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Now, as you area reading this blog you might be mislead into thinking that the trip was all birding glory and everything was good. That was not the case. Several unexpected difficulties arose and at one point the whole trip almost fell apart. I am choosing to omit those aspects in favour of the amazing birding that took place, and some of the great people and places I was lucky enough to visit.
In this post I will summarize my visits to
- Uluguru Mountains
- Mikumi area
- Rubeho Mountains
- Udzungwa Mountains Scarp Forest Reserve
- Udzungwa Montains Kilombero Nature Reserve
- Udzungwa Mountains Headquarters area
- Kilombero Floodplain
in the company of Per Holmen, Elia Mulungu and Martin Joho.
Uluguru Mountains
First we needed to drive to Simbaveni Camp in Morogoro which would be our base. It got off to a bit of a rocky start when I got off the plane in Dar Es Salam in the evening, only to receive a text from Ramata that my bag had been taken off the plane in Zanzibar. I guess the baggage guy assumed Ramata and I were going to the same destination and failed to look at my ticket. It was the last flight of the day so I would have to wait until morning for them to send it on the next flight. This delayed us a couple of hours but such is Tanzania. Back at Simbaveni Camp we enjoyed the warm hospitality of their friendly staff while downing a cold one at the bar and snagging nice looks at Collared Palm Thrush in the garden.
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| Uluguru Mountains viewed from the surrounding flats |
We met up with Elia and set off the next morning for the Ulugurus. Now apparently the sites for Mrs. Moreau's Warbler and for Uluguru Bush-shrike are on complete opposite sides of the mountain range. So we needed to visit the Ulugurus in two parts. Part 1 was the northern side. The site is called Tegetero Mission on ebird. It was quite a rough ride up some winding and at times washed-out roads but we made it to a small football pitch which was to be our camp for the night. We provided quite the spectacle to the locals, especially the children, who gathered around to watch us setting up camp. When some kids followed me to the stream as I had a 'bush shower' looking to observe my details, that was when my personal space boundary had officially been violated and I had to yell at them to go away and "have manners." Per completely abandoned the prospect of privacy altogether.
The next morning we walked up the mountain to a secondary campsite which positioned us closer to the Bush-shrike area. We expected this to be one of the three most challenging targets of the entire trip which is why we hit it first, so that failure could be remedied by adding further days. We sat in some camping chairs all afternoon while waiting for the Bush-shrike to call, and eventually had one calling. We tried to lure it in but it was not successful. It stayed high in the canopy and eventually vanished. We headed back to camp and got a good night's rest for the following day.
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| Bar-tailed Trogon |
At the crack of dawn walked forest trails back to where we had heard the bush-shrike but a little deeper into the forest. We heard an Uluguru Bush Shrike calling a great distance away and began the labour of bush-whacking our way toward it, through a couple of steep gullies. This bird must have given us the run-around for at least 3 hours as it mocked us from high in the canopy before it finally flew in and Oh My God the views we got. The bird landed so close that I could have had a perfect photo. I took the picture but when I looked at my screen I could see only a branch! Yet another epic sighting with no proof. Well, we had seen one of Africa's most highly endangered birds so who can complain?
We drove to the second site to gather the rest of our targets, which is called Bukundi Camp and is a hell of a drive to get to! Per put his Landrover to the test on these narrow, rough mountain roads and I can say the rover passed the test. We even had to drive through a river at one point (its not a real African safari unless you have to drive through a river!).
An afternoon of rigorous hiking up to the forest edge got us Uluguru Mountain Greenbul for our list and some more Loveridge's Sunbirds. To add a sour note to our visit, we came across this child hiding something which we revealed to be a still-living Livingstone's Turaco he had sling-shot and was taking back to the house for dinner.
Meanwhile, our resourceful camp caretaker James was securing us a couple of chickens for dinner, and Martin was happy to help pluck them. James made one of the best chicken stews I've ever had.
