Updates from our Cuckoos

After several weeks in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Cuckoo Trent has finally embarked on the next stage of his journey south, taking on the mighty Sahara.

He set off on Sunday evening (30 July) and 24 hours later he had covered 1,150 km (714 miles) and was over the desert of Western Mauritania.

He pressed on and appears to have stopped for 36 hours or so in the desert on the eastern edge of the Banc d'Arguin National Park. I must confess to having been a little worried about him during this stop but thankfully, further updates received this morning show that he has flown a further 400 km (248 miles) south, towards Mauritania's border with Senegal. 

Since departing his last location in Morocco on Sunday evening, Trent has flown a total of around 1,960 km (1,218 miles) across some of the most remote and desolate terrain on the planet.

He is now some 40 km (24 miles) east of the town of Aleg and 20 km (12.4 miles) north of a large lake, in south-western Mauritania. Hopefully he is able to find some food here to help him on the rest of his journey south into Senegal or Mali. 

Bluey has departed Mali and flown 1,025 km (637 miles) east, taking him across Burkina Faso and into Nigeria.

He has spent the last few days 63 km (40 miles) north-west of the town of Zuru in Kebbi State.

Over the last few days Cuach Torc has made excellent progress south. By Saturday evening (29 July) he had departed Greece, crossed the Mediterranean and reached northern Libya.

He carried on south and by late on Monday (31 July) he was over the Sahara in eastern Chad.

By early this morning (3 August) he had reached the Marrah Mountains in Darfur, Sudan. He is currently 40 km (25 miles) west of the town of Kutum.

It'll be interesting to see whether Torc remains in the area or continues further south into the Sahel.

We are pleased to report that further updates from George's tag last night show that he has safely completed his crossing of the Sahara.

By 18:30 last night he had reached the northern edge of the Guéra region of Chad. Further updates suggest that he has carried on south towards the mountains of Mont Mourgue and Mont Ouala.  

After a bit of a hiatus, Cuach Torc is on the move again. He has flown 773 km (480 miles) south from Bosnia & Herzegovina to southern Greece.

He has spent the last couple of days in the countryside around the town of Gytheio on the eastern shore of the Mani Peninsula.

Since our last update George has departed Italy, crossed the Mediterranean and Libya, and reached Chad.

As of 20:48 last night he was still over the Sahara but was only a few hundred km from reaching the other side.

Hopefully by the time we receive the next update he will have successfully completed his crossing. 

We are pleased to report that Sayaan has made it across the Sahara. New updates from his tag this morning show that he has flown 1,225 km (761 miles) from the Tibesti mountains in southern Libya to his new location in the south-eastern corner of Chad.

He is now in the wetter and greener environs of the Sahel where he will hopefully be able to find plenty of food to help him recover from his long journey.

Sayaan has left Italy and by Sunday afternoon he had crossed the Mediterranean and reached northern Libya.

By the time of his last transmission just after 19:30 last night (Monday 24 July) he had flown 843 km (524 miles) south through the Libyan Sahara and reached the northern edge of the remote and very inaccessible Tibesti mountain range.

He is close to Bette Peak, the highest mountain in Libya at 2,266 metres (7,434 ft).  

Hopefully when we next hear from him, he will have completed his desert crossing and will be refuelling in the Sahel. 

Over the last few days Joe has flown 600 km (373 miles) east from Nigeria, over northern Cameroon and into southern Chad.

He is now 25 km (15.5 miles) south east of the city of Bousso in the Chari-Baguirmi region of Chad.

Since our last update Bluey has flown approximately 2,650 km (1,646 miles) on a journey that has taken him across the Sahara Desert, from Morocco, through Western Sahara and Mauritania to Mali.

He has spent the last couple of days in western Mali, close to the border with Senegal. He is approximately 16 km (10 miles) east of the town of Kéniéba, close to the Tabakoto gold mine.

It is the rainy season here and so hopefully Bluey will be finding plenty of invertebrate food to help him recover from his desert crossing.