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Mountains of South-west Cameroon, 3rd-17th March 2001
Published by Surfbirds Admin (surfbirds AT surfbirds.com)
Participants: By Charles Davies , 53, New Dover Road, Canterbury, Kent CT1 3DP, UK
 Charles Davies 53, New Dover Road, Canterbury, Kent CT1 3DP, UK This report updates information on some of the birdwatching areas in south-west Cameroon already covered in several comprehensive trip reports, including those of Eddie Williams (1991 and 1993), Steve Keen (1993), Richard Webb (1995), Jon Hornbuckle (1997) and Jan Vermuelen (1997). I visited only three main areas during a two-week trip to the mountains of south-west Cameroon: the Bamenda Highlands (2 days), Mount Cameroon (1 week) and Mount Kupe (4 days). Although recording fewer than 125 species, it was possible for me to see most of the Cameroon mountain specialties, including Cameroon Francolin. For general tourist information, I'd recommend The Rough Guide to West Africa (Jim Hudgens and Richard Trillo) (www.roughguides.com). I found the information generally very accurate, including most of the prices. Cameroon uses the Central African Franc, which is fixed at 100 to the French franc. This is probably why the prices had not diverged from the guide as rapidly as they do in many developing countries. CONTENTS Bafut-Nguemba Forest Reserve Bali Safari Lodge Mount Cameroon Mount Kupe Itinerary Bird List Mammals etc. BAFUT-NGUEMBA FOREST RESERVE Getting there: Driving south from Bamenda (towards Douala), take a left turn onto an un-signposted dirt road about 18km from Bamenda and just before the town of Santa. Apparently, there is a radio mast on the right just before the turn but I missed it. I had no trouble finding the reserve by public transport, though. Just hire a taxi in Bamenda and ask them to take you to Lake Awing. The trip from Bamenda to the reserve cost me 1,500 CFA and I paid the same again for the taxi to pick me up in the evening. Like previous visitors, I started walking at the two metal poles, about 3 km along the dirt track from the main road. The birds most people are hoping to see - Bannerman's Turaco, Banded Wattle-eye and Bannerman's Weaver - can be seen anywhere between here and Lake Awing, which I would estimate is another 3 km on from the metal poles. Habitat: Mostly eucalyptus plantations - there was nothing left that I would even call a forest patch. The only closed canopy area was along the stream leading up to Lake Awing, but even this was getting a lot of help from the eucalyptus. On the other hand, quite a few native trees remain, especially in the more inaccessible valleys away from the road (these were mostly where I heard the Turaco calling from), and there is quite a lot of native undergrowth, especially along several gullies crossing the road. Hotel: Ideal Park Hotel, Bamenda (6,500 CFA per night). This is right in the middle of the market area and therefore not in the best part of town, but the restaurant is good. Equipment requirements: None, apart from sunscreen (its not a forest). Easily day- or even part-day-trippable from Bamenda. Birds: Bannerman's Turaco, Tullberg's Woodpecker, Yellow-breasted Boubou (common), Banded Wattle-eye, Fernando Po Oliveback, Mountain Wagtail, Bannerman's Weaver (common). BALI SAFARI LODGE Getting there: Driving west from Bamenda towards the town of Bali, stop at the Bali Safari Lodge just before Bali, and about 20km away from Bamenda. When I visited, there was a police checkpoint right after the entrance to the lodge. The woodland is a short way (maybe 200m) back towards Bamenda. Walking from the entrance to the lodge back towards Bamenda, cross a small stream on the main road; the woodland is just past this on the right. A swampy area with low palms flanks the road, behind which is some eucalyptus and a few other trees, possibly native. I took a very small, obscure path off the road, crossing the ditch running along the road on a plank. I could not find the abandoned hut referred to in previous reports, but I did see the Bamenda Apalis and a few other birds after waiting about an hour in the middle of forest, between the palms and the eucalyptus. Birds: Red-chested Goshawk, Bamenda Apalis, Grey-headed Oliveback. MOUNT CAMEROON Getting there: My guess is that this trail would now be difficult even with a four-wheel drive (although I think I have heard of people making it up in a vehicle following my visit). I decided to give it a try, though, since I'd read in the "Rough Guide to West Africa" about the Mount Cameroon Project, a new organization through which tourists could arrange trips up the mountain. I found them a highly efficient set-up and would highly recommend them to anyone. I sent them an e-mail in advance letting them know I was a birdwatcher, and they were expecting me when I turned up and had already arranged a guide who knew birds, including locations for the Cameroon Francolin. I would recommend my guide (Jonas Menyoli