A rigorous climb up the mountain into the primary forest took us to the habitat of the Mrs. Moreau's Warbler and Olive-flanked Robin Chat, which is openings in the forest made up of fallen trees, shrubbery and dense vines. We heard the distinctive group calls of the Mrs. Moreau's and it took us quite an effort to finally get a visual on them, responding to our tape. While sitting motionless, a stunning Olive-flanked Robin Chat suddenly popped into view just long enough to snap a pic. Fulleborn's Black Boubous and African Tailorbirds called from within the dense shrubs while Livingstone's Turacos bellowed from the canopy. The chorus of these birds in the morning mist was just magical. It was one of those moments when you're just sitting in a forest and all of the struggles and stressful situations of the past year just evaporate, and you know everything will be ok because...Mrs. Moreau's Warbler.
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| Bertram's Weaver was sighted on the way down |
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| The Oreo of birding |
Ukaguru Mountains
Since I was supremely stoked about my latest notch in my belt (Uluguru Bush-shrike), I allowed Per to convince me that Ukaguru Mountains were worth a visit. To be honest I would have left this one out but with birding you sometimes take risks so we went for it. Ukaguru is part of the Rubeho mountain range and has been birded very little. The Rubeho Akalat has been split from the Iringa Akalat, which makes it an additional endemic for our list, although to me it looks like just a subspecies. Per is a lot more concerned with splits than I am. Interestingly, the Udzungwa Forest Partridge has been recently found in this area, a completely disjunct population. Elia showed us a picture of one on his camera. We did not have time to seek it out because he said that would involve backcountry camping arrangements which would take at least 3 days which we didn't have.
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| Ukaguru/Rubeho Mountains in the distance |
It was quite a long drive and we got some hassle from the authorities, having to stop at three separate offices (the immigration office wanted to photocopy our passports for some reason??). I tried to be as friendly as possible despite wanting to go off on them (what would that accomplish?) A little manners and a little Swahili go a long way and eventually they 'released us' as fully vetted birders with 'permission' to bird the forest as long as we brought an official with us who wanted to see what we were up to. It was a bit annoying to squeeze this guy in our already jam-packed landrover but we managed. The 'campsite' was a very overgrown little 20m long track into the forest which Per needed to forcefully plough his way through with the landrover (again, a very durable vehicle). One morning was spent looking at more Mrs. Moreau's Warblers and a Rubeho Akalat on a forest trail. We witnessed loads of locals carrying wood out of the forest despite this being a forest reserve and having an official with us. When they saw us they dropped the wood and ran, returning to collect it later.
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| Mrs. Moreau's Warbler - or is it Rubeho Warbler? |
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| Rubeho Akalat (or is it Iringa?) |
Not impressed with the conservation efforts we had just witnessed, we headed on our way toward TanSwiss camp, so that we could bird the miombo forest the next morning.
Birding the Miombo
Unfortunately, on our way to the miombo forest on the edge of Mikumi National Park, I picked up some sort of bug and was feeling pretty unwell. But I was well enough to lift a pair of binoculars and stand on my own two legs so we hit that Miombo, picking up Reichenow's Woodpecker, Arnot's Chat, White-crested Helmet-shrike, Stierling's Wren-warbler and Lesser Blue-Eared Starling. By that point my gut situation was getting worse and it was when I started liberally fertilizing the Miombo that I knew there was a problem. Sadly, my lifer African Penduline Tit went unseen due this.
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| Diagnosis: too many lifers |
Crocodile Camp
The drive toward Iringa was truly epic, with views of seemingly endless miombo hills to our left, part of the Udzungwa National Park. The drive was absolutely brutal on my body and I laid down on the grass as soon as we got to camp, absolutely battered. I had gone #2 about 12 times in 24 hours.
After getting some rest I birded the riverside trails with Martin and slayed my final Turaco species for East Africa: the Purple-crested Turaco. We checked the trees carefully for roosting Pel's Fishing Owl, and the meandering river for African Finfoot, but did not find either. The habitat looked good though. Just as the sun set and we were in the restaurant having awaiting dinner, Martin called us out to look at the silhouette of a Spotted Eagle-owl sitting on a rock on top of a hill. Awesome!
Udzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve
We got an early start and drove to the Udzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve. It was depressing how far we needed to drive to actually get to good forest, as it has almost all been felled for timber, tree plantations or cultivations. In fact it was an absolute effort to reach the conservation reserve. After completing all the excessive but necessary red tape in the village office, we finally started our hike up to the camp. This was gonna be epic.
