We left the lodge in the East Usambaras at 6.20am and drove all day to reach Tegtero village in the Uluguru Mountains. Our journey was broken up with a stop for breakfast in a local restaurant and then at around 10am we reached Wami Bridge, the famous site for Bohm’s Bee-eater. It was hot when we arrived but shortly after walking down to the river we had several Bohm’s Bee-eaters performing in front of us – and what a stunning bird it is!
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| Bohm's Bee-eater |
We also had a Three-banded Plover, Giant Kingfisher, a pair of Black-collared Barbets, Red-fronted Tinkerbird and Black-throated Wattle-eye in the same area. We then set off to Morogoro for a late lunch and a visit to the supermarket to top up our supplies for camping in the Uluguru Mountains. In the town we picked up Emmanuel our cook and set off on what turned out to be a very lengthy drive to Tegetero village. The road became increasingly bad as we started heading up into the mountains and by the time we reached the parking site it was 5pm and we were way behind schedule, so had to make a decision whether to camp here or hike up to our intended camping site. It was a unanimous agreement we should go for it and just get it done. Most of the village had come out to greet us it seemed and we were surrounded by the villagers all interested in what we were doing. Abdul arranged porters to take our bags, camping gear and kitchen stuff up and you may find it no surprise whatsoever that they literally ran up the mountain whilst we crawled, sweated and moaned about our lack of fitness!
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| Me with some of the villagers... |
But it was a tough, undulating walk for us, with the last stage particularly steep and by then we had to negotiate the trail in darkness. It was such a relief to finally reach the camp site set in magnificent forest, with a welcoming camp fire and most of the tents already set up. Emmanuel did a fine job preparing vegetable soup and spaghetti Bolognese for us, which we washed down with a few cans of beer of course!
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