São Tomé and Príncipe; Day 10 - Santana Pelagic & Micolo

   For our final full day on Sao Tome we started with a pelagic off the east coast of the island departing the from the town of Santana. This was something we were really looking forward to, as it could give us some crazy species for the islands here. This was arranged with the help of local researcher Ricardo de Lima, who gave us the contact of local guide Gege, who organized the boat and the chum. Our voyage commenced at 07:30 and lasted for about three hours. We spent most of the trip cruising around about five kilometers offshore. 

  The main target for this boat trip was the local Sao Tome race of the Cape Verde Storm Petrel, which is almost certainly its own species. It took some time, but we eventually managed to see four individuals, including one that showed very nicely and close to the boat. Other birds were at a premium however. Although we enjoyed seeing Brown Noddy and Bridled Tern, both of which were abundant, we did not manage to spot any local rarities like we had hoped. There was compensation however with some incredible views of flying fish all around the boat! 

  In the afternoon we did some exploring of the wetland area at the north end of island near the village of Micolo where we had spent our first morning. We wanted to try and find some rare species here, but we failed to find anything of note in the wetland areas here. Although the birding was good, it very much felt like the end of the trip. 

São Tomé and Príncipe; Day 9 - Praia dos Tamarindos & Omali Lodge

   Today was very much a filler day as we waited for the day of our Pelagic tomorrow. With no birds to target, we decided to focus on trying to find rarities, to see if we could boost our overall trip list. In order to do this we drove to the Praia dos Tamarindos where we had been on our first full day and seen several species of wader. We hoped to repeat our success, and to some degree we did, finding two Curlew Sandpipers, a Little Stint and a Grey Plover, all of which are rare here, but all of which are almost certainly the same birds we saw at this location a week previously. 

  This activity took us until 09:30, after which we decided to drive down the west coast of the island to see a new section of the country. We did make a few stops here and there to check the coastline for birds, but we ultimately found very little and nothing of note. We scanned out to sea but the only bird of note that this produced was more views of White-tailed Tropicbird. We returned to the main city for midday, ate lunch and then took some time to relax in the hotel.

  At 16:00 we headed back out, this time to an area of wet grassland just behind the beach between the city centre and the airport, behind the Omali Lodge. We were not hoping for anything major, but we would be treated to an excellent afternoon. After spending a considerable amount of time scanning through the islands finches, all of which are currently in non-breeding plumage, we finally found a bird that we were confident was a Red-headed Quelea, one of the few species we had not yet found on the island which is resident. 

  But then the afternoon took a dramatic turn, when we picked out an obviously rare swift among the rafts of Little Swifts and African Palm Swifts flying overhead. After the first flyover we were nervous that the bird might have been lost, but fortunately it soon came back, and after some photos we could tell that the bird was a Common Swift. Per eBird, just the second record for this island and the third for the country! We were pretty thrilled with that, possibly the most excited by Common Swift either of us had ever been! 

  Since it was now almost dusk, we headed back to the restaurant, had an early dinner and set off back to the hotel, to prepare for the following days activities! 

São Tomé and Príncipe; Day 8 - Ribeira Peixe & Bom Sucesso

   With our guide from the previous day, Mitu, we had arranged to take a boat out from the town of Ribera Peixe to the rocks of Siete Pedras, where a good number of terns and noddies breed. We were excited to do this, but quickly became less excited when we saw the state of the boat that we were going to be using, with the outboard motor tied on with ropes and various bits of the frame rebuilt. 

  Still, we loaded on along with Mitu and a couple of other guys that would be fishing whilst in the area. However, the motor would not start and it took about half an hour of trying to repair the piece of junk whilst in the bay, before they decided it would have to go back to shore. At this point, we had seen enough. Not being able to start the motor in the bay was bad, but if it happened out by the rocks that was downright dangerous. So we cut our losses, said farewell and departed.

  By now however it was only 08:30, leaving us with the rest of the morning to try to figure out what to do. We slowly drove back north up the island looking and various beaches but seeing nothing. We arrived early back in the capital, where we spotted a Sea Turtle near the harbour, before we taking an early lunch.

  After lunch we drove back up the mountain to Bom Successo, where we had visited on our first day, to try and photograph some of the birds we had seen less well, our priority being Giant Weaver. We started by birding an area slightly further down the mountain for a couple of hours, in mixed habitat not far above the village of Monte Cafe. This worked out great, as we found several Giant Weavers. Not showed incredibly well for photos, but they were considerably better views than we had got in the forest at Mount Carmo. In the same area we got some nice flybys from Island Bronze-naped Pigeon and awesome views of White-tailed Tropicbird. 

