Waiting for rain...

Four weeks in now and still no rain.  We have had two brief, pathetic sprinkles and the occasional rumble of thunder.  Maybe this coming week the predictions will come true.  It is so dusty!  I walked down Sakina Avenue (sounds grand doesn't it) one afternoon and the dust nearly killed me.  I don't know how the villagers and shopkeepers cope with it constantly.  People in our compound are going a bit troppo.  Last Sunday afternoon four of our neighbours decided to sit in the pond with beers.  How on earth did leeches find the pond so quickly?

We had a good day in Arusha NP.  Last time we visited (May 2021) we had the park almost to ourselves as COVID was keeping most tourists away.  This time it was quite busy and hard to avoid safari vehicles and their dust plumes.  We still managed to find 73 bird species and a nice assortment of mammals.  New for me was Abbott's Starling - a pair was attending a nest in a hollow tree at one of the Ngurdoto Crater lookouts.

Abbott's Starling at the nest hollow, Ngurdoto Crater, Arusha NP.

African Olive Pigeon, Ngurdoto Crater, Arusha NP.

Southern Citril, Arusha NP.

I've been filling my days with eBird data mining for Neil Baker of the Tanzanian Bird Atlas project.  There are some valuable sightings among the over 1 million eBird records for Tanzania and Neil wants them all. My other main daily activity is learning to code apps in SwiftUI.  I have a great course to work through and a couple of ideas for apps is I ever become competent enough.  

I am constantly being distracted by birds however as the loft apartment is ideal for canopy birding.  Since we have been back I've added nine species to the garden list - most recently Chestnut Weaver, Spectacled Weaver and White-eared Barbet.  The dry conditions probably mean more birds are moving around looking for oases.

Variable Sunbird, our garden, Sakina, Arusha.

Yesterday I met up with a few local birders for a walk to Chama Forest.  We started in Usa River and walked up through villages to the forest.  On the way we passed a huge abandoned series of poly-houses for cut-flower production.  You can seen them on Google Earth at (-3.363, 36.861).  The story apparently is that the people behind this were asked by the government to explain where their money had come from. Rather than explain they abandoned the enterprise overnight and have set up shop in Kenya.  Now the land is under army control and villagers are permitted to grow their crops under the rotting polythene.

We walked about 13 km and I'm feeling it today.  The forest is home to some special birds and we found one of them (African Broadbill - lifer) and dipped out on another (Buff-spotted Flufftail).  I also added Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher to my life list.  Always difficult photographing birds in rainforest but I was delighted with how my Broadbill photos came out and managed a nice butterfly as well.

African Broadbill largely obscured by vegetation, Chama Forest, Arusha.

A much better view.

Forest Mother-of-Pearl, Chama Forest, Arusha

Jenny has received her work permit and heads off to work every morning.  She is happy with the way things are going and has just made a short video showcasing the new exercise equipment being used.  This was purchased by an Australian Volunteers grant last year and is making a big difference to the students with their various physical handicaps.  You can follow her blog at https://wantingafrica.blogspot.com/

Liz and Sophie have just purchased their tickets to visit us here in January.  We are so looking forward to showing them our Africa.