Hi everyone!

Just letting you all know we are safe and well and in Lambarene. Sorry things have been a bit quiet but as you can see, we have been chilling in wild Africa. We know the "Gin and Tonic" page has dropped of the blog and we desperately need to do some updating. We will try our best when in Libreville in a week or two while awaiting the Cameroon visa .

More Nerdy Birders

Bel and I are strictly "armchair" birders. We may put down our tea/beer and stand up to get a better look, but Gabon truly doesn't disappoint when it comes to birding. We've been ticking off "lifers" on a daily basis and have sighted nearly 90 species in our 3 weeks.

Our 2 weeks' R&R in Setté Cama was a delight. Thick forests all around, a lazy lagoon on one side, a wild Atlantic beach on the other. Heaven for the 3 of us. 

 

Apart from a few passing fishermen, our company was:

• Black-capped bulbuls "suh-wheat pah-tay-toe" getting us out of our tents each morning
• Busy blue-breasted bee-eaters classicly posed a few meters from us. Master hunters in and out of their sandbank nests.
• All day, a cacophony of the emphatic "chip-chrrrrrr" of the woodland kingfishers, the raucous bark of ever-elusive turacos and casqued hornbills, the monotonous "plink-plink" of tinkerbirds and the high-pitched trilling of sunbirds.
• The perfectly camouflaged square-tailed nightjar only taking flight from the sand at the last second just before we stepped on it and its tiny pink speckled eggs.
• Great flocks of African grey parrots, living as they should – not caged in solitary confinement - broadcasting their pops, hoots and whistles on the short-wave radio.
• The evening sky filled with rosy bee-eaters and numerous, unnamed swifts and swallows swooping and diving, playing tag with Peggy.
• And of course, there's nothing better than sipping a cold beer, accompanied by the unmistakeable ringing call of the African fish eagle.  .

Aah, that's life!