Arusha National Park Trip VII

Mother with her two babies. Great mom

Although we've been to Arusha National Park several times before(Trip I, Trip II, Trip III, Trip IV, Trip V, Trip VI), our trip this past weekend was actually the first non-birding centered trip. While we've always enjoyed all the flora and fauna, we've often wondered how tourists felt about the park as it's small size, proximity to human settlements, and lack of big animals (lions, elephants, rhinos, etc). We are a bit partial to the park since it is so close (one hour drive from our house) and the lack of crowds appeals to us as well. And of course, the bird life is spectacular and keeps us busy for the entire day.

The trip was different as we had agreed to bring a visitor from the UK along for the trip. It was his first time in Tanzania and he didn't have the time for a proper safari. Both Ana and I felt it would be a bit boring for him alone so we offered to take him (of course he was good company as well). It then dawned on us that we actually did have a pretty good feel for the park and the wildlife and we laughed at the idea of our first safari guiding experience.

We arrived at the park around 9AM and were shocked that there were probably five to seven other safari vehicles. We usually arrive at 8AM and we've never seen more than one other vehicle at that time. We checked in and since the weather was clear we decided to climb up to the top of Ngurdoto Crater to enjoy the beautiful vista. On the way up we saw our first ever traffic jam in Arusha National Park as four safari vehicles jockeyed for position to view some Black and White Colobus high in the trees. They were a bit far but we still got a nice view and then we lucked out as an even bigger group were up the road about five minutes.We got out of the car and enjoyed watching them hop from tree to tree and stare at us with watchful eyes.

We continued up to the top of the crater and felt the cold air as we gained altitude. We were happy to see that the view was excellent from the crater and we even saw a big group of buffalo grazing below. There were scattered clouds so we enjoyed a snack at the recently installed tables at the top.

Love the crater view! 

After the crater we zipped down to the Momella Lakes. Our guest, Ian, had previously shared that he loved flamingos and since we had been there a few weeks prior and saw thousands of flamingos, we hoped that our luck would repeat itself. And sure enough, there were thousands! There is a bit of a secret lake off the well trodden circuit which allows you to get as close as possible to the flamingos. We set up there and enjoyed the views and sounds before heading to the Momella Lakes picnic area for lunch.

On the way to the last part of the trip we drove through "Little Serengeti" and were treated to a very close view of a mother giraffe with her two young. One was feeding while the larger one was attempting to feed though it appeared it was past weaning age. The sun and clouds over Mt. Meru is always beautiful from that vantage point and we enjoyed seeing other ungulates like giraffes and warthog.

The last part of our trip was a drive up Mt. Meru to see the fig tree arch and waterfall picnic spot. The forest in that area is particularly beautiful and perhaps the bird highlight of the day came when we snuck up on some Silvery-Cheeked Hornbills dust bathing. Hornbills make a spectacular helicopter like sound when they fly and seeing Ian's amazement at their behavior was a lot of fun. It's always nice to share your interests with someone and even better when they get into it!

It was a really interesting experience bringing someone along for the ride and it was quite enjoyable to just enjoy all the flora and fauna without focusing exclusively on bird life. We were also pleased to see that someone could enjoy Arusha National Park even without all the big animals!

Ana checking out some birds as I take a picture from the top of the waterfall. 

Salt from the alkaline lakes with flamingos in the background. 

Group photo at the picturesque waterfall. 

Driving through the fig tree. Well, parking in the middle of the fig tree. 

Can you spot the dik-dik?

Lake Nanja: Trip II

Scoping out some birds on the lake.

We had visited Lake Nanja once before but we were interested in visiting when the dry season was at its peak. We were curious on how high the water levels would be and if there was any difference in the bird life at the lake. One of our good birding friends from Arusha was very keen on the trip and we happened to be meeting some other friends in Arusha that weekend, so a Saturday trip to Lake Nanja worked out perfectly.

On the way to the lake I noticed how dry the landscape was. In that area I was told the rains begin in October so now the ground was dry and cracked or covered with harsh dry grasses.When we arrived we took a slightly different route down to the lake and parked the car along the shore. The landscape was extremely sparse with only a few isolated acacia trees. A few Masaai and their dozens of cattle and goats periodically passed us grazing or going to the lake for water. We walked down one side of the lake and then returned to the car to slowly drive around the other side.

