color pattern, so we left to bed very satisfied this time.

Royal python (Python regius)

After that good night with the python, we said goodbye to Tumani and head inland, following the southern shore of the Gambia river. Before our final destination we made some quick stops on the road to see some birds. On a spot that was marked on eBird as "Raptor Bridge" we did in fact see some raptors, highlighting some african white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus), which are getting rare and endangered in this part of Africa. Raptor birds are one of my favorite animal groups since my childhood, and will be one of the main characters that morning and all the trip also. Shortly after, we saw two eagles soaring very close above the road, which turned out to be one of my most desired species, the african hawk-eagle (Aquila spilogaster). A sister species to my favorite european bird, the Bonelli's eagle, sharing its fierce appearance and great agility in the air. A great lifer as we saw the pair very close flying and making stoops.

Finally, we arrived to Tendaba Camp, one of the most popular destinations for bird trips in The Gambia, as is placed on the southern shore of the river, just between two important natural areas, Kiang West National Park and Bao Bolon Wetland Reserve. It is also a good place to stay, with a restaurant, rooms with air conditioner and a pleasant treatment of visitors. On the afternoon we explored a bit on the surroundings of the camp and a nearby lake, seeing some new birds and trying to see also mammals with no luck, but we saw hyena footprints and another pair of african hawk-eagles, this time perched and even closer than the ones on the morning. We enjoyed a beautiful african sunset on the lake, and after dinner Anxo and I went out to do some roadcruising on paths near the National Park, but as typical this trip we did not saw any snakes, only bushbabys and a couple hares.

African Hawk-eagle (Aquila spilogaster)

On the next morning we have booked a boat trip to go to the mangroves of Bao Bolon Wetland Reserve, on the opposite side of the Gambia river. We met there with our guide Omar Jarju, who was with us for all the morning on the boat. It was impressive to cross the huge Gambia river, which in this area is more than four kilometers wide, being home to dolphins and even manatees, which we did not saw of course. What we did see were numerous species of birds, including a distant african fish eagle, crossing the river, and once in the mangroves we began to see numerous lifers. It didn't take long for the star species of the morning to appear, the immense Goliath heron (Ardea goliath), the largest heron in the world, which we saw at a good distance perched in a mangrove. Other birds seen included another species of heron, pelicans, cormorants, darters, kingfishers, hamerkop... and many other waterbirds. We also saw a couple of elusive crocodiles (Crocodylus suchus) and one or two Nile monitors (Varanus niloticus). We really enjoyed the tour of this mangrove ecosystem, so exotic for us, and we returned to have lunch and beer at the Tendaba restaurant.

Goliath heron (Ardea goliath)

On the afternoon, we decided to look for promising places to go herping on the night. So, as when the python two nights before, I scanned the satellite images of the area and found a couple ponds on the borders of Kiang West NP that looked promising, so we headed there shortly after lunch. The area was in fact very good-looking, the typical savannah ponds that you see in all the african documentaries, full of big mammals. In this case there were no mammals, but the ponds were full of birds and look great for herping at night. However, shortly after we arrived a local man on a somewhat worn-out bicycle came to us. We had a bit of trouble understanding him because he spoke rather strange English with a strong accent, but from what he told us he was some sort of national park ranger and had come on a tip-off from villagers who had seen us driving in on the road to the ponds. He told us that they were one of the few fresh water spots in the park (apparently they were inside and not outside as we thought). What we didn't quite understand is if we were doing something wrong by being there, but apparently we weren't and he just wanted to check who we were.

After that he started to tell us a tirade of things, some of them strange to say the least, like that he has guided Europeans through the park, a story of another ranger who drowned on the mangroves while running away from a herd of hyenas and a poacher who shot himself in the head by mistake trying to hunt in the park. He told us that this bicycle is the only means the government gives them to patrol the park, and to make matters worse the poachers had cut the brakes, which we were able to verify. Although we didn't quite trust the man to be an “official” ranger, he told us about another nearby waterhole he could show us and off we went. It wasn't a bad decision because we were able to see our only giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima) of the trip, the largest in the world, with a beautiful fishing scene, as well as a tawny eagle (Aquila rapax). When we finished he complained again about his bike and finally we had to make room for him as best we could in our car to take him back to his village. Before dinner we made a brief stop on the lake and had good views of another impressive raptor, the long-crested eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis).   

