Republic of Guinea

African Wood Owl Strix woodfordii ©Dylan Vasapolli Website
Birding Guinea

Guinea, officially Republic of Guinea, is a country in West Africa formerly known as French Guinea. The country’s current population is estimated at 10,211,437 (CIA 2008 estimate). Guinea’s size is almost 246,000 square kilometres (94,981 sq mi). Its territory has a crescent shape, with its western border on the Atlantic Ocean, curving inland to the east and south. The Atlantic coast borders Guinea-Bissau to the north and Sierra Leone to the south. The inland part neighbors Senegal to the north, Mali to the north and north-east, Côte d’Ivoire to the south-east, and Liberia to the south. Its water sources include the Niger, Senegal, and Gambia rivers. Conakry is the capital, seat of the national government, and largest city.

At 94,919 square miles (245,857 km2), Guinea is roughly the size of the United Kingdom and slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Oregon. There are 200 miles (320 km) of coastline. The total land border is 2,112 miles (3,399 km). The countries bordering Guinea include Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone. The country is divided into four main regions: the Basse-Cote lowlands in the west along the coast, populated mainly by the Susu ethnic group; the cooler, mountainous Fouta Djalon that run roughly north-south through the middle of the country, populated by Peuls, the Sahelian Haute-Guinea to the northeast, populated by Malinkes, and the forested jungle regions in the southeast, with several ethnic groups. Guinea’s mountains are the source for the Niger, the Gambia, and Senegal Rivers, as well as the numerous rivers flowing to the sea on the west side of the range in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.The highest point in Guinea is Mont Nimba at 5,748 feet (1,752 m). Although the Guinean and Ivorian sides of the Nimba Massif are a UNESCO Strict Nature Reserve, the portion of the so-called Guinean Backbone continues into Liberia, where it has been mined for decades; the damage is quite evident in the Nzérékoré Region at 7°32′17″N 8°29′50″W.

Number of Species
  • Number of bird species: 705

    (As at September 2018)

  • iGoTerra Checklist

    iGoTerra Checklist
Useful Reading

  • Birds of Western Africa

  • Birds of Western and Central Africa

  • African Bird Club

    With a list of over 600 species including little known species like Turati
  • West African Ornithological Society

    The West African Ornithological Society grew out of the Nigerian Ornithologists

Abbreviations Key

  • IBAs

    WebsiteSatellite View
    The avifauna of Guinea is poorly known and large areas of the country have yet to be surveyed. Over 600 species have been recorded of which almost a hundred are Palearctic migrants and 17 are species of global conservation concern. Parts of the Upper Guinea Forests Endemic Bird Area (EBA) extend into south-east Guinea and 12 of the restricted range species of this EBA have been recorded. The south-east and parts of the south-west are occupied by the Guinea-Congo Forests biome of which 148 species have been recorded. The Sudan-Guinea Savanna biome covers the northern two thirds of the country with 33 species of this biome recorded. The coasts are estimated to hold, at times, over half a million waterbirds, principally migrant waders.
  • NP Badiar

    InformationSatellite View
    Badiar National Park is a national park in Guinea, on the border with Senegal and contiguous with Senegal's much larger Niokolo-Koba National Park.
  • NP Upper Niger

    InformationSatellite View
    The park covers around 6000 square km of in the north-eastern area of the country, of which 600 square km comprise the core area. The park protects important tracts of forest and savannah, and is considered a conservation priority for West Africa as a whole. Surveys of the park have shown a diverse mammalian and avian fauna. Over 94 species of mammals have been found in the park, and more can be inferred. Important species found in the park include giant pangolins, West African chimpanzees, Gambian mongooses (a rare, endemic species that seems to be well represented in the park), kob, and spot-necked otters. lions and African manatees have also recently been confirmed.
Trip Reports

Click on WAND for tours, guides, lodges and more…

  • 2004 [02 February] - Mary Crickmore

    SIB Hotel is at the top of a slope with grass and tall trees at the edge of Dalaba town. There is an area of trees and dense herbage right by the hotel. Next to it is a grassy area with scattered trees that had been recently burned. Beyond this is a rocky outcrop which is forested on the top and on the side closer to town. In some areas the shrubbery is too thick to walk through. There was no standing or running water in February.
