Entries about whimbrel

Coffee is delivered to each room every morning, at a time of your choice. We have ours outside at 07:30 this morning, while watching the beautiful sunrise over the river.

We're not the only ones enjoying the sunrise.

The morning goes something like this:

Breakfast
Bird watching
Walk around the grounds
Bird watching
Back to room
Sit outside
Birdwatching
Snooze

Cheese and chilli omelette, sausage and beans = a great breakfast

Pied Kingfisher

Black Headed Heron

Another one of the fifteen cats at Mandina Lodges

Village Weavers and Red Eyed Dove in a plant pot on the island in the middle of the pool

Laughing Dove

Bats in the ceiling of the restaurant

The birds are fed every day

Lovely bougainvillea in the grounds

Village Weaver

Black Kite - it looks like he has caught something - a mouse maybe?

Black Necked Weaver

Beautiful water reflections in the river

Long Tailed Cormorants

David at the poolside

Lunch

We eat our lunch in the shady bar, while watching a Whimbrel trying to catch a crab on the mud flats. The crab gets away several times before the bird finally managed to grab it.

The crab has lost its claw.

He still managed to escape though.

But not for long.

A Grey Heron wants to get in on the action.

As well as a Western Plantain Eater.

Time for another siesta.

After lunch we retire to the room, and I notice to my horror that my legs have come up in a dreadful rash with red skin and little blisters. It is burning, stinging and itching so much that I jump straight in the shower, hoping the cold water will relieve it. It doesn't. Smothering it in antihistamine, I take myself off to a shady spot on the terrace while David goes on a boat trip with Nicola and AJ, our guide.

As a result of previous severe sunburn, I now have an area on my shins that suffer from photosensitive dermatitis, hence why I do not want to expose my legs to the sun this afternoon.

I spend the time with my long lens pointing at the sky, trying to catch flying birds while keeping out of the sun. The wind has dropped and it is blisteringly hot. Literally in my case.

Hooded Vulture

Long Tailed Cormorant

Oyster collectors

Black Headed Heron

Some strange, elongated fish in the river.

White Throated Bee Eater

Collecting firewood

Black Kite

Western Plantain Eater

Pied Crows

Bearded Barbet

They are funny looking birds when they fly

A much bigger bird. Although we are fairly near the airport, the flights are so infrequent that they do not bother us.

Whimbrel

Common Swift

Pied Crow

More oyster collectors returning home

Pied Crows into the setting sun

As soon as David returns, we have a shower and sit on our private deck with a drink before dinner. The chef came round to the room earlier to take our orders for this evening.

Starter - Vegetable Spring Rolls

Chicken and rice for main course

Dessert is Banana Fritter and Ice Cream

When we return to the room, we find that the mosquito net over the bed has been lowered while we were eating, and the room is thankfully very much cooler now, which will hopefully aid sleep tonight.

The plan this morning is to take the path from the Observation Deck, through the mangroves, onto the main road and down to the bridge.

Village Weaver

Hooded Vulture

Long Tailed Glossy Starling

The trail meanders along the edge of the creek and heads for the road, but ends in a builders yard, obviously private property. There is a gate, but it is locked, so there is no way for us to join the road here, so we end up having to walk all the way back to the observation deck and through the hotel again.

In the hotel grounds we spot some Green Vervet Monkeys, including a very young baby clinging to his mum.

Out on the road we are amused to see a sign for Tesco Mini Market – in reality a small shack selling bottled water, ice cream and a few essentials.

Having spend the last four days almost exclusively in the company of birds, Kotu is proving a bit of a culture shock. Outdoor cafés are full of fat, middle aged cougars with tattoos, piercings, bleach blonde hair and the obligatory toyboy Gambian hanging on their arms. We hurry past to reach the bridge over Kotu Creek, a well known bird watching spot.

Pink Backed Pelican

The place is teeming with the gorgeous little Long Tailed Cormorants:

Pink Backed Pelicans, African Spoonbills, Long Tailed Cormorant and Great Egret

Grey Heron, Sacred Ibis and Marsh Sandpiper

African Spoonbills

Common Redshank

Pink Backed Pelican

Sacred Ibis and Grey Headed Heron

Senegal Thick Knee

We are approached by a couple of guides offering their services, but we are pleased to find they are much more likely to take “no” for an answer than the people we encountered during our visit to The Gambia 23 years ago.

Lunch

Back in the hotel, I request my food “extra spicy. Gambian spicy, not tourist spicy”. It still only arrives as a 2-3 on Grete's scale of 10.

Cheese and chilli omelette

Burger and chips

Refreshing fruit juice - youki?

After having asked for our food “extra spicy” at lunch, we are amused when we return to the room to find this large pack of toilet rolls sitting on our patio table. Are they trying to tell us something?

We are chilling in the room with a drink and some snacks when we overhear someone outside mentioning the name “Mandina Lodges”. Our ears prick up, as we are waiting to hear about what time our transfer to Mandina will be tomorrow. Yesterday we waited for 45 minutes for the rep to turn up (at the advertised time), but he didn't show. This afternoon, however, he is here, although he's knocking on our neighbour's door instead by mistake, so we go out and ask if he is looking for us. At least we now know that we are leaving here at 10:30 in the morning.

Dinner

Chicken Saté

Seafood mornay with crepe

We spend the rest of the evening chilling on our private patio with a few drinks.