Mainly a travelling day as we had 300kms+ to get to our next hotel. Well, saying that…. As we drove along the main road that passes through a section of Mikumi National Park we stopped a few times to look at herds of Impala, Masai Giraffe, Plains Zebra, some Water Buffalo with attendant Yellow-billed Oxpeckers, and best of all, an immature Martial Eagleperched in classic pose on top of an acacia. We called in to the entrance gate to the National Park, where we saw a Tawny Eagle, Lappet-faced & White-backed Vultures, Yellow-throated Bush Sparrow and a few other previously seen species. On a whim I asked if we could do a game drive and maybe see a few birds……? After half an hour of negotiating we were in and setting off into the National Park, with Southern Ground Hornbill high on a few of the group’s wish list. The park itself must have been hit by a major fire as every mile we travelled the grassland was burnt to a crisp and there was very little bird life or even animals at all.
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| Yellow-throated Longclaw was the first bid of the game drive |
Still, the open ground looked perfect for our quarry. We did see a Yellow-throated Longclaw, a couple African Elephants, more Giraffes, Nile Crocodile and Wildebeest. At a pool we saw 5 Water Thick-knees, a pair of Blacksmith’s Plovers and a Collared Pratincole flew around us for a few minutes.
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| Water Thick-knee |
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| Blacksmith's Plover |
We searched and searched the burnt savanna, with only Long-tailed Fiscals being anything like numerous, along with some African Green Pigeons, Greater Blue-eared Starlings, Wattled Starlings and Capped Wheatears. Eventually, on our way back towards the entrance we did find 5 Southern Ground-Hornbills walking sedately off to our left, much to everyone’s relief.
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| Capped Wheatear |
Shortly after we received word of Lions on a kill so sped off and tried to locate a group of jeeps surrounding the kill. Along the way we saw 2 adult and 3 large immature Saddle-billed Storks, as well as a Marabou Stork.
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| Saddle-billed Storks are always impressive |
However, we passed many jeeps along the way but if it wasn’t for some Hooded Vultures circling we wouldn’t have found the right place, which was thankfully devoid of jeeps with goggling tourists and we came upon the Lions and had the place to ourselves.
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| Hooded Vulture |
More accurately we discovered 3 Lionesses snoozing in the shade of a couple of acacias, next to their kill – with 8 small cubs in attendance. Wow!
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| Loved spending a bit of time with this group of Lions and cubs... |
The cubs were sleepy but we watched some of them climbing over the adults, trying to find a comfy position to sleep. One cub looked rather uncomfortable trying to rest its head on the horn of the recently deceased Wildebeest. Driving back to the entrance gate we passed a lagoon with a few not-so-hungry Hippo’s(no Malteser references please!), and at least 3 African Jacanas. There was also a few Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Larks and a brief Fischer’s Sparrow-Lark. Leaving here we had several hours more driving to reach a small guesthouse not too far away from our next birding site, up in the Ukaguru Mountains.
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