Birding in Mkomazi National Park

A Treat!

February, 2020

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Dona and I arrived in Arusha/Moshi about 21:00, exhausted from our long travel. Ram had arrived a few hours earlier and presumably was recovering at the Kibo Home B&B where we had booked rooms. It was 88°F (31°C) when we arrived, and a note in my diary says "Don't bring both down sweater and pile vest unless climbing Meru or Kili." Since I was still relearning how to walk after falling off the arena roof, I wasn't going to be climbing anything.

We were met at the airport by a taxi sent by Kibo. The driver, Honest Venance Silayo, was friendly, good company, and already knew his way to Kibo since he had taken Ram a few hours before. "Knowing where you are going" is non-trivial in this neck of the woods, as there are no street signs and things like Google Maps aren't much use. I see there is an "Honest on Time" taxi service but that is not him — he has his own car and doesn't work for someone else. Honest told us he is Chaga, and that "Kilimanjaro" means "our mountain" in Chaga. However, the Wikipedia reference above suggests other, slightly different, meanings, such as "White Mountain" and "Unclimbable Mountain." In any case, we can recommend him as a taxi driver:

Honest Venance Silayo
Box 61, Moshi, Tanzania
+255 755 292 538
+255 656 915 460
+255 784 556 581

Why three numbers? I don't know, but I know Dona and I had trouble a few years ago because her service in Tanzania only worked with certain prefixes — apparently different companies don't necessarily work together.

Our hostess at Kibo, Nandetom, was great.

Kibo Home BB Dona Nandetom Ram
Kibo Home B&B
Dona, Nandetom, and Ram

Our itinerary for the week put us in Mkomazi National Park for three and a half days, and then up in the northern Usambara Mountains at Mambo View Point. Mkomazi butts up to the border with Kenya; on the Kenyan side is Tsavo West National Park, renowned for its elephants and other wildlife. Now that Mkomazi is a somewhat protected area, wildlife, which doesn't respect borders, is spilling over to help repopulate the area. We had high hopes for some good birding and maybe some cool surprises.

Max, our driver from Leopard Tours, met us the next morning with a Toyota Land Cruiser outfitted for seven passengers plus a driver. In addition to Max, we had Sharif as a camp handyman and cook. Our vehicle did not look like the one referenced above; virtually all safari vehicles are ordered with custom configurations. Ours looked like this. Max and Sharif sat up front, and Ram, Dona and I each had a whole row to ourselves. We were going to be "roughing it," camping in tents while in Mkomazi. We towed a trailer behind with all the camping gear and any of our personal gear we didn't want immediately accessible.

In the Leopard Tours pre-trip handout we were told to bring our own sleeping bags, so we had brought light-weight bags we used in Namibia and elsewhere. However, it turned out that Leopard provided good cots with nice foam pads, sheets and blankets, so we didn't need our own bags.

We headed down the highway to Same, where we turned off and headed to Mkomazi; once at Same it's a short drive to the park entrance, where we checked in. We were there for a half-hour or so and enjoyed taking pictures of the birds and critters hanging around.

Mkomazi Sign
Mkomazi Main (Same) Entrance

Our campground was in a spot that had quite a collection of birds. We spent most mornings sneaking up on them before breakfast. And breakfast was a real treat. Sharif set out mango juice; a fruit plate with superb pineapple, watermelon, mango and banana; crepes; and eggs and sausage. We stuffed ourselves.

The African Orange-Bellied Parrot pictured below is also known as the Red-Bellied Parrot.

Nubian Woodpecker
Nubian Woodpecker
(Campethera nubica)
Green Winged Pytilia
Green-Winged Pytilia
(Pytilia melba)
African Orange Bellied Parrot
African Orange-bellied Parrot
(Poicephalus rufiventris)

On our first night at camp, as we were organizing stuff and getting ready for the morning, one of the screws holding my glasses together fell out. It was lost somewhere, maybe much earlier in the day. Fortunately, I had a glasses repair kit with me. Unfortunately, the one screw in it was a tad bit too small and just stripped out. I had an emergency extra pair with me, but after some fiddling and scrounging and thinking about it I managed to kludge a repair with a staple we scrounged somewhere.

