Simon Thomsett

Category: Raptor Expedition | Date: Mar 16 2009 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

We got the car back from the garage and were almost ready to set off again. Our last day in Arusha was spent getting bits and pieces done, and we finally set off mid-afternoon. We drove for 100km along the Pare Mountains and saw five Lanner Falcons along the way and ended the day spectacularly. Darkness was falling and we were driving past a cliff area and I noticed Swallows all bunching together. I said “perfect place, perfect time, perfect prey for Taita Falcons.” I told Simon to stop and look behind him at the number of swifts that were moving past the back of the car. He turned and saw a Taita Falcon right among the swallows trying to catch them. I saw it briefly but was hurrying to get the camera out so didn’t get to watch it for long. By the time the camera was ready with flash, the falcon was gone. The Taita Falcon is a rare, crepuscular bird and seeing it hunting is quite special, so I was quite pleased with my detective skills. It was getting really dark now, so we turned off the main road into our camp for the night: Pangani River Camp. It was set by Pangani River and a large swamp, though we got there at nightfall and left early the next morning so we didn’t get to see too much of it.

Our plan was to head for Selous Game Reserve the next day. I was reading up on the place in the Lonely Planet when I noticed the huge amount of money it was going to cost us. We decided to change our plans at the last minute. The main road we were driving along went straight through a national park called Mikumi NP. We decided that this would make most sense for a one night stop before moving on to Iringa. As we got to the National Park, nothing much changed apart from a sign saying it was a park and a slightly lower speed limit. Fast traffic such as buses and trucks was still speeding down the highway. We wondered how a park could work with this huge road through it, but it wasn’t long before we started seeing elephants, impalas and plenty of other wildlife on either side of the road. We did, however, also see plenty of animals dead on the side of the road.

Once in the park, you drive for about 40km before you get to the gate where you pay to be able to drive around the park. We paid our fee, then passed through the gate and were immediately amazed by the amount of wildlife there was. It was the largest density of wildlife we had yet seen on entering a park. Huge herds of giraffes and impalas immediately caught our attention, as well as several herds of elephants and zebras. We hadn’t been driving 10 minutes when we came across a huge lioness lying right next to the road sign in the middle of the road! A few hundred metres away lay a big male lion lazing under a tree. We chose the park as a last minute “we’ve got nowhere else to go” place but it turned out to be incredible. As the day was already getting late, we had to make our way to the campsite near the main road. As we drove back, Simon spotted a Dickinson’s Kestrel, an important one for us.

Lioness by the road sign

We were a bit apprehensive about a campsite right by the main road, but we drove up to it to find a Martial Eagle perched in a high tree. During the course of the night, elephants and bushbucks came through camp and we were woken at 6 a.m. sharp by hundreds of birds calling in a large dawn chorus. Not such a bad campsite after all. We needed to cross the main road to get back to the main area of the park that was so successful for us the day before. About 100 metres before the main road, we came across four lions. We sat and watched them for a while and noticed Eurasian Hobbies fly by catching insects. Back through the main gate, we saw large amounts of wildlife again and some interesting raptor species as well. We saw a few more Dickinson’s Kestrels as well as two of the rare African Marsh Harriers. A highlight for me was seeing a Black-breasted Snake Eagle swoop down from the sky to catch a snake and fly off with it.

Black-breasted Snake Eagle with snake

We had to get out of the park with a few hours spare before nightfall to get to our next destination: Riverside Campsite just outside of Iringa. It was a four-hour drive through some beautiful mountainous, lush habitat with a big river running through. It didn’t look like East Africa at all, but more like I imagine Central and West Africa to be. Within these mountains is a park called Udzungwa Mountains National Park which we had to skip for now, but Simon may return to later. The Cassin’s Hawk-eagle, a West African forest species, has been seen in this park along with some other unusual wildlife for the area.

From Mikumi to Iringa - the view

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Tags: , iringa, mikumi national park, pangani river, taita falcon sighting

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