TANZANIA’S UDZUNGWA & RUBEHO MOUNTAINS – Endemics off the beaten track

PRICE INFORMATION

Birdquest Inclusions: Our tour prices include surface transportation, accommodations, meals and entrance fees.

We also include all tipping for local guides, drivers and accommodation/restaurant staff.

Deposit: 20% of the total tour price. Our office will let you know what deposit amount is due, in order to confirm your booking, following receipt of your online booking form.

TO BOOK THIS TOUR: Click here (you will need the tour dates)

The single supplement will not apply if you indicate on booking that you prefer to share a room and there is a room-mate of the same sex available.

This tour is priced in US Dollars. Amounts shown in other currencies are indicative.

Air Travel To & From The Tour: Our in-house IATA ticket agency will be pleased to arrange your air travel on request, or you may arrange this yourself if you prefer.

TANZANIA’S UDZUNGWA & RUBEHO MOUNTAINS BIRDING TOUR: DETAILED ITINERARY

Tanzania (Udzungwa & Rubeho): Day 1  Our tour begins today at Mikumi. We will head southwestwards from Mikumi to the Iringa area for an overnight stay.

If you are not joining this tour following on from our Tanzania’s Eastern Arc & Pemba tour, a transf will be provided from Dar-es-Salaam to Mikumi.

Along the way to Iringa, we will visit some beautiful habitat in a valley draped in acacias and punctuated by bizarre-looking baobabs. Here we should find two localized Tanzanian endemics, Ashy Starling and Tanzanian (or Ruaha) Red-billed Hornbill, as well as Grey Kestrel, Meyer’s (or Brown) Parrot, Spot-flanked Barbet, Yellow-bellied Greenbul and Western Violet-backed Sunbird. We may also get lucky and find a third endemic; the pretty Yellow-collared Lovebird.

A marshy area near our lodge holds the localized Locustfinch.

Tanzania (Udzungwa & Rubeho): Days 2-7  During these six days, we will explore the Udzungwa Mountains of eastern Tanzania, camping for a total of five nights in two different locations, with a night at a comfortable lodge in the Iringa area in between the two camping sessions. On Day 7, after descending out of the Uzungwas, we will drive to Mikumi for an overnight stay.

The Udzungwa Mountains National Park covers an area of 1900 square kilometres (734 square miles), reaches an altitude of 2579m (8462ft) and supports a biologically diverse flora and fauna. No roads enter the park and the thick and tangled forests do not give their secrets up easily. In order to have a realistic chance of seeing some very special birds, we shall need to trek twice into the heart of the park, where we shall set up camp.

The beautiful forested slopes of the Udzungwas hold a number of rare and little-known birds. In 1983 the very attractive endemic Rufous-winged Sunbird was first described from the park. The sunbird is reliant on certain trees being in flower and is usually to be found in a different habitat than the partridge. To this day, the species has been seen by relatively few people owing to its restricted distribution, hard-to-reach location and little-understood movements, but we have a very good chance of seeing it during our visit.

Notoriously, on 4th June 1991 a new species of partridge was discovered in a cooking pot by some visiting ornithologists at the end of an exciting day in the field! They realized quite quickly that they could not identify what they were about to eat, and the hunt was then on to find a live version of the ‘kwale ndogo’ (or ‘small partridge’) that the cooks had earlier caught by the camp and then prepared for the evening meal! It turned out that a local ornithologist was also aware of the existence of this new bird for science. Eventually, live birds were found, and it has transpired that this endemic gamebird, now formally described and named Udzungwa Forest Partridge, is most closely related to the Southeast Asian hill partridges. We shall, of course, be making considerable efforts to see this remarkable bird.

The near-endemic Dapple-throat (formerly Dappled Mountain Robin) is a retiring and skulking denizen of the undergrowth which will very likely demand much patience and determined searching. Nowadays, it has a special interest as it has been placed in its own bird family alongside its relatives, Spot-throat and Grey-chested Babbler (formerly known as Grey-chested Illadopsis). It is one of those birds that can be very close while singing, yet very hard to spot, perhaps only dashing out from its hiding place with a whirr of wings before disappearing again.

Other special, range-restricted birds of this part of Tanzania include the endemic Yellow-throated Mountain Greenbul, the pretty Swynnerton’s Robin, Black-lored and Churring Cisticolas, the superb White-winged Apalis, Chapin’s Apalis of the race strausae, the rather sombre-coloured, endemic Iringa Akalat, the near-endemic Tanzanian Illadopsis, the endemic Moreau’s Sunbird, Forest Double-collared Sunbird, Yellow-browed Seedeater, the uncommon endemic Usambara Weaver and Kipengere Seedeater, and the uncommon Lesser Seedcracker.

More widespread species we may encounter in the mountains or on their drier fringes include Cassin’s Hawk-Eagle, Mountain Buzzard, African Grass Owl, Square-tailed Nightjar, Narina’s Trogon and Green-backed Honeybird, although all of these are uncommon. More reliable are Livingstone’s Turaco, African Broadbill, Shelley’s and Stripe-cheeked Greenbuls, Evergreen Forest Warbler, Singing Cisticola, Waller’s and Slender-billed Starlings, Abyssinian Thrush, Oriole Finch and Yellow-crowned Canary. Areas of heathland are home to Brown Parisoma and Brown-headed Apalis.

The scarce Iringa Red Colobus, now thought to number no more than 450 individuals, occurs in these forests alongside Angola Pied Colobus, and we stand a reasonable chance of encountering both of these striking primates during our visit.

Tanzania (Udzungwa & Rubeho): Day 8  Today, we travel to the remote Rubeho Mountains for a three-night stay.

Tanzania (Udzungwa & Rubeho): Days 9-10: The second important focus of our explorations will be the Rubeho Mountains, situated to the northwest of the Udzungwa Mountains. Here, we will be particularly wanting to see a major, recently described endemic speciality of the Eastern Arc: Rubeho Forest Partridge (although this speciality is lumped by some authorities in Udzungwa Forest Partridge). The endemic Rubeho Akalat is also present in the area we visit, while another range-restricted speciality is Whyte’s Double-collared Sunbird, represented here by the subspecies skyei (endemic to the Rubeho and Udzungwa Mountains and a possible future split as Skye Double-collared Sunbird).

Most intriguing is a potential new species of sunbird discovered here in 2021, colloquially known as ‘Gallardy’s Sunbird’.

The Southern Fiscals found here are of the form marwitzi, sometimes split as Uhehe Fiscal.

More widespread birds 0f the area include the lovely Bar-tailed Trogon, Green Tinkerbird, White-tailed Crested Flycatcher, Red-capped Forest Warbler, Olive-flanked and Cape Robin-Chats, White-starred Robin, White-chested Alethe, African Hill Babbler and Bertram’s Weaver.

Tanzania (Udzungwa & Rubeho): Day 11  Today, we will drive to Dar-es-Salaam International Airport, where our tour ends early this evening.

If we have time in hand, we can stop to look for Böhm’s Bee-eater and the endemic Ruvu Weavere along the way.