Comoros November 2012 - Mohéli, Oeunefou

Due to problems with the local boats, we did not managed to get to Anjouan, so we missed the four (three if you don´t count the Thrush, which you should) local endemics. Therefore we had some spare time and ventured from Miringoni to Nioumachoua, which was rather difficult as there are no taxi-brousses on this stretch of road. There we found, to our surprise, very good accomodation in the form of the Laka Lodge and so we had our first shower in two weeks... From here you can organise all sorts of tours, including hikes and whale watching. We however, as we were short on money and it was not in the season for the whales, organised a boat form a local fisherman for 15.000 CMF to visit Oeunefou.

Oeunefou is one of the small uninhabited islands offshore, that are part of the only national park of the country. This site is not a part of the standard circuit (if such a thing exists in the Comoros), but we thought it might be encompromise a breeding colony of Persian Shearwaters and we were eager to make some better sound recordings than on Chalet St. Antoine.

We just camped on the beach, which almost ended in disaster, for the high tide is very high here during the night.  We had a very lovely time on this small island though, for the snorkeling is very good.  Besides we also saw some good birds including: Malagasy Harrier, Sooty Falcon and Lesser Frigatebird. At night we also heard some Persian Shearwaters calling, but these were only two very brief calls. The highlight however at night is the biofluorescence, which gives you the feeling of swimming with the stars.

Our tent on Oeunefou

Concluding, Oeunefou is not a place you go for the birds primairely, but it was a cool place to kill our spare time. However take enough food and water, when camping out, for our boatman was 3.5 hours late... I also want to make a small note here: Oeunefou seems like the perfect place to play Robinson Crusoe and many people do so. However it is the only single "protected" area in the entire country and that should be respected, even when the locals don´t, so fuck off with your home made fishing rod or spear and enjoy the Barracuda´s alive while snorkeling!

Sunset on Oeunefou

Comoros November 2012 - Mohéli, Chalet St. Antoine

Chalet St. Antoine is The place on Mohéli to see all the endemics of the island. However, access to this site is very difficult. I have no idea what the best strategy should be. We simply arrived in Miringoni, where the trail starts, by hitching a ride from Hoani and ended up sleeping in the drivers house (Although there are bungalows in the village, he insisted on inviting us to his house. Awsome experience!) In Miringoni we organised  a guide, called Abacar, who speaks very decent French, but no English. You really need a guide, for otherwise you just won´t find the trail. At the top, at Chalet St. Antoine (800 m.a.s.l.) is no accomodation, nor food, so you have to camp out. We found that buying food in Miringoni is very difficult and therefore I advice to stock up somewhere else. We walked the entire very, very steep trail in three hours, arriving at 8:00 at the top with a load of spare time.

Birds seen on the trail and around the chalet included the endemic Comoro Green Pigeon (just two and I think if IUCN acceps this form to be a full species it will be rated as endangered, at least), Mohéli Thrush (Very different from Grande Comoro Thrush. We saw a few, mostly around the camp), Moheli Bulbul, Long-billed Green Sunbird  (ssp. voeltzkowi), Madagascar White-eye (ssp. comoriensis), Malagasy Harrier (a pair preformed stunningly at the chalet), Madagascar Paradise Flycatcher (ssp. voeltzkowiana), Cuckoo Roller (apparently it is unknown which subspecies is represented on this island or even which species!) Benson´s Brush Warbler (just one noted), Comoro Blue Vanga (two males seen) and Comoro Cuckoo Shrike (just one female observed of the scarce moheliensis subspecies)

Long-billed Green Sunbird (Nectarinia notata voeltzkowi)

Mohéli Thrush (Turdus (bewsheri) moheliensis)

Malagsy Harrier (Circus macrosceles), male 

Male Cuckoo Roller, whatever (sub)species it may be, in display flight

Female Comoro Cuckooshrike (Coracina cucullata moheliensis)

After a very long wait (10 hours) it was finely getting dark and very soon four or five Mohéli Scops Owls started calling and after having the (rather weird tyto-like) call recorded, we could lure on into view and enjoyed rather brief, but good sights of the bird. Surprisingly we also heard some Persian Shearwaters calling and it turns out to be a known breeding site of the temptator subspecies.

We also recorded Common Tenrecs here and had to restrain Abacar from eating them! Retrospectively I think eating introduced species is not such a bad thing and it is a shame that House Crows apparently don´t taste as good as Tenrecs... We also tried to find the endemic Livingstone´s Fruit Bat, but unfortunately we did not manage to find this extremely impressive species. I can highly recommend this site as well, but prepare yourself well and I think leaving Miringoni in the afternoon will do just fine. Abacar is a decent guide, but a bit shy. Besides the birds, the view at the top is also very beautiful, for you can see the entire marine park, including the uninhabited islands (see next post).