Matthew Burnett: Pendjari National Park

Black crowned cranes flying low over the savanna plains of Pendjari

With low expectations I ventured off with missionary friends to a national park in Benin called Pendjari. Named after the river which surrounds four sides of the park, it is situated in the north of the republic of Benin bordering Burkino Faso (for those who are unfamiliar with the geography of West Africa, now is the time to bring out a map of West Africa).The park has a mountain range to the south of it which keeps the Pendjari River on the southern boundary flowing North-East until it breaks through and flows South-West through the savanna plains into Togo. The River is an oasis in the area, apart from a few large water pans that fill up during the Wet season rains. These pans teem with wildlife during the dry season and got our trip off to a good start when we arrived at the first pan “Mari Bali”. But let me start at the beginning.

Orange-cheeked waxbill at Mari bali

The drive up is typical of Benin, slow and entertaining as one passes road divergences and the odd sighting of an over-packed car or motorbike (yes even a cow gets put onto the back of motorbike). As one gets to Natitingou and then onto Tanguieta, the mountains start to rise and just before Tanguieta we passed through a steep pass to get to the town (understandably the only natural way through the mountain range). From Tanguieta we travel along the mountain range with full view of it on our right until we got to the entrance gate to the park at Batia, it is there we head north crossing the savanna plains. With a warm reception and an entrance fee of 10 000 cfa per adult we were through and on our way north to Mari Bali looking anxiously for anything that may move. Eventually after a long dry period and with no birders in the car we spotted of first mammal species, a Western Buffon’s Kob. Shortly after that we started to see more and more of them until we eventually came to Mari Bali where we sat in a hide watching herds of Western Hartebeest, Bushbuck, Patas monkeys and many other things come down to drink. What was really intriguing was flock after flock of mixed seed eating birds coming to perch in the bush alongside the hide before heading down to drink. Birds such as Orange-cheeked waxbill’s, Black-rumped waxbill, yellow-fronted canary, bronze winged manikins, Yellow-spotted petronia and Red-billed firefinch. There was one particular firefinch, I photographed that I could not identify which still remains a mystery to me… it was not only the small species of birds that kept me busy with birds but also some larger species such as Saddle-billed storks, Hooded and White-backed vultures, African Fish-eagle, European marsh-harrier, Eurasian hobby. Despite this the highlight at that moment was a Buffalo herd running towards the waterhole to get a drink, slight variations to its southern counterpart, they

Denham's bustard, feeding in the barren plains

had a browner appearance with a smaller boss on them known as the Sudanese buffalo. This was found with solitary males we found further on during the trip too. There were three different types of primate there; Patas and Tantalus (similar to the Vervet monkey) monkeys and the Olive baboon (slight variation to the Southern African species) all hanging around the water hole. After a good long stop at Mari bali we moved on to the hotel and had great sightings of Roan antelope and many more Kob, we also happened to find a lappet-faced vulture at a smaller secluded pool drinking before it flew off. Arriving at the hotel we settled in and had just enough time to do a small scouting trip around the Pendjari River hoping to see a few more animals. It was then that I was fortunate to see a flock of Black-crowned cranes and a couple of Denham’s bustard feeding in the plains.

Saddle-billed stork coming into land at Mari Bali

Sudanese buffalo coming down to drink at Mari Bali, notice the brown almost jersey cow colouration and small boss

Early morning tea and rusks over looking the flood plains of the Pendjari River

Circuit Forgou

Early the next morning we woke to get a good start to the day while it was still cool, first thing first was tea and home-made rusks. While everyone else was getting together, I couldn’t stand the bustle in the rooms and so step outside to face the savanna plains and have my tea there. While there I was pleasantly surprise to see a lone Spotted Hyeana ran past as if set on something past the camp. I “whooped” persuading its attention, it stopped to listen and then walked away before trotting again. As it got light we were on our way looking for game and we didn’t have to go far. We headed out to Mari (pan) Forgou. With the normal kob sighting here and there, passing the pans still filled with water was a draw card to any game in the area, along with the tall Barrasus (African Fan-palm) palm trees towering overhead the place was spectacular. With the exception of the odd kob, we saw Defassa waterbuck, Red-flanked duiker, bushbuck and warthog, the drive was quiet until I spotted the large black bird in the grass and there it was. What stood before me

Abyssinian Ground-hornbill female

was the Abyssinian ground-hornbill and what a sight it was it was the male which has more red in it than the female which has just blue. His movement in the grass made it difficult to capture a picture of it, luckily the flock was up ahead and I was able to get one snapshot of a female. That made the trip, I had seen a bird which if similarly to its southern race the Southern ground-hornbill should be in decline due to habitat loss. Yet I had now seen one and could tick it off on my African bird list and add it to my African Big Year quest. The rest of the morning was as great, with sightings of Hippo, buffalo and a herd of 5 male elephants moving quietly through the undergrowth, with a great sighting of a Tawny eagle plucking a bird it had just caught to top it off. We headed back to camp for a break from the sun and rest from the early morning.

Borassus aethiopum, African Fan-palm are scattered along the Pendjari River, giving a cathedral appearance

Afternoon drive back with the sun setting behind us.

The afternoon drive was as good as the mornings drive. We headed out to Mari Secrée. There we found a large herd of elephant with and agitated cow which gave us some entertainment for the afternoon. She would mock charge with intent at one of the guide’s vehicles to subtly turn on us when the guide had driven off. She eventually calmed down and we were able to watch her and the rest of the herd as they fed around Mari Secrée. With a rather rushed trip back to make gate closing time we found a few more elephant and buffalo herds along the way. There were countless flocks of Helmeted guineafowl, which seemingly have a slight different helmet to its southern counterpart. Bird sighting highlights were that of the Denham’s bustard, European marsh-harrier and Eurasian hobby. Rushing around looking for animals took its toll on the birding.

Lioness track found on the road driving circuit Forgou

We were up early the next morning again to see what we could see. No hyeana walking past this morning, but the drive was rewarded with a short sighting of two male lions that walking off the sodic site and into the long grass out of sight. Great to see them non-the-less, in anticipation that we may see them again we drove on to Mari Forgou which was 100 m away and sat waiting for the lions to come down for a drink. While waiting it was great to listen out for other calls and sounds and with that we heard the Giant eagle-owl calling in the riverbed. Two Yellow-crowned gonolek made an appearance along with the Pygmy sunbird. Wooly-necked storks were wading in the Mari with several Saddle-billed storks, the place came to life. After a while we had to head back to camp and pack-up to head out.

Roan antelope bull, in very good condition

We stopped by Mari Bali for a final look and watched a herd of Roan, Korrigum (topi or tsessebe like) and Western hartebeest come down to drink, the Patas and Tantalus monkeys were around the pan along with their bigger cousin the Olive baboons, one in particular which stole our sweet packet. Some behavioral traits are universal I guess. With this we spend the last few minutes we had at Mari Bali and then headed out. One highlight driving back was a pair of White-headed vultures circling above us. After that is was one quick stop at the gate and then long 5 hour trip back to Parakou.

Some more pictures to enlightened the curious...