TANZANIA 2009: Lariboro Plains

By late morning we were in Namanga at the border crossing. Once all the formalities were taken care of, we swapped vehicles and drivers for our seven night stay in Tanzania. The road south had many diversions and was very rough, having been temporarily created until the new Namanga to Arusha road is completed.

In the rain shadow of Mt Meru lies the Lariboro Plains (above), an area of very short grass and low wind-shorn acacias. This treeless wind swept area is extensively grazed by Maasai cattle. Today we feared we would be in the middle of another sand storm but by the time we arrived the storm was on the other side of the road and heading away from us – nevertheless it was very windy.

It is here that the highly localized and endemic Beesley Lark lives. This is a small 5 1/2″cryptic ground-dweller with a very short tail. All eyes were on the plain and we soon came across a Capped Wheatear and Fawn-coloured Lark, also known as White-browed Lark.  The howling wind certainly kept bird sightings to a minimum. Then, Sue’s keen eyes spotted two perfectly camouflaged Beesley’s Larks (above). They were awfully cooperative as they walked towards us feeding as they went. It seemed that they even used the vehicle to protect themselves when the wind really got up.

The blown-up detail image above shows the short tail and the elongated hind claw of Beesley’s Lark, used to stabilize itself in windy conditions. This isolated population of Beesley’s Lark was recently split from Spike-heeled Lark, which is found in Southern Africa.