Mediterranean monk seal colony, Cap Blanc

Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus). Réserve Satellite du Cap Blanc, Nouadhibou, Mauritania.

Best time: 1 Sep – 30 Nov (September to November). Where: Cap Blanc satellite reserve & information centre, Ras Nouadhibou lighthouse (Mauritania). Time of day: Daylight only (the reserve is a day visit).

• You can go on your own
• Low cost
• Telescope recommended
• Sound 2/5

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 Sep – 30 Nov. Pups are born May to November with an October peak; seals are present all year

Active from 1 Jan to 31 Dec (all year) in a typical year.

Time of day

Daylight only (the reserve is a day visit); calm mornings when seals haul out on the beaches below the cliffs

• Haul-out: 1 h after sunrise → 12:00

What will you hear?

The world's largest monk seal colony (around 300 animals) in a few sea caves and cliff-foot beaches: barks, snorts and pup bleats over surf — but mostly heard from above, at a distance, on the viewing platforms.

Binoculars?

Telescope recommended. Seals on the beaches and cave mouths below the platforms at a fixed distance; scope recommended, binoculars minimum.

Where to go

• Cap Blanc satellite reserve & information centre — 8 km sandy track from Nouadhibou past the SNIM iron-ore terminal; small centre, viewing platforms at a fixed distance from the caves. The border with Western Sahara runs along the peninsula — stay on the reserve side. Map
• Ras Nouadhibou lighthouse — Seawatching over the cape: shearwaters, gannets, skuas on passage Sept–Nov. Map

How to go on your own, and what it costs

Taxi or own 4x4 from Nouadhibou: 8 km sandy track past the SNIM terminal to the reserve at the tip of the cape, daylight hours only; small entrance fee to the information centre and platforms, no guide needed.

Cost: Small reserve entrance fee — check current prices; taxi from Nouadhibou negotiable.

Field-recording notes

The caves are closed and the platforms are the limit — the colony collapsed in a 1997 die-off and disturbance is policed by the CBD-Hábitat project staff. What you can do is a long parabolic take of the haul-out beach in the still morning, or a hydrophone from the reserve shore if staff agree. The iron-ore port, the ore train (the longest in the world) and the ship-graveyard bay are loud and constant north of the reserve; the cape itself has only surf and wind, which is strong most afternoons.

Sources

• IUCN – Best breeding season yet for the Cabo Blanco monk seal colony
• Birdingplaces – Ras Nouadhibou / Cap Blanc

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More: all spectacles in Mauritania · seals · whales, dolphins and seals · September · October · Mauritania in November