MBWENI RUINS HOTEL - ZANZIBAR 

THE NATURE TRAIL

MAP

BUSHBABIES

BUTTERFLY LIST

MARINE SPECIES LIST

BIRD GUIDE

The start of the nature trail is just beyond the reception, in the direction of the hotel rooms. A sign board indicates that you turn right towards the ruins.
Various kinds of Heliconias and Gingers are planted here, with their large banana-like leaves and exotic flowers.

A little further on, take the right turn again, towards the health centre outside of which,
at point 1, are planted some of the many medicinal plants to be found in Zanzibar.
The local people are knowledgeable about these and still use them today.

Passing in front of the Industrial Wing of the ruins, built by Caroline Thackeray in 1887 for teaching trades to the less academic girls, you will see a very tall tree in a corner of the ruins. This is a Golden ‘Apple’ tree, from the Pacific Islands and the fruits are edible, though a little tart.

Click on Points 1-15 on the Map to see the descriptions in the Nature Trail.

Beyond the mango tree is a bench placed on the cliff above the ocean. This is point 3 and from here you can see part of the beach and the mangroves which line the shores. This species of mangrove is named Sonneratia alba and is endemic in Zanzibar and Pemba. It is to be found where mangrove land reclamation is just beginning and can survive in quite deep water. It has conical breathing roots rising from the soft sand around the base of the tree. Much marine and bird life shelters in these trees which have a special ecosystem of their own.

While sitting on the bench watch the Ghost Crabs down on the beach, as they dig their holes to shelter until the next high tide. If you are lucky you can see dolphins swimming close to the mangroves. The most frequently seen species in this area are Bottlenose, Spinner and Common dolphins.



Around dusk you can hear the Water Stone Curlew, called Dikkop in Southern Africa, which has a series of piping whistles which become longer and longer. If you see a flash of brilliant blue it is probably the Mangrove Kingfisher searching for a perch from which to look for small crabs and fish.

Mangrove Kingfisher - Halcyon senegaloides
Photo by Nik Borrow on Surfbirds website

Turning back a little towards the mango tree, take the left fork going along the sea front to point 4, where a grove of African Acacias have been planted. There is another viewpoint here, overlooking the seashore. On the hillside below are agaves and succulents, some of which are indigenous.


From this point you may be able to see Tropical Boubous in the mangroves. They are skulkers, keeping hidden in bushes and going about in pairs. They have a remarkable duetting call, in which the male gives a clear, drawn-out whistle and the female responds with a song which sounds like a swinging rusty gate.

Tropical Boubou - Laniarius aethiopicus
photo by Ed Harper

Further out to sea you may see Lesser Crested, Swift and Common Terns flying low over the waves and diving for small fish below the surface. At low tide Reef and Green Backed Herons stalk small fish and crustaceans in the pools and between the mangroves. Also there is a Grey Heron which flaps along the beach. Black Kites hang on the wind scouring the beach for carrion.

Local fishermen often leave their lobster pots and dugout canoes (ngalawas) here. The name ‘mbweni’ means ‘place of shingles and this may be derived from the clam shells to be found everywhere in the area. Known as ‘chaza’ in Kiswahili, these small shellfish - Anadara antiquata - are handpicked out of the silt around the mangroves. You may see people searching for them at low tide.

Continuing on down into a hollow and turning away from the sea up a little hill, you will find a flamboyant tree on your right surrounded by a ‘red garden’, including many red-hued plants such as Hibiscus, red Cannas, Clerodendron and the brilliant magenta Beefsteak plant.

The meadow area around   point 5 attracts many butterflies: Twinspot Blues, Blackstriped Hairtails, Brown (brown with white flashes and dark red stripes on the top half of its wings) and Blue Pansies (with white flashes at the top and two iridescent blue spots on the bottom of the wings.) The most spectacular is the Yellow Pansy (with yellow wings and two small blue spots in the centre.)

