A Guide's Diary - Authentic Tanzania
Udzungwa palms - photo by Malcolm Ryen
Amazing Monkey Business in the Udzungwas and Ruaha
Sven Liebchen and his Authentic Tanzania team just got back from their latest safari. As always they had an amazing trip through Tanzania and came back with some pretty unusual and exciting sightings under their belts.
Video by Sven Liebchen
On the way to Ruaha the party stopped in the Udzungwa National Park and were fortunate enough to come across a troop of Sanje Mangabeys (Cercocebus sanjei), a highly endangered Old World monkey of the white-eyelid mangabey group. These wonderful primates are a relatively recent discovery and are endemic to Tanzania and the Udzungwa forests. There are about 3000 animals in their population. Sven says the experience of tracking these animals is similar to tracking the chimps, in that the trek is hard but once located you can spend as long as you wish with the monkeys getting some very close encounters.
Photo by Sven Liebchen
Photo by Sven Liebchen
photo of a Sanje Magabey in Udzungwa National Park by Malcolm Ryen
The group left Udzungwa feeling fantastically like a party of explorers and headed for Ruaha National Park.
Ruaha was filled with sightings of lions, leopards and all the large and beautiful creatures that are found in this majestic park and it was with high spirits that the group reached their camp at Kilimatonge for there first night in the park.
The next day while out on safari they came across an albino baboon. Sven did some research and found that although rare, sightings had been confirmed in Arusha, but there is no record of any being seen in Ruaha, so they may have seen the first one!
Photo by Sven Liebchen
Photo by Sven Liebchen
Later that day the group was lucky enough to come across a group of lions and watched them successfully hunt and kill a buffalo. Although lions do take Buffalo in the wild regularly it is still an incredible feat considering how powerful the animals are.
Photos above by Sven Liebchen
Authentic Tanzania always seem to come away with awesome and unusual sightings and this trip was no exception. We look forward to hearing about the next trip from them!