Tanzania | Birds and Wildlife of Tanzania

Depart United States.

Arrive in Europe and connect with a flight to Kilimanjaro Airport. After arrival at the airport in the evening (using KLM flight), transfer to the lodge. For the participants, who wish to relax before the program starts, we will be happy to make arrangements for arriving a day early at an additional cost.

After breakfast and orientation to the program, we will depart for Arusha National Park for a full day excursion with picnic lunch. Including the migratory species - present from December to May - over 300 species have been recorded in this small park. Mt. Meru, at 14,980 ft, is the most prominent feature of this national park. The varied landscape includes forested mountain slopes, two ancient craters filled with swamps and lush savanna, and open savanna also known as the "Little Serengeti". Momella Lake is one of the best places in Tanzania to see waterbirds: flamingo, pelican, little grebe, a variety of heron, duck and wader are common. Augur-Buzzard, Verreaux's Eagle and other cliff-associated raptors can often be seen flying above Ngurdoto Crater. Driving up the jeep track toward the climber's hut on Mt. Meru offers a nice altitudinal transect. Other routes will take us into thicker forests, where we will search for raptors such as Crowned Eagle and African Goshawk, and colorful forest birds including Narina's and Bar-tailed Trogons, Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater and Hartlaub's Turaco. During our outings, we will also be looking for Colobus and Blue Monkeys, which this park is known for. We'll return to our lodge late in the afternoon.

Optional morning birding at the lodge grounds before breakfast. After breakfast, we'll begin our journey with a transfer to Tarangire National Park with en route birding. This roadside birding can often be very productive and may include sightings of Blue-naped Mousebird, Von der Decken's Hornbill, White-bellied Go-away-bird, Rosy-patched Bushshrike, Eastern Violet-backed Sunbird and Golden-backed Weaver. After arrival at Tangire park gate, continue game drive. Have a picnic lunch in the park before arriving at our overnight lodge.

The Tarangire ecosystem is the third largest in Tanzania, sprawling over a vast 7,700 square miles. Seasonally, the park supports the second largest concentration of wildlife in Tanzania surpassed only by the Serengeti during peak migration. However, Tarangire is most famous for its huge numbers of African Elephants that congregate along the meandering Tarangire River. We will observe these massive pachyderms and their tender family interactions. Other mammals likely to be seen include the stately waterbuck, impala, comical warthog and giraffe. The Acacia woodland and Baobab studded grasslands also provide a home for a large number of avians, with the park total being well over 500 species. We will have the opportunity to look for African Hawk Eagle, the diminutive Pygmy Falcon, Double banded Courser, Red necked and Yellow necked Spurfowl, Black faced Sandgrouse, White bellied Bustard, Meyer's and Red bellied Parrots, Bare faced Go away bird, Red-and-yellow and D'Arnaud's Barbets, Mottled Spinetail, Spotted Thrush, and flocks of Northern Pied Babbler. Two major targets for the area are the East African endemics Ashy Starling and Yellow collared Lovebird. We will also visit the vast Silale Swamp which is excellent for waterfowl. Species to look out for will be African Openbill, Goliath Heron, Southern Pochard, Fulvous Whistling Duck, African Jacana and Long toed Lapwing. If we are fortunate we may spot a Black Coucal, or flush out a secretive African Crake. Night birding around our lodge can also be fruitful. Look out for Slender tailed and Freckled Nightjars and the diminutive African Scops-Owl.

After breakfast, we'll say goodbye to Tarangire and start our drive to Manyara National Park with a game drive en route. Philip Briggs, author of the Bradt Guide to Tanzania describes the park as the country's finest birding site as it boasts over 400 species, 100 of which can be seen in a day even by casual birders. We will arrive at Manyara Lakeview Lodge in time for lunch. This afternoon features a game drive for birds and other wildlife at Lake Manyara National Park. This Park offers a wide variety of habitats, but two-thirds of the park is covered by the alkaline Lake Manyara when water levels are high. During dry season the lake is virtually non-existent. The alkaline shores of the lake are a good place to look for the widely distributed but quite erratic Greater Painted-Snipe. Another bird of special interest is the so-called Usambiro Barbet, currently considered a subspecies of D'Arnaud's Barbet. During our visit we will also be looking for Purple-crested Turaco, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, and Yellow-bellied Greenbul. Depending on water levels, we may find a variety of waterbirds, such as Yellow-billed and Marabou storks, Pink-backed Pelican, Sacred Ibis, African Spoonbill, and Black-headed Heron. Later transfer to Manyara Camp for dinner and overnight.

