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Itinerary

Day 1- Arrival in Dar Es Salaam
Pick up from Airport by your 4x4 safari vehicle and transfer to our hotel. Our tour begins with a welcome dinner as we discuss the upcoming adventure. Overnight in Dar Es Salaam.

Days 2 & 3 - Pemba
After breakfast we drive down to the airport to board our flight to Pemba Island. Upon arrival, we transfer to our lodge, located on the Kigomasha Peninsula, which will be our home base for the next three nights. Pemba, one of the legendary Spice Islands, is laden with cloves, which are spread out on the streets throughout the island. The friendly people and laid-back culture encapsulate what Zanzibar must have been like before tourists overran it. We shall head to the exciting Ngezi Forest Reserve to look for the tiny Pemba Scops Owl. At a mere 14km2, Ngezi is the largest remaining forest patch on the island. The following day we will catch up with the Island's other endemic birds including the Pemba Sunbird, Pemba White-eye and Pemba Green Pigeon as well as some other interesting species such as the Pemba races of the African Goshawk, Black-bellied Glossy Starling and Zitting Cisticola. Although species diversity is low, Palm-nut Vulture is ubiquitous, Dickinson’s Kestrels are fairly common and Brown-headed Parrot, Crowned Hornbill and African Harrier Hawk (Gymnogene) are other species of interest. Pemba also has an endemic palm, apparently more closely related to those on Madagascar then those of the African mainland, the Mapapindi Palm Dyposis pembanus and the wonderful endemic Pemba Flying Fox Pteropus voeltzkowi, which is found at Ngezi; these will be easily found. The late afternoon shall be free-time, to relax in the most idyllic of locations or to snorkel on the magical Manta Reef, surrounding the hotel, looking for Bullheaded Parrotfish, Eel Blenny, Purple Butterfly Fish, Moorish Idols and perhaps a chance encounter with a Black-tipped Reef Shark or Loggerhead Turtle. On the seashore possible species include the spectacular Crab Plover as well as Sooty Gull, Saunder's, Gull billed and Lesser Crested Terns and a host of waders.

Days 4 to 6 - East Usambara mountains
We make our way to the Pemba airstrip to take our short flight over the Pemba channel to Tanga. Our 4x4 vehicle will collect us from the airport and we will start our land based safari heading first to the world famous East Usambara Mountains. Although these mountains are geographically very close to the higher West Usambara Mountains, the avifauna is dramatically different, hinting of an age when Asia and Africa had a similar avifauna. These mountains are an incredibly exciting birding destination. The lowland coastal forests support a plethora of intriguing forest birds including the magical East Coast Akalat (a.k.a. Gunning's Robin), Chestnut-fronted Helmet shrike, Red-tailed Ant-thrush and the stunning Green-headed Oriole, all target birds for the first day. We are also likely to find the gracious Angolan Pied Colobus monkeys leaping from tree to tree. After the day's birding we climb up to the Amani reserve for dinner and overnight. The next couple of days we shall be concentrating on the magical high altitude avifauna of the eastern arc mountains. This ancient arc of crystalline mountains is jam-packed with real specials such as the Bar-tailed Trogon, Southern Banded Snake Eagle, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Montane White-eye, Forest Batis, Banded Green, Amani and Uluguru Violet-backed Sunbirds, Green Barbet, Fischer's Turaco, Baglefacht Weaver, Vanga Flycatcher, White-breasted Alethe and the bizarre Moreau's Tailorbird, a relict species closely tied to Asia. Nights in the Amani reserve.

Days 7 to 8 - West Usambara
After breakfast we depart for the western Usambara Mountains. Birding en-route we arrive for lunch with ample time for some local birding at the Mkuzu forest reserve, which the road drives through prior to your arrival at our lodge. The West Usambara Mountains, supporting good stands of forest have a species on it that is found nowhere else in the world, the Usambara Akalat; they are also home to the very localized Usambara Weaver. Other rare forest gems we shall be looking for include Oriole Finch, Sharpe's Akalat, Spot-throat, Usambara nightjar, Usambara (Mountain) Greenbul, Fulleborn's Boubou, Red-capped Tailorbird and many others. Overnights in a quaint lodge which offers great birding with home made meals and colonial atmosphere accommodation and a chance to see the Usambara Eagle owl.

Day 9 - Mkomazi Game Reserve
After breakfast we will drive east to the area of Mkomazi Game Reserve, birding at strategic stops en-route. Nestling in the rain shadow of the Usambara and Pare Mts., the dry, arid woodlands and savannahs of Mkomazi offer a wonderful range of typical arid savanna species of the north-east, very similar to the birds of Kenya's Tsavo area. We proceed to drive into the Mkomazi game reserve with our picnic lunches to search for birds and game. Target species here include the magnificent Golden-breasted Starling, Vulturine Guinea fowl, Golden Pipit, Hildebrandt’s Starling, Straw-tailed Whydah, Black-throated Barbet, Von der Decken's Hornbill, White-headed Buffalo-weaver, Rufous Chatterer, Beautiful Sunbird, Purple Grenadier, Spotted Morning Thrush, White-bellied Go-away Bird, Pygmy Batis, Orange-bellied Parrot, Red-fronted Warbler, Rosy-patched Bush shrike, Sulphur breasted Bush shrike, Somali Golden-breasted Bunting, Blue-capped Cordon blue and a plethora of others. The fabled long-necked Gerenuk antelope is fairly common at some parts of Mkomazi and we might find them while birding. Night in Same.

