Tiwai Island 11/18/21-11/20/21

We are met at 8:00 am by our tour guide from VSL (Visit Sierra Leone). We are headed off on our birding tour to Tiwai Island. It is a long drive and taking a lunch break in Bo. We head south from Bo and eventually turn off on a dirt road that was bumpy at times. There are little villages along the way. In one village the children are waving and yelling, “White man, white man!”

We arrive at the village where we take a brief boat ride on the Moa River to the island. Our lodging is basic and adequate. The weather is hot and humid. We rest for awhile and then have a guided walk in the rainforest. We saw three species of monkeys: Red Colubus , Black and White Colubus and the Diana Monkey. One nice bird we saw is the Yellow-Crested Hornbill. The walk was long and we finished it in the dark.

A nice dinner of rice and peanut sauce with chicken was waiting for us. The electricity goes off early so we head in early and sweat all night! Uh

The day begins with breakfast of fried eggs, fried plantains, hot dog and cucumbers. We get ready for another walk in the rain forest. We have a local guide from the nearby community. This is the first time we’ve had a bird guide carrying a machete! He knocks down branches in the way as we walk. It is an adventure! We see a few nice birds and a huge African tree with gigantic roots.

After lunch we take the boat across to the local community. We observe the people of Kambama going about their daily life. Some growing coffee, growing pineapple or peanuts. Some drying cacao nuts and others drying rice.

Down by the river women and small children are washing clothes in the river. A young man is fishing with just line and hook connected to a grasshopper. The children love to see us white people!

We wait for awhile for our boatman and find out that he has gone to buy some charcoal. So the villagers bring down two canoes and row us back to the island. It was quite fun.

A group of six British travelers have joined us at the island. They all work for the British government here in Sierra Leone. One couple joined us for our river boat cruise on the Moa River. They are avid birders and he gets very excited when the boatman spots a Rufus Fishing Owl. It was a delightful ride and many different species of birds seen.

We end the evening with rice and cassava leaves. You can’t get more African than that!

Before we leave Tiwai Island, we have one more walk through the rain forest. We saw a nice view of a Black and White Colobus Monkey with its long white tail. Then we transport are luggage to the boat to go back to the mainland. We say goodbye to the local community workers. Our local nature guide found some ripe coffee berries for Tim. One local man gave me a cacao pod and told me take it home and plant it in The United States!