Wildlife spectacles in Benin
7 spectacles through the year, ordered by when they peak. Open Benin in the interactive calendar for the map and listening times.
Pendjari: lions, elephants and hippos at the dry-season poolsLions roaring across the Pendjari plain in the small hours — one of the few places in West Africa where this is still likely — hippos bellowing at Mare Bali, elephants at the pools, hyena whoops and a savanna dawn of francolins, ground hornbills and doves.
W National Park (Benin sector): the Mékrou river and Koudou fallsHippos in the Mékrou gorge below Koudou falls, the water itself, bee-eaters and pratincoles over the river, and elephants at the pools; nights of hyena and nightjars.
Humpback whales off Ouidah and Grand-PopoBlows, breaches and tail slaps from the boat; with a hydrophone over the side and the engine off, humpback song in the breeding season.
Sea turtles nesting at Grand-Popo and OuidahA sight more than a sound, but with a close mic: sand thrown by a leatherback's flippers, the deep exhalations of a nesting female, and the Bight of Benin surf behind.
Waterbirds of Lake Nokoué and GanviéBlack terns and whiskered terns calling over the fish-parks, egrets and herons settling at dusk, jacanas on the lily beds and the paddle-and-pole sounds of a stilt town of 30,000 people.
Bouche du Roy: mangroves, manatees and the Mono estuaryA mangrove soundscape: kingfishers and herons, mudskippers popping at low water, whimbrel and terns on the sand at the river mouth, and, rarely, the blow of a manatee in a still channel.
Lama forest and Lokoli swamp: red-bellied monkeys and the last forest chorus of the Dahomey GapGreat blue turacos and yellow-casqued hornbills in a 2,000 ha island of semi-deciduous forest surrounded by farmland — the fullest forest chorus in Benin — with red-bellied monkeys' soft calls in the understorey and, at Lokoli, a swamp forest of frogs, kingfishers and dripping trees from a dugout.