Upon arrival at Tendaba camp, we saw our guide Omar again and told him about our plans to look for snakes at night and our encounter with the “ranger”. He was curious about the idea and told us that he sometimes sees snakes in these kind of ponds, including pythons and spitting cobras, and that he could come with us, not as a guide this time but in a friendly way. We were delighted of course, and off we went after dinner, without Javi this time as he was tired. At the beginning we stopped at a couple of spots that Omar knew, like some fields with a lot of termite mounts and he tried to take us to another waterhole but the road was cut by fallen trees. So we finally went to the afternoon one, and when we arrived I separated from the group to explore the edge of the pond from below. It didn't take long for a beautiful African rock python (Python sebae) to appear, another of those legendary African species that were among the top snake targets of the trip. It was not very big, just under two meters, so I was able to handle it safely until my mates arrived.

And they were not alone, as it seems that the same guy we met on the afternoon was there again, this time not with the old bicycle, but with another villager who took him on his motorbike. But he knew Omar, and told us that he would not have come if he knew that if was us with him. The three africans were amazed at how we handled the snake, and although they were smiling, they didn't want to get too close, let alone hold it. The snake was calm until I decided to leave it on the shore to see if it would stay still for the photos, but at that moment it went crazy biting and moving so we finally had to let it go without taking too good photos. The rest of the night, accompanied by Omar, we walked around the area a little more and saw more interesting things. Highlighting a specimen of the marbled snout-burrower frog (Hemisus marmoratus), a very cool amphibian and the only one we saw on the trip. Shortly after I found a second snake, a small Gans's egg-eater (Dasypeltis gansi). My first ever Dasypeltis after a dead one on my first trip to Morocco, and a very cool african snake genus to see. Once again, Omar didn't want to get too close to this little snake, even though it didn't even bite. I could have taken better photos of this one and the frog, but my DSLR ran out of battery, so I had to use my compact camera.

On the morning of September 8th we left Tendaba towards the east, getting more inland following the river, as our target was to cross the border with Senegal and spend the night there to arrive to Niokolo-Koba NP the following day. On our journey I had marked some spots to stop on the way to look for some animals, mostly birds. Thus, a couple of stops in gambian wetlands were very fruitful, highlighting the observation of the egyptian plover (Pluvialis aegyptius), an emblematic wader that we would not see in other places of the trip, as well as a few more lifers. We arrived at the border post with Senegal, where they kept us for a while wasting time because we had not changed money to the Senegalese FCFA to pay the entry fees, and they did not want our Gambian money. After solving it thanks to a local (who was nicer than the border official), we entered this new country. From here on the local language changed from English to French, so I found it difficult to understand the locals and we had to rely on Gabriela as the “spokesperson”, in regret of her, for the team. We arrived at the Bambouck Hotel, near the town of Koungheul, to spend the night. A halfway decent place although the treatment of the people seemed to me "drier" than in The Gambia (maybe because I did not understand them). After cleaning some clothes and have dinner, Anxo and I went out to explore the surroundings in search of the first Senegalese snakes. Again we failed, although we saw some interesting amphibians, the only freshwater turtles of the trip (Pelomedusa olivacea), and a couple of specimens of the magnificent standard-winged nightjar (Caprimulgus longipennis), although without the famous male feathers that give them their name. 

Finally, we arrived to the famous Niokolo-Koba NP the 9th of September around midday. Our plan was to stay for three nights, looking for big mammals mostly, but also for birds and the herps that could be seen. Niokolo-Koba is like the last refuge for most of the emblematic megafauna in this part of western Africa, a vast area of guinean savannah which has been protected for decades, although it has not been free from the pressure of poaching, that has even been very intense, leading to the disappearance of the last elephants, for example, of those who are just less than a ten now roaming the park. Even so, this space harbors a spectacular set of species, starting with the great herbivores, including hypos and the largest antelope in the world, the Derby's eland. Among the carnivores, here are found most of the big African species except perhaps the cheetah, with population of lions (about fifty individuals), leopards, spotted hyenas and the last remaining african wild dogs of West Africa. However, despite this great diversity of emblematic fauna, this is not so easy to see as in the southern and eastern African parks. The Guinean savanna is a very closed savanna, with a large amount of trees, which together with the low density of animals in the wide space of this park (with almost a million hectares) makes that the encounters with the most elusive species, like big carnivores, depend a lot on your luck. In addition we went in the rainiest time of the year, with very high grass and many of the paths flooded and impassable, which makes it even more difficult. Even so, we did not want to miss this place, even just to feel that we were in a complete ecosystem, the last paradise for Western Africa fauna, and see what nature would like to offer us.

