Reptile Trioceros deremensis

Usambara three-horned chameleon

A giant among chameleons, with three horns like a tiny triceratops. It lives only in the forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains.

Males of this species can be longer than your hand and carry three forward-pointing horns, which they use in slow-motion contests over territory. Females are smaller and usually hornless. Like all chameleons they move one deliberate step at a time and catch insects with a tongue longer than their body.

The Usambaras are the best place in Tanzania for reptiles and amphibians, and a guided night walk from Amani usually finds several chameleon species, tree frogs and the odd bush viper, all at a safe distance.

Where to look

Forest edges and tea-garden hedges around Amani and Lushoto in the Usambara Mountains.

Guide’s tip
Night walks are best. A torch picks out a sleeping chameleon as a pale shape on the end of a twig, and it will not move while you photograph it.

Sightings are never guaranteed: these are wild animals in wild places. What we can promise is a guide who knows where to look.

Destinations

Where to see the Usambara three-horned chameleon

The parks and reserves where our guides look for it, each with its own best season and safaris.

Usambara Mountains

Ancient Eastern Arc forests holding Tanzania’s rarest endemic birds.

Keep exploring

More wildlife to look for

See all wildlife

Mammal

African elephant

Loxodonta africana

Tarangire’s big herds are the classic sight: families drifting between baobabs to the river in the dry season.

Seen in

Tarangire National Park, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara National Park, Ruaha National Park, Arusha National Park, Rubondo Island National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro

Mammal

Lion

Panthera leo

The Serengeti holds one of the largest lion populations left in Africa. Prides of twenty are not unusual.

Seen in

Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Ruaha National Park

Mammal

Leopard

Panthera pardus

Secretive and beautiful. The Seronera valley’s sausage trees are the best place in Africa to find one by day.

Seen in

Serengeti National Park, Tarangire National Park, Ruaha National Park, Lake Manyara National Park

Mammal

Cheetah

Acinonyx jubatus

Built for the short grass plains. Watch one scan from a termite mound in the southern Serengeti.

Seen in

Serengeti National Park, Tarangire National Park, Ruaha National Park

Mammal

Black rhino

Diceros bicornis

Critically endangered and closely guarded. The Ngorongoro Crater is the most reliable place in Tanzania to see one.

Seen in

Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park

Mammal

Cape buffalo

Syncerus caffer

The Big Five’s heavyweight. Herds of several hundred are a daily sight in Arusha National Park and the crater.

Seen in

Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Ruaha National Park

Giraffes on the plains with Mount Meru behind, northern Tanzania

Mammal

Masai giraffe

Giraffa tippelskirchi

Tanzania’s national animal, with jagged star-shaped patches. Common almost everywhere except inside the crater.

Seen in

Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Serengeti National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Ruaha National Park, Lake Natron, Lake Eyasi

Zebras on the plains of northern Tanzania

Mammal

Plains zebra

Equus quagga

The migration’s other half. Hundreds of thousands of zebra move with the wildebeest across the Serengeti.

Seen in

Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire National Park, Arusha National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Lake Natron, Lake Eyasi

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