Updates from our Cuckoos

Calypso has continued his progress north and new updates received early this morning (18 April) show that he has reached northern Morocco. He is now in the the Fès-Meknès region of Morocco, approximately 195 Km south of the Mediterranean coast. 

Calypso is in the Saoura Valley which seperates the sand dunes of the Grand Erg Occidental area of the Sahara to the east from the rocky hills of the Ougarta Range to the west. With his crossing of the Sahara almost complete, we will hopefully see that he has safely reached northern Morocco or Algeria soon.

Calypso is making his move and has flown 2,124 Km (1,319 miles) north from his stop-over site in Ivory Coast. By 23:18 last night (13 April) he was 75 Km south of the desert town of Reggane, central Algeria. He is crossing the Tanezrouft, a vast barren plain which is one of the driest and most desolate parts of the Sahara. As he progresses north Calypso may take advantage of a series of oases between Reggane and the town of Adrar, 150 Km to the north.

Worcestershire Cuckoo Calypso has been on the move, covering 1,649km (1,022 miles) from Cameroon to Ivory Coast where he joins JAC, Victor II and PJ.

A new update received late yesterday afternoon shows that Calypso has flown 147km (91 miles) west within Cameroon and is now in the centre of the Mpem and Djim National Park. This park covers approximately 975km2 and is made up of a mosaic of closed-canopy forest, savannah grasslands, and gallery forests forming a transition zone between the rainforests to the south and the savanna to the north. Over 76 species of mammal have been recorded here including Honey Badger, Giant Pangolin and Aardvark. Calypso has arrived just at the start of the short rainy season which lasts until the end of June. 

Worcestershire Cuckoo Calypso has just started his journey back from Africa. Having been deep in the Congo basin for the last few months, new updates received in the early hours of this morning show that he has flown 622km (387 miles) north from Congo to Cameroon. He is now in eastern Cameroon, approximately 112km (70 miles) north of the town of Bertoua. We expect that he will begin moving into west Africa next where he will feed up before attempting to cross the Sahara.   

Over the last few days Calypso has completed a 965 km (600 mile) journey south east from Nigeria to the Republic of the Congo. He is now in the Western Cuvette department in the western part of the Republic of the Congo.

New updates received beteen 18:00 and 21:30 last night (Sunday 26 September) show that Calypso has flown 470 Km (292 miles) south east and is close to the Gashaka-Gumpti National park in eastern Nigeria, near the border with Cameroon. Cuckoos AJ and Ellis are approximately 1,200 Km (755 miles) south east of him in the Congo Basin. 

Over the last 24 hours Calpyso has flown 10 km south west within the Kwiabana Game Reserve in the south of Zamfara state, Nigeria. An ecological survey of this area published in 1981 found big numbers of large mammals, particularly Elephants, Roan Antelopes, Hartebeest and Buffalo, as well as smaller mammals like Warthog, Baboon, Ardvark, Baboons, Green Monkeys and Porcupines. The recommendation of that study was to protect the area from illegal hunting and grazing to create an area with great potential for game viewing and tourism. It would be interesting to know how the reserve has fared since 1981. 

New updates from Calypso arrived between 04:34 and 07:22 this morning showing that he has flown a further 586 km (364 miles) to complete his crossing of the Sahara. In total he has covered 2,784km (1,730 miles) since leaving from northern Tunisia and arriving at his current location in northern Nigeria. He is now in an area of Guinea Savanna close to the Kwiambana Game Reserve in the Zamfara region of north western Nigeria. He is 381Km (237 miles) west of Cuckoo Ellis who is also in northern Nigeria.