Tanzania Wildlife Tour Report 2013 Botanical Birdwatching Butterfly
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SOUTHERN TANZANIA 2013 by Rondi Salter and Phil Benstead Day One - 15/01/2013 - Dar es Salaam (Kawe) and Bongoyo Island Having left a cold and dreary UK behind the previous evening, we were welcomed by the sticky heat of Dar. After collecting our baggage we made our way to the Mediterraneo Hotel in Kawe. Phil met us at the hotel and we breakfasted on the seafront overlooking Msasani bay. Phil had arrived the night before and had already seen two species of fruit-bat and a few edible bullfrogs. Morning birds seen flitting around in the pretty gardens had included Zanzibar sombre greenbul, red-fronted tinkerbird and a golden oriole. The weather and the gods were kind to us in Dar this year. We got exposed mudflats in the morning and a little later on a trip out to Bongoyo Island just offshore. The exposed mudflats visible from the hotel producing our first views of crab plover, 8-9 reasonably approachable individuals. Also present were some common migrant waders and a single Terek sandpiper. We paddled through bath temperature water out to the speedboat and sped off to the island across a beautifully flat sea. After a round of the ever popular soda Tangawizi (ginger ale) we went for a wander through the islands coral rag thicket ending up at Shark Bay in hot (in both senses of the word) pursuit of a mangrove kingfisher. A mixture of Moray eels, plants such as Pseuderanthemum hildebrandtii (above left), coral rag skinks, butterflies and birds keep us entertained before retreating to the shade for freshly barbequed fish and chips. We were tipped off by a friendly expat that the kingfishers were nesting in a tree near the toilet and opposite a stunning Turraea bush (above right)! Sure enough their stunning red beaks could be seen in a rat hole. The best was yet to come when after lunch a flock of 250 crab plovers invaded the nearby beach as the tide rose pushing them to roost. Phil went down on his knees and shuffled towards them in a photographic act of homage. Superb birds. We returned slightly overheated and caught up with the others that had opted to have a relaxing afternoon around the hotel. Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 1 Day Two - 16/01/2013 - Transfer to Hondo Hondo, via Mikumi and Kilombero The 4WDs were loaded up and we left at dawn to miss the nightmare that is Dar rush hour. An early highlight as we made our way out of the coastal region was a single ‘dayglo’ African golden weaver. We had a pit stop at Chalinze (a busy junction where the road goes north towards Arusha and Nairobi) and Phil and others indulged in yummy meat samosas and we stocked up with cashew nuts. Continuing West the majestic Uluguru mountains came into view. At the base of the northern side of the mountains we had a stop in a sisal plantation (left), which produced plenty of butterflies including citrus swallowtails and yellow and blue pansies. The drive through Mikumi National Park produced the usual game plus a few things that are harder to see from the main road including a single bushbuck, wildebeest and at least four kudu. Mikumi is noted for its Borassus palms, which share the Swahili name ‘Mikumi’ and from which the park’s name is derived. Mikumi covers an area of 3230 km2 but shares its boundary to the South with the Selous Game Reserve, covering an amazing 54,600 km2, which in turn links to the Udzungwa National Park covering 1990 km2. Between them these protected areas span an altitudinal range from 110m to 2576m, encompassing a huge range of habitats including grassland, miombo woodland, lowland forest, sub-montane and montane forest and is one of the largest protected wilderness areas in the world. Lunch outside the park in Mikumi Town was enlivened by the presence of a foxy charaxes hanging in the rafters over our heads. The best bit of the day was our usual stop on the bridge over the river deep in the industrial sugar cane plantation near Hondo Hondo, with the majestic back drop of the Udzungwa Mountain range. Here we added many birds to the trip list including African jacana, diderik cuckoo, malachite kingfisher, fan-tailed widowbird, and a splendid singing male Zanzibar red bishop. Best of all a single male Kilombero weaver, busy building a nest for a prospective female. Steve and Phil were kept busy looking at odonates and logged some nice species, a nice way to start the dragonfly list Raptors started to appear too as we headed for the lodge, with Eurasian marsh harriers being familiar but black-shouldered kite, lizard buzzard and African harrier hawk being