5 February 2020

New Trip Report: Senegal

Here’s a first report from Tom Clode, who promises more reports – largely in search of Wild Dogs across Africa – will follow.

Niokolo-Koba National Park, 2018: Tim Clode, 2 weeks & 24 species including Honey Badger, Red-flanked Duiker and Patas Monkey.

Jon

 

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8 Comments

  • 5 February 2020
    Antonio Rieiro

    Please, scientific mames!!

    • 5 February 2020
      Tom Clode

      Hi Antonio,

      I’ll be sure to include scientific names in reports going forwards. Are there any particular ones you’d like clarity on?

  • 5 February 2020
    Clive R Barlow

    greetings from The Gambia – Tim & anyone following the ‘split’ of west & east patas ?

    • 5 February 2020
      Tom Clode

      Hi Clive,

      I’m aware that the Blue Nile Patas Monkey has been proposed as a separate species from the Common Patas – I’ve never come across the former, but am given to understand it is quite physiologically distinct from the Common Patas so I’d suggest the split is a sensible one. It would certainly make more sense to me than the vervet split that still confuses me in the field to this day.

  • 28 February 2020
    WRO

    Hi,
    I visited Niokola-Koba in ’96. I was lucky to have seen a Derby’s Eland, near the entrance of the park. Any information on the status of this rare species nowadays in the park ?

    Sincerely
    WRO

    • 11 November 2020
      Tom Clode

      Hi WRO, apologies for the (very) late reply. Giant Eland are still present, although you were very lucky to see them. A herd is being regularly encountered in the Mt Assirik area of the park, and two surveys in the last 18 months or so have seen this same group. With over 50 individuals, it is probably the largest extant herd of the Western Giant Eland in Africa remaining.

  • 11 November 2020
    James Anderson

    I enjoyed your report enormously. I spent 6 months in 1977 and 3 months in 1979 at Mt Assirik, studying the chimpanzees and baboons. Our camp consisted of 4 of those woven huts, constructed especially for the project. No electricity, no running water, no fresh food…. interesting (and wonderful) times! Back then we saw elephants, buffalo and lions quite frequently, and colleagues also regularly saw leopards (I never did). We saw most of those on your list frequently – the aquatic ones when we traveled nearer to the Gambia river/Simenti. I don’t recall that any of us ever saw a honey badger, but if somebody did it will be in the records of the project somewhere. I did once encounter a pack of wild dogs as I crossed a plateau trying to keep up with some chimpanzees. We stared at each other for around 30 seconds, then they continued on their way and me on mine. I did manage to get a terrible snapshot on my little instamatic, but it was the rainy season, and so the photos shows just the ears of a couple of them, barely visible over the tall grass. I’ll be happy send you a jpeg if you’d like it.

    • 11 November 2020
      Tom Clode

      Hi James – thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed the report. PNNK is truly one of my favourite parks in all of Africa, and remarkably still harbours many of the species you encountered. Interesting that you seem to have encountered dogs in the south of the park – they are absent here now by all accounts, no thanks to much of the mining and traffic on the N7.

      I’d love to see your shot of the dogs, especially after my spending so many hours chasing after them with no reward. My email is contact@pictus-safaris.com. I hope to be back in PNNK this Christmas, but it looks like that’s off the table due to COVID. I’ll definitely be back to lead a tour there in November 2022.

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