Arrival
Arrival
Day 1
Arrivals at Kilimanjaro International Airport
Arrivals at Kilimanjaro International Airport
Your driver/guide picks you from the airport and transfer to Arusha city at your hotel for refreshments, dinner and overnight stay. Early arrivals will give an opportunity to bird around any nearby site probably after check-in or even before check-in. Tanzania has the best-preserved natural areas in the whole of East Africa. Birds are abundant and easy to see.
- Main Destination:
- Arusha (City)
- Accommodation:
-
Korona Villa Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 2
Birding North of Arusha to Oldonyosambu towards the Lark Plains
Birding North of Arusha to Oldonyosambu towards the Lark Plains
This early morning as we drive, we branch off before the lark plains to look for very special birds; Lynes’s Cisticola, Schalow’s Wheatear, Long-billed Pipit, and White-fronted Bee-eater, and later continue to visit a well-known spot; the Lark Plains for the Endemic Beesley’s Lark. This site attracts many other species of larks including the Short-tailed Lark, Athi Short-toed Lark, Red-capped Lark, Rufous-naped Lark, and Fischer’s Sparrow-lark. We look out for Taita Fiscal, Capped Wheatear, and other migrants. Later, we visit Maasai Bomas for the Red-throated Tit, Red-fronted Barbet, Northern Crombec, Pygmy Batis, Abyssinian Scimitarbill, Rosy-patched Bush-shrike, Ashy Cisticola, Grey-capped Social Weaver, Grey Wren-Warbler, and other nice birds, before driving back to the hotel in the evening.
- Main Destination:
- Lark Plains (Bird Sanctuary)
- Accommodation:
- Korona Villa Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 3
Bird to Arusha National Park
Bird to Arusha National Park
Early in the morning, visit Arusha National Park for the Endemic Kilimanjaro White-eye. Other special birds are Pangani Longclaw, Amethyst Sunbird, Bronzy Sunbird, Kenrick´s Starling, Retz's Helmet Shrike, Waller´s Starling, Trilling Cisticola, Singing Cisticola, Siffling Cisticola, Placid Greenbul, Stripe-faced Greenbul, Rüppell’s Robin-chat, and Eastern Mountain Greenbul. The Greater and Lesser Flamingos, Red-billed, Blue-billed Teals are common along the Momella lakes.
- Main Destination:
- Arusha National Park
- Accommodation:
- Korona Villa Lodge
Wildlife in Arusha NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 4
Bird to Mererani area along the Masaai Steppe
Bird to Mererani area along the Masaai Steppe
Birding here is along the main road possibly in the vehicle. There is a quite a selection of nice birds here. Grey-headed Silverbill, Tsavo Sunbird, Hunter’s Sunbird, Eastern Violet-backed Sunbird, Pink-breasted Lark, White-headed Mousebird, Golden-breasted Starling, Black-capped Social Weaver, Northern Crombec, Black-throated Barbet, Rufous Chatterer, Pygmy Batis, Mouse-Coloured Penduline-Tit, Steel-blue Whydah, Chestnut weavers, Chestnut Sparrows, Eastern Paradise Whydah, Red-fronted Prinia, Pringle’s Puffbuck, and many more are abundant here.
- Main Destination:
- Mererani (Village)
- Accommodation:
- Korona Villa Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 5
Bird to South Pare Mountains
Bird to South Pare Mountains
We have about 4 to 5 hours of driving to Same town where we settle for tonight. We shall have lunch at a restaurant along the way. Immediately after arrival, we check in our lodge and drive straight to the mountains. There are three endemics that we look for here: South Pare White-eye and the Bar-throated Apalis (race Pareensis). Other good birds we look for are the Usambara Double-collared Sunbird endemic as well, Black-headed Apalis, African Yellow Warbler, Placid Greenbul, Shelley’s Greenbul, Stripe-faced Greenbul, Moustached Tinkerbird, Hartlaub´s Turaco, Eastern-Bronze-naped Pigeon, etc.
