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).
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, African Grey Woodpecker, White-bellied Bustard, Rufous-tailed Weaver, Red-bellied Parrot and many more. We have lunch in the park and return to our house for the night.
Day 4
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 5
We will leave early in the morning heading for Same. We will head 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 check in to Elephant lodge in Same and then after lunch head up South Pare Mountains for one special: South Pare White-eye. Plenty of other birds will be found as well. We go to Elephant Lodge in Same for the night.
Day 5
We will bird the same woodland outside Mkomazi NP in the morning. Then return to Elephant Motel for breakfast. After breakfast, we will drive towards Magamba Forest in West Usambara. We will camp at the old sawmill where a nice campsite has been set up. Each person gets their own tent (Couples will share). We will enjoy some afternoon birding in Magamba Forest.
Day 6
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.
Day 7
Full day in Magamba Forest West Usambara. For those who are very very patient, you might be able to lure out some bird we hear all the time, but are very hard to see such as Fülleborn´s Boubou, Evergreen Forest Warbler and Spot-throat
Day 8
We will pack up camp early in the morning and drive down to the bottom of the forest and bird our way up. This forest have many surprises yet to yield, so stay tuned. After morning birding we will start heading towards the legendary Amani Forest in East Usambara on my last trip there (July 2019), I recorded 99 species. 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 9
Full day birding in Amani Forest. We have 3 target birds for the day: Kretschmer´s Longbill, Sharpe´s Akalat 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 endemic species. Afternoon birding around camp.
Day 10
Full day birding in Amani Forest. Some of our target species will be: Red-tailed Ant-Thrush, Fischer´s Turaco, Little and Shelley´s Greenbul, Banded Green and Amani Sunbird, Moustached Tinkerbird, Short-tailed Batis, Uluguru Violet-backed Sunbird, Waller´s and Kenrick´s Starling and many more.
Day 11
We pack the car and do the morning birding downhill from camp. We are looking for species like Mombasa Woodpecker, Usambara Hyolitha, Little Yellow Flycatcher, Yellow-streaked, Fischer´s and Placid Greenbul plus many more. After morning birding we start our drive towards Same. We will do afternoon birding next to Mkomazi NP if times allows
Day 12
We will either bird the area close to Mkumazi NP or the area near Nyumba ya Mungu Dam this morning and then head back to our house at Kiligolf.
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, Montane White-eye, Abyssinian Crimsonwing, Rüppel´s Robin-Chat to name a few. We return to our house for the night.
Day 14
Time for departure. Morning birding if time will allow and then off to Kilimanjaro airport for departure.
Extension Pemba Island
This trip can be extended with a 3 day trip to Pemba Island for the 4 Pemba endemics. Please contact us for pricing and details
Included in the price: All transport, lodging, food, water, park fees and guide fees.
Not included: Flights and alcoholic beverages.
