Outamba-Kilimi — hippos, chimps and the northern savanna at night
Hippopotamus, pygmy hippo, western chimpanzee, sooty mangabey, colobus, forest elephant (few); over 100 bird species including ground hornbills. Outamba-Kilimi National Park, Karene district (north-west, Guinea border), Sierra Leone.
Best time: 15 Jan – 15 Apr (January to April). Where: Outamba sector – park camp on the Little Scarcies, Kamakwie (Sierra Leone). Time of day: Hippos grunt on the river from dusk through the night.
- Guide, ranger or boat needed
- Entry fee
- 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: 15 Jan – 15 Apr. Mid January to mid April, when the Little Scarcies is low and the park's tracks are open
Active from 1 Dec to 15 May (December to May) in a typical year.
Time of day
Hippos grunt on the river from dusk through the night; chimps and colobus at dawn in the gallery forest
- River night into dawn: sunset → 90 min after sunrise
What will you hear?
Hippo pods on the Little Scarcies river, chimps and colobus in the gallery forests at dawn, ground hornbills booming, and savanna nights with nightjars and hyenas — Sierra Leone's oldest park and its emptiest.
Binoculars?
Binoculars helpful. Hippos at 30–100 m from the canoe; binoculars help by day, ears and a red torch do the night.
Where to go
- Outamba sector – park camp on the Little Scarcies — Simple huts built of local materials; canoe trips to the hippo pools with park rangers. Map
- Kamakwie — Nearest town and the road end; moto or 4x4 to the park. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Park rule: ranger guide on every walk and canoe trip, arranged at the park camp. Cheapest legal route: public transport to Kamakwie, moto to the park, pay entry and ranger fees at the camp, sleep in the park huts.
Cost: Entry, ranger and hut fees — check current prices at the park or the NPAA.
Free or no-guide alternative: The Little Scarcies river at Kamakwie and the public road bridge give hippos and the river dusk free, outside the park.
Field-recording notes
Rangers accompany every walk and canoe (park rule and hippos). The camp is silent at night apart from the river; the harmattan is strong here in January (dust), and it is hot by March. Bring everything — no supplies in the park.
Sources
Similar spectacles
Hippos and the chimpanzee islands of the River Gambia National ParkHippo pods grunting and blowing on the river bends below Janjanbureh, chimpanzee pant-hoots carrying across the water from the Baboon Islands, baboon troops on the banks and fish eagles at every bend.
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.
Niokolo-Koba — hippos, lions and the Gambia river in the dry seasonHippo pods bellowing on the Gambia river below the Simenti terrace, lions roaring across the dry savanna, hyenas, and at dawn the booming of ground hornbills and the calls of spur-winged geese and Egyptian plovers on the sandbars.
Hippos on the Mono riverHippo laughing-grunts and blows from the river pools at dusk, carrying up the gallery forest, with nightjars and the fishing villages beyond.
Kainji Lake: hippos and savanna nights on the Oli riverHippo choruses on the Oli river pools at dusk, hyena and nightjars around the camp, baboon barks, and the wide Guinea-savanna dawn of francolins, hornbills and doves.
Saltwater hippos of OrangoHippo grunts and blows from a lagoon inside island forest, then the same animals walking past the village beach at night and surfacing in the sea in the morning — the world's only regularly marine hippos.
More: all spectacles in Sierra Leone · chimpanzees · hippos · wildlife at night · Sierra Leone in January · Sierra Leone in February · Sierra Leone in March · April