The main reason for visiting this area seems to be the Black-crowned Cranes that were absent when we went, but the open woodland and especially large derelict fish ponds offer a lot. It was in the woods that we had our best views of African Oriole, as well as a variety of other passerines, and the fish ponds have a good chance of Plain-backed Pipit. To the rear of the ponds are some lagoons that hold the best numbers of terns (including marsh) and Pink-backed Pelicans.

Faraba Bush Track is only a short distance to the South of Pirang. It is a good area for raptors (particularly November to January), but we also had Striped Kingfisher, Yellow-fronted Canary, and plenty of Rufous-crowned Rollers.

Lamin is the other side if Serekunda to Kotu, and is a good area for Temminck's Courser. The melon fields are harvested towards the end of the year, leaving a quite large open area good for a few pairs of coursers. The small flocks of passerines should also be checked carefully - we had Cut-throat, Bush Petronia and Yellow-fronted Canary amongst them.

A number of Four-banded Sandgrouse come to drink regularly at these pools. They are easily seen, being only a couple of hundred metres to the south and on the opposite side to the airport entrance, on the Lamin to Brikrama road. The birds start to come in at dusk (around 19:25 in our case).

This is a recently discovered area, just under an hours drive inland from the Kotu area. It consists of a mixture of woodland, open scrub, and rice fields which include a marshy section. The main attraction when we were there was a good selection of raptors, most overhead, but also some hunting and perching low. There are also reports of less easily seen passerines, but our main tally included Glossy Starlings, African Oriole, and fleeting Violet Turaco

These two sites are quite close, and so worth doing back to back. Tanji reserve was quiet (we were there mid afternoon) apart from a couple of Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters & Stone Partridge, but the beach to the south and Brufut beach to the north are worth checking for Kelp and Slender-billed Gulls among the more common Grey-headed. Brufut woods were also fairly quiet, apart from a Klaas's Cuckoo and Pin-tailed Whydah.