West Africa has a long-held reputation for being a difficult region to travel in. This is perhaps true for places like Nigeria and Sierra Leone, although Ghana is very different, being a very safe and easy going destination suitable for all types of birders. Ghana offers a fantastic introduction to West African birds, by combining trips to the Upper Guinea savanna in the north with a journey into the lush rainforest belt in the south. A real bonus with visiting Ghana is the chance for Yellow-headed Picathartes. This strange, cave-dwelling, rainforest bird is found only very locally within West Africa and is therefore rightly highly-prized among world birders. Ghana offers the best and safest chance in the world to get this bird right now. On top of that, the savanna within Ghana’s oldest and largest national park, Mole, offers up another African jewel of its own, the bright ginger Pel’s Fishing-Owl that we can sometimes even find staked out on day roosts.

Day 1: Arrival. After your arrival in Ghana’s capital you will be transferred to our coastal hotel, just outside Accra.

Day 2: Winneba Plains to Kakum. We’ll spend the day traveling and birding to our Kakum hotel, but not before visiting a bird-packed lagoon just a stone’s throw from our Accra hotel. There we will be greeted by the site of hundreds of birds, including shorebirds working the muddy edges like Kitlitz’s Plovers and Collared Pratincoles, herons and egrets wading in the deeper waters that could include Black Herons with their bizarre ‘umbrella’ fishing style, and rafts of terns out on the lagoon islands. The scrubby edges around the lake should bring us our first Western Plantain-eaters, and vermillion-red chested Yellow-crowned Gonoleks lurk in the brush. From there we will make our way to Hans Cottage, birding some savanna and wetland sites along the way. At the end of the day we’ll arrive at our base for the next four nights, complete with great views over the lake where weaver colonies crowd the islands and Nile Crocodiles loaf harmlessly along the shore.

Day 3: Kakum NP. One of the tour highlights is visiting Kakum’s famous canopy walkway, the finest example of its kind in Africa. The walkway is often alive with birds buzzing in the treetops all around, right at eye-level. Birds such as Sabine’s Puffbacks, Sharpe’s Apalis, Yellow-billed Turacos, Fire-bellied Woodpeckers, Red-vented Malimbes, Chocolate-backed Kingfishers, and pink-breasted Rosy Bee-eaters hawking above the canopy, are all among the myriad of possibilities up there. Hornbills are particularly well represented at Kakum, with White-crested, Black Dwarf, Black-casqued, Yellow-casqued, Black-and-white-casqued, and Brown-cheeked all possible right from the forest walkway. Troops of monkeys move through the trees, with Monas and Lesser Spot-nosed Monkeys being the most regularly encountered species. On the ground, the park trails offer up such prize birds as Red-billed Helmetshrike, Finsch’s Flycatcher-Thrush, the beautiful Gray’s Malimbe, and the spectacular Rufous-sided Broadbill. A late afternoon trip back up onto the walkway can be good to search for Red-fronted Parrots and a number of hornbills passing overhead on their way to roost, while after dark a Brown Nightjar may emerge to call from the canopy beside us.

Day 4: Antikwaa and Brenu Beach.  From our base close to Kakum we will explore the western reaches of the park, that offers up the electric-blue spangled Black Bee-eater, White-spotted Flufftail, Blue Cuckooshrike, Kemp’s Longbill, and a whole host of other rainforest birds. In the afternoon we will make a trip out to a seldom-visited, wooded reservoir where will be on the lookout for the orange-footed African Finfoot, the African version of South America’s Sungrebe, in addition to Africa’s largest kingfisher, the well-named Giant Kingfisher. We will finish the day along a quiet beach road watching a flock of the localized Preuss’ Swallow swooping low beside us to roost beneath an overhang on the road.

Day 5: Kakum NP to the Picathartes Site. Our final morning in Kakum will be spent mixing it up between the walkway and the forest trails depending on where we need the most birds. It’s then full steam ahead for the Yellow-headed Picathartes, which our afternoon activities will focus on completely. A short hike into some steamy jungle will put us in position, overlooking a cave where thirty or so muddy nests hang from the cave wall. There we will wait on a rocky ledge, scouring the rainforest vines and cave floor for the ‘rockfowl’, which traditionally come into roost there in the late afternoon. This is sure to be the tour highlight, as birds like the Picathartes are truly odd, absolutely unique birds that are what makes birders travel the world over. 

Day 6: Aboabo to Kumasi. From our base close to the Picathartes site we are ideally located to venture in the northern reaches of Kakum, around Aboabo. This superb forest road offers some great forest birding, as the open nature of the forest allows good viewing opportunities. This is one good reason why it can be a productive site for the distinctive Long-tailed Hawk, several of which hold territories in this area. The treetops flocks may hold Black-capped Apalis, the roadside brush can yield the skulking Brown Illadopsis and Blue-headed Crested-Flycatcher, and a bunch of cuckoos are also found round here; these include Yellow-throated, African Emerald, Black, and Olive Long-tailed Cuckoos. Dead snags may yield a Blue-throated Roller or a noisy flock of White-headed Woodhoopoes. While sifting through the treetops for canopy flocks we will also be on the look out for the strange black-and-gold Preuss’ Weaver that feeds by creeping along branches like a nuthatch.

