Birding intelligence: finding endemic birds and animals in Tanzania’s Eastern Arc mountains

The person with the greatest exposure to the needs of foreign birders and those of other serious ecotourists in the mountains of Northern Tanzania is Martin Joho.

A resident of Muheza Martin is a well known face in and around Amani as well as at the lodges and forest reserves above Lushoto. Everyone there seems to know him. They should do, because he has been guiding naturalists around the East and West Usambara mountains for over twenty years.

Martin Joho can be contacted at : martinjoho2008@gmail.com

For the mountains of the southern half of Tanzania the local person with the greatest exposure to the needs of visiting birders is Elia Mulungu.

Elia is from south western Tanzania which makes his regional accent (specifically the pronunciation of two consonants) a little difficult at first for some of us to understand; more especially when he’s conversing with native English speakers from outside the region. Folk whose linguistic inflexibility is manifest!

Elia has been working with birders and museum ornithologists from around the world since the early 1990s. For this reason I believe Elia should be the number one choice for birders to the south of the country, especially when visiting the endemic rich Udzungwa, Rubeho and Uluguru mountains.

Elia Mulungu can be contacted at: muluelia61@gmail.com

More than just nature guides these two men can help you plan and organise the mountain birding aspects of your Tanzanian safari. Such as finding the most comfortable accommodation and even organising camping in these relatively remote regions of the country. So do please contact Martin in the north and Elia for the south.