The park has clear rules, to enter you have to do it in the company of a local guide, with a 4x4 car (if you don't have it you can rent it too, but it was not our case) and you have the option to stay inside, there being a couple of places enabled. We had contacted Abdoulaye Kanté, from the association of park guides, to guide us and book us three nights at the "Campament du Lion", perhaps the most “genuine” place to stay inside the park, in the middle of nature, although there is also an expensive lodge that opens in dry season. When we arrived at the park entrance we saw that our guide would not be Kanté but Ibrahima, a veteran with more than 35 years of experience in Niokolo which also hosts a campsite just outside the park, and seeing how it went with him we could not be happier. Shortly after entering the park he had a big surprise in store for us, as we saw a serval (Leptailurus serval)  in the middle of the road, an elusive cat not easy to see even in other parts of Africa. The encounter was brief until it dissapeared into the grass, but Gabriela was faster with her "body-out-of-the-window" photo technique and was able to take a testimonial picture. According to Ibrahima, a species even more difficult to see here than the lion or the leopard.

With the hype high, we went deeper into the park to see the first antelopes, the two commonest species here, the first one is the bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus), locally named "bambis" (how much damage has been done by Disney...), which is always in areas with closed vegetation. The second, which favors more open areas, is the Buffon's kob (Kobus kob kob). We saw also a family of warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) and tracks of the roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus), although we were not be able to see this one (easier on dry season, according to Ibrahima). Before getting to the camp, we saw also a cool big Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus), basking beside the path, Niokolo will be with difference the place of the trip where we saw more monitors, surely here they are better protected from over-poaching. We got to the campsite and after dinner we went to bed, as the rules of the park strictly forbid to go out on the night, but even so I could see a couple amphibians around the place. 

Serval (Leptailurus serval). Testimonial shot by Gabriela.

The next two full days were dedicated to exploring the visitable part of the park, which in rainy season is just a small extension of its total area, the one between the "Camp Du Lion" and the Simenti camp, and little else. Here we find some open grassland areas that mixed with more wooded areas, and some viewpoints to the Gambia River, which was very high. This caused us to not see any hippo, an easy thing in the dry season, when they concentrate on the river, but with the rains they disperse along the savannah. The same thing happens with the crocodiles, of which we only saw one individual briefly in a puddle along the road. Finding some more carnivores was also unsuccessful, although we could enjoy a couple of pardine genets (Genetta pardina) around the camp trash the last night. We also saw two other species of antelope, the impressive defassa waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defassa) and the curious and small oribi (Ourebia ourebi). The warthogs were also frequent around the camp to pick up some food remains, allowing nice views, and we saw also the bushbucks and Buffon's kobs daily. As for the birds, we did some lifers also, highlighting some new raptors, as the emblematic bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus), with its unique tail-less silhouette. 

One group of animals to highligh, however, was the primates, with a family of green vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus) residing daily at the camp. This animals are very used to people and to receive food from tourists, and therefore very confident and cheeky as only a monkey can be. It was also very cool to see the large troups of guinea baboons (Papio papio), which form groups of dozens of monkeys, with each family lead by a big male. Here they are being studied by a german scientific group led in the field by a spaniard, Anaïs Avilés, whom we had the pleasure of meeting and who told us a little about her work with these primates, as well as the conditions of carrying out a scientific study in this remote African area. We did not see much more wildlife due to the situation of the paths that limited our movements in the park, and to the strict regulations that oblige us to be back in the camp before 6 pm, thus losing the most active hours of the evening. The state of the park's roads is also quite deplorable and forces you to be very careful of puddles and potholes when driving; the width of the tracks is very narrow and visibility on the sides to see wildlife is usually quite low. It is possible that if this network of roads were improved, allowing for exploring more areas of the park (which are used by different species of wildlife) even in the rainy season, as well as creating some observation towers, this site's potential could be better exploited. With the impressive collection of animal species it has, a little better management could make it a reference destination for observing African wildlife from Europe, as it is much more affordable to go than any park in places like Kenya or Botswana. Despite everything, we were very happy with our days spent in the park, and we hope to return in the future, perhaps in the dry season. We thanked Ibrahima for his professionalism and talent, and moved on to our next destination.

