Tanzania 2011 - part 4 The Serengeti Birds

After the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater it was time to move off through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area towards the Serengeti National Park and the Naabi Hill Gate. On the way we passed the turn off to Oldupai Gorge (also known as Olduvai Gorge), however this deserves a day on its own and it wasn't on our itinerary. Immediately we saw giraffe, zebra and hartebeest as well as countless wildebeest. What a day this turned out to be - but you will have to wait.

More photos of the birds and animals in the Serengeti can be found here.

First the Serengeti birds.

African Fish Eagle, Grumeti River.

 This eagle is very common and, standing 75cm with a wingspan of 2m, is unmistakable with its pure white head. On a previous trip to the Selous in 2009, we found a huge baobab tree with large cat fish skulls on the ground many kilometres from the nearest river. There was a nest above where the eagles had been raising  their young on fish. A powerful, graceful bird with a sharp beak and fearsome talons.

(True bird photographers wouldn't like this photo because of the background is not blurred enough. This photo was taken at 300mm with the lens wide open at f/5.6. My budget doesn't extend to the $5-6,000 for an f/2.8.)

A rather inconspicuous bird, a female, trying not to look too
 interested at what was going on nearby.

This bird is a masked weaver and is watching a nearby male doing his best to impress her. What an amazing spectacle to see the weaver at work tucking pieces of grass here and there and in no time having the main structure on the nest looking as solid as could be!



Masked Weaver male at work.



Great Crowned Crane

These delightful birds, just over 1 m tall, were seen each day where we were near water. Their habitat being swamps, lakes and grassland. They are easily confused with the Grey Crested Crane which is very similar except for the colour of the crest.

Grey Heron



Hamerkop, Mbalageti River

The hamerkop builds huge nests near water and feeds mainly on frogs and tadpoles.


Lappet-faced vulture

Circling vultures are always a sure sign on a recent kill and are used by safari guides to find prides of feeding lion. This species of vulture are most useful at kills in that their beaks are the sharpest of all and good for slicing open the toughest of hides.


Magpie shrike



Male Kori Bustard

 We found this bird late one afternoon strutting his stuff. This display is to attract females in the breeding season but there were none in sight.

Same bird, same place, next day.

The next morning we found him doing his stuff again. This time he had been successful and there was a rather shy female some distance away. We didn't stop long enough to see how successful he was though.

Maribou stork

 The following bird is a coucal but at present I have two possible identifications for this one.


Immature black coucal, Centropus grillii
or Intermediate white-browed coucal, Centropus superciliosus

At this point I am more inclined to go with the latter identification. I will clear this up in my mind and update this page.



Silverbird, Empidornis semipartitus

The silverbird was flitting around the bushes at the airstrip prior to our departure from The Serengeti back to Zanzibar. (This image is much better than what you get if you do a Google image search!)

Thanks to Janet Walker in Norfolk UK and her birdie friends for providing some clues and also Nahumu, our guide from 2009 at Lake Manze.

Ostriches and topi

The pink necks here tell us that this is the Common Ostrich, Struthio camelus rather than the similar looking Somali ostrich Struthio molybdophanes which of course has a grey neck and is only found as far south as Kenya anyway.

Secretary bird

The imposing Secretary bird (1.4m high) can be found on the open savannah strutting around purposely looking for its favourite food, snakes. We didn't see any being eaten but we did see some small tasty snack sized snakes slithering across the road.

White-bellied Bustard

This is the best of my bird photos from the Serengeti. Next the animals in the Serengeti.

Safari organised expertly by Michael Sweeny of Zanzibar Travel

More photos of the birds and animals in the Serengeti can be found here.

(Email: info@zanzibartravel.co.uk  )

Previous blogs: Zanzibar, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater.

Tanzania 2011 - part 3 Ngorongoro Crater

Leaving Plantation Lodge, it was only 30 minutes drive to the Lodoare Gate to the Ngorongoro National Park. Once registered at the Ranger Station it was on up into the dense forest for the climb up the crater wall. The site that greeted us from the viewpoint is indescribeable !

