THE COASTAL SAFARI
A SHORE THING IN SENEGAL
I’ve seen plenty of vultures on safari, but I’ve never seen a
pair of hooded vultures squabbling over a find on a beach.
The prize at stake is a puffer fish, delivered by the tide.
Bloated and covered with spines, it’s gruesome, even by
vultures’ bloody tastes. But the twosome are so engrossed,
they barely register me as I approach. I settle down to
watch, while gulls and terns swoop and dive over the surf
in the background.
“Pretty impressive, don’t you think?” says a passing
boat-builder, heading for the spot where fishing pirogues
are crafted and painted, further down the sands. “They’re
our clean-up squad. We often see them here. Turtles and
dolphins get washed up from time to time. Sometimes even
whales, too.”
Had I been scouring an East African savannah in a
four-wheel-drive, I probably wouldn’t have stopped for
such a sight. I’d have urged my guide on in search of
wise-eyed elephants, or stiff-tailed warthogs, or a leopard
kill draped over a branch in a tree. But I’m in West Africa
— and because gulls, terns and these pink-faced, chestnut-
backed scavengers are as emblematic of Senegal’s wild and
beautiful Atlantic coastline as The Jungle Book’s
preditory vultures are of their skeleton trees, this little
scene has me hooked. It was only in 2021 that the first
scientific paper describing beach-feeding Senegalese
vultures was published. Finding these ones all by myself
has made my day.
I’m on a do-it-yourself nature walk in Casamance,
wandering along the beach before heading into the swathe
of wetlands and gardens slightly inland. Ethnically and
geologically a single region, Casamance and southern
Gambia are rightly famous among birdwatchers in the
know. They’re bounded by the mighty West African
Gambia and the Casamance rivers that create a rich web of
tidal and freshwater habitats, supporting hundreds of local
species and reviving migrants after their long, perilous
journey across North Africa and the Sahel. But while in
The Gambia it’s easy to hire a bird guide, here in
Casamance, they’re thin on the ground, and the official
bird sanctuary, Kalissaye Avifaunal Reserve, is barely
visited at all. With the separatist troubles that have been
simmering in the background since the 1980s never quite
resolved, the Casamance safari industry, once promising,
never really stood a chance.
But with hope in the air that the troubles may soon
be over, southern Senegal’s prospects as an ecotourism
destination are finally looking bright. In the meantime,
an independent trip is the way to go. Invaluable though
specialist guides and lodges can be, it’s perfectly possible
to make do without: I’ve simply booked a room at a quiet,
rustic guesthouse on the blissfully sunny coast, and set
out with eyes and ears peeled.
I’d hesitate to call myself a bird nerd; much less, a
twitcher. At home in England, I have less patience with
the whole thing — our birds are too familiar, perhaps, or
too elusive, or too drab, and we don’t always have the best
weather. But in Africa, birdwatching has delivered some
of my happiest moments. And in Senegal, so many birds
are large, colourful, musical or just cute, the rewards
seem that much greater; and with the country home to 691
species of bird there’s a great chance of spotting plenty, too.
When you’re exploring a habitat that’s ultra-biodiverse,
it’s easy to get hung up on identification. But instead of
obsessing over whether one fabulous creature is called a
beautiful or splendid sunbird, and whether the call I’m
hearing is a yellow-throated leaflove or a yellow-billed
shrike, I try to enjoy each sight and sound as it comes. I’ve
learned enough about birdwatching to know that it’s when
you put the ticklist away that the fun stuff really starts.
How to do it: The Gambia Experience offers seven-night
stays at Esperanto Lodge in Casamance in Senegal, from
£899, including B&B, flights from Gatwick to Banjul in
The Gambia and onward road transfers. gambia.co.uk
Top tip: Visit in Senegal’s rainy season, June to September,
and between thunderstorms, you’ll see hear birds singing
their loudest, resplendent in their breeding plumage. IMAGES:GETT
Y;^
EMMA
GR
EGG
Africa’s vibrant west coast offers unique wildlife
wonders, from sea turtles and coral reefs to
encounters with Senegal’s brilliant birds
Clockwise from top:
Fishing boats in Ngor
Dakar, Senegal; a
hooded vulture on
Kafountine beach,
Senegal; Banana Beach,
Principe Island, São
Tomé and Príncipe