Arusha National Park: Trip VI

An awesome clearing by a small stream.

Arusha National Park (ANP) remains a real treat for us as the most affordable and nearby national park (Trip I, Trip II, Trip III, Trip IV, Trip V).

The day was overcast and cloudy, we had very little sunshine that was always fleeting. We regretted not bringing more layers since we had counted on the sun coming out to warm us up. Still, we stuck to our typical plan of visiting open spaces in the morning (in this case the lakes) and then covered forest in the afternoon.

On our way to the lakes we saw a new loop that had been opened up. I am never one to decline a new route so we carefully pulled into the Rydon loop. It turned out to be a very recently cut loop through sparse grassland and although it had a few nice vistas, it was close enough to the border that you could hear human activity and the birds were either absent or quiet. Since the road (more like path) was new it was extremely bumpy and I even worried about our car bottoming out.

With the cold, overcast, bumpy road and lack of wildlife, our spirits were about as low as you will ever see for us in a national park. As we both quietly wondered how much longer the loop was, suddenly a large male elephant emerged from the side of the road. I turned off the car and it quietly crossed the road a few meters ahead of us. It was our first time seeing an elephant in ANP and we were ecstatic! Ana chided me for encouraging us to exit the car and investigate a bird we were trying to identify as we had noticed elephant dung on the road earlier. In these types of overgrown grasslands it is amazing that an elephant can sneak up on you, but they can! 

We parked the car to try to climb on the roof and get a better look and then I saw another elephant about to come in the road but he was startled and jumped back into the bushes. These were the first skittish elephants we had seen in Tanzania and since they were both males with full tusks we thought this wasn't the result of poaching. Since we could literally see buildings on the border of the park we figured they are probably aggressively pursued if local residents see them coming for their crops.

I lost track of the first elephant but the second one hid in the bushes only raising his trunk like a periscope to test the air. If I had not been on the roof I would have been unable to detect the elephant at all.

We then moved on to the lakes. The landscape was particularly dry and the lakes were heavily populated by grebes and ducks. There are a network of five or so lakes and we decided to not do the typical circuit around them all but rather visit the big lake and then a smaller one. We could see the distant lakes were full of flamingos and the small lake we visited also had a ton!

After the lakes we went up to the forest where the trail to summit Mt. Meru begins. It is a massive climb on the way up to the forest and the montane forest is always a treat with the dense trees dripping with moss and lichen. The sun even came out for a few moments as we climbed and when we reached the viewpoint we were excited to see Mt. Kilimanjaro faintly visible in the distance.

The day was a success and we even saw some new loops that we didn't have time to take. We look forward to our next trip to the park!

Lunch time!

Inside the forest. 

Ana taking in the view.

Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background.

Clouds hanging over Mt. Meru. 

Beautiful picnic spot.

TPC Pools: Trip IV

Flamingos overhead!

About a half hour drive away from our house, the pools are the closest quality birding spot in Moshi (TPC I, TPC II, TPC III). This past weekend I was even more excited to go because Ana had brought her telescope back from Spain and I was keen to learn how to use it. She told me that it was best used for shore birds since they stay relatively still and are typically out of good view when using binoculars. We decided to pop out to the pools on Sunday afternoon and see what was around.

The last time we visited the pools were pretty low and we have a hard time understanding what causes the water level to fluctuate. It is the dry season now and we haven't had much rain, though we have been on holiday for most of July/August. The water seemed to be at a normal level and at first we saw our usual suspects.

However, at a seldom visited pool (there's probably 5-10 pools) we saw a mirage of pink. Was it a mirage? No, it was 475 flamingos! We had never even seen one flamingo here and although they are known to migrate quite a bit, we were still surprised to see such a great number. We enjoyed watching them from a distance with the telescope before something suddenly scared them. They all took off in unison and we watched at they circled around overhead. The day was very hot and the air was still so as the flamingos circled back and flew directly over us, the flapping of their wings crescendoed overhead. It was a truly spectacular moment!

We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon, though anything more than two hours in the hot sun can be too much. I did end up having a great tutorial with the telescope and now I'm excited to take it out again!

A black winged stilt takes off over the pools. 

Ana checking out some birds with a little dust tornado heading her way. 

Pools with the "blue mountains" in the background. 

Flamingos taking off. 

The cows don't bother. 

Setting up to look at some Wood Sandpipers across the way. 

Kindoroko Forest: Trip X

In the forest alongside a stream. 

Our most recent trip to Kindoroko led us down a different path than our previous trips (Part I,Part II,Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VIII , Part IX). We had decided to enter the forest from a different point and try to possibly walk to another village over the mountain. We figured the worst thing that happens is that we walk for three hours and then turn around the way we came. 

The forest reserves are delineated by now-massive eucalyptus trees. We try to climb as high and deep as we can with the motorcycle and then leave the motorcycle at a local resident's house before we find a footpath into the forest. Sometimes the trails are very short and only go to areas where local residents have cut down trees, so we often ask people if we can access the inside of the forest from the trails. 

We were very happy with the new trail we found and it led us down to a stream. The stream was heavily wooded though the steepness of the sides allowed more light through than the rest of the well preserved forest. We found a cool spot under a giant rock to fill our water bottles and continued inside. 

The days hike was very steep with a lot of ups and downs, as well as some detours on either disused trails or animal paths. One of our favorite parts of Kindoroko is how dramatic the forest can change depending on elevation and the direction of the slope. We hiked the entire day on trials we had never been on before so it was a real treat to experience the feel of that section of the forest. 

After some hours we could see the trail become well-trodden and we felt we were closer to a village. We popped out in the back of a house overlooking a valley and we found a young guy washing some clothes at the house. We began to assault him with questions like, "what is the name of this village?", "where is the nearest main road?", etc. We wanted to find out where we were so we could perhaps tka the motorcycle to that point on another day and use it as a base for further exploration. The conversation was very confusing and we finally told him that we entered the forest from another place and we parked our motorcycle at a house. He then said, "Your motorcycle is here". At that point I thought that it was the Swahili I was not understanding but Ana confirmed and we peeked around the side of the house and sure enough, we were at the same spot that we started! I couldn't believe it as I am normally quite good with direction but sure enough, I had been completely turned around!

Luckily that meant we didn't have to hike hours back on the same trail, in fact, we turned around and headed back in to make use of the rest of the day exploring yet more trails! 

Classic Kindoroko view!

An awesome water spot. 

Birding in the forest. 

Some of my favorite plants. 

View from the village.