Hi All
Terribly sorry about the inordinate delay !! It is no excuse but there is a reason …… I have been a very very busy chap and have had little time to consider my readers. Sorry !
After the PAOC conference we could now start to relax a little and start to think seriously about getting into birding mode. This started with a small trip up into the foothills of Kilimanjaro (still hidden in cloud and we never actually saw this mythical Gomo)
We then followed our original route back through Karogwe and then turned left. From chatting to various Tanzanian folk we had learnt that some of the best birding was around the tiny village of Amani (nowt more than a medical research station – Malarial research specifically) which sits atop the East Usambara Mountains.
Arrived !
These Usambara Mountains are large things. Although we were only at about 900 metres above sea level when at the top remember that the surrounding flat Tanzanian veld is only 200 metres a.s.l.
The roads were distinctly not great ….
Up the Usambara’s
Really lousy roads
But the forest was impressive – very impressive !
Usambara Forests
And the birds ? Fantastic is the only word. Stuff we had not even known existed !
Two of which live there and nowhere else !!
Amani Sunbird
Long-billed Tailorbird
The known global range of the Tailorbird is about 20 square kilometres !! And to top that no nest has ever been found ! There in itself is a nice little PhD project for an enterprising little soul.
Lots and lots of other very special birds – especially for us southern Africans who know a few of them as very special for our region.
Female Black & White Flycatcher
… and her Husband.
And the enigmatic Green-headed Oriole which in southern Africa is restricted to the massif of Mount Gorongosa in central Mocambique.
Green-headed Oriole
Also the Uluguru Violet-backed Sunbird in which, unlike the others in Africa, the female also wears the metalic Violet back and is only found here and on the Uluguru Mountains some hundreds of kilometre away.
Uluguru violet-backed sunbird
And how about this next one ? Not even the internet can produce a photograph of this bird !!!
Olive Ibis –
Bostrychia olivacea is the scientific name.
We stayed up there for two nights and also found the special Owl. What an amazing call this bird has !
Usambara Eagle Owl “Bubo vosseleri”
Finally we had to leave – the word Safari is simply Swahili for “journey” and has absolutely nothing to do with the way we westners view or understand its perceived meaning.
Farewell Amani – and thank you.
When we got back to the main road we turned left – because we could – and drove to the coast simply to put our feet in the Indian Ocean.
The Indian Ocean at Tanga
A delightful city/town sort of place with poverty and tourism happily sharing the same tropical paradise and idyllic weather.
And somebody seems to have forgotten something that happened way back in the sixties ………..
Tanganyika or Tanzania ?
That was it ! We filled up with fuel, money from an ATM and of course some beer supplies and headed west into the hinterland with yet another mission on the cards.
More later………… hopefully sooner rather than later ………..
Thanks for listening.
Tony
