Ivory Coast: Taï National Park Expedition
This tour focuses on one of the jewels of West Africa: the mythical Taï National Park, and complements our Sierra Leone & Liberia tour. We will spend all our time birding the lowland forest in search of megas such as White-breasted Guineafowl, Grey Ground Thrush, Western Wattled Cuckooshrike, and lengendary nightbirds like Shelley's Eagle Owl, Maned Owl, and Sandy Scops Owl!
Next Dates
Accommodation:
Comfortable hotels during the whole stay; no camping.
Walking difficulty:
Mostly easy to moderate roadside or trail-based birding.
Tour cost includes:
All accommodation, main meals, drinking water, internal flights (as stated in itinerary), overland transport, tips to local drivers and guides, travel permits, entrance fees, and guide fees.
Tour cost excludes:
Flights before and after the tour start/end, visa, travel insurance, tips to tour leaders, laundry, drinks, and other items of a personal nature.
Day 1: The tour starts this evening at Abidjan (ABJ), where we will have an introductory dinner and overnight.
Day 2: We will leave early this morning and drive all the way to Taï National Park, where we will spend the next seven nights. Two nights will be spent at a lodge close to the forest, and five at a comfortable safari camp with facilities deep in Taï National Park. We will have time for some initial exploration and nightbirding.
Day 3–8: We’ll have six full days birding the vast expanses of primary lowland rainforest of Taï National Park. We’ll be exploring several areas, including where Shelley’s Eagle Owl was photographed in 2022. We will be focused on finding some of the rarest and shyest birds of Africa, including White-breasted Guineafowl, Sandy Scops Owl, Maned Owl, Shelley’s Eagle Owl, Black-collared Lovebird, “Western” African Pitta, Western Wattled Cuckooshrike, “Western” Lagden’s Bushshrike, Grey Ground Thrush, and Lowland Akalat. These species will require a lot of walking in the forest, and some luck! Hopefully, we manage to find a few of these megas! Many Upper Guinea endemics and other more common species occur here, such as Latham’s Francolin, Afep Pigeon, Blue-moustached Bee-eater, Grey Parrot, Fraser’s Eagle Owl, “Western” White-crested Hornbill, Little Green and Fire-bellied Woodpeckers, Western Bearded and Yellow-throated Greenbuls, White-tailed Alethe, Yellow-bellied and West African Wattle-eyes, White-browed Forest Flycatcher, and many more.
Day 9: After a final morning in Taï National Park, we’ll retrace our steps back to Adidjan, where the tour ends this afternoon.