Mountain wildlife

30 mountain wildlife along the East Atlantic Flyway, from Norway to Angola: when each one peaks, where to go on your own, what it costs and what you will hear. Wild animals only, no zoos.

Best time, place by place

Where to go, north to south

• Lemming years and the owl irruptionNorway · Mountain mammals · peak 15 Jun–31 AugLemmings squeaking and chattering from every tussock and running across the trail, long-tailed skuas mewing, snowy owl barks and short-eared owl wing-claps, rough-legged buzzard mewing, arctic fox yips at a den; in a crash year, silence.
• Musk ox on DovrefjellNorway · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Aug–10 SepIn the rut, bulls' guttural roars and the crack of two 400 kg skulls colliding at 50 km/h, which carries across the plateau; otherwise snorts and grazing, golden plover and dotterel whistles, wind on the tundra.
• Marmots, ibex and chamois in the Berchtesgaden AlpsGermany · Mountain mammals · peak 20 Jun–31 Aug and 1 Nov–30 NovMarmot whistles echoing off the Watzmann east face, chough flocks, chamois sneezes, ptarmigan on the Steinernes Meer plateau, golden eagle; cowbells on the alpine pastures; in autumn, roaring stags in the Klausbachtal.
• Mercantour summer: marmots, ibex and wolf countryFrance · Mountain mammals · peak 20 Jun–31 AugMarmot alarm whistles across high cirques, ibex hooves on rock, alpine choughs and lammergeier wingbeats; wolf howls are possible but rare and never guaranteed.
• Alpine ibex, chamois and marmotsSwitzerland · Mountain mammals · peak 1 May–5 Jun and 10 Nov–31 DecIbex horn-clashes in the December rut, hoof-clatter on rock, chamois alarm hisses, marmot whistles echoing, chough flocks, water pipit; the wind.
• Bearded vultures and golden eagles of the EngadinSwitzerland · Mountain mammals · peak 15 Jun–30 SepSilence and wind — the recording is of the alpine air, chough flocks, marmots and the occasional whoosh of a 2.8 m wingspan overhead; the visual spectacle is the point.
• Marmots, ibex and vultures, Hohe TauernAustria · Mountain mammals · peak 20 Jun–31 Aug and 1 Dec–31 DecMarmot alarm whistles bouncing between glacier-polished walls, chough flocks, ibex hoof-clatter, the wing-rush of a griffon passing at 20 m, ptarmigan; glacier streams and cowbells below.
• Marmots, ibex and chamois in the Julian AlpsSlovenia · Mountain mammals · peak 20 Jun–31 Aug and 10 Nov–31 DecMarmot alarm whistles echoing off limestone walls, chough flocks, ptarmigan croaking above the treeline, chamois hissing alarm sneezes; in autumn the roar of red deer from the valleys below.
• Alpine summer: marmots & ibexItaly · Mountain mammals · peak 10 Jun–31 JulPiercing marmot alarm whistles echoing across cirques, cowbells far below, alpine choughs, streams.
• Cantabrian mountains: chamois rut, bears and wallcreepersSpain · Mountain mammals · peak 20 Oct–30 Nov and 15 Apr–15 Jun and 15 Aug–30 SepChamois whistling alarms and clattering hooves on limestone, alpine chough flocks, wallcreeper thin whistles from the gorge walls, bells and the Cares river; bears are silent and distant.
• Barbary macaque troops in the Middle Atlas cedar forestMorocco · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Nov–31 MarBarks, screams and the soft 'ooh' contact grunts of a troop moving through 30 m Atlas cedars, chest-thumping squabbles in the mating season, with Levaillant's woodpecker, firecrest and nuthatch in the canopy and wind in the cedars.
• Comoé: elephants, hippos and the savanna-forest mosaicCôte d'Ivoire · Mountain mammals · peak 15 Jan–31 MarHippos bellowing on the Comoé at dusk, elephants at the river pools, lions are not to be expected but spotted hyena whoop; the ground hornbill's booming duet at dawn and the harmattan wind in the gallery forest.
• Habituated chimpanzees and the Taï forest dawnCôte d'Ivoire · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Dec–28 FebPant-hoot choruses and buttress drumming rolling through primary rainforest, the crashing and screaming of a Diana colobus troop, hornbills' wingbeats over the canopy, cicadas and, at night, tree hyrax and Demidoff's galago.
• Elephants at the Mole waterholesGhana · Mountain mammals · peak 15 Jan–31 MarElephants splashing, rumbling and trumpeting at the waterhole, baboon alarm barks off the escarpment, hyena whoops after dark, and a savanna dawn of helmeted guineafowl, hornbills and doves.
• Wechiau: hippos on the Black Volta at duskGhana · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Dec–31 MarThe Black Volta's hippo pools: the stacked laughing grunt of a bull answered down the river, blows and splashes as the pod surfaces, then at dusk the heavy walk of hippos leaving the water to graze a few hundred metres from the Talawona camp. Egyptian plovers piping on the sandbars, fish eagles, carmine bee-eaters in the dry-season colonies on the banks.
• Fazao-Malfakassa: elephants, colobus and ground hornbills in the hillsTogo · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Jan–31 MarThe deep booming duet of ground hornbills across dry woodland, the rolling roar of ursine colobus from gallery forest, baboons on the escarpment and — with luck and patience — elephants at a pool at night.