After enjoying the hair and feathered fauna in Niokolo-Koba, the second half of our tour in Senegal was destined more to search for herps, although without disdaining other objectives in case they were profitable. Thus, we headed to the southeastern corner of the country, already on the border with Guinea, staying at the comfortable “Chez Leontine” camp in Bandafassi. The accommodation has good food, beer and plenty of sunbirds on the garden. It was really one of the few positive things to take out of these days, because this was the part of the trip in which practically everything went upside down, screwing up situations even when it seemed that we had succeeded. But we will elaborate on this later... The reason for visiting this area is that it is practically the only region in Senegal where there is some relief, in the form of rocky plateaus with forest-covered slopes, and countless ravines and waterfalls descending from them. Here, some Spanish friends who were here in 2015 found many snakes, including an abundance of the carpet viper Echis ocellatus. Also found here are some species of birds that have their only distribution in Senegal in this area, and to top it off there is an interesting population of savannah chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus). With this perspective, anyone would think that we were going to have a fruitful few days, but that was before we saw how things are managed here... The first afternoon we didn't have much time, so we took a leisurely walk at dusk to a stream where the Spanish team told me they saw many snakes. The recent rains had made everything quite waterlogged, so we only saw mud when lifting stones... When we arrived in the area everything was quite cultivated, with people living there, and thick vegetation, so we were not able to look for herps so much. At night, Anxo and I went out on a track with a lot of potential for track and we did quite a few kilometres, but no snakes appeared. Nor did we see any on foot later in the area from the afternoon. 

The next morning we headed to the Dindéfelo area to do the famous waterfall track, which has the potential to see birds, snakes and the endemic aquatic skink found here. When we arrived at the village, we were told that we had to go to the visitor center, as apparently tourists are not allowed to move around the protected area of the Dindéfelo reserve without paying an entrance fee. So that's what we did, and when we told them that we wanted to go to the waterfall, they told us that it was necessary to be accompanied by a local guide (and to pay more for that). They assigned us to a local who, to tell the truth, didn't talk so much, and we started the route. The guide was soon walking ahead at full speed, without saying a word, trusting that we would just follow him until getting to the waterfall. The area, with its gallery forest, had great potential for seeing wildlife, so it was not surprising that we stopped early to see some new bird species and look for potential snake spots. The boy didn't seem to like this very much, and he started complaining to Gabriela (poor her, she was the only one who understood his french) that we couldn't do that, because we were going to lose sight of him, we could get lost, and things like that. The route became uncomfortable, as every time we saw a bird and stopped, the guide got upset, even saying that if that was what we wanted to do, we should book a bird tour instead of the waterfall tour. It seems that, apart from their lack of professionalism and understanding with tourists, the guides here are not used to taking wildlife-interested people, and I think that since since you pay to do the route, you should be able to enjoy it at your own pace. We finally arrived at the waterfall where I miraculously saw a specimen of the aquatic skink (Cophoscincopus senegalensis), which wanted to appear near the path as soon as we arrived. There we found some more tourists who were taking a bath, so even though we didn't have swimsuits we started to imitate them. The landscape there was certainly spectacular. When we finished, the guide was even more in a hurry so we couldn't see much on the way back. A bittersweet experience and I was left with the feeling that with the beautiful scenery of the area and all the time in the world to explore it, we would have seen many more animals, including snakes. The lack of communication and professionalism of the guides in this case greatly hampered the experience of visiting this reserve, as we would also discover, to our regret, the following day...

The rest of the day we tried to find some snakes looking on fields, savannah and rocky ares outside of the reserve, with no luck. At our way back to hve dinner, we saw a perched white-tailed snake eagle (Circaetus cinerascens), a new lifer raptor. The bird seemed to be quite interesting on the grass down it, when suddenly it dived down in a short flight and after a while it went up having a snake on the talons. The funny (to not cry) thing is that that was the only snake we saw in Senegal in all the trip. It looked stout and white-bellied, so probably a viper, Echis or Causus. Things were certainly not going well for us here, and even a bird had to come along to make fun of us...

