Originally in Birdman – “Birding in Tanzania” with James Wolstencroft “Who was the most popular ‘African’ ornithologist of all time?” Posted: 07 April 2011. On August 14 2010 Keith Betton produced an alphabetical list of the 288 bird species on the African list currently bearing names in English that commemorate a person. He rightly thought […]
This is admittedly a very poor photograph of a bird. But it was shot with this iphone just now, through my sealed window on the world. It shows a Levaillant’s Cuckoo, presumably a male, who came to sing raucously at my office window. Just now. And yes, that jungle is our back garden! We moved here at […]
The Sunbird-Wings safari across northern Tanzania seems set to become a classic of nature tours. For it provides the most comfortable and condensed introduction possible to that source of limitless wonder which is the African wildlife experience. The plentiful “short rains” of November-December 2015 ensured once again that we would not disappoint anyone. This […]
It has taken ten years for me to begin to tackle the Charaxes. Today Toran and I confirmed the occurrence of the White-barred Emperor, (C. brutus alcyone/natalensis), in our rewilding garden, when one trapped itself in the kitchen. The fore-wing of another that was eaten by a bird can be seen here on the left-hand […]
Next week I’m taking two lucky guides from Bush2Beach safaris out for the day to the wetland area in the aerial photograph (above), which lies south-east of Arusha, here in northern Tanzania. It’s an area where the birds of the dry country, acacia-commiphora scrubland, birds of the Somali-Maasai biome, meet a wealth of migrant birds at a seasonal freshwater […]
The most charismatic member of the indigenous forest vertebrate community at Unguja Lodge is undoubtedly the Black-and-Rufous Elephant-Shrew. There are several living in the five acres of regenerating coral rag woodland on the property. This is an animal species much sought after by the more discerning eco-traveler to Tanzania. They are easy to see […]
Over the week-end of April 30 – May 1 we will be singing our part in a global presentation. It’s by Sound Camp, of the global dawn chorus as it bursts forth with the sunrise, from Japan westwards right around the world. http://locusonus.org/soundmap/051/ If you click on the locusonus world map you will see that we, […]
The Rewilding of Unguja Lodge – oh monkeys! In the book by WILDGuides “Larger Mammals of Tanzania” it is written : “Almost 50% of the Zanzibar Red Colobus population lives in areas where they have no official protection, and numbers are continuing to decline. The main threat is habitat loss to agriculture, wood gathering and […]
First, however, here are the selection criteria for my recommended: Top Lodges for Birders in Tanzania Might I suggest the Three Criteria which we could use for providing what amounts to a – Gold Blend of Top Lodges for Keen Birders and any “Serious Naturalists” when they are visiting Tanzania. By the way, this selection is […]
If you want to come bird among the incredible wildlife riches of East Africa, specifically in Tanzania, you will need to wire-away a considerable amount of money. It would be a great pity if, in return for such an investment of time and money, you were treated to a less than optimal birding experience once here in country. Now that it’s June 2015 […]
Vagrant Mind 