At the top of the hill there is a good view of the main part of the ruins, with the tumbled down entrance in front. This was the original Arab house which was on the property when it was bought by the UMCA in 1871. If you turn right a little there is a seat, surrounded by hardwood trees such as African Blackwood, Mvule, Red Sandalwood and also the sweet smelling Ylang Ylang tree with its orchid like yellow flowers. In the central courtyard of this part of the ruins are two large Royal Palms, planted in 1992. 

Here, if you are quiet and do not disturb them,  you may see Epauletted Fruit Bats (Epomophorus minimus) hanging from the ceiling of the Sacristy and Cloisters. These fly out at dusk and return at daylight. They are golden  brown, with tufts of white fur at the base of their ears; the males have white ‘epaulettes’ on their shoulders.

In order to maintain contact in their night world, they utter chinking, frog-like calls which are synchronised with emissions of scent from glandular pockets in their epaulettes. They eat fruit, flowers, nectar and pollen.

Going back to point  8, move on into the Palm Garden. Here there are many species of palms - the total number in the gardens is around 150 species - including Bottle Palms, several kinds of Caryotas, Sabals, Licualas, Florida Silver and Thatch palms, Betel Nut, Golden Cane and perhaps most interesting of all, the Pemba Palm - Dypsis pembana, which is endemic in Pemba.

Epauletted Fruit Bats (Epomophorus minimus)

    
Lionfish*                               Blue-spotted Stingray*

    
Moorish Idol                 Organ Pipe Coral

Guide to the Birds

of Mbweni

Compiled by Dr Alan Tye for Mbweni Ruins Hotel

This guide is intended to tell you which bird species have been seen in and around the hotel grounds and to help you to identify them. However, you will find identification easier if you have a copy of a field guide. The usual one is "A Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa" by J.G. Williams, published by Collins in 1980, and the list below uses the names and species order of that book. However, many of the birds which you may see at Mbweni are not well dealt with by Williams, who gives no descriptions at all for many of the waders. The following notes should help you to identify these. Another book which you may be interested in consulting is "The Birds of Zanzibar and Pemba" by R.H.W. Pakenham, published in 1979 by the British Ornithologists' Union. It is not an identification guide, but lists all the species known from the Islands at the time (some others have been found since), and gives notes on abundance and habitat. Copies will eventually be available at reception.

Species present in and around the grounds

Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis flying over; occasionally in gardens
Green-backed Heron Butorides striatus mangroves, shoreline
Reef Heron Egretta gularis shoreline or flying by
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea flying along shore
Black Crowned Night Heron nycticorax n. cycticorax flying along shore and over gardens
Water Thick-knee Burhinus vermiculatus scrub and shoreline
Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola shoreline
Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula shoreline
Mongolian Plover Charadrius mongolus shoreline
Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus shoreline
Crab Plover Dromas ardeola shoreline
Turnstone Arenaria interpres shoreline
Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea shoreline
Terek Sandpiper Tringa terek shoreline
Common Sandpiper Tringa hypoleucos shoreline
Greenshank Tringa nebularia shoreline
Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis shoreline
Reed/Long-Tailed Cormorant Phalacrocorax africanus shoreline
Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus shoreline
Curlew Numenius phaeopus shoreline
Black Kite Milvus migrans flying along shore
Sooty Gull Larus hemprichii flying along shore
Lesser Crested Tern Sterna bengalensis flying past, perches on moored boats
Little Tern Sterna albifrons flying past, perches on moored boats
Swift Tern Sterna bergii flying past, perches on moored boats
Common Tern Sterna hirundo flying along shore
Masked Booby Sula dactylatra flying over the sea
White-browed Coucal Centropus superciliosus scrub south of garden
Didric Cuckoo Chrysococcyx caprius garden and scrub
Wood Owl Strix woodfordii in neem trees nr reception
Little Swift Apus affinis over ruins and buildings
White-rumped Swift Apus caffer over ruins and buildings
Palm Swift Cypsiurus parvus over gardens
Mangrove Kingfisher Halcyon senegaloides mangroves
Pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis mangroves, hovers over sea
Pygmy Kingfisher Ceyx picta by water garden + post no 12
Striped Kingfisher Halcyon chelicuti garden around ruins
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus flying over or hawking from tall trees
Broad-billed Roller Eurystomus glaucurus hawking over tall trees
Lilac-breasted Roller Coracias caudata on wires nr ruins + in big mango tree
Hoopoe Upupa eposps near ruins Green Wood-Hoopoe Phoeniculus purpureus scrub south of garden
Wire-tailed Swallow Hirundo smithii over buildings
Lesser Striped Swallow Hirundo abyssinica over ruins; perches on rooves
Yellow-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus barbatus gardens and scrub
Zanzibar Sombre Greenbul Andropadus importunus scrub and gardens
Tropical Boubou Laniarius ferrugineus scrub and gardens
Green-backed Camaroptera Camaroptera brachyura undergrowth in scrub and gardens
Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata garden, scrub and mangroves
Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone viridis garden
Scarlet-chested Sunbird Nectarinia senegalensis gardens and scrub, in tall trees
Purple Banded Sunbird Nectarinia bifasciata scrub to the south of garden
Golden Weaver Ploceus subaureus scrub south of garden
Common Waxbill Estrilda astrild scrub south of garden
Black bellied Glossy Starling scrub south of garden Lamprotornis corruscus mandanus
Violet backed Starlings gardens near mango tree cinnyricinclus leucogaster verreaux
House Sparrow Passer domesticus around buildings
Bronze Mannikin Lonchura cucullata gardens, scrub
Java Sparrow Lonchura oryzivora gardens and scrub
European Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus scrub
Indian House Crow Corvus splendens gardens

Four species of heron have been seen at Mbweni. The Cattle Egret is atypical, in that it is not a waterbird, but forages for insects on grassland, where it often follows large animals for the grasshoppers that they disturb. It is all white, with a buff patch on the back when breeding, and yellow legs and beak. The Green-backed Heron is a very small species, which hunts in mangroves and runnels on the mudflats, for crabs and small fish. It has a dark cap and back, which does not always look green, and paler underparts. It is usually seen hunched up, with its body more or less horizontal, as it stalks its prey. The Reef Heron is commonly seen flying along the shore, and sometimes feeds below the beach, at low tide at the water's edge. It occurs in two plumage phases, dark grey, often with some white patches, or pure white. Both phases have dark bill and legs, with bright yellow-orange toes. The Grey Heron is the largest species, again to be seen flying by or hunting in the tide's edge. It is pale grey on the back, white on the underparts and neck, with a black stripe through the eye. Many kinds of wader may be seen at Mbweni, especially at low tide on the flats just south of the hotel beach. The best views can be had on the ebbing tide, as the birds fly in, to follow the tide out. They are then more concentrated at the tide edge, and are relatively close in-shore. At low tide, the waders disperse somewhat and are in any case further from the beach and therefore harder to see. Most species are found especially in muddy areas, where their food, which consists mainly of small worms and crustaceans, is most abundant. They concentrate along the ebbing tide edge because their food is easiest to find there, when these invertebrates are still close to the surface of the mud. Species identified here include Water-Thick-knee, Grey, Ringed,and Mongolian Plovers, Oystercatcher, Crab Plover, Turnstone, Marsh, Common, Terek and Curlew Sandpipers, Greenshank, Curlew and Whimbrel. Most of these are visitors during the northern winter (August to April) but some, especially Common Sandpiper, are present all year. The Water Thick-knee is an unusual wader, resident all year in Zanzibar (the only wader to breed here) and nocturnal. You may be lucky enough to see one during the day, crouching silently under the cliffs, but you will almost certainly notice their plaintive, whistling calls at night, when they become active. It is a large wader, which can be recognised by its unmoving, hunched posture, a pale band on the closed wing, its short beak and its large, pale, nocturnal eye. The other waders may also forage at night, depending on the tide. Their feeding grounds become exposed only at low tide, so they feed then, whether it is night or day. The true plovers (Grey, Ringed and Mongolian) prefer sandier areas than many waders; they have short beaks and capture prey near the surface. They hunt by running a short distance then halting to scan or listen for prey. The Grey Plover is the largest and is very common. It is an undistinguished mottled grey, with whiter underparts, but when it flies shows distinctive black "armpits". It also has a distinctive call, "tee-oo-ee", which is constantly heard at low tide and is a feature of night-time low tides. The smaller Ringed and Mongolian Plovers are small, short-billed birds, seen singly on the flats. The Ringed Plover can be told by its black chest-band, black and white head pattern and orange legs, while the Mongolian has black legs and is brown above, white below, with a dusky chest-band and white eyebrow. The Oystercatcher is another red-legged wader but is difficult to misidentify. It is strikingly marked black on head, chest and back, the rest white, with pink legs and a long red bill. It eats mainly molluscs and worms, which it obtains by probing. It is not very common but one or two are usually present during the northern winter. The Crab Plover is not a true plover but is rather distantly related to the other waders. It is a large, long-legged, mainly white bird with some black markings, and with a heavy black beak, which looks too big for its head. When stretching its neck, it can seem a very ungainly bird. It can be seen in small groups, far out at the tide edge, where it gives a variety of loud, shrill chattering calls. The Turnstone has short, red legs and a short beak, and appears a dumpy, often hunched-up bird, larger and looking shorter-legged than the small plovers. It looks very dark brown, and mottled, on its upperparts, with a black chest-band. It can be told from the Ringed Plover by its larger size, slow walk (rather than short runs), and its habit of (often) foraging in small flocks. It lives up to its name, turning over stones and other debris, to find tasty morsels underneath. The five sandpipers (which include the Greenshank) are more delicate-looking birds than the plovers and their relatives, with longer legs and bills, in proportion to their size. The Terek Sandpiper is the last red-legged wader; it also has a red beak, which is long and distinctively up-turned. Its legs look rather too short, as it runs about in small flocks. The Common Sandpiper can best be recognised by its habit of continually bobbing its tail up and down, as it walks along pool edges searching for food. The Curlew Sandpiper is similar in shape and size but does not bob its tail and has a longer, down-curved beak; it also goes about in small groups, feeding out on the flats. The Greenshank and Marsh Sandpiper are confusingly similar; both are long-legged birds, with long, straight beaks, which run about in pools and live largely on fish fry, which they chase about, sometimes quite frantically. They can be told apart by size and build (the Greenshank being larger and heavier) and especially by the detail of the bill, which is very slightly up-turned in the Greenshank and dead straight in the Marsh Sanpiper, and thicker in the Greenshank than in the Marsh Sandpiper, which has a thin, needle-like bill. The Greenshank also has a very distinctive and far-carrying call, "tew-tew-tew", given especially when it flies off. The Whimbrel and Curlew are comparatively easy to tell from other waders. They are large, and have a long, down-curved beak. They are more difficult to tell apart. The Whimbrel is slightly smaller and the beak is smaller in proportion to the body and is less strongly curved, than in the Curlew, but these are all comparative features. If you have a clear, close view, the Whimbrel can be identified by the pattern of dark and pale stripes along the crown, although these are not especially obvious; the Curlew's head is plain. They also have different calls: the Curlew has a tremulous, drawn-out "cour-li" or a rising "kyoi-kyoi-kyoi", while the Whimbrel has a more staccato "titititititi", but even these can sometimes sound confusingly like the other species. Gulls and terns can be hard to identify, as they fly along the shore or fish out from the beach. The Sooty Gull should be the easiest, a large bird, dark brown or black above, white below and with a white tail. Two resident terns, which are very similar to each other in appearance and which are both quite common, are the two species of crested tern, Lesser Crested and Greater Crested, the latter also called Swift Tern. Both are pale grey above, white below, and with black crowns and yellow beaks. They differ in size, the Lesser Crested measuring about 35 cm (14") in body length, the Swift about 48 cm (19"), so comparison with other birds may help. Their beaks also differ; the Lesser Crested's is orange-yellow, while that of the Swift Tern is a clearer lemon-yellow. In the northern winter, they are joined by the Common Tern, a migrant from Eurasia. It is actually not very common, and is hard to distinguish from the resident Zanzibari species (not yet recorded at Mbweni), the Roseate Tern S. dougallii. Both are about the size of Lesser Crested, and have a white forehead, black cap and beak (in non-breeding dress) and are pale grey above, white below. The Common Tern has blacker wing-tips and trailing edge to the outer part of the wing, and dark edges to the tail. The White-browed Coucal is a large, long-tailed bird, whitish underneath, black and brown above, with chestnut wings. It skulks in the bushes, and may occasionally be seen flopping heavily from one bush to the next. The Didric Cuckoo is named after its call, something like "dee, dee, dee, deederic" in a thin, reedy whistle. Although it calls persistently at certain times of year, it can be hard to spot. It is metallic green or bronze above and white below. It lays its eggs in weavers' nests and lives mainly on caterpillars. Three swifts have been recorded. Two of them are black with white rumps, but the commoner Little Swift has a broader white band on the rump and a