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| The extent of deforestation we witnessed was sobering to say the least |
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| Edge of the Scarp Forest Reserve |
It turned out to be some of the most challenging forest birding I've ever experienced. At times frustrating as hell and at times fulfilling at the deepest level of the human soul. We spent three mornings battling the Udzungwa specialties relentlessly but in the end couldn't get them all. Even the ones we did see afforded us merely seconds to bask in their glory.
Swynnerton's Robin: Initially Martin and I came very close to seeing a Swynnerton's Robin, which actually was singing and flew over our heads through the canopy. But it was extremely shy. Martin had one land 3m from his feet at one point, but by the time we came to his location it was gone.
Spot-throat: We got even better looks at this species in the Scarp Forest
White-winged Apalis: Despite being sure we heard this one, it stayed high in the canopy and we never saw it. But you never know for sure with apalis songs.
Rufous-winged Sunbird: This required extreme effort and endurance on the part of master guide Elia but at last we found a pair of these stunners and called them in. They landed right above our heads but never stood still long enough for a photo.
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| Rufous-winged Sunbird |
Orange Ground Thrush: This one had eluded me all trip but finally I ventured out in the evening by myself and just as it was getting dark I got my bins on one perched up in a tree.
Dappled Mountain-Robin: This one almost never sang and when we finally managed to track one, it popped up on a branch and I completely missed it. Miraculously, we relocated it a couple of minutes later and I got a nice view of it foraging in the leaf litter.
Iringa Akalat: This one was also very difficult to observe and took lots of patience but we did see it briefly.
Other observations: We got great views of Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeons, Yellow-throated Mountain Greenbul and a very unexpected soaring Cassin's Hawk Eagle, which isn't even shown to occur away from the Albertine rift in the guide although Elia knew that a pair occurs here. During one of my solo walks, I also saw a Checkered Sengi. Mind-blowingly, I didn't know that an ultra-rare monkey species called a Kipunji also occurs in the Scarp forest, so I would like to return some day and seek that one out. On our way back down the mountain, we got some more lifers in the cultivations: Churring Cisticola, Black-lored Cisticola, Brown-headed Apalis and recently split Forest Double-collared Sunbird.
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| Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeon |
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| Cassin's Hawk-Eagle |
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| Yellow-throated Mountain Greenbul |
Kilombero Nature Reserve
This was the most epic part of my 50 day Tanzania journey and in competition for my favourite. The reserve is on the western side of Udzungwa National Park and is VERY seldom visited by tourists. It required a good deal of red tape, a team of porters, and of course Elia's expert guidance to get us to the birds. We spend three nights deep in the bush with only us four.
The hike in was quite strenuous and took us about 3 or 4 hours through absolutely epic scenery. In fact it made me think of the Africa that David Livingstone must have seen when he passed through southern Tanzania back in the day. We alternated between dry woodland, acacia savannah, riparian forest, open glades, fern-clad hillsides and even bamboo forest. Signs of buffalos, elephants, aardvarks and bush pigs were everywhere. The camp was set on the edge of an open moorland and with views of Mount Luhombero summit at 2,579m.
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| The scenery in Kilombero Nature reserve is stunning and unspoiled |
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| Bamboo forest |
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| Remnants of a bush pig which had been poached |
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| Aardvark burrow |
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| Elephant tracks in the moor |
During the hike up, Elia and I were stopped in our tracks by an Abbot's Duiker, a very rarely observed mammal. It was walking in a stream just feet from us, too close to even take a picture. Why was it walking so close to us? Elia's hypothesis was that it was being pursued by a leopard. Whatever the reason, we completely froze as I recorded video on my phone.
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| Abbott's Duiker |
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| Watching a master at work is magnificent to behold |
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| Per |
The partridge habitat looks unremarkable. Its a forest of fairly small trees (it is high altitude) which get quite dense and shrubby in parts, and are interspersed with little grassy glades. At last we heard the call of a group of partridges in the distance. Elia masterfully responded by playing the tape at just wide enough intervals and just loud enough so as to keep them interested, but not spook them. In the field of birding, watching a master at work is magnificent to behold. With extreme care not to crush a single twig, we crept gradually closer and closer to the partridges. By this point, Elia was not using a pre-recorded version but a recordings of these actual partridges which he took then and there. This technique, although it might seem subtle, actually was making a huge difference. By now we were 'dug-in' behind three large trees. The partridges would occasionally stop calling then start again. Calling from close but obscured by thick shrubbery, they were trying to torture us. After two and a half hours of not moving (no lie), we decided to change our position to get a better angle on them. As I slowly crept, focused on the bushes, suddenly in my right peripheral an Udzungwa Forest Partridge ran across a 3m-wide opening of grass. Then another, and another. About 5 of them ran in front of me, about 4m from my feet. I lazer-focused my binoculars on them, seeing every detail. But they were too quick for a picture and I will have to be content with the memory.