  For the rest of the afternoon we birded back up at the Bom Successo botanic gardens. Here we saw nothing that was new, but Giant Sunbird was nice to see again. However, we stayed in the area until dark and after slowly drove down until we bumped into the local race of Barn Owl. We made several stops before we got a response to the tape, followed by fabulous views of bird, our last mainland target species that we had not already missed. With that complete, we headed back to the capital and organized a hotel for the next three nights, ready to relax after a very rewarding trip. 

São Tomé and Príncipe; Day 7 - Mount Carmo

   Our morning on Mount Carmo was brought in by the rain. Any hopes it might have cleared overnight were dashed. We awoke at 05:30 and after a short walk around camp and a spaghetti breakfast, we began birding the train at the elevation around the campground, where two targets hopefully waited for us; the Sao Tome Olive Pigeon and the Sao Tome Grosbeak.

  We walked for about a 90 minutes down the trail but saw little, even though the rain had ceased for a short while. However, as we headed back to camp we finally had a break with three Sao Tome Olive Pigeons! While the light made appreciating them quite difficult, we could see their yellow feet and yellow bills, meaning we only had one target left to find. 

  The plan called for us to return to camp, disassemble out tents and then bird as we descended the mountain. Unfortunately the rain began once again, so everything during this process became saturated and covered in the mud around camp. Everything that had dried during the hour break was now once again completely soaked! Still, we eventually began our descent. Despite our best efforts we were ultimately unable to find the Sao Tome Grosbeak, which almost certainly means this will be the only endemic we are unable to see on the trip. 

  It was not all bad however, as we briefly saw a troop of Mona Monkeys on our descent, as well as an incredibly showy Sao Tome Ibis. Once we reached the edge of the palm oil plantation we had our final endemic species, with the Island Bronze-naped Pigeon, sat in an oil palm. Another Giant Weaver was also seen here, and we tried to find a Barn Owl but without success. Thanks to Mitu and his sharp eyes, we ultimately did enjoy our time on Mount Carmo, despite the weather.

  Since we were down at around 13:00, we decided to spend the afternoon relaxing and trying to dry out everything we had. We chose a nice hotel with an ocean view for this, allowing us to unwind after a testing couple of days. 

São Tomé and Príncipe; Day 6 - Mount Carmo

   As mentioned yesterday, the rain arrived mid-afternoon and it did not stop overnight. We had no choice but to accept our fate, climbing and camping on Mount Carmo in the rain. We set off on our hike with our guide Mito at 06:30, leaving from his house in an oil palm plantation and then setting off on the trail through the forest up the mounting. 

  The ascent to the campground took about two hours. We did not do much birding on the way however, as the rain dampened down activity considerably and we ultimately saw very little. Still, we managed to find our first target bird with two different pairs of the Sao Tome Ibis feeding on the path in front of us. They showed very nicely, and given that this was the species most interesting to us on this hike. We also had a roosting Sao Tome Scops Owl, which was nice but not as good as the views we had earlier in the trip. 

  Once we reached camp, we waited for an hour while Mito had his breakfast, as we hoped that the rain might finally cease, which it did for all of about half an hour. We used this time to get the tents up. The campground was already sodden by the weather! However, at 10:00 we made our move and began to continue our ascent to the areas where our remaining targets could be found.

  In total, we only walked around four kilometers during the afternoon hike, but the trail was awful and the weather continued to be appalling. By this point, all my equipment and clothing was saturated, so we just had to make do. The frustration continued as we failed to find any of our target birds on the walk there, but fortunately a detour on the way back brough both species in quick succession and both showing very nicely. 

  First we had a nice and close Newton’s Fiscal, which gave an excellent showing, followed by one of the birds of the trip in the Sao Tome Shorttail. This strange pipit was the bird we thought we were most likely to miss but the individual we finally found gave an unbelievable performance, singing in the open and even fighting with a Sao Tome Prinia at one point. Now with our two targets for the day wrapped up, we felt much better despite the weather.

  We arrived back at camp at 15:00, where we ate, before another short walk before dark. The conditions continued to be unfavourable, but we had another one of the endemic species for the first time in Giant Weaver, its just a shame it was so high up we could not appreciate it. By 17:30 we headed to our tents, unable to do much else given the weather. With all our clothes and optics soaked, we had already conceded we would most likely only be here for one night, especially since now only two but really only one major target remained to us. 

