Day 1:The tour begins in Douala - where we will spend the night.

Day 2: We leave our hotel after an early Breakfast and transfer to Yaounde by road some 4 Hours drive. Along the way we will stop at some ponds where we will get our first introduction to the birds of Cameroon's. We should see our first peruses cliff swallows and Hartlaubs ducks are fairly common here. We stop again at the Senaga River at Edea where we should find Grey Pratincole and African skimmers, also possible here are Egyptian plovers though this site is not as reliable as some sites that we visit further north.

In the afternoon we will catch our overnight train to Ngaoundéré. This train will be an experience not often done on birding trips but we will have our own cabins with 2 or 3 people per cabin, the cabins though fairly simple are clean and neat with bedding provided. We take all our own food and drink aboard.

Day 3,4,5: On arriving in Ngaoundéré we transfer to Ngaoundaba Ranch for three nights. En-route we will stop and bird at a few remnant patches of woodland, where we can get an introduction to the birds of the Adamawa plateaux.

Ngaoundaba Ranch is a former hunting lodge and the accommodations are set on the rim of a dormant volcano overlooking a crater lake. The variety of habitats include gallery forest, marshland, open lake and open woodlands and we will spend birding all these habitats. In the gallery forest we hope to see Ross's Turaco, Grey-winged Robin Chat, Spotted Thrush Babbler, Puvells Illadopsis, and the charismatic Oriole Warbler. Whilst the forest edge and marshes could produce Marsh Tchagra, Blue-breasted Kingfisher, Dybowski's and Brown Twin-spots.

In the open woodlands we will look for Schlegels Francolin and Brown-chested Lapwing. We also expect to find White-collared Starling, White-breasted Cuckoo Shrike, Western violet-backed Sunbird, Black-necked Weavers, Chestnut-crown Sparrow Weaver and Black-capped Babbler.

Day 6,7,8: After a mornings birding we drive to Benoue National park, birding en-route in the savannah woodlands. We expect to see birds like Bruce's Green Pigeon, Lesser blue-eared Starling, Senegal Parrot and Black-bellied fire Finch.

Our base for the next few days will be Campement de Buffle Noir and in this area we will bird along the river in the riparian woodlands and surrounding Miombo-like woodlands. The birds we expect to find here include Adamawa Turtle Dove, Grey Pratincole, Egyptian Plover, Emins Shrike, White-crested and violet Turacos, Bearded Barbet, Grasshopper Buzzard, Stone Partridge, Abyssinian and Blue-bellied Rollers, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Senegal Eremomela and White-throated Francolin.

Day 9: After a mornings birding, we head to Lagdo where we arrive in time to relax in the heat in the beautiful clears waters of Lagdo lake, while keeping our binoculars close we may see Fox kestrels.

Day 10,11,12: During a quick early mornings walk we will find our first arid country species like Rock loving Cisticola, fox kestrel, White crowned Cliff chat, Red-tailed Lavender Waxbill and Black-faced Firefinch. After breakfast we continue north on the road to Chad going through the northern town of Garoua. En route we should find our first African Swallow tailed kites and we will notice the interesting transition of habitat as we enter the southern edge of the Sahel, an extension of the Sahara Desert. We will stay in Waza National Park, which is on the edge of the Sahel, for the next three nights. This national park just south of lake Chad is approximately 1700km² in extent and the varied habitat includes Acacia savannah, seasonal marshes and open grassy plains interspersed with impressive granite "koppies". In the rainy season this area is inundated with floods from the backwashes of Lake Chad although this may not be apparent when we are in the area, just at the start of the rains. In the next few days we will explore this area which holds some of the richest bird life in the entire Sahelian region The possibilities include Arabian Bustard, Quail Plover, Clapperton's Francolin, Black-crowned Crane, Black-headed Lapwing, the fabulous Swallow-tailed kite, Fox Kestrel, Bedouin's Snake-eagle, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Four-banded Sandgrouse, Northern Carmine and Little Green Bee-eater, Viellot's Barbet, Black Scrub Robin, Red-pate Cisticola, Cricket Warbler, River Prinia, Sennar Penduline Tit, Yellow-crowned Gonolek, Sahel Paradise Whydah, Black-rumped Waxbill, White-rumped Seedeater, Sudan Golden Sparrow and many more.
The park is also rich in mammal species, and we should see Red-fronted Gazelle, Kob, Topi, Western Roan Antelope, Bohor Reedbuck, Patas Monkey, as well as the more familiar African Elephant, Sahel Giraffe and African Lion.
A night drive should produce Long-tailed Nightjar, Northern White-faced Owl and with luck, the stunning Golden Nightjar, only discovered for the first time in Cameroon by our group in 2003, while interesting mammals we have found on previous trips include the delightful Sandbox and Striped Hyena.

Day 13: An early departure from the lodge and a long drive south to the town of Ngaoundéré once again for our Overnight train trip back to Yaounde where we arrive on the morning of Day 14.

Day 14: Transfer to day rooms in our hotel in Yaounde before catching our flights home in the evening. Or take the extension.