Day 7: Kumasi to Mole NP. This day will see us emerge out of the rainforest belt that dominates the southern half of Ghana into the Upper Guinea savanna that stretches across the north. The switch in habitats will bring us many new species in the process. These should include some widespread savanna species such as Bearded Barbet, Abyssinian Roller, Senegal Eromomela, African Golden Oriole and Pearl-spotted Owlet.

Days 8-10: Mole NP. Mole is northern Ghana’s flagship park. Some large herds of elephants still roam in the park and can often be seen right form our resort terrace, along with some other wildlife such as Kob, Waterbuck, and Bushbuck. The open savanna and woodlands hold some very different species from those found in the rainforests of the south. Checking the few remaining waterholes at this time can be a boon for finches, with five species of firefinch possible, along with Red-winged Pytilias, Lavender, Orange-cheeked and Black-rumped Waxbills, and Village Indigobirds in addition to Cinnamon-breasted and Cabanis’ Buntings. Aside from that Mole is a great site for quality nightbirds. Checking a deserted runway may produce a few of the ridiculous male Standard-winged Nightjars, while Northern White-faced Owl and even the glowing Pel’s Fishing-Owl are all found within the park. Checking the densely leaved trees beside any of the small waterholes may lead us to a daytime roosting Pel’s, and right around our hotel Grayish Eagle Owls and Freckled Nightjars can both be regularly found.

Day 11: Mole NP to Tongo Hills. We will head north from Mole NP into the hot, dry Upper East region. Our destination will be the Tongo Hills, where will seek out birds of the hill country such as Fox Kestrel and Rock-loving Cisticola. Passing through some good habitat along the way should also bring us some further quality savanna woodland birds such as roaming parties of White Helmetshrikes, Rufous-crowned and Blue-bellied Rollers, and Grasshopper Buzzards or Dark Chanting Goshawks may be found standing sentry by the roadside.

Day 12: Tono Dam. The savanna woodlands that fringe this large dam hold Chestnut-bellied and Long-tailed Glossy-Starling, Vieillot’s Barbet, Yellow-billed Shrike, often a day-roosting African Scops Owl, African Quailfinch, and Long-tailed Nightjar, while the dam itself can be good for huge roaming flocks of the odd Magpie-goose.

Day 13: Bolgatanga to Kumasi. We’ll spend the day traveling south from the Upper East region, returning to Kumasi for another night.

Day 14: Bobiri Forest Reserve to Atewa. Bobiri is a secluded forest reserve just outside Kumasi that is a key site for the diminutive Red-billed Dwarf Hornbill. The site also offers up Africa’s smallest bird, Tit-hylia, in addition to Africa’s smallest woodpecker, the tiny African Piculet. Other possibilities include Black Dwarf Hornbill, Black-throated Coucal, Purple-throated Cuckooshrike, Gabon Woodpecker, Fraser’s Forest Flycatcher and the magnificent Long-tailed Hawk. The late afternoon will be spent birding the lower reaches of the Atewa Mountains, searching for Red-cheeked Wattle-eye, Western Bluebill and Grosbeak Weaver.

Day 15: Atewa to Accra. The morning’s venue will be the ridge-top in the Atewa Forest Reserve, an area that preserves one of the few remaining areas of Upper Evergreen Rainforest in Ghana. This is a key habitat for the Blue-headed Bee-eater that will be the focus of our birding that morning. Among the other birds in the area are Fire-crested Alethe, Forest Woodhoopoe, Blue-throated Roller, Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo, and Ussher’s Flycatcher

Day 16: Shai Hills, Sukumono Lagoon, and departure. Shai Hills is a varied savanna habitat just east of Accra. Mocking Cliff-chats can be found hopping around on the escarpment, Croaking Cisticolas can be heard buzzing from the dry grasslands, Double-toothed Barbets perch up in the open woodlands, and Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters can be found along the lake shore. Our final birding, before a farewell meal and departure, will be back at the same lagoon where we began the tour, searching for any hidden extras among the plethora of shorebirds and wetland species that pack the lagoon shore and muddy islands..

Tour Info:

CLIMATE: For the most part hot, and very humid also in the rainforest areas of southern Ghana. The savanna areas of the north are pleasantly dry and hot. There is a chance of rain at this time of year, though usually it is concentrated in small heavy bursts that should not interrupt birding too much.

DIFFICULTY: The walking throughout is easy going. There is one moderately demanding hike for the Picathartes that takes around an hour at slow pace. The toughest part of this trip is the climate, being hot and humid in the southern rainforest areas and dry and hot in the north of Ghana.