Kumbira Forest

Kumbira is a patch of forest on the Angolan escarpment near Gabela, and it matters far beyond its size because it holds species restricted to this thin belt of scarp forest: Gabela akalat, Gabela bushshrike, Pulitzer's longbill and Monteiro's bushshrike, all of them found nowhere else and all in trouble. The forest is being cleared for coffee and subsistence farming, so what remains is fragmented across a hilly landscape and shrinking. Birders come from a long way for exactly these few species.

What's there

• The escarpment endemics - Gabela akalat, bushshrike and Pulitzer's longbill, restricted to this scarp.
• The forest fragments - remaining patches scattered across the hills above Gabela.
• The coffee shade - old shade-coffee plantings holding some of the surviving canopy.
• The escarpment - the steep transition from coastal plain to the interior plateau.

When to go

June to September is the dry season and easiest for travel, though birds call more in the wet months. Early morning is essential for the endemics. The rains from November to March make tracks difficult.

What to expect

The forest is fragmented and finding the key birds usually takes two or three mornings with a local guide who knows the patches. There is no accommodation nearby beyond basic rooms in Gabela. Clearance is continuing and the situation gets worse rather than better.

Nearby

Gabela is the base town, and Sumbe is on the coast southwest.