The second night in Bandafassi we did not go out to look for snakes. The reason was that we had booked a tour for the next morning to try to see the chimpanzees in the area. When we asked at the reserve's visitor centre they told us that they did offer tours to see the chimpanzees, and as the price was not excessively expensive (45 euros per person) we decided to book it, given the possibility of seeing this emblematic species, our closest wild relatives. This savannah chimpanzees here are the ones whose behavior is said to be more similar to that of primitive hominids, and they have even been seen hunting smaller monkeys with spears. They are studied by people from the Jane Goodall Foundation, whom we also contacted through a friend and co-worker of Anxo, who had been working with them years ago. They told us to call them and they would speak to our guide as soon as we knew who he was, so they could recommend him to go to the areas where they had seen the chimpanzees most recently. We met the guide in Dindéfelo very early in the morning, before sunrise (which is why we missed that night of herping). Again a local guy who only spoke French and very little Spanish. We managed to call our colleagues from the foundation (who were great for getting up so early to help us) and they recommended a different area to where he was planning to take us, so we moved there instead. We started the tour along a path into a valley between mountains. This guide didn't talk to us much either, although when we asked him he told us that we would look for the apes trying to hear them from the path, since they usually vocalize in the morning. We spent several hours like this, walking a few meters and listening, without detecting anything, until we turned around, and we thought we weren't going to see them. At that moment, we heard a primate howl to our right, not too far away, which was unmistakably that of a chimpanzee. With renewed spirits, we went in that direction following the guide, until we heard them closer again. Everyone was smiling and very motivated then, as we stopped close by where he told us. Suddenly we started to hear several individuals calling very close, it seemed like we were surrounded by them and we even saw some movement of branches, but no sight of the animals, and they stopped. The guide waited about five minutes and as we didn't hear anything more, he turned around without giving any explanation and made us follow him. At that moment we didn't know if he was trying to take a detour to see the apes from another side, as we even heard them again about the same direction than before, but when we saw the main path again he told us that the group of chimpanzees had left, that they always go far up the mountain if they see people.

At that moment, all the hype fell to the ground, with how difficult it is to find them and we had been so close, without seeing them, and on top of that we were going to leave just like that... In my case, I got quite angry, although I didn't want to argue with the guide (who also didn't understand my language), because it didn't seem to me that the apes had gone as far as he said. A large group of chimpanzees has to make noise no matter what if they go that far, and we hadn't seen more than a little initial movement. Later, the guys from the foundation told us that chimps usually give the alarm and then remain still when they detect people nearby, but that they tolerate a distance of about 30 meters, since this group is used to it. That made me even angrier at this guide, clearly a person not qualified to take people to see great apes, if he is not able to interpret their behavior well or was afraid to get close. We can't know, but he certainly didn't mind leaving us with honey on our lips and was unable to see our frustration. As long as the area continues to have this kind of management and these lousy guides, who lack the necessary training, I would not recommend anyone to visit. It is a pity, because well managed this area could attract a lot of nature tourism that would generate wealth for the locals. If the guide had made more of an effort to make sure we saw the chimpanzees he would have gotten a good tip plus good recommendations to many naturalists in Europe from us. Thus, they only get us to talk bad about the site and less and less people go....

Anyway, between anger and tiredness, we did not do much herping that day, although we looked for snakes again in the afternoon and roadcruise at night without success. With our spirits not very high but wanting to move to another place, the next morning we returned on our way to Gambia. As we passed through the road that runs through Niokolo-Koba, we were at least able to enjoy the sighting of the spectacular northern ground hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus), a really huge bird. We also saw a family of mongooses and several groups of primates crossing the road, such as baboons and patas monkeys. Another place that, with the fauna it has, could be a great ecotourism destination if it were better managed. Observation towers at the foot of that road could be very useful... We arrived at Basse Santa Su in The Gambia at night after having another troublesome process at the border that I am not going to dwell on too much but that ended up draining the little spirit I had left that day. Tomorrow would be another day, heading towards the final days of the trip.