There are a number of "special" campgrounds that are farther in the bush; we didn't check any of them out, unfortunately. They have to be reserved, but apparently you can do it when you show up at the park. Something to remember for next time.

The photos below give an idea of what this part of Mkomazi looks like. They were taken on the way back to camp. The South Pare Mountains in the background are not in the park. Mambo View Point, where we went after leaving Mkomazi, is up at the top of the Usambara Mountains, a similar range a bit further south, on the edge facing the park.

Mkomazi
Mkomazi

South Pare Mountains

Mkomazi Tree
Cool Baobab Tree with Weaver Nests

We spent three and a half days birding in the northwestern part of Mkomazi. We saw quite a few birds...

Red Cheeked Cordon Bleu
Red-Cheeked Cordon Bleu
(Uraeginthus bengalus)
Grey Headed Kingfisher
Grey-Headed Kingfisher
(Halcyon leucocephala)
Striped Kingfisher
Striped Kingfisher
(Halcyon chelicuti)

White Browed Coucal
White-Browed Coucal
(Centropus superciliosus)
Black And White Cuckoo
Black & White (Pied) Cuckoo
(Clamator jacobinus)
a.k.a. (oxylophus jacobinus)

I think it rained pretty much every day, but mostly it didn't rain when we were out exploring. However, on one occasion it poured pretty hard right before we left camp. Even the birds looked bedraggled as they tried to dry off.

White Browed Coucal
White Browed Coucal
Von Der Deckens Hornbill
Von der Decken's Hornbill
(Tockus deckeni)

There are quite a few different starlings in East Africa, and most of them are better looking and I hope less of a disturbance than the invasive European Starling we have here in the United States.

Red Winged Starling
Red-Winged Starling
(Onychognathus morio)
Superb Starling
Superb Starling
(Lamprotornis superbus)
Hildebrandts Starling
Hildebrandt's Starling
(Lamprotornis hildebrandti)
Fischer's Starling
Fischer's Starling
(Lamprotornis fischeri)

Golden Breasted Starling Imm
Golden-Breasted Starling Imm
(Lamprotornis regius)
Violet Backed Starling
Violet-Backed Starling
(Cinnyricinclus leucogaster)
Bird Greater Blue Eared Starling
Greater Blue-Eared Starling
(Lamprotornis chalybaeus)

There are also a lot of different weavers in East Africa. We got a kick out of watching them build their nests, each species with its distinctive architecture.


Red-Headed Weaver
(Anaplectes rubriceps)
White Browed Sparrow Weaver
White-Browed Sparrow-Weaver
(Plocepasser mahali)

Red Billed Buffalo Weaver
Red-Billed Buffalo-Weaver
(Bubalornis niger)
White Headed Buffalo Weaver
White-Headed Buffalo-Weaver
(Dinemellia dinemelli)

Vitelline Masked Weaver
Vitelline Masked Weaver

Vitelline Masked Weaver
(Ploceus vitellinus)

Hornbills are one of Ram's favorites. We didn't have a lot of different species, but we sure had a lot of the ones we did have. We got a kick out of watching them devour large insects, like the African Grey is doing below. The coolest were the ground hornbills, which looked almost like vultures because of the red on their heads.

Von Der Deckens Hornbill
Von der Decken's Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill
(Lophoceros nasutus)

Southern Ground Hornbill
Southern Ground Hornbill
Southern Ground Hornbill

Southern Ground Hornbill
(Bucorvus leadbeateri)

There were also boatloads of shrikes. We kept trying to find one with a big frog or agama speared on a thorn, but we never did.

Northern White Crowned Shrike
Northern White-Crowned Shrike
(Eurocephalus ruppelli)
Isabelline Shrike
Isabelline Shrike
(Lanius isabellinus)

We came upon a small flock of Long-tailed Fiscal Shrikes doing some kind of wild mating ritual, all bobbing up and down frantically flashing their tails around.