Ngorongoro Crater

The crater or correctly a caldera is 14.5km across and was formed after a major eruption 2-3 million years ago emptied the magma chamber of a volcano larger than Mt Kilmanjaro. The descent down into the crater through the forest into the wide open grasslands on the floor is full of interest as one realises that the black dots are thousands of animals. The crater is the best place for seeing the endangered black rhino as their range is restricted. There are only around 20 living here in about 5 or so crashes. (Elephants get round in herds, baboons in troops and a crash of rhino is a small group of them!). You will have to read on to see what we saw.

The road from the entrance gate passes along the rim of the crater before descending down the only one-way road in.



Masai village outside the crater

Although not allowed to live in the crater anymore, the Masai are allowed to take their herds of cattle down for grazing 3 days per week.


Masai cattle and herdsmen.

Wildebeest and cattle live in harmony as they are both herbivores.

The Masai carry spears which are for use when deterring lions which want an easy meal. Outside the Parks in the Masai Mara which extends into Kenya as well, the cattle are kept in stockades at night but in the dry season there is often conflict between humans and their cattle and hungry lions during the day.

 


The first groups of animals seen on the way down into the crater.

Birds abound and the following show a few that we found in the crater.

Abdim's Stork

This large bird is found on the open grasslands throughout East Africa. It feeds mainly on insects and grubs. Its beak suggests nothing is safe up to 10 cm below ground level. Dung Beetles beware, there are thousands of these waiting for you!


Crowned Plover



Helmeted Guineafowl



Helmeted Guineafowl



Lilac Breasted Roller



Malachite Kingfisher

The Malachite is the smallest of the kingfisher species at 10-14 cm in length fully grown.


Fan-tailed Widowbird (Euplectes axillaris) in the rushes

Thanks to Janet, Norfolk in the UK, this bird has been identified through clues given by some of her bird-loving friends. I wasn't sure what it was but with researching on the internet this identification seems to fit perfectly as others have photographed it in similar reeds in the swampy areas of the Ngorongoro Crater. This identification in Wildlife of East Africa by Withers and Hosking also leads me to believe that it could be a male in breeding plumage. It is very similar to the purple indigo bird but the orange shoulder and not being able to see the tail properly still leaves some doubt about this one.


Pink flamingoes in Lake Magadi

As the crater has no outlet, Lake Magadi is a soda lake; an ideal habitat for the thousands of flamingos here. Unfortunately we were unable to get too close for a better photo but at 300mm, my good lens shows these birds in reasonable detail.



Yellow-billed Stork

The Yellow-billed Stork has an interesting technique when fishing. We watched this bird move slowly along the margins of the pool using its right foot to carefully rake the bottom of the pond then quickly grab anything disturbed. The next photo shows a successful catch!


Yellow-billed Stork with lunch

The pond where we found this bird feeding is a freshwater one fed by the Ngoitokitok Springs a few metres above the level of the soda lake in the middle of the crater. There were a few resident hippos there keeping an eye on us too.

Large herds of wildebeest and zebra grazed contentedly on the floor of the crater as well as several species of antelope. There are around 3 of prides of lion as well as other predators and several herds of elephant. Giraffe are not found in the crater.



Coke's Hartebeest



Jackal, Common or Golden?



Spur-winged Goose



Sacred Ibis

And now the highlights of our Tanzanian safari.



OK it's an elephant covered in black mud

There are elephants everywhere and one doesn't get too excited with seeing yet another herd of them, but to use a piece of American English "You ain't seen nothing yet!!!"

There are a few times in life when one is completely overawed and left for words, this magnificent sight was one of them for me.

The biggest tusks you are ever likely to see!

Mighty beasts!

The resident herds of elephant leave the crater at night and go down the road towards the Lodoare Gate and use their tusks to scrape away at some soft red deposit rich in minerals including calcium. (It is not limestone because this is the site of an old volcano) They eat this material, the calcium promoting strong bones and the growth of huge tusks. The Tanzanian Government is very active in conservation and has protection in place for the animals in the crater.