Northern ground hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus)

We woke up the next morning in our comfortable hotel, ready to face the last stage of the trip. Our idea was to go as soon as possible back towards the coast to have one or two days where to try again what failed us in the first days there, especially snakes like the green mamba. However, our dear “Pajero” had other ideas. It had been giving some problems since we left Niokolo-Koba, but at this stage of the trip the car already decided to fail too much to be tolerable. Not only did the engine feel limp, but it would suddenly shut down and lock up the steering. This, on roads where cows, goats, all kinds of vehicles and people are crossing every second, is a real danger. We first tried to improve the situation by putting new oil in the engine, but the car was not doing much better, so we decided to call the company to ask for a replacement vehicle. Again, a broken car, as in every of my trips... It must be said that in this case the response of the rental company was very positive, and we agreed with them that we would try to get to Tendaba, a place we already knew, so that they would give us the new car. On the way, while we were driving very cautiously, an encounter took place that would fix, at least in part, our previous sorrows. While I was in the passenger seat and Gabriela was driving, I saw a large bird of prey perched in a dry tree on the right side of the road, and it didn't take me two seconds to shout: “marcial!, marcial!”. And indeed, there was one of our most desired species, the so-called “leopard of the air”, most powerful eagle in Africa, the martial eagle (Polemaetus belicosus). A beautiful adult specimen, at a distance that we would never have imagined to see it, and to top it off, it was eating an also incredible prey, a savannah monitor (Varanus exanthematicus). We were able to enjoy the raptor and take pictures at our leisure for several minutes while it was devouring its prey, until Javi tried to get out of the car to take videos, and it could no longer tolerate it. An encounter that will remain as one of the best moments of the trip.

After stopping for lunch in a curious place, with a lot of "flow" and Jamaican vibes, we arrived at Tendaba and received the new car without major problems, in this case a small van. The people at the camp were happy to see us again, and we felt at home. And since we were going to spend the night there, we decided to go out to herp around the ponds area that gave us such a good result last time, in the surroundings of Kiang West NP. In this case, we went into by another way to avoid running into the usual "bike ranger", just in case. And the night started strong with the only snake of the trip seen on the road, a striped house snake (Boaedon lineatus). My first Boaedon alive at last, after seeing it roadkilled on my first trip to Morocco. Always very beautiful these nocturnal snakes with iridescent scales. We entered the savannah with the sound of hyenas howling in the background. We didn't see them even though the moon was full, but they weren't too far away... fortunately or unfortunately, they are quite elusive here. We did not see any more snakes that night, but triumphed in finding a couple of very interesting amphibians. For starting, my top amphibian species in Senegambia, the West African rubber frog (Phrynomantis microps). A frog of the always cool Microhylidae family, deep red in color and with a very peculiar biology. They live inside ant nests, avoiding ant bites thanks to certain substances on their skin. It is a relatively difficult species to see, which I did not count on at that point of the trip. We also saw a beautiful silver running frog (Kassina cassinoides), this one found by Gabriela. The second Kassina species of the trip, very pretty but honoring her name of runner, it did not want to collaborate much with the photos. A good night of herping to compensate our sorrows in Senegal...

Martial Eagle (Polemaetus belicosus)

West African Rubber Frog (Phrynomantis microps)

On the last full day of the trip, we woke up in Tendaba and after breakfast and saying goodbye to the friendly locals, we headed for the coast. Finally our plan was to stay near the beach to visit the sea as a farewell to the trip and in search of a bird that we were missing, as well as looking for herps in the afternoon and evening in the area. It took us a while to find accommodation on the coast, since it was low season and many of them were closed, but finally we were able to find a very decent one near the Gunjur area. The plan then was to take advantage of the afternoon and have dinner after the crittering, as we had learned (late) that the highest snake activity occurs at dusk and early evening. So, after settling in and telling our host to make dinner for us at 22:30h, we headed to the beach. It was a short walk but somewhat curious since it was not the tourist season and the people we saw seemed surprised to see four white people walking around, and some were a bit tiresome. On the beach we saw a few new birds, most notably a pair of four-banded sandgrouse, and enjoyed the sunset quietly. Or well, until a local guy came up to talk to us as if he was our lifelong friend, maybe trying to get some profit from us, which ruined the moment a bit, especially for poor Anxo who seemed to be the one he liked it better... 

