Having basically gained a day on the itinerary by having left Dzalanyama the previous lunchtime and made our way south, today was the day that we would be visiting Mount Mulanje, the highest mountain in Malawi. The specific location is the Ruo Gorge on the south side of the mountain, where there is a small remnant patch of lush tropical forest. This is where we would spend the day birding.
After navigating the tea plantation, we eventually arrived
in the forest at around 08:30, at which point it was already hot and humid. Still,
we hoped we would be able to quickly find our targets, and so it turned out, as
we found Thyolo Alethe, the most difficult bird, possibly on our trip, within five
minutes, with a juvenile perched on an exposed rock adjacent to the road. We
soon established that there was a family of these rare birds, with the more
elusive adults foraging in the shrubbery behind.
The birding ebbed and flowed after that, with times that we
encountered good numbers of birds in mixed flocks, including other targets like
White-winged Apalis, Black-headed Apalis and Stripe-cheeked Greenbul, and then other
times where we would be walking and see absolutely nothing. It was also in this
forest that we saw our first primates of the trip, with Blue Monkey and Yellow
Baboon hanging around. There were also many skinks with dazzling blue tails,
absolutely stunning to look at.
Overall we had a great day and found almost all the birds we
wanted, the ones we missed still be a possibility at other sites in the following
days. On our way to Zomba, our next site, we called off at another patch of
forest on the west side of the mountain. This was much less fun, as we spent a
large part of our time here being harassed by people in the area. Once we managed
to find some peace we did eventually find Pale Batis, our key target, but the
highlight was probably three nice and confiding Crowned Hornbills.
Mulanje Mountain: Emerald-spotted Wood Dove, Livingstone's Turaco, Brown Snake Eagle, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Crowned Hornbill, White-eared Barbet, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, Cardinal Woodpecker, Pale Batis, Black-throated Wattle-eye, Black-backed Puffback, Black-fronted Bushshrike, Common Square-tailed Drongo, Red-faced Crombec, Green-backed Camaroptera, White-winged Apalis, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Black-headed Apalis, Red-rumped Swallow, Black Saw-wing, Stripe-cheeked Greenbul, Yellow-streaked Greenbul, Dark-capped Bulbul, Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler, Southern Yellow White-eye, Grey Tit-Flycatcher, White-browed Scrub Robin, White-starred Robin, Thyolo Alethe, Collared Sunbird, Olive Sunbird, Dark-backed Weaver, Yellow-bellied Waxbill, Blue Waxbill, African Firefinch, Jameson's Firefinch, Pin-tailed Whydah, Mountain Wagtail, Yellow-fronted Canary,
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