Primate Cercopithecus mitis
The quiet grey-blue monkey of Tanzania’s forests, usually noticed by a shaking branch high in the canopy.
Blue monkeys are not blue at all, but a soft slate grey with a darker cap and a pale throat. They live in troops of ten to forty and spend almost all their time in the trees, which is why most sightings start with the sound of a branch bouncing back into place.
They are a good indicator of healthy forest. Where you find blue monkeys you usually find forest birds too, and our guides use the troop’s alarm calls to know when a crowned eagle or leopard is near.
Montane and groundwater forest: Arusha National Park, Lake Manyara, the crater rim, the Usambara and Udzungwa mountains and the lakeshore forest at Gombe.
Guide’s tipFollow the fruiting fig trees. Blue monkeys, hornbills and turacos all gather at the same tree, so one good fig can fill an hour.
Sightings are never guaranteed: these are wild animals in wild places. What we can promise is a guide who knows where to look.
Destinations
The parks and reserves where our guides look for it, each with its own best season and safaris.
Montane forest, the Momella Lakes and Hartlaub’s Turaco, just 45 minutes from Arusha.
Clear lake, western forest birds and the gateway to Gombe and Mahale.
Montane forest birding on the slopes of Africa’s highest mountain.
Tree-climbing lions, groundwater forest and a soda lake full of waterbirds.
A volcanic caldera with black rhino, lions and big grassland birds.
Ancient Eastern Arc forests holding Tanzania’s rarest endemic birds.
Track wild chimpanzees in the forests where Jane Goodall began her research.
Rainforest endemics, Sanje Falls and the Kilombero Weaver in southern Tanzania.
Keep exploring
Loxodonta africana
Tarangire’s big herds are the classic sight: families drifting between baobabs to the river in the dry season.
Panthera leo
The Serengeti holds one of the largest lion populations left in Africa. Prides of twenty are not unusual.
Panthera pardus
Secretive and beautiful. The Seronera valley’s sausage trees are the best place in Africa to find one by day.
Acinonyx jubatus
Built for the short grass plains. Watch one scan from a termite mound in the southern Serengeti.
Diceros bicornis
Critically endangered and closely guarded. The Ngorongoro Crater is the most reliable place in Tanzania to see one.
Syncerus caffer
The Big Five’s heavyweight. Herds of several hundred are a daily sight in Arusha National Park and the crater.
Giraffa tippelskirchi
Tanzania’s national animal, with jagged star-shaped patches. Common almost everywhere except inside the crater.
Equus quagga
The migration’s other half. Hundreds of thousands of zebra move with the wildebeest across the Serengeti.
Tell us your dates and the birds or animals you most want to see. We’ll reply within 24 hours with a route and a full quote.
