Wed, April 17 - Birding Our Way Back to the Rainforest Lodge

We met for breakfast at 5 AM; I had bread and jam as I couldn’t face yet another omelet.   We set off with our luggage back to the park and stopped at the Tall Tree Trail.  We entered a very dense forest and hiked up and down slopes and worked very hard to see several dark, skulking birds in the thick underbrush.  It was just incredibly hot as no breeze could reach us and we drank as much water as poured off us.  We saw the lovely Forest Robin, a small round bird with brilliant orange breast, brown back and white underneath.

We finally left the claustrophobic jungle and started the long drive back to the Rainforest Lodge.  We dozed and bumped along; our guides, James and Andrew, stopped and bought a pile of roasted plantains from a woman carrying them on top of her head along the side of the highway which were delicious, hot right off someone’s griddle! They are always stopping to pick up water and snacks to keep us in good humor!

 

Orange Weaver

 We stopping for lunch at the same hotel that we has stopped at two days ago for good cream of veg and chicken soup, plus chicken and pasta.

Our guides stopped and bought some pineapples from some women as they know we love them so much, for us to have for dessert tonight.  There were also two women walking along with sewing machines on top of their heads, I guess offering quick sewing jobs!

Fruit Vendors

 Ghana is home of thousands of tiny businesses.  Every town is lined with little stores, workshops or wooden stands selling everything imaginable.  There are work shops making coffins, bed frames, upholsterers manufacturing one set of furniture at a time, all lined up in front of their stall! Tiny hardware stores, dress shops, racks of used shoes and, of course, pots of food everywhere - it would be fascinating to wander among these - if we had a little time!

 

Beach Shacks

Adobe Mosque

We pulled off on a side road to Brenu Beach and stopped along the way to look at Pipits, a Harrier hawk and two kinds of waxbills.  It was beginning to get dark so we drove to another location, off in the countryside, passing medical area with a nursing college, a planned parenthood center and an area with high wire fencing with the improbable name of the “Communicable Disease Prison”!

Brenu Beach Area

We pulled off the road and walked a short ways to a stream and started playing a tape of Fraser’s Eagle Owl, and low and behold, it hooted and we were able to shine a spotlight on it to ID it.  We started driving finally to the Rainforest Hotel and stopped to watch a Long-tailed Nightjar, a dark dove-sized bird with a long tail and distinctive white markings sitting on the road.

We finally arrived at the good old Rainforest at 7:30 and got our same #107 room and dashed around to meet for dinner at 8!  Good soup, spaghetti, and our pineapple!    To bed as we’re getting up for breakfast at 4:30 tomorrow!  Sigh!