I have recently arrived in Africa to begin my Ph.D. research on birds in the Sernegeti National Park of Tanzania. I will dive into those details later, but for now, suffice it to say that... I'm in Africa!! (and super excited, if you can't tell).
Wednesday, 08 June 2011
Getting a lift from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya to Wildebeest Camp, where I'll spend the night:
I am awestruck by Marabou Storks. They were soaring everywhere I looked. There must have been 20+ scattered across the sky at any given time. Also, they’re HUGE. It’s just so crazy to see such large birds airborne and soaring casually just like the Turkey Vultures back home, except these were 3 times their size. We passed a low acacia tree once with half a dozen storks sitting atop its crown (see them below?). I wondered why the tree wasn’t toppling over.
When we arrived at the Wildebeest Camp at 4:30 pm, I was immediately joyous. The place looked simple yet pretty, with flowering bushes and trees planted all around, and a small stone pathway leading to rows of tents. Although I paid for a single-bed tent, I was given a spacious double. Not sure why, but that was nice. I loved it! I want to stay in a tent like that all the time. So simple yet comfortable.
After I put away my bags and changed into shorts and a tank top because it was super warm, I went outside with camera and binoculars to check out all the birds I was hearing. The amazing thing was the sheer number of Black Kites that were all over the place… perched by the half-dozens in the trees, swooping here and there, with twenty more circling in the clouds above. Very vocal birds, their whistled, wailing calls were omnipresent. I’ve never seen that many raptors gathered and hanging out in one place (except for Bald Eagles in AK, but that was so different. These kites were all in my yard, for heaven’s sake.) I saw one digging through a compost pile in one of the small garden patches. Next to it were five Hadada Ibis – loud but pretty birds, with an irridescent green sheen on their wings that rendered them quite attractive. I saw three lifers: Bronze Sunbird, African Citril, and Olive Thrush. Others spotted were Variable Sunbird, Bronze Mannikin, Pied Crow, Red-eyed Pigeon, House Sparrow, and Lesser Swift. The bird life in this one little place wasn’t bad at all.
Here you can see a few Black Kites silhouetted against the sky. (I really hope to get better bird pictures later on in my trip!)
Thursday, 09 June 2011
Right after breakfast, I caught the 8:00 am shuttle to Nairobi (called the Impala Shuttle cuz it drops you off at the Impala Hotel in Arusha). The Nairobi to Arusha road (as it is called) is amusing in a way. It’s all supposed to be paved, but it clearly isn’t. They’ve been working on this road for years, and they’ll still keep working at it. Someone told me they doubt it will ever be finished. The way the whole trip went is we’d be on this nice, flat, paved road. But from time to time, (what felt like every 15 minutes or so), we’d see piles of rocks blocking off the road ahead and a detour sign that would direct vehicles onto a side dirt track. That was always fun and bumpy (and dusty to boot). We sometimes stayed on this dirt track for a long time. This dirt track paralleled the paved road, and what I didn’t understand is that oftentimes we’d be going parallel to what looked like a completely finished road that was perfect for driving on… so why the hell was that long section blocked off by rocks? It looked perfectly fine to my eyes. I’m sure if the rock walls were dismantled, the vehicles could use that section no problem. There weren’t even any men there doing any kind of construction work. Hehe, just one of Tanzania’s numerous mysteries, I guess. I joked with the my buffalo hunter friends, saying that the construction was finished years ago, but apparently they forgot to come back and remove the rocks.
Here's the lovely shuttle vehicle:
Some landscapes out my window:
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