- Main Destination:
- Usambara Mountains (Mountain Range)
- Accommodation:
-
Elephant Motel
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 6
Birding to Mkomazi area and later drive to Lushoto
Birding to Mkomazi area and later drive to Lushoto
Early morning birding outside Mkomazi National Park looking for Tsavo and Hunter’s Sunbirds, Black-bellied Sunbird, and Eastern Black-headed Batis, bare-eyed thrush, etc and then drive to the West Usambara Mountains/Magamba. Targets up there are Usambara Akalat, Usambara Weaver, Usambara Thrush, Usambara Double-Collared Sunbird, Spot-throat, Montane Tiny Greenbul, White-chested Alethe, Red-capped Forest Warbler, Füllebon’s Boubou, Forest Batis, and many more. Along the escarpment road uphill towards Lushoto, we shall have a brief stop at a spot to look for Grey Olive Greenbul and the Mocking Cliff Chat. We shall have lunch at the Lodge and later spend the rest of the afternoon in Magamba forest near the old Sawmill.
- Main Destination:
- Mkomazi National Park
- Accommodation:
- Mullers Mountain Lodge
Wildlife in Mkomazi NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 7
Whole day birding in Magamba Forest - West Usambara Mountains
Whole day birding in Magamba Forest - West Usambara Mountains
We carry picnic lunch and go birding to Magamba forest for the rest of the day. We return to the lodge later in the evening for dinner and overnight stay. The Rameron Pigeon, Hartlaub's Turaco, Bar-tailed Trogon, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Black cuckoo-shrike, Moustached Tinkerbird, Black-backed Puffback, Usambara Drongo, black saw-wing, white tailed crested flycatcher, Southern yellow white-eye, Sharpe's Starling, Yellow-throated woodland warbler, cape robin-chat, grey wagtail are also likely encounters here.
- Main Destination:
- Shume Magamba Forest Reserve
- Accommodation:
- Mullers Mountain Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 8
Morning birding at Magamba Forest before transferring to East Usambara Mountains in Amani
Morning birding at Magamba Forest before transferring to East Usambara Mountains in Amani
Today we give it another try at Magamba forest to comb the area and look for what we could have missed during our previous two visits. We should spend no more that 3hours here and later drive to East Usambara Mountains. Our ultimate stop will be at Amani Nature Reserve headquarters where we stay at the Rest house for the night. Accommodation and meals are quite basic, but we may choose to upgrade at an extra cost.
- Main Destination:
- Amani Nature Reserve (Usambara Mountains)
- Accommodation:
- Amani Rest House
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 9
Birding at Amani Nature Reserve - East Usambara Mountains
Birding at Amani Nature Reserve - East Usambara Mountains
Today we drive to Kamkworo tea plantation looking for for the endemic Long-billed Forest Warbler, Sharpe´s Akalat, Kretschmer´s Longbill, Dark-backed Weaver, Eastern Nicator, Pale Batis, Red-tailed Ant-Thrush, Tanzania Illadopsis, Cabanis´s Bunting, Southern Citril, Red-backed Mannikin, Purple-banded Sunbird, Amani Sunbird, Banded Green Sunbird, Uluguru Violet-backed Sunbird, Kenrick´s Starling, Mosque Swallow, Shelley´s Greenbul.
- Main Destination:
- Amani Nature Reserve (Usambara Mountains)
- Accommodation:
- Amani Rest House
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 10
Birding in Amani Nature Reserve - East Usambara Mountains
Birding in Amani Nature Reserve - East Usambara Mountains
After breakfast we go down to the Lowland Ziggi, looking for the tough Usambara Hyliota, and many more like Coastal Cisticola, Green Tinkerbird, Eastern Golden Weaver, Dark-backed Weaver, Plain-backed Sunbird, Usambara Hyliota, Little Yellow Flycatcher, Fischer´s Greenbul, Little Greenbul, Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrike, Lowland Tiny Greenbul, Green-headed Oriole, East Coast Boubou, Green Barbet, Usambara Eagle-Owl, Southern-banded Snake Eagle, Grey Cuckooshrike, Fischer´s Turaco, etc.
- Main Destination:
- Amani Nature Reserve (Usambara Mountains)
- Accommodation:
- Amani Rest House
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 11
Drive back to Arusha
Drive back to Arusha
This is a very long Journey that is likely going to take us the whole day. We shall have a lunch break somewhere along the way. Our final destination is the Airport. This is intended for late night departures.
- Main Destination:
- Kilimanjaro Airport
- Accommodation:
- No accommodation (End of tour)
- Meals & Drinks:
