Tanzania Blog - Part 1

Hello once again. I had a great time in Tanzania and for the first time had a lion leap at me...pretty scary stuff. I'm just pleased that it didn't drag me out through the window and eat me...but I was so shocked when it happened that I forgot to hit my shutter button...had I the presence of mind to do so, I would have gotten some pretty awesome images of a very upset lioness.

I just returned to the US of A after 31 hours or airports and airlines...the flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta is 16 hours alone...which is so long that even after I watched four movies, I still had 5 hours to go. Bottom line...it's a brutal flight and a brutal trip. I'll have to think long-and-hard before doing it again.

While in Tanzania I went to Tarangire Nat'l Park and Lake Manyara. Tarangire is known for its numerous elephant herds and Lake Manyara is known for the lions that climb trees. As this was most likely my last trip to Tanzania, I tried to enjoy it to its fullest.

I ended up with 3,600 images and after a day of deleting photos have ended up with about 1,500 keepers...of these I've chosen the following for this blog.  In fact, I ended up with so many nice images that I've decided to do two blogs from Tanzania...Part 1 on birds and Part 2 on everything else.

So first I'm going to share some bird images with you because Tanzania has some absolutely beautiful birds. Unfortunately many of the Tanzania birds are new to me so I'm just hoping that I got all the names right. If some of you birders like Leon or Marcia see that I've made a mistake with an identification, just let me know what it is...I'd appreciate it. So here we go:

 This is a Western Red-billed Hornbill

 This is a Superb Starling...check out those colors...awesome blues and purples.

 This I believe is a Von Decker's Hornbill

 ...and this is a female Von Decker's Hornbill

 White-headed Buffalo Weaver

 For months I've been trying to get a decent image of a Helmeted Guineafowl...and I finally got one.

 This is a Yellow-necked Spurfowl

 I've sent other images of a Lilac-breasted Roller...but I really liked this one as it was a cold morning and he fluffed-up which shows all of his beautiful feathers.

 I'm not sure what this bird is...do one of you birders know?

 I included this Southern Ground Hornbill because I liked watching him as he caught grasshoppers and stacked them in his bill.

 I'm thinking that this is an immature Crowned Eagle

 Nesting Yellow-billed Storks...in this and surrounding trees there must have been 3-4,000 birds.

 Grey Crowned Crane

 I think these are Silvery-cheeked Hornbills...I only saw them is the dense forests and only in the mornings. I would guess that this is a male and a female.

 This is an African Grey Hornbill

I think this is a Ring-necked Dove

 ...at first when saw this bird I thought it was another type of guineafowl, but now I'm thinking that it's a female Helmeted Guineafowl.

 This was a tough one. I decided that it was one of the many "weavers"...and in particular, a Lesser Masked Weaver...but now I'm not so sure. What do you birders think?

Our driver told me that this particular bird is only found in Tarangire Nat'l Park...but I've forgotten the name. Birders...what do you think?

 Bateleur Eagle

African Fish Eagle

And those are just some of the birds I saw while in Tanzania. I actually saw quite a few more...but they are so quick that it was tough trying to get shots of them...or if I did, the images weren't sharp enough for me to add to this blog. So tomorrow I'm going to try and get Tanzania Part 2 out...so watch for it as I have some pretty nice images of elephants, lions, and a few animals that I hadn't seen while in South Africa. Thanks for taking a look...it's good to be back home.