With its huge, unspoiled wilderness areas and plains loaded with game, the vast landscapes of Tanzania reflect an Africa of old. This tour, timed to coincide with masses of birthing wildebeest in Ndutu, explores northern Tanzania’s exceptional diversity. With the rains having fallen recently, the plains burst into life in hues of green set against the red sands, and blackish afternoon clouds create spectacular orange and vermillion sunsets. Birds are in full breeding regalia and watching the long-tailed, testosterone-laden widows and black, red, and yellow bishops bashing each other is a major highlight. Our optional pre-trip extension visits the arid landscapes of the Tsavo corridor, the endemic-rich Usambaras, and the exotic Pemba Island.

Day 1: Arusha. After arrival at Kilimanjaro airport, we head to Arusha.

Day 2: Arusha NP. We’ll spend the day on Mt. Meru, which looms over Arusha. The montane forest offers us many exciting birds including both Narina and Bar-tailed Trogons. As we head up the mist-enshrouded slopes, the yellowwood trees become draped in Usnea old man’s beard lichen and we search for skulking gems such as White-starred Robin and the dapper Brown Woodland-Warbler. The park is also an excellent place to find large herds of buffalo grazing the mountain’s lower slopes.

Day 3: Arusha district. We drive around the looming Mt. Meru to the lark plains. These grasslands are home to the last 200 Beesley’s Larks on Earth, and we will search long and hard for this critically endangered Tanzanian endemic. Other interesting residents here include Chestnut-bellied and Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, shrikes, wheatears, pipits, and larks galore. The plains are lined by Drepanolobium whistling thorn trees, while hills offer a scrubby habitat that can deliver Red-fronted and White-headed Barbets, Red-throated Tit, eremomelas, and crombecs. The thicket habitat and riparian strips offer many great birds, including Slate-colored Boubou, White-headed Mousebird, Nubian Woodpecker, and the highly gregarious Gray-headed Social-Weaver. A night drive will reveal many bushbabies, and perhaps the seldom seen Striped Hyena.

Days 4-6: Tarangire River Lodge. From Arusha we head to Tarangire, where we shall enjoy some of northern Tanzania’s finest birding. The low baobab-clad plains and fever-tree groves support many cool species including three Tanzanian endemics: Ashy Starling, Yellow-collared Lovebird, and Rufous-tailed Weaver. We will also make our way to the shores of Lake Manyara, where thousands of waterbirds and a pink haze of flamingos stretch across the horizon.

Days 7-8: Tarangire to Ngorongoro Crater. Moving into the Great Rift Valley, the road climbs to the edge of the magical crater. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for flowering Leonotis; if we find a patch, we might be exposed to the coolest sunbird spectacle in Africa, with the impressive Golden-winged, coppery-colored Bronze, and iridescent purple Tacazee Sunbirds all competing for nectar from the same flowers. Descending into the crater with its towering vertical walls is like finding Africa's Garden of Eden. Inside, we seek myriad grassland and forest birds, as well many scavenging vultures amidst a thronging wildlife spectacle virtually unequalled on earth.

Days 9-10: Ndutu. We move through the Malanja depression and onto the Serengeti plains, where sandgrouse, bustards, and wheatears abound. Grant’s Gazelles are scattered across the plains, while Ostrich and Giraffe walk swaying in the haze. Towards Ndutu we enter beautiful mature Acacia woodland with alkaline lakes and swamps. The lodge’s waterhole is a bird magnet with ever-present Fischer’s Lovebird, a variety of manikins, waxbills, and widowbirds, and the endemic Gray-breasted Spurfowl. The woodlands harbor Rufous Chatterer, Gray and Bearded Woodpeckers, Black-faced Babbler, and Red-throated Tit. The wildebeest will have recently calved in this area, and up to half a million females may be in attendance with their young, presenting a wildlife spectacle of awesome proportions, impossible to describe and enthralling to experience. The attendant predators, particularly Lions and hyenas, will have followed them south and the vultures await each kill with renewed enthusiasm.

Days 11-12: Serengeti NP. We explore the vast acacia-studded plains of Serengeti NP, encountering herds of wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, and Giraffe alongside their associated predators. The birds, of course, are party to this drama. We’ll search for Meyer’s Parrot, Black-faced Go-away-bird, and Usambiro Barbet. We’ll be spending one day exploring the western corridor, which should reveal a gamut of interesting birds like Black-headed Gonolek, Common Wattle-eye, and the recently found Karamoja Apalis.

Day 13: Serengeti to Kilimanjaro Airport. We return to Arusha, stopping for lunch at the picturesque Gibbs Farm.  

Usambaras and Pemba Extension (10 days)
This trip begins nine days before the main tour, and explores some remarkable areas renowned for their phenomenal bird diversity. First we head for the arid Tsavo-corridor woodlands of Same. Nestled in the rain shadow of the Usambaras and Pares, the arid woodlands offer fantastic birding. Targets include Black-throated Barbet, Purple Granadier, White-bellied Go-away-bird, Orange-bellied Parrot, Red-fronted Cricket Warbler, Rosy-patched Bushshrike, Somali Golden-breasted Bunting, and many others. Next on the agenda are both the West and East Usambara Mountains. These treasure troves are full of endemics and montane species not easily available elsewhere in Africa. Highlights may include a bird that is found nowhere else in the world, the Usambara Akalat. Other rare gems we’ll search for include Usambara Thrush, Usambara Weaver, Spot-throat Modulatrix, and Red-capped Tailorbird. The lowland coastal forests in the East Usambaras at the Amani-Sigi reserve support Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrike, Red-tailed Ant-Thrush, and the stunning Green-headed Oriole. Part of an ancient arc of crystalline mountains, the East Usambaras are jam-packed with specialties including the bizarre and exceptionally rare Moreau's Tailorbird, a relict species of Asian affinities, which requires much luck to see. Our final stop is the idyllic and laid-back Pemba Island. One of the Spice Islands, cloves are spread throughout Pemba’s streets. Here we bird Ngezi Forest Reserve looking for the dainty Pemba Scops-Owl, Pemba Sunbird, Pemba White-eye, and Pemba Green-Pigeon. There is the opportunity for some idyllic snorkeling on the nearby Manta Reef before we head to the big game parks of Northern Tanzania to start the main tour.

Tour Info:

CLIMATE: Cool to warm, with some rain likely.

DIFFICULTY: Mostly easy. There will be some fairly long walks in the Usambaras.