a lot more exotic. A few African open-billed storks appeared and purple herons flew past. We freshened up and congregated in the open restaurant as the local trumpeter hornbills were returning to Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 2 their roosts on the forest edge by camp. Day Three - 17/01/2013 - Udzungwa Mountains National Park and Kilombero We all met up at a very civilised hour for a slap-up cooked breakfast and then headed en masse to the Park Head Quarters to organise our guides. We split into two teams; Phil’s team heading off to track the habituated Sanje mangabey troupe with their guide Nico, and Rondi to tackle the Sanje Falls trail. Phil’s Team Phil’s team dropped down off the road, past some houses and gaggles of delightful small kids and out across the paddy-fields. Mascarene rocket frogs occasionally exploded under foot. At this point Phil and Steve had to be quite disciplined not to stop for every dragonfly and flocks of finches taunted the birders as well from the long grass. Soon one of the mangabey trackers joined us here and took us across the fields to the edge of the forest and we thankfully plunged into the shade. The troupe was quite a way up the slope today, so we got our heads down and walked upwards. Before too long we were stopped and waiting for the mangabeys to move into easy terrain. We did not have to wait long before the first individuals appeared and we had a pleasant half-hour trying to secure photographs of the unconcerned but mostly very active animals that made up this 78-strong group of monkeys. Job done we dropped back down the hill, stopping for a large bird flock which skirted round us providing views of Livingstone’s turaco (spectacular in flight), as well as smaller flock constituents such as black-throated wattle-eye, black-backed puffback, green-backed woodpecker and square-tailed drongo. At the forest edge we found some great dragonflies including Trithemis aconitum and Phaon iridipennis. The journey past the various small streams that wound their way through the cultivation was always going to take time with a few keen dragonfly people and we saw some great species including a new gomphid for the tour (Paragomphus genei) and great views of Olpogastra lugubris. Roy and Iona turned up the first speckled mousebirds and a nice blue-spotted wood-dove at one point. At lunch we were joined briefly by a splendid male black emperor, Africa’s largest dragonfly. Afterwards we rounded up our driver and headed out back into the cane-fields for another crack at the excellent small wetland by the bridge. En route we bumped into a pair of African wattled lapwing. The bridge was a different place today. A male little bittern leapt into the air from a well-vegetated ditch on arrival. The wetland proper had a fantastic rufous-bellied heron and at least six squacco herons. Kilombero weavers were very evident with at least four males and two females showing well during our stay. A lesser swamp warbler appeared briefly. Two white- faced whistling-ducks received some attention and we enjoyed finding the familiar wood sandpiper. Another migrant, as the wind picked up startlingly and rain threatened, was a single common swift, sucked up into the huge chattering flock of little swifts overhead. An African marsh harrier flew over high, but the session highlight came when a superb red-necked falcon Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 3 gave us a couple of high-speed passes before zooming on its way. Rain eventually stopped play and we headed for home to see how the other team had fared walking the trail to the Sanje Falls. Rondi’s team A short drive to the base of the Sanje trail and then we started to ascend at a casual pace taking in at first the shamba (cultivated gardens) plants such as Verbena, Lantana, Hibiscus and crops of cassava, mango and jackfruit. After a short distance we passed a line of exotic teak trees (which mark the park boundary) and were then into the park proper, with its great diversity of vegetation and welcome shade. The aptly named wait-a-bit bush (Acacia sp.) tempered our pace with its fine hooked thorns. Part way up the trail we came across Nasturtium!? I had never seen this in the park before and after some research it is confirmed as a weed (native to S. America) as we had expected and has been reported to the Park Head Quarters. Butterflies teased us as they flitted in and out of the dappled sun and we stopped frequently to identify woodland, and higher up, forest trees including the dominant emergent Antiaris toxicaria and giant Parkia filicoidea, the club-shaped flowers stalks of which littered the upper slopes.