26 Sep 2019: Arusha National Park

The Arusha National Park is a birding jewel where one does not have to pay the

excessive park fees and face the hundreds of safari vehicles associated with the

Ngorogoro Crater. Here we birded the rim of the beautiful Ngurdoto Crater while in

the west Mount Meru, the second highest peak after Mount Kilimanjaro, provided a

fitting backdrop. We hardly came across any tourists in this small national park and

the varied ecosystems - craters, lush highland forests, lakes and savannas – were

teeming with birds and other wildlife.

On the way to the park it was decided that Per’s stately, if elderly, Land Rover

needed a fitting name. As she is an elderly British lady, with some of the aches and

pains associated with advancing years, I thought of naming her after Queen

Elisabeth. Land Rovers are, per sec, the British revenge on Africa for having lost

their empire to the unruly natives. So, we formally named the Land Rover “Lizzy” in

honour of Her Majesty, and may she attain the same mileage as her royal

namesake.

One of the first birds to greet us within the park was a Trilling Cisticola. This was

soon followed by Hartlaub’s Turaco who showed well against the forest canopy and

Scaly Spurfowls who wandered across a forest path. In the long, rank grass

adjoining the forest we found Moustached Grass Warbler and while driving along the

rim of the crater we encountered the distinctive Broad-ringed (Montane) White-eye

and Rüppell's Robin Chat. The spectacular crater floor was dotted with herds of

buffalo and a troupe of acrobatic black-and-white colobus monkeys brought some

comic relief from the serious pursuit of birding.

The highlight of the day was undoubtably finding the very elusive Ethiopian

(Abyssinian) Crimsonwing in the thick tangles of the forest understorey. Martin and

Abdul picked up on the faint, twittering call and although it only appeared briefly, I

saw it well enough to confidently add a new tick to the Big Year list.

At the lower elevations of the park we crossed rolling grassland to the shallow

Momella Lakes. These lakes have various colours, depending on the alkaline

content of the water. Hundreds of Greater- and Lesser Flamingos added a pinkish

tint to these beautiful surroundings. Standing at the edge of the lake I had a profound

awareness of how exceptionally blessed I am to experience Africa in all its

magnificent splendour.

The Vagrant Twitcher