Ndongo) and porter (Mmachenry M. Kale), not least because they helped me a Francolin within five days, but also because they were good company, which is obviously important if you are camping. Personally, I was a bit skeptical that anyone I hired would even know the difference between Cameroon Francolin and Scaly Francolin, but the guides were quite familiar with the difference between the two species, which have different calls and different local names. If I remember, the local name for Cameroon Francolin is "Laim" (or something similar), whereas Scaly Francolin is locally called "Bushfowl". I have read that Cameroon Francolin is mostly restricted to forest, whereas Scaly Francolin is less fussy. This certainly fits with my records of both species (mostly heard) while on the mountain. The Project was also very flexible. I didn't have enough to pay for a full week up front and the banks in Buea wouldn't take my Euro travellers cheques, but the people were happy to let me pay part in advance and someone accompanied me to Limbe the Monday after I came back down, where I was able to change the rest of the money I owed. The office of the Mount Cameroon Project in Buea is near the "Mobil" station, which most taxi drivers (or failing this, their passengers!) will know. Their e-mail is mountceo@iccnet2000.com. I hiked up the mountain from the village of Bonakanda, using the "radio station track". According to the tourist map I was given, the track leads from the village at about 900m up to about 2,600m, then descending gradually to an abandoned radio station at 2,500m. The walk seemed to be about 15 km, but it is not such an easy hike since you gain 1,700m in altitude fairly steeply from the village. From the radio station, we descended to Nitele, a hunters' camp consisting of three small huts, at about 1,850m altitude. This is perhaps another 7 km from the radio station. My guess is that this trail would now be difficult even with a four-wheel drive. Even the hunters take short cuts and don't use all of the radio station trail itself, meaning that sections of it (I tried some of the unused sections when I was on my own) were quite overgrown. At a minimum, you would have to leave a lot of time for clearing away the vegetation. Habitat: The forest and scrub above Bonokanda has plenty of good birds, but I am pretty confident that there is no longer any primary forest (the chainsaws were at work when I was hiking up and down this part of the trail). The best forest was at about 1,500m (around the "concrete bridge" referred to in Jon Hornbuckle's report). The habitat is good enough for birds like Green Longtail, White-tailed Warbler and Mountain Robin-Chat (which is fairly easy to see), but there are also plenty of mousebirds. From about 1,750m to the radio station is grassland, although below 2,300m or so it probably used to be montane forest. Down the north-west slope of the mountain (from the radio station towards Nitele) you finally reach some primary forest, starting as high as 2,300m. But even here, much of the forest has been burnt to varying degrees, apparently as a result of fires spreading from the savanna above (they are started to create fresh new grass that attracts antelope). Some areas are bracken scrub, other areas are grassland either with scattered charred trees, others have a primary forest canopy with no understorey - just grass. Lower down, about 1,900 to 2,000m, the trail passes through some tall, intact, primary montane forest, then emerging again into an open area of savanna (Mountain Sawwing) just above Nitele. Nitele is right on the top edge of what appeared to unbroken forest - I spent one afternoon walking downhill from here and did not emerge. You could probably day-trip the mountain, but (at least the way I went up), but you might have to camp for a reasonable chance for the Speirops, Pipit and (especially) the Francolin. It is possible to hike up to Nitele from the western side of Mount Cameroon. It may be even a little more difficult than the route I took, but I'd guess the habitat en-route would be much better quality. Equipment requirements: Camping supplies for yourself. According to the people in the Mount Cameroon Project, you are also supposed to bring food for yourself, but my guide and porter had also brought food for me and cooked every night. I would recommend this option as long as you like Cameroonian food (rice or plantain-paste with faintly spicy stews containing goat or fish or both), since it's a lot less hassle than planning your own menu. Maybe you can arrange to pay the guide and porter a little bit extra in return, as I did. My guide and porter expected me to have hired sleeping bags for them, since the radio station area was cold, although I hadn't. The huts at Nitele, although they don't look pretty, are well designed with beds of straw right next to a central fireplace, so there were no complaints there. Water is also a major problem on Mount Cameroon. The only