Zanzibar

 Zanzibar. The spice island. Famous for exporting spices and Freddie Mercury. Once we'd completed our stay in the Masai Mara we flew across to this island off the east coast of Africa for a different kind of holiday experience. The short flight from Nairobi took us across the Tanzanian mainland and close to Kilimanjaro. I climbed this mountain in 2004. Then it was covered in snow at the very top and had a large glacier. Today it's almost bare of snow! 

I didn't expect to get much birding done in Zanzibar as it was more of a beach and snorkelling / diving holiday. The lagoon opposite our villa did host a few wading birds with Common Sandpiper, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Greenshank and Whimbrel all being present in small numbers. 

All of them were checked for colour rings! Best of all though was a small group of Crab Plovers that fished i nthe tidal pools left inside the lagoon at low tide.  

A bird I didn't expect to see and a world tick for me as well! 

Apart from a few Lesser-crested Terns I saw very little else but this was compensated for by the abundance of marine life seen on the number of snorkelling trips and dives I did.