Long Tailed Fiscal Shrike
Long Tailed Fiscal Shrike

Long-Tailed Fiscal Shrikes
(Lanius cabanisi)

We had to watch out for all the spurfowl, francolins and sandgrouse running around in the road.

Yellow Necked Spurfowl
Yellow Necked Spurfowl

Yellow-Necked Spurfowl
(Pternistis leucoscepus)

Hildebrandts Francolin
Hildebrandt's Francolin
(Pternistis hildebrandti)
Crested Francolin
Crested Francolin
(Dendroperdix sephaena)
Black Faced Sandgrouse
Black-Faced Sandgrouse
(Pterocles decoratus)

We saw quite a few raptors; I was surprised by the number of pygmy falcons.


Black-Shouldered Kite
(Elanus axillaris)

Tawny Eagle
Tawny Eagle
(Aquila rapax)
Bird Xxx Long Crested Eagle
Bird Xxx Long Crested Eagle
(Lophaetus occipitalis)

Wahlberg's Eagle
(Hieraaetus wahlbergi)

Gabar Goshawk
Gabar Goshawk
(Micronisus gabar)
Eastern Chanting Goshawk
Eastern Chanting-Goshawk
(Melierax poliopterus)
Pygmy Falcon
Pygmy Falcon
(Polihierax semitorquatus)

The Whydah's were still able to fly, which continually amazes me. How they have avoided extinction by predators is beyond me, given how poorly they fly with those long tails. The Pin-tailed Whydah is a brood parasite, and has unfortunately been introduced in California. Despite being a cool-looking bird, it would be better if it stayed in East Africa where it is native.


Eastern Paradise Whydah
(Vidua paradisaea)
Pin Tailed Whydah
Pin-Tailed Whydah
(Vidua macroura)

Then there were the outlandish barbets. They look like something a child painted.


Red And Yellow Barbet
(Trachyphonus erythrocephalus)
DArnauds Barbet
d'Arnaud's Barbet
(Tracyphonus darnaudii)

We were delighted with all the bee-eaters, but disappointed that we did not find any carmine bee-eaters. We saw them on our first visit to Mkomazi a few years ago and we really wanted Ram to see some, but it was not to be. Something saved for next time.

Little Bee Eater
Mkomazi Bird Little Bee Eater
Photo by Dona

Little Bee-Eater
(Merops pusillus)

European Bee Eater
European Bee-Eater
(Merops apiaster)
Blue Cheeked Bee Eater
Blue-Cheeked Bee Eater
(Merops persicus)

Then there are the crazy birds. I really wanted to see a Secretary Bird kill a big snake, but while we saw a fair number of Secretary Birds, we never saw any arguments with snakes.

Secretary Bird
Secretary Bird
Sagittarius serpentarius)
on Nest
White Bellied Bustard
White-Bellied Bustard
(Eupodotis senegalensis)
Black Bellied Bustard
Black-Bellied Bustard
(Lissotis melanogaster)

There were Go-away birds pretty much everywhere, and as their name suggests, they warned everything else that we were there and that they should "go away."

White Bellied Go Away Bird
White-Bellied Go-Away Bird
(Corythaixoides leucogaster)

Ashy Cisticola
Ashy Cisticola
(Cisticola cinereolus)

The first time we came to Tanzania, Dona really wanted to get a picture of an African Hoopoe. We did see a few, but we did not get any pictures. But this time we saw quite a few and managed to get some pictures.

African Hoopoe
African Hoopoe

African Hoopoe
(Upupa epops)

Barn Swallow
Barn Swallows
(Hirundo rustica)

The Hamerkop is a prehistoric looking bird; they make you feel like you would be wise to look up, down, and all-around for large and dangerous things from ancient times. They have a really weird posture, low slung in some cases and upright in others. They can also have huge nests.

Hamerkop
Hamerkop
Hamerkop

Hamerkop
(Scopus umbretta)

African Black Headed Oriole
African Black-Headed Oriole
(Oriolus larvatus)
Bird Xxx White Bellied Canary
Bird Xxx White-Bellied Canary
(Crithagra dorsostriata)

The colorful rollers were a treat, as always.