Day 10 - Same - Moshi
After an early breakfast we depart driving west, birding en-route in the dry acacia woodlands of the Pare lowlands. We arrive in Moshi for lunch and check in to our hotel. In the afternoon we will be visiting the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro and exploring the lower altitude forests. Here we will search for some East African specials including the marvelous Golden-winged Sunbird, dapper Kretchmar's Longbill, Superb Starling, Ruppell's Robin-chat, Pangani Longclaw, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse and White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher. In the early evening we will leave the Kilimanjaro forest and proceed to Moshi where we will spend the night.

Day 11 – Tarangire National Park
In the early morning we shall start our drive to Tarangire. We arrive in Tarangire and have lunch overlooking the course of the Tarangire River. Tarangire National Park and the adjoining conservation areas are famous for the Baobab dominated woodlands and the large elephant herds that roam them. Herds of Buffalo and elephant walk amongst the huge baobabs and in the hollow baobabs themselves. Mottled Spinetails nest and roost with various insectivorous bats. The Park offers easy viewing of the endemic Ashy Starlings and Yellow-collared Lovebird while other specialties include Northern Pied Babblers, Magpie Shrikes; Bare-faced Go away bird, Pygmy Falcon, Orange-bellied Parrot, African Cuckoo and more. The river course might yield Saddle-billed Storks, Whiskered Terns and many other surprises. Terminalia and Marula trees are conspicuous species in parts of the park, while the meandering sand rivers support riverine forest communities. At night honey badgers raid the kitchens for honey and Three banded and Violet tipped Coursers feed in the parking area. Night near Tarangire National Park.

Days 12 &13 - Tarangire to Ngorongoro Crater
After breakfast we head towards Ngorongoro Crater. Moving into the Great Rift Valley, we head for our picturesque lodge on the edge of the magical Crater. Some 20-km wide, and with vertical 600-m tall walls, descending into the crater is like finding Africa's ‘garden of eden’, with almost every variety of wildlife packed into it. At a mere 2.5 million years old, geologically speaking, this volcano is a fairly recent addition to East Africa's landscape. During the afternoon we enjoy escorted walking safari to the acacia Lahai forest in the Lemala area as well as some scenic montane forest and grasslands on the crater rim and around our lodge. The next day while in the crater we will be looking for Red-cheeked Cordon blue, Yellow-necked Spurfowl, Long-tailed Fiscal Shrike, Black-faced Go-away Bird, D'Arnaud’s Barbet, White-headed Barbet, Chestnut Sparrow, Northern Pied Babbler and the Tanzanian endemic Rufous-tailed Weaver. The pink-stained flamingo-filled Lake Magadi will be very impressive.

Days 14 & 15 – Ndutu
We will descend to the Serengeti plains, through the Malanja depression and onwards into the plains. The plains, dry at this time of the year, harbor many species of the dry savannahs such as larks, sandgrouse and wheatears. Grant’s gazelles dot the plains while Common Ostrich and giraffe walk swaying in the haze. We will not miss our chance to visit the famous Olduvai Gorge, the "cradle of mankind" where Louis Leakey found his most significant hominid fossils. Red and yellow Barbets, Grosbeak Canary and Speckle-fronted Weavers are common around the museum area. Then we will proceed driving into the short grass plains; Bustards and crowned plovers are always visible. The road continues into the Ndutu woodlands, a beautiful mature acacia woodland habitat with alkaline lake and swamps intermixed with the woodland stands. We eat lunch overlooking the our lodge's water hole, a magnet to the area’s birds including the ever-present Fischer’s lovebird, a variety of mannikins, waxbills, widowbirds and also the endemic Rufous tailed Weaver and Gray-breasted Spurfowl. The woodlands harbor such birds as Rufous Chatterer, Gray and Bearded Woodpeckers, Red fronted Barbet and Red-fronted Tinkerbird, Red-throated Tits, a variety of cuckoos and weavers and much more. The lakes are usually full of flamingoes while the swamps might harbor interesting water birds during the dry season. Dinner and overnight at Ndutu.

Days 16 & 17 - Serengeti National Park
Continuing north we venture throughout the northern Serengeti, a vast acacia-studded area of rolling hills, encountering teeming herds of wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, giraffe and their associated predators, the lions, leopards, hyenas and cheetahs. The birds, of course, are party to this wilderness drama. Among the many birds we expect to see are the six species of vultures that gather at the frequent kills over the plains, many other birds of prey are present as well. We will search for Jackson's Widowbird, Grey-capped Social Weaver, Blue-naped Mousebird, the giant Black-and-white Casqued Hornbill, Black-headed Gonolek, Silverbird, Abyssinian Scimitarbill, Usambiro Barbet, and hosts of bee-eaters, bushshrikes, starlings, woodpeckers, turacos, bustards, kingfishers and rollers that the area is justly famous for.

Day 18 – Serengeti
Transfer to Kilimanjaro International Airport: On our final day we drive out, returning to Arusha, for transfer to Kilimanjaro International Airport for our flights home. We stop for lunch at the picturesque Gibbs farm before continuing to Arusha, stopping at the various Maasai culture centers for curio or gift buying or just to soak up the splendor of the red-cloaked tribesmen.

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