Birds – the Shoebill – and Observed the Continent’S Shyest Pitta Quietly Going About Its Business
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Highlights of Africa Smith - Private 25th May to 12th June 2017 (19 days) Trip Report Chimpanzee by Wayne Jones Trip report compiled by Tour Leader, Wayne Jones Trip Report – RBL Highlights of Africa - Smith Private 2017 2 ___________________________________________________________________________________ Tour Summary Africa is blessed with an incredible range of birdlife and unrivalled megafaunal diversity. On this trip of a lifetime, we witnessed life as it once was, with thousands of mammals roaming freely across the plains of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, and Maasai still living traditional lives. In Uganda, a country renowned for its birdlife, we saw one of the world’s strangest birds – the Shoebill – and observed the continent’s shyest pitta quietly going about its business. And lastly, we ended our African odyssey at the drenching Victoria Falls along the fourth-longest river on the continent, the mighty Zambezi. ___________________________________________________________________________________ After a late arrival in Arusha, we got down to the business of birding the next morning, before our long drive to Ngorongoro Crater. Despite a lack of sleep and luggage woes, the birdlife in the gardens of our lodge did a good job of lifting our spirits: African Black Duck, African Green Pigeon, White- eared and Brown-breasted Barbets, Green-backed Honeybird, Black-throated Wattle-eye, Lesser and Scaly-throated Honeyguides, Retz’s Helmetshrike, Grey-olive Greenbul, Trilling Cisticola and the localised Taveta Weaver. After breakfast, we hit the road, and a couple of stops along the way yielded Pink-backed Pelican, Retz’s Helmetshrike by Wayne Jones Augur Buzzard, Yellow-collared Lovebird, Nubian Woodpecker, Chestnut Weaver, Reichenow’s Seedeater and a massive Yellow-billed Stork colony. Despite being pressed for time, a walk along the Endoro Forest Trail shortly before the crater was highly productive, with species such as Crowned Eagle, Schalow’s Turaco, Cinnamon-chested Bee- eater, White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, Olive-breasted Greenbul, Grey-capped Warbler, African Hill Babbler, Grey-headed Nigrita and Thick-billed Seedeater. With the afternoon light quickly turning golden, we wound our way along the crater rim to our lodge, but were happily delayed by five beautiful male Lions striding along the narrow road, just centimetres from our vehicle! The next morning, we ventured slowly down into Ngorongoro Crater, making numerous stops along the way as we dropped from montane forest, through scrubby heathland to the grassy plains dotted with wetlands and acacia woodland on the caldera floor. Here we had our first views of Common Ostrich and over 20 Kori Bustards; while thousands of Greater and Lesser Flamingoes were turned into a big pink smear by the heat haze from Lake Magadi. Mammals included a Black Rhino, Black-backed and Golden Jackals, Spotted Hyaena, Lions along Ngorongoro Crater rim by Wayne 13 more Lions, Eland and African Buffalo. Jones Elsewhere in and around the crater, we found male Trip Report – RBL Highlights of Africa - Smith Private 2017 3 ___________________________________________________________________________________ Jackson’s Widowbirds displaying, Quailfinch, a vagrant male Northern Shoveler, Pangani and Rosy- throated Longclaws, Speke’s Weaver, Golden-winged, Malachite, Bronzy and Eastern Double-collared Sunbirds, Kenrick’s Starling, Northern Pied Babbler, Dusky Turtle Dove, Grey Crowned Crane and Black-chested Snake Eagle. While rounding a corner along the crater rim the following day, we caught a glimpse of a Leopard slinking off the road into the bush. We pulled up alongside and managed to relocate the cat, which was staring at us from behind some leaves only metres away. Not a bad start to the day! We continued westward, to Serengeti National Park, with the landscape becoming increasingly arid as we moved into Ngorongoro’s rain shadow. We visited a Maasai village and the world-famous palaeontological site: Oldupai Gorge, where we took in a lecture covering its history and perused the small museum. Bird-wise, we saw Southern Grosbeak-Canary, Eastern Chanting Goshawk, Grey Crowned Cranes by Wayne Jones Red-and-yellow Barbet, Chinspot Batis, Slate- colored Boubou, Taita Fiscal, Rufous Chatterer, White-browed Scrub Robin, Kenya Sparrow, a stunning male Black Bishop and, nearby, a Short-tailed Lark. That afternoon, we added Black-bellied Bustard, Spotted Thick-knee, Black-winged Lapwing, Yellow- throated Sandgrouse, Jacobin and Diederik Cuckoos in the same little shrub, Black-lored Babbler, Yellow-billed Oxpecker and Red-headed Weaver to our lists as we covered the terrain from the Serengeti entrance to our lodge. We spent the next