Mkomazi National Park

In the rain shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro and up against the border with Kenya, Mkomazi NP is home to a few bird species that just sneak into Tanzania.  We had a final week of summer break before Jenny's students return so headed off to the park for a couple of days.  It looked an easy drive on paper - a sealed road to Same then a few km of gravel.  Only 190 km each way - on the main highway between Arusha and Dar es Salaam.  Driving here however is not the same as driving in regional Victoria.  There are villages every few km so you are constantly slowing to below 50 km/h.  Between the villages you are often sitting behind slow trucks.  With a couple of birding stops it took about 8 hours each way.

A highlight on the way was stunning views of Mount Kilimanjaro with a good cover of snow.  Although the glaciers are melting it still snows regularly but the mountain is often hidden.  We stopped at a few places for photos.

We spent three nights at the Elephant Motel in Same town a few km from the park entrance.  It is a very comfortable motel with perfectly fine rooms and good prices.  We had full board and were given residents rates.  The packed lunches we took into the park were as good as we have had anywhere.

Wahlberg's Epauletted Fruit Bat roosting in a palm at Elephant Motel

This species also lives in our Arusha garden but we haven't found their roost.

A camel was a surprise sighting in Same village.

We had two full days in the park.  I'd watched a few short Youtube videos and was expecting a semi-arid landscape - it was full of 1m high lush, green, seeding grass.  The park has had a sad history.  It was only declared in 2008.  Prior to that it was extensively grazed with cattle, sheep and goats.  It has also been heavily poached and legally trophy hunted.  We noted how the larger mammals are all still extremely nervous of people and cars.  Most of our sightings were of beasts in the far distance or disappearing rapidly into the bush.  Numbers are still low also after the decades of abuse.  We had the park almost to ourselves with only one other tourist car seen on day one and none on day two.

Most mammal sightings were like this.

A couple of the male giraffes we saw were huge.

We were given a pamphlet at the gate with a tiny map that was worse than useless.  Many of the park's roadsigns were missing or so trashed by elephants that they weren't legible so on the first day we ventured down tracks that quickly deteriorated to the point where we had to turn back.  There were apparently two picnic areas that we totally missed on day one.  We eventually stumbled on one of them after lunch on day two.

View from an elusive picnic ground over Dindira dam.

The vegetation, scenery and birdlife were spectacular.  I failed to find any of my target species but managed a couple of new species (Eastern Black-headed Batis and Dodson's Bulbul) and a few other species I'd only seen elsewhere in Africa or Europe (Quailfinch, Common Whitethroat, Northern Carmine Bee-eater).  All up we saw 85 species on day one, 84 on day two and 108 combined.  I was happy with this given the lack of water and hence waterbirds in the park.  Large numbers of widows, whydahs, bishops and indigobirds were present with many coloured-up males.  In huge numbers were Red-billed Quelea and Harlequin Quail.  The Quelea were a major distraction but the Quail were entertaining as they whizzed off from the roadside grass in small groups every 50 m or so.

Black-winged Kite (photo by Jenny)

White-browed Coucal

Long-tailed Paradise Whydah

A courting pair of Eastern Black-headed Batis

White-winged Widow

Raptors were scarce - no Vultures at all - and we saw no Bustards or Lapwings.  Possibly they were hidden by the long grass.  Larks were also missing with only a single Flappet Lark seen.

Northern Carmine Bee-eater (photo by Jenny)

White-browed Coucal, Laughing Dove and Lilac-breasted Roller

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Red-and-yellow Barbet (photo by Jenny)

Dodson's Bulbul

A final lifer at a stop on the way home was a Hunter's Sunbird in scrubland west of the highway.

Slender Chameleon

Southern Highlands Safari - 3. Mikumi National Park

For the final few days of our safari we based ourselves in the TANAPA cottages a few km inside the main gate to the park.  After our experiences with the cottages in Ruaha we were a bit anxious but we needn't have worried.  Our Mikumi cottage was clean, neat and tidy and everything (except the aircon) worked.  Once again the restaurant served excellent basic meals although waiting until dinner time to put beers in the fridge is rather curious and annoying.

The park had a nice cover of fresh new grass after recent rain.

We briefly visited this park in 2010 while we were doing a Swahili course in Morogoro.  On that occasion we only had half a day so this was a chance to really get to know the park and to chase a few new birds.  On this visit we spent three days in all driving the trails and covered most of the park north of the highway and a small section to the south.  I was hopeful of seeing Pale-billed Hornbills and we ventured into their preferred miombo woodland habitat several times but were driven out by tsetse flies on each occasion.

European Honey Buzzard

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Hyaena

Some highlights were a male lion with a Wildebeest carcass, many Southern Ground Hornbill sightings, huge numbers of Barn Swallows and European Rollers, nice wildflowers following recent rain and new bird species: Harlequin Quail and Cuckoo-finch.  106 birds species in total in the park.

Cuckoo-finch (so called because it parasitises small bird species such as Cisticolas and Prinias).

Adult and juvenile Southern Ground Hornbill

An excited Red-necked Spurfowl 

Greater Kudu

Every second bush seemed to have a European Roller

Since we have been back in Tanzania this was the first time we have shared a park with more than one or two other safari vehicles.  It was never busy but if you looked across the plains you could always see other vehicles.  Many were flying in from Zanzibar for a day trip - arriving around 10am and leaving by 4pm.

Only my second ever Dickinson's Kestrel

A ground orchid - possibly Eulophia speciosa (photo by Jenny)

A dozen or so Hippos waiting out the dry season in this shrinking, disgusting pool.

A Black Coucal acquiring breeding plumage.

We spent another night in Dodoma (Saint Gaspar's Hotel, recommended) and then arrived home safely on the 19th.  300 species of birds exactly, 36 new for my Tanzania list and 21 lifers.  Next up is a short trip to Mkomazi National park to our east on the Kenya border.