SO THIS IS NIGER

Hooded Vulture

Posted by: Lewana at February 25, 2008 17:21 | link | comments (3)
africa, wildlife photography, bird-watching, niamey, niger, birds of westafrica, hooded vulture

Spur-winged Lapwing

By the river's edge....a bird in a black-tie

Posted by: Lewana at February 13, 2008 17:40 | link | comments (1)
africa, bird-watching, birds of westafrica, spur-winged lapwing

Red-Cheeked Cordon Bleu

It is Monday morning in Goudel, some 5 km from Niamey. I am walking around in a small agricultural area near the river Niger.  Best of all,  I found a  mate who shares my interest in birding. Ulf is a photographer and has an amazing knowledge about birding in Niger.

I am almost feeling a little intimidated by his professionel camera outfit but hey, here is my chance to learn.

Ulf  only takes a second to spot this lovely pair of Red-Cheeked Cordon Bleus feeding on the ground beneath a thorny acacia bush.

Did you know that several African countries have printed collector's stamps of this little beauty.

Posted by: Lewana at February 12, 2008 15:58 | link | comments (2)
africa, bird-watching, birds of westafrica, http//i9photobucketcom/albums/a5, gudel

Bulbuls and lovebirds …

Bulbuls and lovebirds, nightjars and malimbes -- the quirky names of some of the birds of Niger intrigued me long before I boarded the plane for West Africa.  To me, they sounded more like names straight out of the “The Lord of the Rings” than real animals of the feathered kind. Add to that my imagination of the vast desert landscapes with its green edges along one of the great rivers in Africa; it is unsurprising that bird-watching is very high on my list of activities.

Last week-end I made reservations with Hama Hassane, ‘golf caddy and piroguier’ for a birding excursion around the Relais and Island of Kanazi, some twenty km from Niamey.  We also invited Ann-Katrin and Frank to come along. Though not dedicated birders, they are eager to see hippopotamus in the river. Ann-Katrin, who studies African Studies in Germany was looking forward to visiting the Village on Kanazi Island, doubtless keen to practise her understanding of the Haussa language.

It is still cool on this Sunday morning, but a dust haze makes the sky look as grey a November morning in Europe. My mouth felt gritty with dust from driving through the slums that lie between the city and the Relais de Kanazi but it is less dusty now on the river’s edge. The gusty winds made the usually placid river very choppy.

The bad weather conditions were reason for Hama to delay our departure for a while. He demanded a higher price for our outing than previously negotiated. After lengthy discussions and eventually relenting to his demands we finally climbed on board Hama’s tiny pirogue. My husband, who gets rather bored with my bird-watching activities, chose to relax under the restaurant’s large mango trees and awaited our return with a book and a pre-lunch drink

A raptor swooped over the river when we set off towards the island, and I took this as a good sign. Over 550 species of birds can be spotted in Niger, and I hoped to see and photograph some migratory birds that come from Europe to Niger in winter.

Hama, in the back of his pirogue, paddled us slowly downriver. We passed several nice-looking gardens that are maintained by expatriates as week-end pick-nick escapes. From the river we can see that every one of these palisaded plots has been lovingly developed with attractive thatched huts, benches and tables; one of them had even a professional pizza oven.

Large trees shading those gardens are alive with the twitter of birds. Pied kingfishers dove like torpedoes into the river. I try to focus my camera on a flock of brilliantly green birds but good shots proved to be too difficult in our wobbly pirogue. But despite that I was not disappointed. Suddenly I spotted a Eurasian Marsh Harrier overhead, hunting for prey, his flight graceful and buoyant.

“Close to my island is where you perhaps get to see hippos”, said Hama, who was born in Ghana and speaks some English. “I heard them ‘shouting’”.  This remark made Ann-Katrin and Frank sit up straighter but I rather wanted to be bombarded by harriers and goshawks, made dizzy by the sight of colourful parrots, bee-eaters or sunbirds. I desperately wanted to catch a glimpse of a rare eagle gliding over the water but for that one sighting of the harrier I only saw some of the usual suspects: egrets, grey herons and a single cormorant on a floating water hyacinth patch.

Suddenly, only a short distance away from the village boat landing, Ann-Katrin called out: “There is a hippo ahead.” And true enough, as Hama paddle closer a huge head rose mid-stream out of the grey river. The hippo was watching us warily for a few seconds, than disappeared again from our view. Hama, well aware of the fact that hippos are one of the most dangerous animals in Africa, was keeping his pirogue at a safe distance close to the edge of the river. The hippo appeared to be fleeing from us, but we followed it slowly, keeping our distance. A few minutes later we spotted the enormous beast reappearing. To our immense pleasure his head stayed out of the water for some time, then disappearing from view but reappearing again and again at short intervals. We fell silent, fascinated by the sighting . Hama though, barely shares our excitement. To him, hippos are nuisance even though he earns quite a bit of money through his pirogue tours.  “They come out at night onto my island, destroy our fences and eat the crops” he said contemptuously.

Shortly later we moored the boat at the village’s boat landing …

To be continued..

 * Picture of the Marsh Harrier from Nature Navigator

Posted by: Lewana at February 08, 2008 16:03 | link | comments (2)
africa, bird-watching, niamey, niger, niger river tour, birds of westafrica, relais de kanazi, bulbuls and lovebirds …