We will start our birding adventure today by taking a trail to the lake shore where we will look for shorebirds and other specialties of the area. We will return to lodge for breakfast at 9 am and depart by 9:45 am. Our first visit will be to a local market, where we will get the necessities for our visit to a Maasai Village. Afterwards we will travel to a Maasai village where we will learn about the lifestyle. After the village visit, we will visit a local rural school and learn about the educational system in Tanzania and challenges facing rural areas and discuss efforts for improvement. After our visit, we will travel to Mto Wa Mbu village, where we will visit with a local women's cooperative and have a home-hosted traditional lunch, and help prepare delicious "chapati" bread. While we are enjoying a look into rural life, we will still be birding at each location. Afterwards, we will drive to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, check into our lodge and enjoy some birding on the lodge grounds upon arrival. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), NCA is a 3,200 square mile World Heritage Site protecting Earth's largest intact volcanic caldera (100 square miles) and one of the world's most scenically breathtaking natural areas. What's more, the crater is also home to one of the planet's densest populations of large mammals. Our lodge is nestled on the edge of the crater rim with spectacular views of the crater itself. The forests that cloak the rim of this iconic site are home to a variety of Afro montane forest birds. You may find Hildebrandt's Spurfowl, Schalow's Turaco, the elusive Brown- backed Woodpecker, beautiful Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Brown-headed Apalis, skulking Cinnamon Bracken-Warbler, Golden-winged and Eastern Double-collared Sunbirds. From the lodge we are able to gaze down at the Ngorongoro Crater below and watch distant elephants and herds of antelope and buffalo moving over the plains.

After an early breakfast, descend 1,970 feet to the Ngorongoro Crater floor. The crater is prime "Big Five" territory and a photographer's dream. Most of the animals are extremely relaxed and habituated to the presence of human admirers. The high crater walls, usually cloaked in a pure white frosting of clouds, make for dramatic backdrops to animal photographs. In addition, the crater floor provides a mini example of a complete African ecosystem with forests, lakes, grasslands, swamps and rivers. Between 25,000 and 30,000 large animals reside in the crater and great concentrations of Blue Wildebeest and Common Zebra are supplemented by smaller numbers of African Elephant, African Buffalo, the highly sought after Black Rhinoceros, hippopotamus, Eland and Thomson's and Grant's Gazelles. The crater reputably boasts the world's highest concentration of predators including lion, cheetah, leopard, serval, Bat eared Fox, Spotted Hyena and Golden and Black backed Jackal. The birding is equally rewarding; we can expect to find many of the picture book species that make Africa so famous. Pink rafts of Greater and Lesser Flamingos on Lake Magadi, Common Ostrich striding over the grasslands, regal Kori Bustard (the world's heaviest flying bird), the elegant Grey-crowned Crane and good numbers of raptors including the unique Secretary Bird, Bateleur and Martial Eagle. Among the many other species that we may encounter, we hope to see the uncommon Shelley's Francolin, Black bellied Bustard, Dusky Turtle-Dove, White headed Barbet, Pectoral patch Cisticola, comical Northern Anteater Chat, Black crowned Tchagra, the striking Rosy throated Longclaw, Fan tailed Widowbird and the skittish Quailfinch, the latter probably more easily seen here than anywhere else. Enjoy a bush lunch inside the crater. In the evening, we ascend to our lodge on the scenic crater rim and at dusk will attempt to track down the Montane Nightjar.

