Travel, birding and taking photos as the main purpose.

Tanzania April 2014

In April this year I made a very nice trip to Tanzania, Kibaha Education Center. I was lucky to be one of two teachers who spent 3 weeks with 10 students from my school. The trip is a part of an exchange program between our schools. We spent a lot of time around the school and some local farmers. We also made one day trips to Bagamoyo, Morogoro and Dar es Salaam. During these days a tried to bird as much as I could at these places. As a final we went 4 days up north and visited Ngorongoro Crater, a local Masai village and some plantations on the slopes of Mt:Meru. At this time of the year it rained a lot (so much as one bridge on the road between Dar es Salaam and Arusha crashed and the trip to Arusha took more than 24 hours). Birding around Kibaha was ok even if I did´t see large amounts. A nice bird I saw many days just next to our hostel was this Striped Kingfisher. At a local fish farm I also saw this beautiful Pin-tailed Whydah.

Pin-tailed Whydah

One day we went to Bagamoyo, which is a city by the coast north of Dar es Salaam. The city used to be the trading centre for the slave trading, so the history is quite violent. As a part of the trip we visited a crocodile farm with some massive African Crocodiles as well as some colonies of weavers, like this Black-headed Weaver. By the sea some terns were resting, like this Lesser Crested Tern with 4 Common Terns and close by a group of stunning N. Carmine Bee-eaters.

African Crocodile

Black-headed Weaver

L. Crested Tern + 4 Common.

Northern Carmine Bee-eater

An other day we went west to the university town of Morogoro. Here we also visited a local farmer who the university had supported with some vaccination for his animals. In his garden I saw the very handsome Little Bee-eater.Little Bee-eater

As my students study animal care and nature resources, we also made a trip to the stunning national parks up north. The following pictures are all from a magic day in the Ngorongoro Crater. As we descended down the crater the first bird I saw was this Schawlow´s Wheathear. Soon many of the star mammals were seen. 2 male Lions, family of Common Zebras, many Blue Wildebeests, a family of Spotted Hyenas, several Thomson´s Gazelles and a family of Black-backed Jackals.

Lion

Lion

Common Zebra

Blue Wildebeest

Spotted Hyena

Thomson´s Gazelle

Black-backed Jackal

In the crater there were of course also lots of great birds like this Kori Bustard and this group of Wattled Starlings.

Kori Bustard

Wattled Starling

As we climbed up the other side of the crater a family of Olive Baboons showed some interest of us.

Olive Baboon, young

Olive Baboon

It was a great trip and experience and even it was not a birding trip I managed to see 180 bird species. At the end of my blog from Tanzania 2016 you can see a full report of all birds and animals seen.

Inlagt 2016-09-08 19:23 | Läst 1653 ggr. | Permalink


(visas ej)

Hur mycket är tolv minus två?
Skriv svaret med bokstäver
Väldigt fin bild på kungsfiskaren, men varför text på engelska, fotosidan är på svenska och med mest svenska läsare?
Hej
Jag håller precis på att bygga upp sidan och räknar med att lägga upp ånga bilder och berättelser kring de resor jag gjort. Genom mina resor har jag träffat många vänner (och hoppas på att träffa fler) vilka alla är engelskspråkiga. På detta sätt kan de ta del av min blogg. I princip alla svenskar kan förstå engelska, därför detta val. Tack för kommentaren om bilden.
Leif
Margareta Cortés 2016-09-08 20:42
Nopp, i princip så kan inte alla svenskar förstå engelska fullt ut. En missförståelse som många yngre tror är sann. Många äldre, och det finns en hel del äldre även på fotosidan, har inte läst engelska i skolan mer än vad nutiden lågstadieelever får lära sig.
Reagerar mest för att de förengelskas mer och mer i vårt land där vi ändå är svenskspråkiga. ( än då länge)
Rea har blivit sale och svenskan byts ut undan för undan. Särskrivning visar att många svenskar inte längre behärskar svenska språket. Var och vart har mist sin betydelse.
Ok! Jag håller med ang. grammatik och språk. Kommer att skriva på engelska så att jag kan kommunicera med andra. tack för åsikt.
Nice pics and also to read about your experience. I have never seen a Stripped Kingfisher before so this was good to see.

Ha det gott :)
Trevliga bilder. Tyvärr orkade/kunde jag inte ta till mig texten helt och fullt. Men som sagt gillade bilderna.