sources appeared to be a couple of rusty rainwater barrels at the radio station as well as a small spring at about 1950m, still quite a trek up from the campsite at Nitele. Hotel: The nights before and after, I stayed at the Hotel Mermoz in Buea, which according to the English person I met there (who had tried everywhere) was the only place worth staying in Buea. It was a very friendly place, in good condition and with very reasonable prices (they will assign you to a "posh" second floor room for 7,000 CFA, but it is also possible to stay on the ground floor in a very similar room for 5,000 CFA--although both categories had shower and TV. Prices: My trip on Mount Cameroon cost 12,000 CFA per day, which included fees for the guide, the porter and the community fee. There is no longer a requirement to buy a bottle of whisky or to visit the chief of Bonakanda before going up the mountain. I turned up at the office in Buea at 9am, and arrived in Bonakanda, met my porter and started my hike up the mountain the same morning. Scrub and forest above Bonakanda (to 1750m) on the radio station track: Cameroon Pigeon, Yellowbill, Purple-throated Cuckoo-shrike, Mountain Robin-chat, White-tailed Warbler. High Montane Savanna (1750-2600m on NE slope along radio station track and 2300-2600m on NW slope below the radio station): Western Green-Tinkerbird, Cameroon Speirops, Mountain Sawwing, Cameroon Pipit. According to my guide, Jonas, there are also flufftails in the savanna (Buff-spotted?). Forest (primary and burned) around Nitele (1800-2300m): Cameroon Francolin, Cameroon Pigeon, Black-shouldered Nightjar, Great Blue Turaco (common), Elliot's Woodpecker, White-bellied Crested-Flycatcher (common), Grey Cuckoo-Shrike, Yellow-breasted Boubou (common), Mountain Robin-chat (common), Cameroon Scrub-warbler, Cameroon Speirops (common), Red-faced Crimson-wing, Fernando Po Oliveback (abundant), Brown-capped Weaver (common). There were many elephant tracks in the forest below Nitele and we found fresh dung. Given a few days of dedicated searching, according to my guide Jonas, it is quite possible to see a forest elephant in this area, if you are brave (reckless) enough to actually want this. MOUNT KUPE Getting there: Go to the town of Nyasoso, which is north of Tumbel via a poor road (the road was being improved during my visit, although not in time for me). Since it was getting late when I was on my way there, I just hired my own taxi all the way from Tumbel (15,000 CFA plus 5,000 CFA for the police). On the way back, I took a shared taxi to Loum and then jumped on one of the many buses travelling through here to Douala. Nyasoso is a small town and anyone can point you in the right direction when you arrive. There appeared to be several different organizations that each were responsible for collecting a different fee, but everyone knows what the set-up is and the prices are fixed, so it isn't your problem. There are three main trails in the area: Max's trail, Shrike Trail and the Nature Trail. The Nature Trail is short and goes through some fields into some forest near the village, ending at an area of large boulders (Grey-necked Rockfowl), Max's Trail and Shrike Trail both ascend the mountain. I did not take the Shrike Trail, but according to previous reports it is steep but is the best trail on which to see Mount Kupe Bushshrike. I stayed two nights at the campsite at 1500 m on Max's Trail (Nyasoso is at about 800 m). I actually found Max's Trail plenty steep, although it was much easier going above the campsite; of course, some of the birds may not be present this high up, but camping does have the advantage of locating you in the forest at dawn and dusk. The trails and birds on Mount Kupe are well described in previous reports by people who went there for longer, with more people, and to more areas on the mountain. Habitat: Farmbush around Nyasoso. Primary forest is only a short distance away from the town, reached easily on all three trails. Equipment requirements: If you plan to camp, you need to have somewhere for the guide to sleep and also some way of keeping your gear dry. You don't need cooking supplies, although no one will stop you bringing your own food. I just arranged for a porter to bring up food every day that I spent on the mountain. I was under-equipped with only a bivouac bag (after giving my tent to the guide) and didn't get any sleep one night on which it actually rained quite heavily (despite it being the dry season). Hotel: The guesthouse in Nyasoso is 6,000 CFA per night. Camping is free, although you make up much of the cost by paying for the guide's food. Prices: The prices appear to be the same as in Jan Vermuelen's (1997) report: Community fee - 2,000 CFA per day spent in the forest. Guesthouse - 6,000 CFA (camping is free). Guide - 3,500 CFA per day. Now mandatory! I tried really hard to talk them out of this one with no success, although my guide, Samuel, turned out to be excellent. He is a very competent