After sunset, we walked back to the car enjoying the spectacle of dozens of broad-billed rollers hunting insects in flight. At the moment, no snakes were seen in this densely populated area, so looking at the map again I saw a little path, not far away, that went into a wooded zone apparently without houses. So we decided to take a look there before dinner. When we arrived, despite the fact that it was mostly mango fields, the area looked promising, with some large trees, natural vegetation and puddles full of frogs along the way. We saw the last galagos of the trip, and soon we were surrounded by large bats that came to feed on the ripe fruit, taking flight as we passed. It was at that moment, surrounded by bats, that Gabriela alerted us to the presence of a snake. We had to look twice, as it was a tiny juvenile herald snake (Crotaphopeltis hotamboiea), in the middle of the path and we had all passed it by. A nocturnal and iridescent species similar to the Boaedon, which I had already seen curiously in my native Valencia, since a specimen appeared on a cargo ship a couple years ago and we took care of it from the association.

And moments later, already returning, it was Gabriela's keen eyesight who also found the last snake of the trip, and the first venomous one. Again, I was looking more to the branches than to the ground (a habit picked up in the jungles of Costa Rica that in Africa seems not to be the best), and did not see the body covered in scales and half buried in the leaf litter. From its appearance and behavior, it was clear to me that it was a stiletto snake (Atractaspis sp.), a fascinating genus that I had always wanted to see. These snakes have fossorial habits, and have very special dentition that gives them their name, since they stab their prey (or enemies) with long fangs that they can stick out of their mouths to pierce laterally with them. Their venom is hemotoxic and relatively potent, being the only venomous snakes that it is not safe to handle by holding the head (something that I never do anyway). So we were able to safely handle it with the hook and tongs, and we were surprised by its quick, jerky movements, similar to those of the coral snakes I saw the previous year in Costa Rica. Pointing its head downwards, it positioned its fangs upwards for whatever might happen... A beautiful animal with its strongly iridescent scales, and a great herpetological finale to the trip. By the way, there are some similar-looking species of Atractaspis in Senegambia, but after looking on the snake guide I identified it as the slender burrowing asp (Atractaspis aterrima).

Slender burrowing asp (Atractaspis aterrima)

The morning of the last day, before taking the flight, we planned to spend it exploring one of the most famous places of the country for wildlife watching, but which until then we had avoided because it was perhaps too "touristy", the Abuko forest NR. Despite everything, it is close to the airport and seems to have good references to some of our most wanted snakes, again such as the forest cobra or the green mamba, which gave us one last chance for finding them. We did not have much time to explore the forest, since a small error with the GPS led us into a maze of Gambian streets, each one more flooded than the last, to the misery of poor Javi who was driving. It was the only moment of the trip when we saw him to lose his calm, while trying to avoid getting the car stuck in the mud again and again (remember that we no longer had a 4x4). After almost getting stuck in a real dunghill (and getting a bit dirty because of Javi's habit of driving with the windows open), we managed to find the exit thanks to the help of a friendly child. Not without first making a submarine attempt with the car in the last puddle (the water covered the windscreen, and again, a wave entered through the window). We finally arrived at Abuko with the car dirty but working, although it was already close to midday and therefore not the best time for seeing snakes.

You have to pay a fee to enter the reserve, but it is not too much, around three euros. The landscape is a gallery forest similar to that of Pirang, although it seemed to me to be smaller and somewhat less well preserved, since although the reserve is large, it is not mostly mature forest. The paths were very flooded and many of them impassable. We did not see too many birds and none of them were new, although we did have good observations of a group of red colobus, a monkey which we had only seen from a large distance in Niokolo-Koba. As for reptiles, a couple of Nile monitor lizards were very well seen, as well as a crocodile in one of the ponds, but no sign of snakes despite looking for them hard. At the information centre I saw that they had a guide to Gambian amphibians, and as I found it interesting I asked the price and understood from the local, with his African-accented English, that it was 5000 dalasi. Without thinking much about how many euros that was, I gave it to him, but shortly after he came running to tell me that he "didn't want to eat my money" since the little book cost 150 dalasi (one and a half euros) and not 5000 (about seventy euros). A final anecdote that serves as proof that Africans don't always go for the tourist's money at all costs and of the extreme kindness of these people. Although the man must have thought I was a millionaire for not caring about paying so much for a little book, since he was very kind the rest of the morning and gave me his number in case I ever needed a guide for the area...

