Tanzania - Serengeti

Here are some more photographs from Tanzania, these from our three days (four nights) in Serengeti National Park where we stayed at the Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge.

The Serengeti region covers 30,000 square kilometres and extends into south-western Kenya.  In the time available we could, of course, visit only a small part of it.  The Kenyan part of the Serengeti is known as the Maasai Mara.  In the Maasai language Serengeti means “endless plains”, a description that fits very well.

Although our main focus was on the birds we also devoted plenty of time to the mammals, particularly the cats.  One day we thought we had done well to see 22 cats of four different species (12 Lions, 2 Leopards, 7 Cheetahs and a Serval) but the following day we saw twice as many!  The Cheetahs were an adult female with six young cubs that were going to be a serious challenge for her to feed and keep safe.

 Our room at the Serena Safari Lodge

The plains are studded with isolated granite outcrops, known as kopjes

Lions - lying in the shade

Yellow-throated Sandgrouse - one of three sandgrouse species that we saw

Yellow-throated Longclaw - that really is a yellow throat!

Zebras - thousands of them

Sharpe's Starling - a fruit eater

Spotted Hyaena - they always look a bit menacing

African Fish Eagle - this one was remarkably confiding

Eland - the largest of the African antelopes

White-bellied Bustard - a male of the subspecies erlangeri

Serval Cat - its long legs enable it hunt in the long grass

Cut-throat Finch - only the male has a red band across its throat

Hippopotamus -  one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa

 Hildebrandt's Starling - an East African endemic

Usambiro Barbet - possibly just a subspecies of d'Arnaud's Barbet

Another Lion - we saw more than 80 of them during the tour

More from Ethiopia

Here are some more photos from last month’s Avian Adventures tour in Ethiopia.

In contrast to the previous set, these are all of wetland species that are fairly widespread in Africa.  Most people we talk to about Ethiopia don’t associate the country with wetlands but the Rift Valley lakes that we visited (Lakes Zwai, Langano, Awassa and Chelekleka) held thousands of birds and Chelekleka (the spelling varies!) was again particularly good with several thousand Common Cranes among the highlights.

 Three-banded Plover

 African Fish Eagle

 Black Heron

 Black Crake

 Great White Pelican

 Long-tailed Cormorant

 African Spoonbill

White-winged Tern

We have another Avian Adventures tour to Ethiopia planned for later this year.  Details are on the website.
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Avian Adventure in Africa

Peter has recently returned from leading another Avian Adventures tour, this time in Botswana, Namibia and Zambia.  The tour was operated by Letaka Safaris, based in Maun, and the local guide was Gabatsholwe Disho, known to his friends simply as Disho.

Leopard

After an overnight flight from Heathrow to Johannesburg and an onward flight to Maun, the tour began in the Moremi Game Reserve on the eastern side of the Okavango Delta.  Here we camped for three nights and explored the surrounding area of mopane and acacia woodland, floodplains and lagoons.

Lilac-breasted Roller

Camping in the African bush is a great experience!  The night sky in an area with absolutely no light pollution is magnificent.  Lying in a flimsy tent listening to Lions roaring and to the howls of Spotted Hyaenas can be a worry for some, but waking to a dawn chorus that includes the calls of Fiery-necked Nightjar, African Fish Eagle, Black Cuckoo, Black-collared Barbet and Red-billed Hornbill is simply wonderful.

Burchell's Sandgrouse

Great White Pelican

From Moremi we moved just a short distance to Khwai River for another three nights camping and then to Lake Ngami for our last night under canvas.  The whole camping experience was most enjoyable and something I would recommend for at least part of any trip to this part of the world.

Lion

African Fish Eagle

After that we were in comfortable lodges for five nights - Drotsky’s in Botswana, Caprivi River Lodge next to the Zambezi River in Namibia and finally, Taita Falcon Lodge in Zambia, close to Victoria Falls.

White-faced Whistling Ducks

Victoria Falls isn’t the highest or the widest waterfall in the world and November isn’t the best time of year to see it as the volume of water in the Zambezi is relatively low but it’s still a very impressive sight.

Wattled Cranes

Just a small part of Victoria Falls

Highlights among the many birds seen were Pel’s Fishing Owl, African Finfoot, White-backed Night Heron, Lesser Jacana, Slaty Egret, Wattled Crane, Rock Pratincole, African Skimmer and Schalow’s Turaco.  We saw five different Leopards, more than twenty Lions and about thirty other mammal species.  All in all it was a really great trip and there are lots more photographs!