After an early breakfast, we will check out and begin our journey to the Serengeti. On the way we will visit the well-known Olduvai Gorge. As a result of massive geological activities over the eons, Olduvai provides a unique record of countless years of fossilized creatures and plants in a series of stratified rock layers. Most famous of all discoveries, which revolutionized thinking on hominid evolution, have been those of Australopithecine hominid remains found by the Leakey family. After an introductory lecture we have time to explore the very informative museum at the site which exhibits replicas of the hominid fossils and extinct animals that used to inhabit the region, ranging from River Elephant and Giant Swine to Short necked Giraffe. A bird walk around the site may yield a variety of arid country species such as the vocal Slate-colored Boubou, Red-fronted Tinkerbird, Rufous Chatterer, Kenya Rufous Sparrow, Vitelline Masked-Weaver, beautiful Purple Grenadier and White-bellied and Canary. We will continue our drive with a picnic lunch on the way. As we enter the park, we will start our first game drive on the rutted dirt track across the vast, flat and seemingly endless Serengeti Plains, to spend the next few nights in the world famous Serengeti National Park.

Extending for an incredible 5,790 square miles, the Serengeti is one of the world's largest natural sanctuaries. Despite the vast space, the amount of game that you can expect to see is still astounding. The Serengeti, meaning "Endless Plain" in Maasai, consists mostly of grasslands interspersed with Acacia woodlands and rocky outcrops. There is little permanent water in the park, which, combined with a fairly regular rainfall pattern, has resulted in the world famous wildebeest migration, when up to two million large wildebeests move between the Serengeti in Tanzania and Maasai Mara in Kenya. During our visit to the Serengeti we will explore the southern and central areas. We hope to see lazing prides of lions, leopards draped over large trees, aloof cheetahs resting on or near vantage points, skulking Spotted Hyenas, jackals and, if we are fortunate, the bizarre Bat-eared Fox. Several species of smaller cats such as caracal, serval or African Wild Cat may also be seen. Besides the wildebeest, the Serengeti supports huge populations of Common Zebra, African Buffalo, Maasai Giraffe, warthog, Thomson's and Grant's Gazelles, impala, topi, kongoni, Bohor Reedbuck, Eland and smaller numbers of African Elephant, hippopotamus, Rubber-nosed Kirk's Dik-dik, Oribi and Defassa Waterbuck.

Enjoy another day of exploration. There will certainly be an array of superb birds to keep you very busy for the time spent exploring the park. Star birds include several East African endemics: Gray-crested Helmetshrike, Red-throated Tit, Steel-blue Whydah and the highly localized Karamoja Apalis. Other specialties are Gray-breasted Spurfowl, Fischer's Lovebird, Rufous-tailed Weaver, the localized race of D'Arnaud's Barbet (sometimes split as Usambiro Barbet) and Short-toed Lark. These birds can be found together with a host of other species such as the magnificent Saddle-billed Stork, up to six species of vulture, the grotesque Marabou Stork, stately Secretary Bird, Bateleur, Chestnut-bellied and Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, Kori Bustard, coveys of Coqui Francolin, White-bellied Bustard, Temminck's Courser, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Red-fronted Barbet, Tanzanian Red-billed Hornbill, the whimsical Southern Ground-Hornbill, Abyssinian Scimitarbill, Black-lored Babbler, Taita and Grey-backed Fiscals, Magpie Shrike, Hildebrandt's Starling, both species of oxpecker, Silverbird, the cute Buff-bellied Warbler, aptly named Beautiful Sunbird, Gray-headed Social Weaver, Blue-capped Cordon-bleu, Black-faced Waxbill and, if you are fortunate, Gray-headed Silverbill. Not only is this a great place in which to find game and birds, but the wide green-gold savannas, dotted with thorn trees, also make it ideal for photography. The Serengeti is ravishingly beautiful and offers long, undisturbed views and utterly dramatic panoramas.

Enjoy another day in the Serengeti.

After an early breakfast we depart for Ngorongoro Highlands to Karatu. En route we will enjoy our last game drive. We will have picnic lunch on the way as we will be doing birding along the road. We will arrive to our lodge mid-afternoon. Once we settle in, we will enjoy some birding around the lodge grounds.

Depart the lodge early, and transfer to Gibbs Farm for morning birding with breakfast at Gibbs Farm and continue birding at the property. Depart no later than 10:00 am for Arusha. Before arriving at our hotel, we will stop at Chef Babu's for a delicious lunch. We then continue to our hotel for day room accommodations. You will be able to rest, finish packing luggage, or freshen up before catching your night flight to the U.S. Before leaving for the airport, enjoy a light snack at the hotel, then check out at 6 p.m. Transfer to the Kilimanjaro International Airport and check in for overnight flight to the U.S.

Arrive home.