We were asked to arrange a 6 day bird watching trip for someone from Germany. He contacted us through the web site and informed us that he was particularly interested in trying to see the white-necked Picathartes and that he would also like to visit Tiwai island. With these requests in mind we started to do our research and began to plan the trip to meet them.

The first thing that we did was to find out what we could about the white-necked Picarthartes, also known as the bare headed Guinea Fowl. We learnt that it was an endangered species but that it was present in the western peninsular rain forrest and in Tiwai Island in Sierra Leone. This was interesting to us because we live just a few kilometeres/miles from the western peninsular rain forrest which can be accessed either from a bit further along Peninsular Road or from the other side by driving up and over Himat through the pretty, little, Creole villages of Regent and Bathurst and up into the western peninsular conservation area by the Chimpanzee sanctuary (see earlier blog). Tiwai Island was a different matter, this being located up country beyond BO, Sierra Leone’s second city, aproximately a seven hour drive away. That part of the trip would have to be a field mission.

Our research did show that this was likely to be an interesting and rewarding experience because the island was a nature conservation area which as well as being home to over 120 species of birds also hosts pygmy hippotpotomus, crocodiles,chimpanzees, seven different kinds of monkies including the black and the red colobus and Diana monkies, hundreds of buttterflies, beautiful flaura and fauna, interesting fungii and countless bats. More about the planning the itinery, the expert bird watching guide and a daily diary of this amazing week to follow. (with more stunning pictures as well.