Lilac Breasted Roller
Lilac-Breasted Roller
(Coracias caudatus)
European Roller
European Roller
(Coracias garrulus)
Rufous Crowned Roller
Rufous-Crowned Roller
(Coracias naevius)

Emerald Spotted Wood Dove
Emerald-Spotted Wood Dove
(Turtur chalcospilos)
Ring Necked Dove
Ring-Necked Dove
(Streptopelia capicola)
Namaqua Dove
Namaqua Dove
(Oena capensis)

Fork Tailed Drongo
Fork Tailed Drongo
(Dicrurus adsimilis)
Bird Xxx Variable Indigobird
Bird Xxx Variable Indigobird
(Vidua funerea)

Mkomazi Bird African Orange Bellied Parrot
African Orange-Bellied Parrot
Photo by Dona

We found that it worked pretty well for each of us to have a whole row to ourselves in the vehicle. That way we could shoot out of either side without interference, and the first two could usually shoot forward without problems. The person in back sometimes had to work around those in front, but it usually wasn't too much of an issue. However, as I wrote in my dairy, "3 is ok for this vehicle, 6 will be way too crowded."

Mkomazi Truck Dona Ram
Dona and Ram ready for anything

We spent three full days in Mkomazi, but we barely scratched the surface of the park. We spent the entire time in the far northern section, partly because of all the rain which had made many roads impassable. One day we stopped for lunch by a small stream. We were disappointed because it looked like there should be lots of birds around, but there weren't. It was not the best time of day; I would have liked to go back early in the morning.

Mkomazi Lunch Creek
Mkomazi Lunch Creek

Lunch by a Creek

Mkomazi Lunch Creek

There was a small tree at our lunch stop that had some reddish leaves on it; or at least they looked like leaves, mixed in with its regular green leaves. They turned out to be a seed pod.

Mkomazi Lunch Creek Max Ram Gary
Max, Ram and Gary
Photo by Dona

Bush with Reddish Leaf-like Seed Pods
Photos by Dona

In addition to the weird seed-pods Dona got a great shot of a Red-veined Dropwing dragonfly.

Mkomazi Dragon
fly Red-Veined Dropwing
Red-veined Dropwing dragonfly
(Trithemis arteriosa)

Photo by Dona

My dairy / notes also say "Bring a folding stool! Useful in shower & @lunch." That's because sometimes there weren't good logs or rocks to sit on, and Dona and my old bones found it a bit difficult to sit on the ground. As for the shower, I think that was because the showers in the campground had no shelves or hooks, and a stool would be handy to put clothes and things on while you were in the shower.

Mkomazi
Mkomazi

Bird Xxx Pangani Longclaw
Bird Xxx Pangani Longclaw
(Macronyx aurantiigula)
Red Billed Firefinch
Red-Billed Firefinch
(Lagonosticta senegala)

We didn't see many sunbirds in Mkomazi, which was a disappointment.

Scarlet Chested Sunbird
Scarlet-Chested Sunbird
(Chalcomitra senegalensis)

But we did see some really cool Vulturine Guineafowl. There are lots of Helmeted Guineafowl around, but these were pretty crazy different.

Mkomazi Bird Vulturine Guineafowl
Photo by Dona

Vulturine Guineafowl
(Acryllium vulturinum)
Helmeted Guineafowl
Helmeted Guineafowl
(Numida meleagris)

Common Ostrich
Common Ostrich

Common Ostrich
(Struthio camelus)

Parrot Billed Sparrow
Parrot Billed Sparrow
(Passer gongonensis)

Bird Xxx
Bird Xxx
Bird Xxx
Bird Xxx
Bird Xxx
Bird Xxx

Whew! That is a lot of birds, and we saw a lot more than that. While we were roving around looking for birds, we ran into a few mammals. There were some small herds of elephant, and we often saw dik-diks scrambling for cover in the low brush. There were also Hartebeest and Gazelles but they were quite a ways off, and we caught glimpses of kudu.

