Eid holidays and a safari

Cape Buffalo, Plains Zebra, Warthog, Western Cattle Egret, Grey Heron and Red-billed Oxpecker - can you see them all?

The Islamic month of Ramadan finished last week with two days of celebration called Eid.  The actual date of Eid varies each year (similar to how Easter varies) and we never know until the day before which days to have off.  The clerics have to study the moon - hard to do when it is so overcast here lately.  Anyway it was decided that Wednesday and Thursday were the holidays so we took the opportunity to go to Arusha National Park for the day.

Harvey's Duiker (a forest skulker).

Waterbuck

Little Bee-eater

We were up and on the way early and it was only 45 mins from home to entry into the park about 8:15.  We stayed until 5pm so got value for our money.  This was primarily a birding trip and we saw nearly 80 species.  The highlight was not a bird though.  There are a few small herds of Elephants in the park but they stick to the forests and are almost never seen.  We came across some dry dung on a road and then more and more - getting fresher as we went along.  Then we came around a bend in time to see the back half of a large Elephant disappearing into the forest.  We stopped and could hear more moving through the trees but couldn't see them.

Blue Monkey

Kirk's Dik-dik

White-browed Coucal

Lesser Flamingo - adults and juveniles (Cape Teal also).

Another highlight was the clearing skies in the afternoon and the views of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the distance.

Jenny not looking at the view over Momela Lakes towards Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Mount Kilimanjaro showing through the clouds beyond Ngurdoto Crater.

Among the birds were a new tick for me in Tanzania (Pied Avocet) and four lifers (Malagasy Pond Heron, Mountain Greenbul, Kenrick's Starling and Sharpe's Starling.

Although it is a small park there is still much for us to explore.  There are many small tracks that loop off the main roads and these often go deeper into forest (where several good birds lurk).  On this trip they were still wet however so we will try them when they dry out.  There is also a road that heads up the mountain to where the summit walks start.  The extra altitude this reaches also means a few new birds waiting for me.

Ochre Bush Squirrel

Striped Skink

White-fronted Bee-eater

An albino Baboon.

Hopefully in the near future we will get our residence visas and that will halve the cost of admission.

In other news we still don't have our work permits or residence visas...

I gave a talk at the Arusha Conservation Agriculture Forum on Friday at the Tanzania Pesticide Research Institute.  This is held several times a year and is organised by ECHO to bring together farmers, advisers and researchers to discuss topical issues.  I was supposed to be first speaker at 9:00 but didn't get to my feet until about 10:30 by which time most people had arrived.  It turned out to be quite a long day but very informative with several interesting topics presented (e.g. Pastoralists v Farmers, control of some serious crop pests, community seed banks and a fertiliser decision tool).  All in Swahili (except mine) with translations for the non-swahili speakers in the audience.  About 60 people attended.