Nyumba ya Mungu: Trip XII

Pares in the background to the east.

Ana and I have been having to work some weekends lately and one of our favorite "one day trips" is going to Nyumba ya Mungu (Trip I, II, III, IV, V & VI, VII, Trip VIII, Trip IX, Trip X, Trip XI). A large lake caused by a dam, the reservoir is around 1 1/2-2 hours from Moshi. The road winds through Masaai villages and barren dry acacia scrub before suddenly transforming around the lake's edge. The Pare Mountains are usually visible in the background to the east while the "Blue Mountains" (as they're locally known) are in the west.

This time of the year the water level is very low. It is also very hot, which makes for a long day, especially if we are birding! We took the car this time and we left a little later than usual, leaving Moshi around 830am. Since we stopped frequently to bird watch, we arrived at the lake around 130pm. We were tired from all the sun but rejuvenated by the low water and thus high bird visibility. We saw some very rare birds for us including about 10 Greater Painter Snipes, a usually solitary and shy bird.

Nyumba ya Mungu is always a great, though tiring trip. When we returned at 5pm we didn't have much energy to do anything and I think we both suffer from a "too much sun" hangover on Monday!

Without the dam, much of the landscape would just be flat and dry.

Ana checking out a cool bird called a Godwit.

Time for the cows to come in. They stirred up the water and a bunch of birds came to feed.

More cow crossing.

Ana doing some birding surrounded by cows.