Mkomazi Elephant
African Elephant
(Loxodonta africana)

The best way to differentiate a Grant's Gazelle from a Thompson's Gazelle is that the white on the rump of a Grant's extends above the tail, while on a Thompson's it doesn't. Some people think that if the gazelle has a black side-stripe it is a Thompson's, but that is not always the case; some Grant's also have the side-stripe.

Mkomazi Kirks Dik Dik
Photo by Dona

Kirk's Dik Dik
(Madoqua kirkii)
Mkomazi Hartebeest
Hartebeest (Kongoni)
(Alcelaphus ubselaphus)
Mkomazi Grants Gazelle
Grant's Gazelle
(Nanger granti)

Then there were monkeys, mongooses, and giraffe. We got to see some young giraffes sparring — they wrap their necks around each other and beat their heads against each other, and in this case one tried to lift the other's hind leg out from under him.

Mkomazi Black Faced Vervet Monkey WBaby
note the baby hanging on
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Vervet Monkey
Photo by Dona

Black-faced Vervet Monkey
(Cercopithecus aethiops)

Mkomazi Olive Baboon
Olive Baboon
(Papio anubis)

Mkomazi Banded Mongoose
Banded Mongoose
(Mungos mungo)

The giraffe species can be differentiated based on the pattern of blotches on their coats; there is a nice chart in the Wikipedia article referenced below.

Mkomazi Giraffes
Masai Giraffes
(Giraffe tippelskirchi)
Mkomazi Giraffes Fighting
Photo by Dona

Giraffes Fighting

Mkomazi Lizard Xxx Tz Rock Agama Agama Lionotus
Tanzania Rock Agama
(Agama Lionotus)
Mkomazi Lizard Striped Skink Trachylepis Striata
Striped Skink
(Trachylepis Striata)

In the campground camped next to us was a photographer from Norway with three students from a bird club in Arusha. He said he was taking pictures for a bird guide to Mkomazi that a friend of his, a professor in Dar es Salaam, was writing. Unfortunately, Per has a drinking problem, and on top of that he really wants you to know how much he knows and how ill-prepared you are. He kept us up with his drunken talking in the evenings. One morning when we talked to him he had already had eight beers before breakfast, but insisted he did not have an alcohol problem. He couldn't understand why his girlfriend had left. The boys, Abdul, James and Jonas, apologized for his behavior. We tried to ignore him; I felt sorry for the boys, as they were nice kids and seemed to be conscientious, hard workers.

On our third day we were heading out as usual for some late afternoon-evening birding when we came across this:

Mkomazi Wreck
Mkomazi Wreck

Per's Wreck

Per's vehicle, flipped over in the road. Per was lying in the road, drunk, but otherwise not obviously hurt. The boys were a bit bewildered; one seemed slightly injured. Another safari vehicle showed up a bit later, along with some workers from the park.

Max has been in the guide business for quite a while; as a result, he's pulled more than one vehicle out of a bad situation. There was a berm on the side of the road, but other than that the ground sloped gently away, albeit with a few trees and shrubs in the way and some shallow holes here and there. We trimmed the worst branches off the trees and shrubs and Max drove down and backed up at right angles to the vehicle. Everybody scrounged and we found enough chain and heavy webbing or rope to make a flip-line. Then Max drove slowly forward and turned the vehicle upright.

Mkomazi Wreck

Mkomazi Wreck

Mkomazi Wreck

There was a lot of broken glass all over, and the road looked wet in places. Amazingly, there didn't seem to be blood anywhere, and the boys still seemed fine.

Mkomazi Wreck

Another couple from our campground showed up heading back towards camp. We asked if they could take the injured student in to the hospital to have him checked out. I think it was Jonas but I'm not sure; Dona thought he might have a fractured patella. The couple agreed to take him in, so he squeezed into their car and left. Per insisted he was fine and was not interested in going back with the parks folks. There was not much more for us to do there, but the evening was pretty much shot so we turned around and worked our way back to camp.

Mkomazi Wreck Per Abdul James Jonas
Per, Abdul, James, & Jonas

We hadn't been doing any hiking, so we arranged to go for hikes all day the next day. This involved driving back to the main gate / ranger station and arranging for an armed park ranger to accompany us, a requirement in most of the national parks in Tanzania when exploring on foot. The next day we drove back to the gate and picked up Stan, our ranger. Then we headed north to a picnic area by a lake, where we planned to start walking.

