Lake Duluti: Trip V

Baby monitor lizard

We didn't realize it, but we hadn't visited Lake Duluti in nearly a year (Trip I, Trip II, Trip III, Trip IV). The last time we were there we took two friends of ours on an "intro to birding" type trip, though I didn't blog about it here for some reason. I think Duluti got put in the back of our minds as a result of us always pushing for longer and further away trips. Duluti always seems like an easy day trip since it takes about an hour to get there and non birders will probably finish up before lunch time. We also love it for the fact that it provides a nice walk, with a well trodden trail circumventing the crater lake in a sliver of forest.

We arrived to Duluti at about 10am and did our usual walk along the crater rim. There is a short trail that leads to an area that has been informally colonized by a religious group. There is a nice little walk and views of the plains on one side, and the lake and Mt. Meru on the other. The religious group has a somewhat permanent presence there but we discovered on Sunday it was even more busy. We cut our walk a bit short to avoid a man that was pacing around half attempting to speak in tongues and half preaching.

We had a coffee and a snack down at the lake where there is a very adequate picnic area. The long grasses to the north of the lake were cut back, which is odd as we've always seen it high and full of Taveta Golden Weavers. We saw a very happy tourist coming off a canoe trip, said hi, and then carried on to the walk around the lake.

The most notable thing of the trip was the presence of many tiny monitor lizards. The monitor lizards here are of the same family as the more notorious "Komodo Dragon" and they grow up to a meter (3-4 ft) long. The juvenile monitors looked more like the everyday lizards but still retained their distinct crocodile like gait and unique shape. They weren't as skittish as the adults at the lake and we enjoyed a mini photo shoot with some.

We promised ourselves to return to Duluti sooner than one year! As always, the walk was enjoyable and a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Lake Jipe: Trip II

A small inlet for the local fishermen to access the lake

We had gone to Lake Jipe once before (Trip I) and we've always talked about it having great potential for 'bush camping' but for whatever reason we haven't returned in nearly nine months. We decided to try to return and scout a few things. First, since the lake is surrounded by high reeds that prevent you from actually seeing the lake, we wanted to see if we could find an entry point and get an idea on how much it would cost to go out with one of the fishermen. Next, we wanted to scout the area for bush camping, basically, a place with nothing and no one around. And third, we wanted to get a realistic idea of how long it would take us to reach there, since when we bird we often move at a very slow pace. In the end, we only go the answer to one of these questions!

We left Moshi at around 8am and reached the road to Lake Jipe by about 930am. The winds around the north end of the Pare Mountains and as a result, the weather is extremely difficult to read. There were massive storm clouds that were coming from the north but it was hard to tell what was staying on Mt. Kilimanjaro, what was coming at us, and what was going around the other side of the mountain.

The way to the lake took us five hours at a birding pace, and we also ran into one brief, though powerful storm. We reached the lake so late that we didn't have time to scout for bush camping and the only guys around to question about boats were drunk. We didn't spend much time at the lake since you can't see much anyways.

On the way back we hit a huge storm and the road kind of wove around the edges of the storm. It was a pretty surreal experience as we were getting blasted by rain, then we were in light rain in the sunshine with a huge rainbow, then in the clear, and then back to sheets of rain. I snapped a pretty cool picture of a massive double rainbow that we could see from end to end but unfortunately it was raining so hard that I couldn't get a picture to justify it. Still, it has been many months since we experienced a hard rain and the drive through the rivers and puddles was a lot of fun! Plus, we got the answer to our question; what took us five hours to drive birding only took us one hour driving straight through the rain!

Checking out the lake

This boat had holes in it and was full of water

You could see the red dust that was kicked up by the storm coming. It looked very disconcerting!

Insane double rainbow.

The goats were trying to get shelter. It looked as if a magnet had attracted the goats to the side of the house.

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Local fishing net.

This was the first storm that came, and it hit us hard.

After the first rain a layer of clouds surrounded the top of the North Pares.

The North Pares provided a beautiful backdrop.

Ana sees that a storm is coming. Even though we were headed that direction, we didn't hit that storm.

Lake Chala: Trip V

Taking in the view with the clouds passing by

This weekend we headed to Lake Chala (Trip I, Trip II, Trip III, Trip IV) to celebrate our three year anniversary in Tanzania! We haven't gone much since the introduction of a $20 government fee at the gate and a corresponding hike in prices the lodge charges, which is a shame because this weekend we were reminded why it's such a great area to visit.

We left Saturday morning and we were somewhat alarmed at the signs of rain as soon as we turned off the highway. Higher elevations on Kilimanjaro have started to get rains but in Moshi it has been very sparse. Reaching Chala involves gaining some elevation and there was not only signs of rain but large mud puddles. We even saw ominous rainclouds coming off the mountain and wondered if it was a bad time of year to come.

Fortunately, by the time we reached the campsite around 11am, it looked like it would just be a cloudy day. Which was quite fortunate considering the heat at Chala is usually oppressive and a day hike is a true test of character! We set up camp and then proceeded on our usual circuit of the dry river, crater, and then open savanna.

We were shocked to see the river was flowing, which was something we've never seen before. Usually it is dried up with a few stagnant pools of water. Now the river was flowing and actually had a waterfall at a point! It was obviously more difficult to walk along the river bed so we modified our usual route and spent more time in the open savanna.

We enjoyed sightings of bushbuck and eland, which are particularly exciting in the thick acacia scrub because they are usually very close by the time you can actually spot them. Despite the clouds, it was still very hot so we made our way back to camp around 5pm.

The night was when things really started to get interesting. The moon was 95% illuminated and the light was so bright we did not need to walk with flashlights. We heard non-nocturnal birds periodically call out and the highlight came as we heard elephants grazing about 200m from our tent! We tried to get a closer look but due to the thickness of the acacias, we had to turn back before we could see them. Typically the elephants would be more scared of you than them, especially in areas like Chala which are surrounded by humans. Still, you never know what they will do if you surprise them, or, even worse, if you get between a mother and her calf. The next morning we went to where we thought they were and sure enough, lots of broken branches and eaten tree tops! We also agreed the area was very thick and we made the right decision in turning back when we did. It may SOUND like an easy and safe choice, but it's easy to get carried away when you think elephants are around! 

Taking care while crossing the river

There is another much smaller crater that we like to hike to

View of the lake from afar

Our campsite with a near full moon rising

Me, taking a swim!

Nyumba ya Mungu: Trip XIII

I'm sure their mothers' hearts melted when they saw this pic

 We returned to our most visited and one of our favorites spots this weekend (Trip I, II, III, IV, V & VI, VII, Trip VIII, Trip IX, Trip X, Trip XI, Trip XII). Although we recently went a few weeks ago, we decided to invite two 13 year olds that accompanied us on the Big Bird Day. They had never been to Nyumba ya Mungu and each bird day we talked about taking them, so we finally followed through on our promise!

We thought it was a great time since we went two weeks ago and saw a ton of birds. The water level this time of year is quite low so you can get closer to a larger variety of birds. As usual, the landscape was breathtaking!

The day was a pretty normal Nyumba ya Mungu day, though we left around 9am which made for a fewer birds than usual on the way there. It was, as usual, extremely hot when we arrived at the reservoir, but we spent more time then usual since there were so many birds! The boys really had a great time and they were good listeners when we told them to drink water and put on sunscreen. We were all very tired, dusty, and sun-beaten when we arrived back to Moshi around 6pm; it was truly a full day!

The river coming into the reservoir, which is usually wide and flooded.

Flood plain.

North Pares in the background.

Some cloud cover gives some cool lighting.