Sierra Leone River estuary and Yawri Bay — wintering waders on Freetown's doorstep
Whimbrel, bar-tailed godwit, curlew sandpiper, sanderling, grey plover; royal & Caspian terns, pelicans; African skimmer (rare); mangrove kingfishers and herons. Sierra Leone River Estuary (Ramsar) & Yawri Bay, Western Area, Sierra Leone.
Best time: 1 Nov – 28 Feb (November to February). Where: Aberdeen Creek, Freetown, Tagrin / Lungi shore (north bank), Yawri Bay (Tombo / Shenge) (Sierra Leone). Time of day: High-tide roosts in the 2 hours around high water.
- You can go on your own
- Free
- Telescope recommended
- Sound 3/5
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 Nov – 28 Feb. November to end of February
Active from 1 Oct to 15 Apr (October to April) in a typical year.
Time of day
High-tide roosts in the 2 hours around high water; the Aberdeen creek at dawn before the city traffic
- Morning: sunrise → 2 h after sunrise
- Evening roost: 90 min before sunset → sunset
Depends on the tide: best around high tide. Check local tide tables.
What will you hear?
Wader and tern roosts on the mudflats of one of West Africa's biggest estuaries, with mangrove crackle, pelicans and the constant boat traffic of Freetown's harbour.
Binoculars?
Telescope recommended. Roosts sit on wide mudflats 200 m to 1 km from the shore; scope recommended, binoculars minimum.
Where to go
- Aberdeen Creek, Freetown — Mangrove creek in the city between Aberdeen and Lumley; roadside viewing, heavy traffic. Map
- Tagrin / Lungi shore (north bank) — The airport ferry side; wide flats and quieter than the city. Map
- Yawri Bay (Tombo / Shenge) — Bay south of the peninsula with large flats and mangrove; fishing villages, no facilities. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Taxi or poda-poda to Aberdeen; the Lungi side via the Tagrin ferry; Tombo by road for Yawri Bay boats. All shore access is free and open.
Cost: Free (2026); ferry and boat fares apply.
Field-recording notes
A city estuary: harbour, ferries, generators (Freetown's power is unreliable), and the fish-landing beaches. Yawri Bay and the Lungi shore are the clean options. Humidity; the harmattan is mild here. No permits for the shore.
Sources
Similar spectacles
Wadden Sea autumn: geese, waders and whooper swans in the marshBarnacle goose yapping in flocks of tens of thousands over the Ballum marsh, brent geese growling on the flats, golden plover flocks whistling, whooper swan families bugling on the polders at night, curlew; the tide.
Pink-footed goose dawn flightsTens of thousands of geese lifting off the mudflats at first light in a wall of 'wink-wink' calls, wave after wave overhead.
Whooper swans & barnacle geeseBugling whoopers and yapping barnacle flocks like a huge crowd; the whole Svalbard barnacle population is on one estuary.
Arctic geese on the Lower RhineWhite-fronted geese's high yelping in skeins of thousands, bean geese's deeper 'kayak', the roar of a roost lifting off the Rhine at first light, whooper swans on the Bislicher Altrhein; barges and the A57 underneath.
Lower Oder Valley: whooper swans, geese and the flooded poldersWhooper swan bugling in chorus over the polder ice-edge, geese lifting at dawn by the thousand, smew and goldeneye wing-whistle, eagle yelps; in October, cranes; in May, corncrakes at night.
Wintering cranes at ArjuzanxWaves of cranes dropping into the flooded roost after dark, a continuous rolling chorus that carries for kilometres over the pine plantations.
More: all spectacles in Sierra Leone · winter geese, swans and ducks · Sierra Leone in January · Sierra Leone in February · Sierra Leone in November · Sierra Leone in December