We had been to the lake a day or two before, but hadn't seen much — no waterbirds except for a lone Jacana. I noted at the time that evening that the bottoms of my feet were sore and my legs were pretty tired just from standing in the vehicle.

Mkomazi Lake
Lake

We started out planning to walk around the lake, but we soon discovered it was too wet to do that. We switched directions, noting that elephant(s) had been that way recently. Soon enough we came across a young male, and he was a bit upset that we were there. We backed away, but apparently I did not back away fast enough because everyone gave me grief...

Mkomazi Elephant
Young Bull Elephant
Mkomazi Giraffe
Photo by Dona

Giraffes

We didn't walk all that far, but we sure did get tired. We had some good views of giraffes, a quick glimpse of a honey badger, and some more distant zebras and hartebeest, as well as some good birds and butterflies.

Towards the end of our hike we each lay down to rest for a bit. Ram took off his glasses and sat them on his chest. Unfortunately, he got up in a hurry at one point and forgot about them, only to discover it a bit later. We looked pretty hard but never did find them. Fortunately he had another pair along, but he also sent a note to Dawn to bring him a spare pair when she came.

Mkomazi Ram Gary Rest
Ram and Gary Resting
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Ram Nap
Ram Napping
Note the glasses between his binoculars and his chin.
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Dona Gary
Dona and Gary
Photo by Ram

When we got back to camp, Per and all three boys were there. Per had somehow managed to get a new car. He was back, and had three bottles of hard liquor, Cognac. Jonas said he "will be ok," patted his hip and said "crushed a little." We weren't sure what that really meant. He was limping a little but he's young and things heal a lot better and faster when you're young. We wish him the best. The boys were scared, and had tried hiding the booze but Per found it. What can they do? They're young and inexperienced and he is the one with the power.

When we were talking about how Per could possibly be given a new vehicle and allowed to drive it around the park, Max said it was probably because it was tied to the government. Because Per was working on a government contract on a project for Tanzanian Parks, he didn't get a citation. The park service is crazy for not taking him off the project. Turning a drunk lose on park roads with tourists on it is crazy; talk about bad publicity if he hit someone!

Mkomazi Flower Commelina
Spiderwort
(Commelina)
Mkomazi Flower Bitter Apple Nightshade
Bitter Apple Nightshade
(Solanum aculeastrum)

Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Flower Xxx Purple
Flower Xxx Purple
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Flower Xxx Blue Green
Flower Xxx Blue Green
Photo by Dona

Mkomazi Flower Xxx Yellow Orange
Flower Xxx Yellow Orange
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Flower Xxx Yellow Orange
Flower Xxx Yellow Orange
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Flower Xxx Yellow
Flower Xxx Yellow
Photo by Dona

Mkomazi Flower Xxx Red
Flower Xxx Red
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Flower Xxx Purple
Flower Xxx Purple
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Flower Xxx Purple
Flower Xxx Purple
Photo by Dona

Mkomazi Flower Xxx Yellow
Flower Xxx Yellow
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Flower Xxx Yellow
Flower Xxx Yellow
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Flower Xxx White Purple
Flower Xxx White Purple
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Flower Xxx White Purple
Flower Xxx White Purple
Photo by Dona

Friar
Friar
(Amauris niavius)
Mkomazi Butterfly Guineafowl
Guineafowl
(Hamanumida daelalus)

Photo by Dona

The problem with butterflies is there are so many species that look similar, so for me it's often impossible to figure out which is which — particularly since they won't sit still and all I ever have is an often poor photograph. Couple that with the fact that they often look completely different when viewed from the bottom than from the top, and the fact that they are often dimorphic, and I'm ready to throw up my hands and call it a "medium-orange-and-black-guy". When I look in a guidebook it may show one species and I think "That's it!" But upon further investigation I discover there are other species that look pretty much the same. Such is the case with the Acraea shown in the middle below. It looks just like the Acraea serena which our field guide, Insects of East Africa by Dino J. Martins, mis-labels as Acraea eponina, the "small orange acraea", but gives the correct name for of "dancing acraea". The iNaturalist link above also calls Acraea serena the "small orange acraea". In this particular case, if one believes the wikipedia article, it's Acraea serena, a.k.a. "dancing acraea", formerly mis-identified as Acraea eponina, a.k.a. "small orange acraea". Confused yet? Yeah, so was I. In most cases, it's not a case of mis-labeling but of similar species. Sometimes the similar looking species aren't even in the same genus, which makes it really frustrating.

