Rest and Recuperation at Kiota Guest House

A Wonderful Haven near Arusha National Park

March, 2020

Click on any image for a larger view;
Contact garya at this domain if you would like the high quality image for printing

After being on the road for a couple of weeks it was good to plop down for a real rest. Douglas brought us all back to Kiota Guest House where were greeted with a big smile by Flora and the rest of the crew. Ram, Uri and Dawn collected the belongings they had cached on the way in, and Douglas took them to the airport for their flights,

Kiota
Kiota

Kiota

Kiota
Dona and My Room

Sid spent the evening packing for his climb of Mt. Meru starting the next day. We all enjoyed watching the Bush Babies that Flora puts bananas out for by the trees behind the house. I'm guessing they are Brown Greater Galagos but they could be Silvery Greater Galagos, a relatively newly separated species.

Kiota Bush Baby
Kiota Bush Baby
Kiota Bush Baby
Kiota Bush Baby

Bush Baby

Sid was picked up the next morning by the guide for his climb; Dona and I spent the day resting up and poking about the neighborhood. We found a few hornbills and butterflies, but as usual the really cool butterflies wouldn't hold still for a photo. The day was partly cloudy but cleared off towards the end. Given all the rain we had been having we were keeping our fingers crossed that Sid would have good weather and good views on his summit day.

Kiota Sid P3041039
Sid waiting for his guide
Photo by Dona

Kiota Mt Meru
Mt. Meru

Kiota Bird Crowned Hornbill
Crowned Hornbill
Tockus alboterminatus

Kiota Butterfly Blue Pansy
Blue Pansy
Junonia oenone
Kiota Butterfly Soldier Commodore
Soldier Commodore
Junonia terea

Kiota Butterfly Danaid Eggfly P3051042
Danaid Eggfly
Hypolimnas misippus

Photo by Dona
Kiota Butterfly Xxx Orange Black Yellow Blue P3051112
Butterfly Xxx Orange Black Yellow Blue
Photo by Dona

Kiota Butterfly Acraea P3051061
Acraea
Photo by Dona
Kiota Butterfly Xxx Acraea Xxx Pseudacraea P3051097
Little Commodore
Junonia sophia

Photo by Dona
Kiota Butterfly Xxx Orange Brown P3051106
Butterfly Xxx Orange Brown
Photo by Dona

Kiota Butterfly Bush Brown P3051047
Bush Brown
Bicyclus istaris

Photo by Dona
Kiota Butterfly Grass Yellow Flower Lantana P3051063
Grass Yellow on Lantana
Eurema senegalensis?
Photo by Dona

Kiota Dragonfly Skimmer P3051050
Skimmer
Photo by Dona
Kiota Dragonfly Xxx
Dragonfly Xxx

We found this really nice lady-bug looking kind of bug. This one was sort of a "negative" version of the one we are more familiar with, as it has orange spots on a black body, whereas the lady-bug/lady-bird beetles we usually see (and most ladybird beetles), have orange bodies and black spots. We thought we found it in our East African Bug book, "Insects of East Africa" by Dino J. Martins, where it looks like a "Potato Bug Beetle," of genus Epilachna. However, I couldn't find any potato-bug beetles that looked like this one so I finally wrote Dr. Martins a note and he replied that it was

"one of the Shield Bugs, in the Order Hemiptera, many of whom do look like beetles. The difference is the formation of wings on the back (no elytra as in beetles) and the piercing and sucking mouthparts - which are not visible in the photo."

I looked at large number of photos on iNaturalist and could not find anything resembling it which are indicated as being in Africa, unfortunately. Bummer. But on the up-side, I learned what elytra are, and that they are a distinguishing characteristic between beetles and other bugs, so all was not lost. Despite all that, if you want to see some really cool looking bugs, take a look at the images here.

There were also some pretty impressive blow flies.

Kiota Bug Hemiptera P3051070
Hemiptera
Photo by Dona
Kiota Xxx Fly P3051054
Blow Fly
Photo by Dona
Kiota Flower Xxx Blue Wasp P3051115
Flower Xxx Blue; Wasp
Photo by Dona

Kiota Flower Xxx White P3051040
Flower Xxx White
Photo by Dona
Kiota Flower Xxx Red P3051064
Flower Xxx Red
Photo by Dona
Kiota Blossom Xxx Red P3051102
Blossom Xxx Red
Photo by Dona

Douglas was scheduled to pick us up the next day with his wife; the four of us would do some exploring on the west side of Mt. Kilimanjaro.