• W National Park (Benin sector): the Mékrou river and Koudou fallsBenin · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Feb–30 AprHippos 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.
• Yankari: elephants on the Gaji river and Wikki nightsNigeria · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Feb–30 AprElephants at the Gaji river pools, baboon troops around Wikki camp, a savanna dawn of francolins, doves and hornbills, and at night the warm-spring valley's bats, nightjars and owls.
• Gashaka Gumti: chimpanzees and the Kwano forestNigeria · Mountain mammals · peak 15 Dec–15 MarPant-hoot choruses and drumming from the Kwano forest — the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee's main study population — putty-nosed monkeys' pyow calls, hornbills over the Gamgam river and a night of tree hyrax and nightjars.
• Bénoué: hippos on the river at Buffle Noir and the Guinea-savanna dry seasonCameroon · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Feb–15 AprThe Bénoué at the dry-season low: hippo pods grunting and blowing a hundred metres below the camp terrace, the splash and heavy tread as they come out after dark, lion at a distance on still nights, the hoot of ground hornbills and the piping of Egyptian plovers on the sandbars at dawn; carmine bee-eaters in their thousands at the river-bank colonies.
• Waza: elephants, giraffes and the Sahelian floodplainCameroon · Mountain mammals · peak 15 Feb–15 MayElephants at the pools, crowned crane duets across the floodplain at dawn, a Sahelian chorus of doves, sandgrouse and larks, and hyena at night around Waza camp.
• Lobéké bais: elephants, gorillas and grey parrots at the clearingsCameroon · Mountain mammals · peak 15 Dec–28 FebGrey parrot flocks whistling and screeching over Djangui, elephants splashing, rumbling and trumpeting in the mud of Petite Savane, gorilla chest-beats from the edge, forest hogs grunting, and the rainforest dawn behind it all.
• Langoué Bai: elephants, gorillas and red river hogs at the Ivindo clearingGabon · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Jul–15 SepA bai at night is the best elephant listening in Central Africa: rumbles, trumpets, splashing and the squabbling of family groups at the mineral pools, with tree hyrax, frogs and owls in the forest ring. By day, red river hog groups of fifty, gorilla chest-beats and 'hoo' series from the edge, and the whistles of grey parrots in hundreds.
• Lopé: the mandrill super-groups of the dry seasonGabon · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Jul–15 OctA horde of several hundred mandrills on the move is one of the loudest things in an African forest: a rolling wave of grunts, two-phase 'crowing' from the males, screams, branches breaking and the drumming of hundreds of feet in the leaf litter, approaching for minutes before anything is seen and fading for minutes after. Around it, the savanna–forest dawn: hornbills, greenbuls, elephants rumbling at the forest edge.
• Loango: forest elephants, buffalo and hippos on the ocean beachGabon · Mountain mammals · peak 15 Oct–31 Mar and 1 Aug–31 OctSurf behind everything. Elephants are near-silent on sand, but the rumbles and the crack of branches at the forest edge carry at dawn; hippo grunts from the lagoons at dusk; red river hog groups snuffling through the leaf litter; the chatter of river-martin flocks over the water in August–October and chimpanzee pant-hoots from the forest behind Akaka in the wet season.
• Lésio-Louna: rewilded gorillas and the Batéké plateauRepublic of the Congo · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Jun–30 SepGorillas calling and feeding on the river islands seen from a pirogue, the wide, wind-swept quiet of the Batéké plateau at dawn with larks and cisticolas, and at night frogs and nightjars along the gallery forests.
• Ngaga: habituated western lowland gorillas in the marantaceae forestRepublic of the Congo · Mountain mammals · peak 15 Jun–15 SepChest-beats, hoots and the crashing of a silverback's display in dense marantaceae, the soft grunting and belching of a feeding family a few metres away, monkeys overhead and a night of tree hyrax and frogs from the camp's raised rooms.
• Odzala-Kokoua: forest elephants and grey parrots at Lango baiRepublic of the Congo · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Jul–15 Sep and 1 Dec–28 FebElephants blowing, splashing and rumbling in the bai's mineral pools a few metres below the deck, families greeting with trumpets and roars, grey parrot flocks whistling in to drink, forest buffalo grunting in the sedge, and a night of frogs, hyrax and distant hyena.
• Nouabalé-Ndoki: gorillas and elephants at Mbeli BaiRepublic of the Congo · Mountain mammals · peak 15 Dec–28 FebA silverback's chest-beats and a family's contented feeding grunts in the open, from a platform 20 m above one of the Congo Basin's most-watched clearings; elephants splashing at night, sitatunga barking, parrots at dawn, and a rainforest with no engine within a day's walk.
• Kissama (Quiçama): elephants and the Cuanza riverAngola · Mountain mammals · peak 1 Jul–30 SepElephants on the Cuanza floodplain, hippos grunting from the river at dusk, fish eagles, and the coastal savanna's dawn of francolins, hornbills and doves — with the fog of the cacimbo damping everything until mid-morning.

More: every animal and kind · what is on in October