Mkomazi Butterfly Dotted Border
Dotted Border
(Mylothris agathina)

Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Butterfly  Acraea
Acraea xxx
(Acraea Xxx)

Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Butterfly Pirate (Catacroptera)
Pirate
(Catacroptera Xxx)

Photo by Dona

Butterfly Xxx White Brown
Butterfly Xxx White Brown
Mkomazi Butterfly Xxx Black White Orange
Butterfly Xxx Black White Orange
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Butterfly Black Yellow
Butterfly Xxx Black Yellow
Photo by Dona
Mkomazi Butterfly Xxx
Butterfly Xxx
Photo by Dona

During our walk we found some porcupine quills, but we did not get to see an actual porcupine. Dangit! The quills are huge, growing up to 50 cm long! It's unclear to me whether the quills we found were from the Crested Porcupine or the Cape Porcupine (Hustrix africaeaustralis), as this area is in both of their ranges and the quills look similar. In any case, African porcupine quills are much longer than those of the North American Porcupine, whose quills are only a few inches (5 to 7 cm) long. Dona stuck them in her hat, but they kept falling out.

Mkomazi Donas Hat
Dona's Hat

Mkomazi Dragonfly Xxx
Dragonfly Xxx

The photo below shows the tents we stayed in at the campground. They didn't have a lot of extra room in them, but then we didn't spend all that much time in them either. We made good use of a cafeteria/kitchen building nearby where Sharif prepared meals, we ate, and played muggins (a form of dominoes), bananagrams, and reviewed pictures. The tents seemed to keep the bugs out fine, although there weren't that many bugs around. On the other hand, even a few bugs usually find Dona, and she did pretty well here.

Mkomazi Camp
Camp

We had one last morning looking for birds, then returned to camp, where Sharif fixed us his usual outstanding breakfast. Then we broke camp and packed up. Sharif would be leaving us after this, and Max would drive us up to Mambo View Point.

Mkomazi Breakfast Gary Max Sharif Ram
Breakfast
Max, Sharif and Ram
Photo by Dona

Our original plan was to drive up to Mambo View Point from the north side, but the road on that side was washed out and impassable because of all the rain. Leopard Tours sent another vehicle to pick up the trailer with the camping gear and Sharif in Same. So we drove back down to Same where we said good-bye to Sharif.

Mkomazi Land Cruiser Max Dona Sharif Ram
Max, Dona, Sharif, and Ram

The dung beetles have really weird looking heads. I suspect it's useful as a shovel to dislodge and allow them to get under or into stubborn, sticky poop.

Mkomazi Dung Beetle
Mkomazi Dung Beetle

Dung Beetle
Photos by Dona

When we got to Same we waited for the other vehicle to make sure Sharif wasn't left stranded. While waiting, we watched life unfold in a small town. I am always amazed at how much African women can carry on their heads, and how well they can balance it all. They all have perfect posture, and maybe that's more-or-less required if you're carrying things on your head. In any case, you don't see many men carrying things on their head.

Mkomazi Same Women
Women in Same

Because many people don't have cars and motor-bikes, you see a lot of two-wheeled carts. It's impressive how much one person can move around with one of those. I don't have a clue how much all the food in the cart on the left weighs, but the woman on the right has a cart full of water jugs. She has about 15 jugs, and each one holds at least 20 gallons. That's 300 gallons, which is over a ton!

Mkomazi Same Cart
How much does all this food weigh?
Mkomazi Same Cart
Over a ton of water

Carts