Gabon has some of the most remarkable wilderness areas remaining in Africa. With a tiny population, this central African nation is covered in pristine, wild lowland forest replete with phenomenal birds, forest elephant, buffalo, lowland Gorilla, Chimpanzees, and Mandrill, not to mention a host of localized endemic central African monkeys. Over three-quarters of Gabon is untouched wilderness and the country enjoys one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa. Our tour takes in the magical Lopé reserve, a mosaic of rainforest and savanna; this park holds some of the best birding in Africa. We then move on to the remote Ivindo Basin. One of the main targets here will be the magnificent African River Martin and a plethora of other forest birds. Our final destination in Gabon is the “highlands” of southeast Gabon, an area covered in Miombo woodland, and holding some very local species such as Congo Moorchat, Finsch’s Francolín, Black-chinned Weaver, and Salvadori’s Eremomela.

After returning to Libreville, we head to São Tomé and Príncipe. These two small, remote, and forgotten islands in the Gulf of Guinea, straddling the equator, are the southern extension of a volcanic ridge which runs from Mount Cameroon in the north. These former colonies closed their doors to the west after the Portuguese abandoned them in 1975 and very little has been heard of them since. In the interior, extensive tracts of rainforest, dripping from the constant rain, cover the steep, precipitous, uninhabited slopes of the towering volcanic mountains. The islands hold many globally threatened endemics and our tour attempts to find them all. Our 2004 trip was one of very few commercial tours to ever record all the endemics! The coastal lowlands hold the wing-snapping São Tomé Prinia and São Tomé Spinetail. The Botanical gardens may yield the awesome Giant Sunbird and Black-capped Spierops. The hike to the interior gives us our only chance at the rarest of the endemics including the bizarre São Tomé Short-tail and the critically endangered Dwarf Olive Ibis, melodious Newton’s Fiscal and near mythical São Tomé Grosbeak, thought to be extinct until 1990 and only seen by a handful of lucky people since. We move to Príncipe, a smaller island only a short flight away. The seven endemics here are mostly easy to see and we should be able to spend a great deal of time enjoying the world-class snorkeling at our luxurious beach resort set up for scuba diving and Marlin fishing once we have nabbed the birds.

A complete itinerary is available upon request. Please email us at tropicalbirding@telkomsa.net