square-ended tail; the tail is forked in the White-rumped Swift. The Palm Swift differs in being all dark brown (often appearing black), with no white on the rump. It is smaller and slenderer than the other two and less attached to the buildings; it builds its nests in palm trees. It should become far more common as the garden devlops and the palms reach maturity. Four species of kingfisher have been seen in the grounds. The Pied and Mangrove Kingfishers live up to their names, the Pied being a black and white bird, which fishes by hovering over the sea and plunge-diving or, occasionally, by sitting and watching from a perch in the mangroves. The Mangrove Kingfisher is usually seen in the trees where its name suggests it should be, watching the sea below for prey; it can be recognised by its bright blue plumage and crimson beak. The Striped Kingfisher is a duller bird, greyish brown and dull blue, heavily streaked with black, with a black beak, and it does not usually fish. It prefers to hunt insects and lizards from bushes and, with luck, can be seen in less-disturbed parts of the grounds. The Pigmy Kingfisher can be seen at the water garden and by post no. 12. The Blue-cheeked or Persian Bee-eater is a largish bird which goes about in flocks, often large ones, either hawking insects in flight, high in the air, or from prominent perches on trees. It is a visitor during the northern winter, from the Middle East, and is closely related to the Zanzibar resident species, Madagascar Bee-eater M. superciliosus. Both are predominantly green birds, with trilling calls and similar behaviour, but they can be distinguished by head colour; the Persian Bee-eater has a green head, with its blue cheeks above and below a black line through the eye, while the Madagascar species has a browner head, with the black line through the eye dividing its white cheeks. The spectacular Broad-billed Roller, purplish-red and purplish-blue and with a bright yellow beak, can often be seen, usually in pairs, hawking insects from exposed perches in tall trees. Its loud, harsh calls draw attention to its presence. The Lilac-breasted Roller can also be seen sitting on wires near the ruins, or frequenting the large Mango tree in front of them. The Green Wood-Hoopoe is black (but with a greenish sheen), with white spots in the wings and long tail. Its most striking feature is the long, curved, red beak. It is not easy to see, but a small group lives in the scrub south of the grounds. The first sign of their presence may be their harsh, cackling calls. There are two swallows which are likely to be seen around the buildings and which can easily be distinguished from the swifts. The commoner Lesser Striped Swallow is blue above, with red patches on rump and head, white below, heavily streaked with black, and with fairly long tail streamers. The Wire-tailed Swallow is neater-looking, blue above with only a small area of red on the head, which is hard to see, and clear white below. The outer tail-feathers are elongated into "wires" but these are so fine that they are very difficult to see and often break off anyway, so the bird looks relatively short-tailed. There are two bulbuls in the grounds. The Zanzibar Sombre Greenbul is a slim, greenish bird with a striking cream-coloured eye, whose cheerful whistled song, uttered for most of the year, cannot fail to be heard. The Yellow-vented, or Common Garden Bulbul is more strikingly coloured, brown above with a blackish, slightly crested head, and white below, with a lemon-yellow patch under its tail. It also has a cheerful jumble of notes for a song. The Tropical Boubou is a skulker, which keeps hidden in bushes. It goes about in pairs and has a remarkable duetting call, in which the male gives a clear, drawn-out whistle and the female responds with a harsh, grating note. They are strikingly black above and white below, with some white in the wing. The Green-backed Camaroptera can also be hard to spot as it skulks in the undergrowth but it draws attention to its presence by its loud and persistent "blik-blik-blik...." song, and mewing notes when disturbed. Its nest is equally hard to find, being constructed within two or three green leaves which are sewn together with stitches of spider silk. It is a small green and grey bird, with a cocked tail. The Spotted Flycatcher is a migrant from Europe and Asia, which spends the northern winter in Africa. Individuals