Tanzania October - November 2012 - Pemba

Pemba is a more relaxed, quiet and less visited version of Unguja (Zanzibar), but a must for birders as this island hosts four endemics, which we all saw. This island can be reached by boat or by plane. We opted for the former (see next post). If arriving by boat, you will most likely arrive on the Southside of the island at Mkoani. We took the dalla-dalla from Mkoani to Wete directly after the boat arrived. In Wete the gigantic Pemba Flying Fox can be observed, but we missed it here however a small stroll through the town proved good for the endemic Pemba Sunbird, some Whire-tailed Swallows and an African Paradise Flycatcher.

The only nature reserve on Pemba is found in the far North and is called Ngezi Vumawimbi Forest. This site is problematic to visit for backpacking birders as you have to be there until after dark for the endemic scops owl and by then there are no more dalla-dalla's to a larger village and Konde (the gateway town) has no accomodation. In the end we just showed up there and asked to camp there, but ended up in one of the local houses which was just fine.

Pemba Green Pigeon (Treron pembaensis)

Our trip to Ngezi Vumawimbi Forest was quite productive for we saw three of the four endemic species (Pemba Green Pigeon, Pemba Sunbird and Pemba Scops Owl) and other goodies such as Dickenson's Kestrel, Brown-headed Parrot, Mangrove Kingfisher, Hadada Ibis and White-faced Whistling Duck. I advice visiting birders to call in advance if they want to try to see the scops owl as our guide was piss-drunk since he wasn't expecting any clients.Mammals seen during our visit to this nature reserve included Pemba Flying Fox and Vervet Monkey (ssp. pembaensis). The next day we saw our last endemic: Pemba White-eye.

After Ngezi Vumawimbi Forest we headed via Chake-Chake to the uninhabited Island Misali for some high quality snorkeling. During our visit we noted Palmnut-Vulture, African Reed Warbler, Pemba White-eye, Pemba Sunbird, Mangrove Kingfisher and Greater Sand Plover. The next day we headed back to Mkoani to take the Pemba-Zanzibar ferry and the Zanzibar-Dar es Salaam ferry (see next post).