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| Udzungwa Partridge victory selfie |
We walked triumphantly back to camp, getting Usambara Weaver along the way, for an epic dinner and awaited the sunset and the night birds it would bring.
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| The habitat of Usambara Nightjars and Grass Owls |
Deep in the Udzungwa mountains, we set up chairs on the hillside flanking the bowl-shaped mountain meadow, sipping whiskey and awaiting the evening performance. Usambara Nightjars called from every direction, warming us up for the main act: a stunning African Grass Owl which circled over our heads repeatedly. It gave a sort of prolonged clicking screech which was quite chilling. That was a birding day of EPIC proportions!
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| African Grass Owl!!! |
The next morning, with Per back to full strength, we set out again to see if he could see the partridges. We did hear a group of them, but after another stakeout of more than two hours, it was clear that they were only getting further and further away and any attempt at crawling through the dense bushes only served to further drive them away. It was too bad for Per but I was quite relieved to have secured the day before. Further exploration of their habitat got us some good looks at Spot-throat and a glimpse of a Red Duiker running away. We also searched for Kipengere Seedeater but came up empty-handed.
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| Spot-throat |
The last morning was spent mostly packing up and hiking back, with our ears open for Kipengere Seedeater and White-winged Apalis but unfortunately failed to find either target.
Then we said goodbye to Elia and made the long drive around to the eastern side of the Unzungwa Mountains where we stayed at Honde Honde camp.
Udzungwa National Park
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| Udzungwa National Park seen from near Honde Honde Camp |
Honde Honde Camp would be our base from which to explore. This part did not go as planned but despite some significant setbacks we did alright. The day was dedicated to the Kilombero Floodplain and Lesser Seedcracker and our hopes were high. These hopes were crushed with we got our second flat tire. Apparently the repair we'd done in Iringa didn't hold up and even the spare had a problem with it. Per had this electric pump which would give us enough to make it at least to the next shop but we seemed doomed because just minute later, I saw a rod protruding half a foot out of the wheel covered in fluid.
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| That's definitely a problem |
Apparently something was wrong with the differential which involved a major repair. We were able to at least slowly drive to the next repair shop but it wasn't a fully equipped facility and they didn't have the part we needed. We had to send a stranger all the way to Ifakara (About an hour's journey away) but he failed to find the part. So we had to send him all the way to Morogoro (a 3 hour bus journey each way) to look for the part for us, then mobile transfer him the money once he got a price, then pay him for his troubles. This took the entire day to sort out. In the afternoon, Martin and I went to the park headquarters to arrange a guided walk to see the endangered Sanje Mangabeys the following day, and we then took a bus and tuktuk to the Kilombero Floodplains. As soon as we got there, the guy called us and said he needed us to mobile transfer him the money for the part immediately. So just having got off the tuktuk (and spotted a Coppery-tailed Coucal), we hailed another one, went to the next town, looked for a ZigoPesa shop (the first one said they were having technical problems) went to another one, ate some bbq chicken (we were very hungry), and got on another tuktuk back to the swamp. We had 30 minutes to see all the targets before we had to leave to catch the last bus of the day. Somehow, we managed to get the Kilombero Weaver, Kilombero Cisticola and White-tailed Cisticola all in one spot. Two flyover lapwings turned out to be Wattled Lapwing (not White-crowned as we hoped) and we dipped on the Achietta's Marsh Tchagra but all thing's considered, we managed to salvage the day.
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| Coppery-tailed Coucal |
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| Kilombero Cisticola |
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| White-tailed Cisticola |
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| The Kilombero Floodplain |
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| Such a day made us hungry for fruit |
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| Sanje Mangabey |
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| Iringa Red Colobus |
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| Iringa Red Colobus |
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