São Tomé and Príncipe; Day 5

   Today was a bit of a day of transfers, rather than any serious birding. We awoke at 06:00 at our hotel in Principe and headed down to the estuary for one final look for any rare wading birds. We saw the two Curlew Sandpipers there but little else. Over breakfast we birded from the hotel balcony, spotting another Velvet-backed Drongo but not much else, and at 07:50 we loaded up the car and headed for the airport. Although we were a little early, we had planned it to allow some time to bird the grasses of the airport where rarities often occur. However we found nothing. At 10:30 we boarded our plane and left Principe behind, returning to the larger island of Sao Tome.

  We landed back at Sao Tome at 11:15 and organized ourselves ready for the days we would spend at the south of the island; fuel, cash and food supplies. Once done, we began our journey south. Although not a long drive, we wanted to check out some wetland spots to try and find rarities to boost our trip lists. The first we checked was in the city itself, and produced two Little Herons.

  As we headed south, the wetlands became none existent and we had to resort to birding on river crossings. This worked Ok and we added Common Moorhen and many Reed Cormorants to our island list. We also checked a location where Yellow-billed Stork had been seen recently, on the coast. Although the stork was not there anymore, we did get Common Tern and our first Noddys of the trip, although unclear which species.

  Sadly, it already being mid-afternoon by now, the rain came in and it did not let up. So we headed to our hotel to prepare for the coming days, when we would ascend Mount Carmo in search of the remaining endemic species we had missed. The serious birding begins again tomorrow! 

São Tomé and Príncipe; Day 4 - Bella Vista & Praia de Evora

   Having found all the endemic target birds the previous day, we had a full day on Principe with nothing to specifically target. However, there were still a couple of new birds and a couple of trip ticks we had not seen, so we concentrated on trying to find those. We did not wake up super early, but after a 07:00 breakfast, we set off out at 08:00. 

  We did not have a car so walked to the village of Bella Vista, the road to which passes through some cultivated habitat and some nice forest. We managed to find most of our targets along this walk, with the Olive Sunbird and Little Heron both being new for the trip. We tried hard to find the rare Chestnut-breasted Nigrita but did not succeed in this endveour. 

  We also spent a bit of time looking at the mud off the city where we had found many interesting waders the previous day. Today all of yesterdays goodies were still lingering, as well as another new Curlew Sandpiper and a Little Stint, which was another good species for the island. There was a spectacular show when up to three Black Kites tried to hunt down one of the Curlew Sandpipers, but in the end the bird managed to get away. Additionally we found a male House Sparrow, which is yet another rare bird for the island, and had presumably just jumped off a ship. 

  After lunch we walked in the opposite direction away from town, down to the nearby Praia de Evora beach. Along the way we failed to find any new birds in any capacity, but enjoyed nice views of Blue-banded Kingfisher displaying. However, we had our first natural mammal for the island with Straw-coloured Fruit Bat, with several of this large species flying around at dusk.

  Thus our final full day on the island of Principe came to an end. In the morning we will depart back to Sao Tome for the rest of the trip. 

São Tomé and Príncipe; Day 3 - PN Obo do Principe & Bombon Resort

   Today was a very important day, as for the first time we were trying for a species that, should we fail to find, we would be leaving on the island. There would be no second chances. To see the Principe Thrush, we needed to set off by boat from the main town, go anticlockwise halfway around the island, a distance of nearly 30 kilometres, and then explore the forest there. Once again we had our guide, Ayres, with us, to help show us the locations to best check for the target species. 

  It was quite the journey. The boat was small and the sea on the western side of the island was choppy. We got very wet thanks to ample spray coming off the waves, and there were a couple of occasions where the boat took on water, but it was never dangerous and after two hours we reached the beach from where we would access the forest.

  And fortunately it did not take long for us to complete our birding here. Despite the constant drizzle, we quickly found two Principe White-eyes in a tree on the beach, before two more just after our hike started. The first location we checked for the thrush came up blank, but not long after starting our ascent to our next spot we spotted one in the vegetation, and had fabulous views of the bird before it took off. Since we were wet and had no more birds we needed to find here, we set off back!

  In addition to our two main targets, there were a few other bits we saw here. The Principe race of both Blue-banded Kingfisher and Malachite Kingfisher were nice to see, and we also enjoyed a few Brown Boobies and another wader with a Turnstone that flew past. Deep in the forest we saw our first Mona Monkeys, which are not native here, but they did not linger for us. Once we returned to the town, there was a Curlew Sandpiper and a Greenshank on the mud there to greet us. 

  After lunch, we searched the north end of the island, on the road to the Bombon resort. This forest was more disturbed but was still pleasant birding. We saw the Principe race of Velvet-mantled Drongo and I had a new species with Splendid Starling, which we finally managed to separate from the endemic Principe Starling. Otherwise it was a similar selection of birds with the addition of more Mona Monkeys. Once we got back to the hotel at the end of the afternoon there was another new wader for us in front of the town in the form of a Grey Plover. 