birdwatcher and even knew most of the calls as well as the best locations for many of the birds. On the other hand, you inevitably see less when there are two of you making twice as much noise. Porter - 2,500 CFA per day. Optional, although it was handy to have someone bringing up food when camping out. Food: lunch or dinner - 2,500 CFA (I was required to pay this per day for food for both myself and for the guide while camping on mountain); breakfast - 1,000 CFA. Birds and Mammals (all on Max's Trail unless indicated): White-spotted Flufftail, African Emerald Cuckoo, Tullberg's Woodpecker, Green-breasted Bushshrike, Crossley's Ground-Thrush, Alexander's Akalat, Forest Swallow, Sjostedt's Greenbul (Nature Trail), Cameroon Olive-Greenbul, Grey-headed Greenbul, White-tailed Warbler, Black-capped Woodland-Warbler, White-throated Mountain-Babbler, Grey-chested Illadopsis, Grey-necked Rockfowl (heard only, Nature Trail), Ursula's Sunbird, Allen's Bushbaby, Chimpanzee. ITINERARY Saturday, 3 March - Sabena Airlines from Vienna to Douala, changing in Brussels, arriving in Cameroon in the evening. Overnight taxi to Bamenda, arriving 3 am at the Ideal Park Hotel. Sunday, 4 March - Spent the entire day at the Bafut-Nguemba Forest Reserve, near Bamenda, hiring a taxi each way. Night at the Ideal Park Hotel in Bamenda. Monday, 5 March - Early morning trip to Bali Safari Lodge, arriving at 6 am, just before dawn, after some initial hassle from a policeman (who wanted to know why I was walking around Bamenda in the dark). Back to Bamenda at 10 am, catching a direct bus from Bamenda to Buea leaving at midday and arriving in Buea at 7 pm. Night at Hotel Mermoz in Buea. Tuesday, 6 March - Turned up at the office of the Mount Cameroon Project at 9 am, and almost immediately went to pay the fees at the separate eco-tourism office, then travelled to Bonakanda via two taxis. Arrived in Bonakanda and met up with Mmachenry, the porter. The guide was expecting me and had gone to Buea, so we must have crossed paths. Set up the mountain at 12 pm. Got ahead of the porter and lost him at 1,750m and 5pm. Although the radio station track itself was very obvious, I wasn't sure where we were staying so I decided to go back to the village. Night at the house of the guide, Jonas, which turned out to be pretty nice. He had set off up the mountain at 5 pm, so we had crossed paths yet again (there are a lot of short cuts up the mountain)! Watched Lyon beat Bayern Munich 3-0, eating bananas and honey. Wednesday, 7 March - Set off up the mountain again at 3 am, finally meeting the guide, Jonas part way up. He had walked all the way to the radio station and back, and he then proceeded to do the 15km trek for the third time that night. Arrived at the abandoned radio station just after dawn. We were all pretty tired and decided not to go the extra few kilometers to Nitele; instead, I just walked part of the way down and back up again in the afternoon. Night inside the radio station - very smoky since they'd lit a fire and the ventilation wasn't great. Two hunters who had come to find honey roasted a bat that they'd found dead, but thankfully didn't offer me any. Thursday, 8 March - Hike down to Nitele on the north-west slope of Mount Cameroon in the morning. Slow hike through the montane forest downhill from Nitele on a very rough track in the afternoon. Walked up into the savanna area above Nitele at dusk, listening for Cameroon Francolin. I was lucky - one was calling from the forest just below Nitele. A few Black-shouldered Nightjars calling around the campsite in the evening and early morning. Friday, 9 March - Spent the day in the forest around Nitele. Used the tape in the evening, which enabled me to locate the calling francolin more accurately. It responded only once, not very near by, probably since it had already roosted. Saturday, 10 March - Hid in the morning and tried playback for the francolin again. The male responded once but again didn't come in. Instead, a female came in (quietly): good views for about five minutes. Afternoon hike back to the radio station. Sunday, 11 March - Hike down from the radio station, arriving in Bonakanda mid afternoon. Drive back to Buea took about 40 minutes. Night at Hotel Mermoz. Monday, 12 March - Went to Limbe in the morning to change the remaining money for the Mount Cameroon Project. Bus to Kumba and then taxi north to Nyasoso/Mt. Kupe. Met up with the folk at the WWF project in Nyasoso and my guide, Samuel. Tuesday, 13 March - Hike up to Max's camp at 1,500m in the morning, walking further uphill in the afternoon. Wednesday, 14 March - In the forest around Max's Camp. Thursday, 15 March - In the forest around Max's Camp, walking slowly down to Nyasoso in the afternoon, arriving evening. Friday, 16 March - Nature Trail and farmbush around Nyasoso. Taxi/bus back to Douala in the afternoon. Saturday, 17 March - Flight back to Vienna. Species Lists
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