It was overcast in the morning which is likely the only reason that we could stay out all day. The bird life was excellent and we even saw a few aardvark burrows! The entire time I really appreciated having the place to "ourselves" and the freedom to slowly spend the whole day walking and bird watching. The local Masaai herders were friendly and our friend had gone the week before so he greeted everyone like an old pal.

We finished up around 4pm, which meant we made it back to Moshi by the time it was dark. The trip is a little far for a day trip but any time we have to be in Arusha, you better believe we'll go visit Lake Nanja!

Checking out an aardvark burrow. 

More views. 

Very dry on the western side of the lake. 

Kifaru River

The dry side of Kifaru. Massive baobab tree!

An add on to our trips to the Pare Mountains is a stopover at Kifaru, a small village on the road to Lake Jipe. If we have the energy on our way back, it's about half way between the Pares and Moshi and only a 10 minute detour off the highway. There is a cool little patch to go birding in a small wetlands surrounded by extremely dry acacia scrub. It creates a very unique vibe and one of the few places around Moshi to view waterbirds. 

We have only stopped at Kifaru a few times and it can have varying water levels. When the water is low there is nearly nothing going on there. This weekend the water was as high as we've ever seen int and we saw plenty of fishing nets, people collecting water, and birds. There was a small path along the river that wove through very lush riverside areas with short grasses and tall reeds on the opposite shore. 

Over the course of several trips we hope to get a pulse on the seasonality of the pools. It is always a nice pit stop from the mountains, especially when the water is high and the riverside lush!

Collecting some water. 

Very lush spot. 

A small boat for fishing. 

Checking out the river. 

Nice background with the Pare Mountains. 

Minja Forest: Trip III

Lake Jipe in the background. 

It's been a very long time since we have taken a trip to Minja Forest (Trip I, Trip II), most likely because we enjoy our trips to Kindoroko Forest so much. Still, Minja Forest is equally as amazing of a forest and pretty much the same distance, if not shorter. It had been long enough so we finally decided this weekend to revisit the forest.

One of the many reasons that we love visiting the North Pares is that we can leave after work on Friday and spend the night thus allowing us to have a full day Saturday and enough time to return early on Sunday. There is a very adequate guesthouse in a small village on the way to the forest and we were quite pleased that the owner remembered us from over a year ago. It was SO cold up in the mountains and although we had packed all of our cold weather gear, the motorcycle ride up had left us chilly to the core. Luckily a hot chai is always nearby in Tanzania!

The next morning it was very overcast and slightly drizzly. We were not discouraged and headed off the half hour or so to the forest. The landscape is not as steep as the area around Kindoroko and we enjoyed seeing small scattered villages and farmland. We finally made it to the forest reserve around 11AM, parked our bike at the closest house, and headed inside.

There is not a formal trail network system in the forest but we were armed with our GPS and the experience of our two previous trips. I had unfortunately left my machete at home and the first route we took in the "lowlands" area was a bit unsuccessful as we reached an area that had ambiguous trails with dense growth. We went back to the river where remnants of an irrigation system remained and we headed north up along a ridge. The trail led us to an exposed and rather dry part of the forest with stunning views of Lake Jipe. It was a beautiful spot and a perfect place to take lunch.

After the lunch we headed back deep into the forest. We saw a Great Sparrowhawk with a nest high up in a tree and we quietly climbed a hill to get a better look. We were fortunate to get to a vantage point where we were eye level with the nest and we could see a small chick inside! We then continued into the forest walking until we ran out of time and had to turn back. We found a new route through a very beautiful patch of forest and the sun even came out a few times! We now have two new routes that we want to take and we vowed that it would NOT be so long before we returned!

Do not fall into this ant trail. 

They were making a tunnel for more ants to climb through. I risked myself for this picture. 

Getting water at a 

Hiking along the ridge. 

A very cool and unusual fern. 

Scoping some birds. 

Typical trail by the river. 

I LOVE seeing a wall of green!

Some sunshine deep inside. 

Ana taking in the view in the forest. 

Some ants moving some larvae.

An awesome spider in our room. We enjoyed watching it run around the room until it hid in our jackets hanging on the door...then we did not enjoy that so much. 

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.