occupy small territories in and around the gardens. One takes up residence under the shade of the big tree outside Room 11 and can be seen from the veranda hawking insects from the lower branches. It is a grey-brown, perky-looking bird, with some streaking on the head and chest. In the 1994-5 winter, the Room 11 bird belonged to the pale, Asian subspecies. These birds often remain the whole winter in their chosen territory, and may return the next year to the very same patch. The Paradise Flycatcher lives up to its name, with both sexes a bright chestnut above, with white below, and black head, and the male sporting an enormously long tail and fluorescent blue ey-ring. Although rarely seen at Mbweni, it occasionally visits the garden. The Scarlet-chested Sunbird flits about in flowering trees. The male, which appears almost black in most lights but has the scarlet chest and some metallic green on the head, has a loud, three-note song, something like "chip, chee, chew", which it gives from a perch high in a tree. The female is dark brown above and streaky below. The Golden Weaver and European Golden Oriole are not very common but are hard to miss if one passes by. The weavers breed in the scrub south of the grounds and can sometimes be seen in the bushes on the cliffs above that part of the beach. The males are bright golden-yellow with some chestnut on the head, while the females are greener above. The largerOriole, which also occurs in the scrub, has black wings and a striking black and yellow tail. It is a northern migrant, so present only during the winter, but look out for the very similar African Golden Oriole O. auratus, which may occur at Mbweni: it has more yellow in the wings and a black mask extending behind the eye. The Bronze Mannikin is common and resident in the grounds. It builds its ball-shaped grass nests in the large Pandanus by the beach. The House Sparrow, Java Sparrow and Indian House Crow are interlopers, Asian birds introduced to the island. The House Sparrows belong to the Indian subspecies, but arrived in Zanzibar many years ago. Until the mid-20th century they remained confined to the port and stone town but now seem to be spreading. The Java Sparrow is a brightly-coloured finch-like bird that may be seen nesting under the eaves of the main building, or flying overhead in small groups, giving a distinctive call. It was said by the explorer Richard Burton to have been introduced by a Captain Ward, about 1857, and it seems to have blended into the Zanzibar fauna without obvious effects on the native birds. The black and grey House Crow, on the other hand, is a pirate. It probably arrived on its own initiative, about the 1890s, hitching lifts on boats from India, as it has to other ports around the world. Once in Zanzibar, its population exploded and it has almost completely replaced the native black and white Pied Crow Corvus albus, which you will be lucky to see. It has also been blamed for crashes in the populations of small birds, which it kills, and whose nests it robs. There is now a control programme under way on Zanzibar but the House Crow is likely to remain a feature of the grounds for the foreseeable future.

Species reported from Mbweni but confirmation required

Mocker Swallow Tail Madagascar Bee-eater Merops superciliosus
Zanzibar Puffback Shrike Dryoscopus affinis
Zanzibar Red Bishop Euplectes nigroventris

These and many other bird species may be expected to occur at Mbweni and we would be happy to hear of sightings of them, or of anything new which you might see during your visit. However, please provide a description of any bird which you think is new, with as much detail as you can manage, and not just a name. If you see something odd, check the list here first and the book by Pakenham, and make sure that it could not be anything in them. Check this list and Pakenham in preference to birds pictured in Williams; birds in Williams may not be common at Mbweni, while related or similar species, not pictured in Williams but listed above, may be common here. Some additional birds to look out for (but this list is not exclusive) include other herons, Greater Sand-Plover, other sandpipers, Roseate Tern and other terns, doves, European Swallow, Little Greenbul, other sunbirds, African Golden Oriole. These are all birds known from Zanzibar and which might well occur at Mbweni, but which have not yet been recorded here.