Tarangire

The last day. As usual we were out before dawn, but this time on a long drive (just under two hours) to Tarangire. A lovely park, visited mainly for birds, though this didn’t stop us seeing the usual array of mammals including, surprisingly, another Leopard and more Lions. The non-birders also managed to add a Leopard Tortoise and a Monitor Lizard to their lists. We didn’t really target anything, just drove around in our usual manner, seeing what there was to be seen.

  

The park was very birdy, and a good number of new birds were added to the trip-list, including a few new ones for me…

Great White Pelican
Intermediate Egret
Hamerkop
African Openbill
Saddle-billed Stork
Brown Snake-Eagle
Namaqua Dove
Yellow-collared Lovebird
Mottled Spinetail
Malachite Kingfisher
D'Arnaud's Barbet
Mosque Swallow
African Penduline-Tit
Grey-crested Helmetshrike
Ashy Starling
Steel-blue Whydah
Pin-tailed Whydah

 
 
 

Later than we should have been we made a made dash to the airport for our evening flight. We seemed to hit the Arusha rush-hour which delayed us more and then came very close to a having crash which Abdul very skilfully avoided. With time running out, and the light fading fast, we made a stop for our last tick; something that we'd obviously missed on our night-time arrival: Kilimanjaro. A fitting end to a wonderful trip.

Edit (17/11/2011): Monitor Lizard was Nile Monitor Lizard.