  It was an exhausting day, but extremely rewarding and with all the endemics wrapped up for Principe, we can spend the following day doing more relaxed birding around the town, to see what we can find. This was also our last day with Ayres, leaving us to explore along tomorrow.  

São Tomé and Príncipe; Day 2 - Fernão Dias & Pico Príncipe lower slopes

   For our first full day, we decided to spend the morning birding the lowland grasslands at the north end of the island near the town of Fernão Dias. Here there were a few targets we wanted to get out of the way so we could concentrate on more specialist species when we returned to the island in a few days.

  The grasses had been recently burned, but we found several of the islands introduced finch species with Golden-backed Bishop and Black-winged Red Bishop. However, they were not in breeding plumage so identifying them was a nightmare and we could not draw accurate conclusions for most of the birds we saw. The main target of the morning was Harlequin Quail, but after not hearing any we started to worry a bit. Fortunately, we accidentally flushed an individual from an area of burnt scrub adjacent to the road, which we managed to tape back for phenomenal views.

  Also during the morning we birded along the beach. Here we found the endemic subspecies of Malachite Kingfisher, although it did not pose well. We wanted to find some migrant waders, and on that front we absolutely succeeded. First we found a few Whimbrel and Common Sandpipers, both expected but nice. Then we had a flock of eight Greenshanks and 10 Sanderling roosting together, both rare for the island. But not as rare as the two Curlew Sandpipers and two Little Stints we found on a dirty pond next to a village! Our wader mission was a phenomenal success!

  It was now late morning and warm. After an ice cream we did a bit more birding near the airport, where we added the introduced White-shouldered Widowbird to our trip list, before returning the car and taking a short flight to the other island of Principe. Once there we were collected by our hotel before having lunch. From the hotel restaurant we had our first Principe endemic with the Principe Weaver, whilst we also enjoyed African Green Pigeon and African Grey Parrot feeding on a fruiting tree.

  At 15:30 we met with out guide for two days, Ayers, and we set off to try track down the Principe Scops Owl! We had no idea what was to come! We started with some nice birding adding Principe Sunbird, Principe Starling, Principe Spierops and the very attractive Dorhns Thrush-Babbler, a type of Sylvia warbler. However, we kept walking deeper and deeper into the forest, and we soon realized that this was what was going to be necessary to find the owl.

  After almost five kilometres we finally stopped. By now it was 18:00, but already dark. No sooner had we started the tape than the owl stopped by, extremely close. Sadly it was very cautious of the light, so it took some time for us to get prolonged views of the bird. A pair was around us the whole time, and eventually we got amazing photos to go with our views. We then returned back five kilometres to the car, where we finally arrived at 20:00, absolutely exhausted. We had a bite to eat then crashed into bed, very satisfied with another fabulous day! 

São Tomé and Príncipe; Day 1 - Arrival & Bom Successo

   My next personal trip was another with my friend Max Baumgarten from Germany, and was a short 12 day trip to the Atlantic Ocean islands of Sao Tome and Principe, just off the west African coast in the Gulf of Guinea. Although there are no spectacular species here, there are several endemics and a short trip is all that is required to clean up on the island specialties.

  We arrived from our overnight TAPortugal flight from Lisbon at 05:20, although we then had a setback as the hire car we arranged for 06:10 we did not get until 07:10 thanks to the driver sleeping in. Once we collected the car, and dropped the driver off back in the city, we drove an hour up the mountain to the village of Bom Successo, from where we could walk into the forest to start working our way through the island endemics.

  The road was not too bad surprisingly, and we managed to start our birding at around 08:30. After we paid the small donation to be allowed access we got started. We very quickly started picking up endemic species as we walked through cultivated habitat, with Sao Tome Paradise-Flycatcher, Sao Tome Spinetail, Black-capped Spierops and Sao Tome Prinia all falling very quickly. We also picked up our first potentially tricky species, with Sao Tome White-Eye, which showed nicely.

  As we approached the forest we added Sao Tome Weaver, Sao Tome Oriole and Principe Seedeater to our ever growing list. The birding was very lively and very enjoyable. Once we entered the forest it did start to slow down somewhat, but we had what will be a strong contender for bird of the trip with a fantastic showing from Sao Tome Scops Owl in the middle of the morning.

  The first stage of the trail was absolutely brutal, with steep climbs and descents with extremely slippery mud underfoot. Both of us were felled multiple times by the conditions. Fortunately the second half was much better and we were able to complete it without too many more issues. We finally returned to the car at around 15:00 and then headed to the hotel to finally relax after our long day.