Mount Kupe and the Bakossi mountains: montane forest song
Mount Kupe bushshrike (Malaconotus kupeensis), white-throated mountain babbler, grey-necked rockfowl, Cameroon montane greenbul, green-breasted bushshrike, black-capped woodland warbler. Nyasoso, Mount Kupe and Bakossi, South-West Region, Cameroon.
Best time: 1 Dec – 28 Feb (December to February). Where: Nyasoso – Mount Kupe trails, Kodmin – Bakossi mountains (Cameroon). Time of day: From first light to about 09:00, before the mist.
- Partly on your own
- Low cost
- Binoculars helpful
- Sound 4/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 1 Dec – 28 Feb. December to February: the drier months on a mountain that is otherwise in cloud; song is strongest at the end of the dry season
Active from 15 Nov to 31 Mar (November to March) in a typical year.
Time of day
From first light to about 09:00, before the mist; the bushshrike is a mid-morning caller in the mid-altitude forest above Nyasoso
- Dawn chorus: first light → 09:00
- Bushshrike hours: 09:00 → 11:00
What will you hear?
The loud, ringing whistles of the Mount Kupe bushshrike — one of Africa's rarest birds — from the mid-altitude forest, babbler flocks, montane greenbuls and, at the rockfowl rocks, the near-silent presence of the birds themselves.
Binoculars?
Binoculars helpful. The bushshrike rings out from mid-altitude forest; binoculars help find it and the babbler flocks in the canopy.
Where to go
- Nyasoso – Mount Kupe trails — Village at the foot of Kupe with guides trained by earlier conservation projects; the forest starts above the farms. Map
- Kodmin – Bakossi mountains — Higher village on the Bakossi side for the montane forest and rockfowl. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Shared taxi from Loum/Tombel to Nyasoso; the village tracks and the farm-forest edge are walkable alone at dawn, and a village guide (a few thousand CFA) is the norm for the forest trails above.
Cost: Guide fee by negotiation in the village; check current prices.
Free or no-guide alternative: The farm-forest edge above Nyasoso is free and walkable without a guide at dawn and holds most of the montane greenbuls and babblers.
Field-recording notes
Community forest with village guides (customary and worth it — the trails are unmarked). The bushshrike is Critically Endangered and heavily sought by birders: no playback, and stay on the trails. Cloud from mid-morning, heavy dew, leeches in the rains. South-West Region: check current travel advice.
Sources
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More: all spectacles in Cameroon · dawn choruses · Cameroon in January · Cameroon in February · Cameroon in December