TIPS FOR BIRDING AND TRAVEL

BIRDING AND BEYOND
It is hard to say enough complimentary things about Birding and Beyond.
Anthony and Geitan became our friends during the time we were there.
They are both phenomenal in picking out wildlife, both avian and
otherwise. While Geitan was driving, Anthony was ALWAYS scanning for the
next sighting, even when we were tired and nodding off. Anthony knows
his birds (Geitan isn't any slouch in this department either). Geitan
knows the mammals and history of Tanzania, both have the ability to make
you feel well cared for. While we did not have a chance to meet Tina,
who makes the arrangements back in Arusha, she did a great job in
getting us the best rooms at each lodge. (best views, double vs. single
beds, etc.)
Anthony is now a co-leader for one of the major US birding tour
companies when they come to Tanzania. They do the same tour that we were
on, with 16 people instead of 4, stay in the same lodges, same number of
days, for twice the price. It is good to be smug.

FIELD GUIDES
I took Stevenson and Fanshawe's "Guide to the Birds of East Africa", as
well as Sinclair and Ryan's Birds of "Africa South of the Sahara" (Ian
Sinclair guides for Birding and Beyond on occasion, by the way). Anthony
had a copy of Stevenson and a copy of Zimmerman's Birds of "Kenya and
Northern Tanzania." While we had three field guides, we basically used
Stevenson 99% of the time, and I think you would be fine to use it as
your only reference. I have made up a quick-reference index for the
Stevenson book in Excel format, which I will happily share if you e-mail
me the request.

GETTING READY
Having said the above about the field guides, they do have their own
strengths, and I used all three to get ready for the trip. The most
helpful thing I did was to buy a copy of the VHS tape "A Nature Safari
to Kenya and Northern Tanzania" from the ABA, and watch it with the
sound off. As each new bird would come into view, I would pause the
tape, try to identify it, and then write down my ID. I then went through
and saw how I did. I would get most, and miss some, but it allowed me to
hit the ground running once we got to Tanzania.

SCOPE
I almost didn't bring my scope, since I thought it wouldn't work well in
the car, and we would be outside of the car so little. What a mistake
that would have been. We used it daily, propped inside of the car, and
when we were outside at the lodges, at lunch sites, and when we were
outside of the parks.

CAMERA
I used a Nikon 8800 8 mega pixel point-and shoot with a 10X optical
zoom, and a 1.7X converter. It was great to have that degree of
magnification, and I got some great pictures with it. On the down side,
it is somewhat slow, both with time between hitting the shutter and
exposure, and the time it takes to process the image before you are
ready to shoot again. I also found the auto-focus would get confused
with vegetation between me and the subject, and the manual focus
mechanism is cumbersome. If I had it to do over again I would look into
a digital SLR. However, since I am not really a photographer, I would
have a hard time spending more on my camera than I did on my scope!
I also used an Epson P-2000 digital storage device. It performed
flawlessly, and allowed my to take an essentially unlimited number of
pictures stored on the 40 gb hard drive. It is also handy for showing
pictures on our TV when we returned.

KEEPING TRACK
When you see close to 100 species a day, day after day, with most
lifers, it is hard to keep track of what you have seen (what a great
problem to have!). I used the Birds of the World add-on to Avisys to
generate a hard copy list of all Tanzanian species, added in some blank
pages for notes and mammals list, and had it bound at Kinkos. I used a
pocket digital voice recorder in the field, then I would check off what
I had seen that night on the bound checklist. It makes this trip report
much, much easier to write.

CASH
The preferred currency for everything except minor purchases is US
dollars. Make sure you bring crisp, new bills. One lodge would not
accept the older "small head" US bills in large denominations, because
of the concerns of counterfeit bills coming in from Europe.

VISA LINE
On the flight into Arusha, try to sit near the front or the back of the
plane, so you can get off quickly. Then head immediately for the window
where you purchase your visas. This line gets quite long, and it is good
to be at the front.

NYLON CLOTHES
We took only nylon travel clothes, and there is no other way to go. They
wash out in the sink, and are dry by the next day. It allows you to pack
light. Many lodges do have laundry service however, at E Unoto Lodge it
was free.