Ghana 9th & 10th March 2016

I've had to combine two days for the one post as I managed to take very few shots over these two dates. Both were spent almost entirely in secondary and primary rainforest. We birded nearby at Kakum again on the 9th and made our way to Ankasa Conservation Area in the south west part of Ghana that evening. On our way to Ankasa we had a brief stop at an area of mangroves just in from the coastline. We were lucky here with at least five Hartlaub's Ducks along with Reichenbach's, Brown/Mangrove and Superb Sunbirds. We then spent the next two nights in Ankasa. As there are no hotels close to this area of rainforest we camped out for the two nights. Everyone really missed the air conditioning of a hotel room as it was so humid even throughout the night. Sadly Ankasa forest is the only remaining primary rainforest (never been logged) in the entire country. There are still a few Forest African Elephants in the forest but unsurprisingly are very difficult to see. Again like most of my time birding in the rainforest I found this type of birding rather frustrating. Our guide would regularly shout out wanted species that just wouldn't come close enough to be seen through the extremely thick foliage. Over the course of the two days we did manage to pick a nice selection of species included African Finfoot, Blue-headed Wood Dove, Great Blue Turaco, Shining-Blue & White-bellied Kingfishers, Blue-throated Roller, Black-casqued Hornbill, Yellow-spotted Barbet, Rufous-sided Broadbill, Red-billed Helmetshrike, Purple-throated & Blue Cuckooshrike, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Pale-breasted Illadopsis, Olivaceous & Cassin's Flycatcher, Grey-throated Tit-Flycatcher and Blue-shouldered Robin Chat.

African Pied Hornbill

Rufous-sided Broadbill. One of the highlights of the trip. Very odd looking passerine and was a bird family tick for me.

Grey-throated Tit-Flycatcher

Shining-Blue Kingfisher

Chocolate-backed Kingfisher, the only one of the trip and this one was right up in the canopy.

Forest road obstruction which was quickly taken care of thanks to a machete and some muscle.

Group checking out the Chocolate-backed Kingfisher. Gives you an idea of how high up in the canopy it was!

Water hole in Ankasa.

Another water hole in Ankasa.

Entrance gate to Ankasa - seen better days!