And yes we did see a rhino! Only one, but not at close quarters.



The endangered black rhino

A whole day in the Ngorongoro Crater is enough but another full day there would have been great too. There is such a variety of birds and animals that you would never get bored on Day 2. As we had only a limited time, we headed off to our hotel, Serena Lodge for the night before continuing on the next day to the magnificent Serengeti National Park.


Safari organised expertly by Michael Sweeny of Zanzibar Travel
(Email: info@zanzibartravel.co.uk )


Previous blogs: Zanzibar, Lake Manyara.

Tanzania 2011 - part 2 Lake Manyara

Flying into Arusha, we were met by our guide Suddy whose expertise and patience we very much appreciated. After five days on safari he had a long drive back to Arusha.

Suddy at the airstrip at Seronera with our trusty Landrover that we had to ourselves.

Most of the photos in the following blogs were taken with my Canon 450D. The 70-300mm L lens spent most of the time on this camera. Some of the photos are cropped from the excellent images that this lens is able to produce. I quite like the results here and I hope you do too.

After leaving the airstrip at Arusha we headed towards the Lake Manyara National Park for the rest of the day. All the photos below are of the wildlife in this area.

Warning: the following rules apply on all safaris.

1. Do not leave the vehicle; when in a boat, do not put your hands over the side.
2. Do not litter - take your rubbish with you.
3. Do not shoot birds or animals with anything but a high calibre Canon, a Nikon would do though.
4. Safaris can be addictive and injurious to your bank account. Take in moderation!

Great Crested Crane



Grassland Pipit



Southern Ground Hornbill



Superb Starling



Yellow billed Egret

The entrance to the park is through some dense forest high above the lake, which we didn't actually get very close to! However one is immediately welcomed by troops of primates, several species of monkeys, and baboons in their hundreds.

Mother and baby baboon.

The baboon population is apparently out of control here. Troops of baboons with large aggressive alpha males can be a bit scary, especially if you picnic by the entrance, hence the large stick our guide kept close by! Something has upset the ecological balance and research is being done to find out why. We saw thousands of baboons over the next five days with some troops being up to 300 strong!

Blue monkeys with long tails.



Blue monkey

Black faced velvet monkeys

Moving out of the forest down onto the grassland plains, we caught up with numerous bird species and lots of larger animals like giraffe, impala, lion and elephant.


Male impala

There are numerous species of antelope throughout Africa. Impala are very common and favourite food for lion, leopard and cheetah. Luckily we didn't see any animals getting hunted or eaten on this trip. More impala later including some interesting facts about herd life and their mating opportunities.



Female Kirk's Dik Dik

The Dik Dik is the smallest of the antelope being only around 35-40 cm high at the shoulders. The can run fast with high bouncy leaps, necessary to avoid the larger predators. Although a little small as lion food, they would make a tasty meal for jackals which are numerous throughout East Africa. Dik Dik live in small family groups of a pair of adults and their young.



Male Kirk's Dik Dik

Being the smallest of the antelopes, Dik Dik also have the smallest horns.


Taking a mud bath

Elephants are constantly on the move, eating for up to 22 hours per day. They take every opportunity to take a bath in order to keep the flies and other pests at bay. A thick covering of mud helps here. Red mud at Lake Manyara, black mud in the Ngorongoro Crater.



Zebra and warthog

Zebra are another numerous species which provide a good meal for a pride of lion. Warthog are often seen on the open grassy plains with other species. Young lions learn quickly to leave the warthog alone! They are vicious little critters.

After seeing all there was to see, it was time to head out of the park, climb up the rim of the Rift Valley (in the Landrover of course) for an hour long trip to the sanctuary of Plantation Lodge.



One of the chalets at sunset.



Plantation Lodge

After a great night's sleep in the cool highlands above the Rift Valley it was time to head to the Ngorongoro Crater.

Safari organised expertly by Michael Sweeny of Zanzibar Travel.
(Email:  info@zanzibartravel.co.uk )

Previous blog on Zanzibar.