Birding in Tanzania – Days 1 – 4

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig with Chris Craig at Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania Taken by Helena Craig and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig with Tanzania Birding & Beyond bird guide Anthony at Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania Taken by Helena Craig and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Warthog Ngorongoro National Park, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

We  birded from the 4×4, to avoid run ins with wild animals. When we stopped for lunch at the reserve entrance, we immediately spotted lots of birds such as Eastern Double Banded Sunbird and Bagglefacht Weaver, which were not new but lovely to see. We were so concentrated on watching the weavers in fact, that we barely noticed the large grey rock in the background until it started ripping down trees and we realised it was not a rock but a huge elephant.

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania Taken by Helena Craig and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Bagglefacht Weaverl, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Elephant Ngorongoro National Park, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania Taken by Helena Craig and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

After a few more hours of driving, we finally arrived in Serengeti National Park. This is its name in Tanzania whilst a much smaller section in Kenya is the Masai Mara. Whenever someone asks me to use a word to describe  places like this I usually say ‘big’ – big sun, big sky, big animals, big place. The Serengeti was vast, beautiful and full of huge numbers of wildlife and had amazing birds. We have birded in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya in the summer of 2016 and so although we would be seeing lots of bird species, only a few targets would be new for our world list.

Black-throated Sandgrouse, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Blacksmith’s Plover, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Fischer’s Lovebird, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

giraffe, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Hartabeest, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

It was a very lax travel day, but we still managed to see five new bird species, including the endemic Rufous-tailed Weaver, Grey-breasted Spurfowl, Tanzanian Red-billed Hornbill and also Swahili Sparrow. We were running so well on time, that we drove deep into the park and were really lucky to see Karamoja Apalis, as soon as we entered its habitat. This bird was one of two subspecies, one here and the other all the way at the South Sudan border in Uganda with nowhere in between.  This means that a split of the species seems suspiciously likely.

Endemic Rufous-tailed Weaverl, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig Grey-breasted Spurfowl, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig Endemic Tanzanian Red-billed Hornbilll, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Karamoja Apalis, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig   Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph taken by Helena Craig and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

We arrived at our camp lodge, ThornTree Camp (www.ThornTreeCamp.com) just as it was getting dark. It was a lovely camp with luxurious safari tents, friendly staff and brilliant food. Anthony warned us to keep both inside and outside tent doors carefully zipped closed to avoid anything getting in. I am petrified of spiders and mum is phobic about rodents, so needless to say that we kept our tent zipped shut!

The camp manager warned us to be careful after dark and to not go anywhere alone, as the camp grounds were not fenced in and animals wandered about at night. We were told to use their powerful torch (flashlight) and look for eye shine. Better still, to wait for one of the guards. I was inclined to wait for a guard, as I’d not done that at a camp lodge in Uganda and ended up petrified with hippos a few feet from the path.

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at ThornTree Camp, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Chris Craig & Anthony from Tanzania Birding & Beyond at ThornTree Camp, Serengeti NP, Tanzania Photograph copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Back in our room after dinner, we heard Hyenas calling nearby. My bed was right next to a mesh open window that was my only protection. At about midnight I woke up to a very loud chomping noise and the strong smell of grass, so I slowly turned around to see a Zebra and her baby standing & grazing in-between my window and a small tree only a metre away. They were so close that I could have touched them.  Astonished and relieved, I went back to sleep until I was woken by what sounded like cats fighting close to my room. This time I wasn’t so happy to have hyenas fighting so close by.

My bed at ThornTree Camp with the tree just outside my mesh window Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

ThornTree Camp – the tree just outside my mesh window above my bed Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Day 4 – 30 June 2018

The next day, Saturday 30th June 2018, we had an entire day in Serengeti NP but it was very relaxed because we had already seen most of our target species for the area and some.

It was a great morning with two new birds, White-tailed Lark and Grey-headed Silverbill. It was also good to see iconic birds again such as a Secretary Bird, which apparently are closely related to birds of prey.