Day 1
Pick up at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) and transported to our beautiful house on Kilimanjaro Golf Club, www.kiligolf.com. All guests will have their own ensuite room. If times allow, we will do a little birding in the area around our house (350 species recorded on the estate, close to 140 in my garden). If people is flying in on the night before, this will be the official first day with birding on Kiligolf and in my garden all day.
Day 2
Go to the Lark Plains (60 km from our house) and look for the very endemic Beesley´s Lark. Other good larks to be found include Short-tailed, Foxy and Athi Short-toed Lark. After we finish at the plains, we will bird a nearby woodland for species like Southern Grosbeak Canary, Red-throated Tit, Abyssinian Scimitarbill, Slate coloured Boubou, Rosy-patched Bushshrike, Kenya Rufous Sparrow, White-bellied Canary, Beautiful Sunbird, Banded Parisoma, Grey-capped Social Weaver, Red-fronted Warbler, White-headed Mousebird, Banded Prinia and many more. After we finish at the Lark Plains, we will stop at Oldonyo Sambu for Schalow´s Wheatear and Monduli for some specials like Golden-winged Sunbird. We return to our house for the night.
Day 3
We have a very early start and head for Tarangire (2 hours in car). We do a safari in the park and look for some of the following birds: Yellow-collared Lovebird, Blue-capped Cordonbleu, Ashy Starling, Hildebrandt´s Starling, Eastern Chanting Goshawk, Purple Grenadier, Crimson-rumped Waxbill, Eastern Grey Woodpecker, White-bellied Bustard, Rufous-tailed Weaver, Red-bellied Parrot and many more. We have lunch in the park and return and go to Karatu were we will stay at a guest house for the night.
Day 4
On this day, we will do the Endoro trail in the morning. The trail is only 5 km from Karatu. Birds to be expected on this trail will include Schalow´s Turaco, Grey-capped Warbler, Brown-headed Apalis, White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, Hildebrandt´s Spurfowl, Crested Francolin, Grey and Purple-throated Cuckooshrike, Mbuli White-eye. We will return to Karatu for lunch and start the drivehome to my house with a possible stop over at a lake near the village of Nanja, where we could get some birds we missed in Tarangire and also a chance for Great Crested Grebe, Maccoa Duck and other water birds.
Day 5
On this day we will explore the area from Mererani and out to the Masai Steppes. Good birds to be found includes Pink-breasted Lark, Golden-breasted Starling, Scaly Chatterer, Pringle´s Puffback, Black-capped Social Weaver, Somali Bunting, Northern Crombec, Mouse-coloured Penduline Tit +++. We will return to our house for the night
Day 6
We will Head for Nyumba ya Mungu Dam in the morning, we will stop on the way to pick up any birds we missed from the day before and then head to the dam. We will go to our accommodation for the night in Same for lunch, then head up South Pare Mountains for South Pare White-eye in the afternoon. We will return to our lodging for dinner.
Day 7
We will leave in the morning for a small woodland just outside Mkomazi National Park, where we will hunt for species like Tsavo, Black-bellied and Hunter´s Sunbird, Red-and-yellow, Black-throated and D`Arnaud´s Barbets, Grey Wren-Warbler, Fischer´s Starling, Straw-tailed Whydah, Eastern Black-headed Batis + many more. We will return to our motel for breakfast and then start the drive to Magamba forest for many of the special birds there. We will set up camp and have an afternoon bird walk.
Day 8
We wake up to the spectacular morning choir in Magamba Forest and start to hunt for the endless numbers of good birds in this forest. Usambara Thrush, Weaver, Double-collared Sunbird, Akalat and Greenbul + Füllerborn´s Boubou, Spot-throat, Cinnamon Bracken and Evergreen Forest Warbler, Red-capped Forest Warbler (African Tailorbird), Bar-tailed Trogon are only a few of the many mega birds to be had here. We will do a morning, midday and afternoon walk
Day 9
We will do a morning walk for missing species, then return to camp for breakfast, pack up camp and head towards the legendary Amani Forest in East Usambara. We stop just before the forest to get Coastal Cisticola. We will lodge at the forest headquarter and bird the area around the headquarter this afternoon. If we are lucky, we will hear/see the elusive Usambara Eagle-Owl at night.
Day 10
Full day birding in Amani Forest. We have 4 target birds for the morning: Kretschmer´s Longbill, Sharpe´s Akalat, Half-collared Kingfisher and Long-billed Forest Warbler (Tailorbird). We will be leaving camp early in the morning, drive for about half an hour to the site for these three species. Afternoon birding around camp. Target birds here include Fischer´s Turaco, Green-headed Oriole, Banded Green, Amani and Uluguru Violet-backed Sunbirds, Waller´s, Kenrick´s and Black-bellied Starling, Green Tinkerbird and many others.
Day 11
That morning we drive down to explore the lower forest. Some of our targets here includes: Tanzanian Illadopsis, Usambara Hyliota, Plain-backed Sunbird, Little Yellow Flycatcher, Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrike, Mombasa and Little-spotted Woodpecker, Fischer´s, Placid and Montane Tiny Greenbul, Red-tailed Ant-Thrush, Forest Batis + many others. We return to camp for lunch and look for missing species around camp after lunch.
Day 12
We pack the car early and do the morning birding downhill from camp. After morning birding we start our long drive towards my home. We will arrive at my house just before dusk.
Day 13
This day we will dedicate to Arusha National Park. There are a number of interesting species to be found here including Bar-tailed Trogon, Taveta Weaver, Hartlaub´s Turaco, Scaly and Hildebrandt´s Spurfowl, Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Spot-flanked Barbet, Trilling, Singinf and Short-tailed Cisticola, Broad-ringed White-eye, Abyssinian Crimsonwing, Rüppel´s Robin-Chat to name a few. We return to our house for the night.
Day 14
This is the last day (can be extended). We can either do morning birding on Kiligolf or visit some of the local forests before we head off to the airport.
Included in the price: All transport, lodging, food, water, park fees and guide fees.
Not included: Flights and alcoholic beverages.
Contact me on holmenp@gmail.com for complete bird list, cost etc.