We finally arrived at the airport and handed over the replacement car without any further complications and without any surprise demands being made on us, so we were very happy with the rental company. This was the end of our first trip through sub-Saharan Africa, with many good moments and some lessons for future trips, but which we will surely always remember fondly for how much fun we had.

This trip was somewhat improvised, unlike previous trips, and as I mentioned at the beginning of the report, I have taken it a little calmly than other times when looking for animals, which may have influenced the final result. Senegal and Gambia are amazing in terms of fauna, but there is still little information on groups other than birds, especially herps, so the trip has been very trial and error in that sense. The important thing is that we have been able to observe very emblematic species that any naturalist always dreams of seeing, from the martial eagle to the serval, passing through the goliath heron, the Nile monitor lizard and the rock python. The birds have given a lot of joys, highlighting the 25 species of raptors seen, an impressive number. As for the herps, especially the snakes have been very difficult to find, compared to my trips to Costa Rica here it was much more difficult to look for them, something that apparently everyone who has herped in tropical Africa always sees. We learned very late which are the best hours of activity, at sunset and the first hours of dark, when we were usually having dinner, which may have influenced in the fact that we did not see many snakes, besides all the fuss in the Bandafassi area, where I was confident would be good for herps but ending being a failure.  Nevertheless, we have learned a lot for future trips to Africa, we have seen that it is safe to travel to these countries on our own, and I will probably return very soon to settle the accounts with the snakes and much more animals here that we have not seen. Finally, I would like to thank my trip mates, Javi, Anxo and Gabriela, for their company and their enthusiasm. We were a diverse team in which I perhaps was the link (they were all friends of mine but they didn't know each other that well) and I am very happy that everything went well and we were all able to enjoy the trip, each in their own style. We will have many anecdotes to tell over some good beers in the coming years, and I am sure that we will all travel together again very soon!!

As always, I ended mentioning all the friends and kind fellow naturalists who helped us in the arrangement of this trip. In this case, there was no one who has traveled to Senegambia before in the same plan we did, so perhaps our experience also can help others. However, the help of Gabri Martínez and Alberto Sánchez was of great help for the herping part, as for birding and mammals we have to thank the advice of friends as Conrado Requena, Ayla Monllor, Mara Gutiérrez, Manolo García, Paula Álvarez and Daniel Iglesias.

See you all soon in the next adventure!! 

Team photograph after landing sound and safe in Barcelona, we will miss Africa!

Species list

Herps

- Amphibians (all frogs)

Prhynobatrachus sp.

Leptopelis viridis

Leptopelis bufonides

Ptychadena oxyrhynchus

Hoplobatrachus occipitalis

Hildebrantia ornata

Amirana galamensis

Kassina cassinoides 

Kassina fusca

Phrynomamtis microps

Hemisus marmoratus

Sclerophrys macularis

Sclerophrys regularis

- Reptiles (except snakes)

Pelomedusa olivacea

Kinixys belliana

Lygodactilus guturalis

Hemydactilus angulatus

Tarentola senegambiae

Tarentola parvicarinata

Agama agama 

Trachylepis perroteti

Coposcincus senegalensis

Varanus niloticus

Varanus exanthematicus

Crocodylus suchus

- Snakes

Python regius

Python sebae

Dasypeltis gansi

Boaedon lineatus

Boaedon fuliginosus (Roadkilled)

Crotaphopeltis hotamboiea

Atractaspis aterrima

Mammals

- Primates

Galago sp.

Patas Monkey (Erythrocebus patas)

Green monkey (Chlorocebus sabaeus)

Western red colobus (Piliocolobus badius)

Guinea baboon (Papio papio)

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) (heard)

- Carnivores 

Mangoose sp. (two or three species probably)

Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) (tracks and heard)

Serval (Leptailurus serval)

Pardine genet (Genetta pardina)

- Rodents and lagomorphs

Gambian sun squirrel (Heliosciurus gambianus)

Gambian pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus)

Mouse sp.

Cape hare (Lepus capensis)

- Bats

Straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum)

Insectivorous bat sp.

- Ungulates 

Common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus)

Harnessed bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus)

Kob (Kobus kob)

Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus)

Oribi (Ourebia ourebi)

Roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) (tracks)

Birds: see Ebird trip report with the full list (plus more photos and map of the trip).