two full days exploring the southern, central and western sections of this huge World Heritage Site. The wildebeest migration was in full swing, with thousands of animals to the west of the park’s capital, Seronera. We even witnessed a large pride of Lions attempting a hunt among them. We spent a tense few minutes observing the silent strategising among the lionesses, but in the end the wildebeest lived to roam the plains another day. Other highlights included African Elephant, heaps of Hippos, Kirk’s Dik-dik, Giraffe, Topi, White- tailed Lark, Secretarybird, Ruppell’s and Lappet- faced Vultures, Grey-crested Helmetshrikes on two occasions, Fischer’s Lovebird, White-bellied Bustard, Temminck’s Courser, Tanzanian Red- billed and Von der Decken’s Hornbills, the usambiro subspecies of D’Arnaud’s Barbet, Long-tailed Cisticola, range-restricted Karamoja Apalis, Straw-tailed Whydah and Grey-breasted Spurfowl. Leaving behind one of the continent’s most iconic parks, we returned to our lodge near Arusha, where we notched up Green Malkoha, Common Wildebeest migration by Wayne Jones Trip Report – RBL Highlights of Africa - Smith Private 2017 4 ___________________________________________________________________________________ Tambourine Dove and Stripe-faced Greenbul, before flying to Entebbe early the next morning. We eased into Ugandan birding with a visit to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens, which produced great birds like African Openbill, Palm-nut Vulture, Ross’s and Great Blue Turacos, Woodland Kingfisher, Grey Parrot, Yellow-throated Leaflove, Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat and Orange Weaver. At a hotel a few blocks away, we enjoyed cracking views of a pair of African Hobbies. During a day trip to the Mabamba Swamp, we boarded a small motorboat and headed down a papyrus-lined channel in search of one of the world’s strangest looking birds. Our local guide spied the large grey bird rather quickly, and we slowly edged closer to the Shoebill. Other denizens of Mabamba included Lesser Moorhen, Long-toed Lapwing, Weyn’s Weaver, Lesser Jacana, Blue-headed Coucal, Yellow-throated Longclaw, Swamp Warbler and the dazzling Papyrus Gonolek. A tiny patch of forest in the vicinity held Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill, Red-chested Cuckoo, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike and Superb Sunbird Shoebill by Wayne Jones From Entebbe, we embarked on the long drive through countless villages – where roadside birds included Piapiac and African Pied Hornbill – to Kibale National Park. A highly productive stop along our route afforded us good looks at Blue-spotted Emerald Dove, spectacular Double-toothed Barbet, a pair of Black-and-white Shrike-Flycatchers, African Blue Flycatcher, White-headed Saw-wing, Compact Weaver, Yellow-bellied and Black-crowned Waxbills, Black-and-white Mannikin and Brimstone Canary. We reached Kibale in the late afternoon, where we birded for a short while – Black Bee-eater, Grey-throated and Hairy-breasted Barbets, Speckled and Yellow-throated Tinkerbirds, Purple-headed Starling, Sooty and Cassin’s Flycatcher were some of the species seen before settling into our lodge situated right in the park. The next morning saw us stumbling through the forest pre-dawn to ensure we were in position at just the right time to find a very special bird: Green-breasted Pitta. As the morning’s grey light filtered through the forest canopy, our local guide called us to say he’d found the bird. We quietly hurried to the spot and watched, enthralled, as the gorgeous creature moved through the leaf litter along the path. To top it off, a second bird moved in and we had simply sensational views of the two relaxed individuals going about their business. With that firmly in the bag, we set off after our other major quarry – Chimpanzee! Thanks to teamwork from the other guides present in the Green-breasted Pitta by Wayne Jones forest, this didn’t take long, and we soon came Trip Report – RBL Highlights of Africa - Smith Private 2017 5 ___________________________________________________________________________________ upon a male chimp lounging in the middle of a small circle of spectators with a few more preparing nests for themselves up in the trees. Kibale is well-known for its primate diversity and, aside from the chimps, the area produced Red- tailed Monkey, Grey-cheeked Mangabey, Eastern Red Colobus and Olive Baboon. Birding highlights included lengthy scope views of an Afep Pigeon, three Verreaux’s Eagle-Owls, Cassin’s Honeybird, Yellow-crested Woodpecker, Dusky Tit, Purple- throated Cuckooshrike, tiny Chestnut Wattle-eye, a male Narina Trogon, Slender-billed Greenbul, Green Crombec, Narrow-tailed Starling, Fraser’s Rufous Thrush, White-tailed Ant Thrush, Yellow- mantled Weaver, White-breasted Nigrita and Western Oriole. Blue-breasted Bluebill by Wayne Jones A morning’s excursion