New Trip Report: Abbott’s Duiker in Tanzania

Hi Ralf,

Yes I think the animal that I saw and which Shaban had photographed previously is the same individual. This one comes to feed on the shrubs that grow in the open area around the ranger post. The rangers get moved around quite frequently, so I could not figure out how long that particular individual had been coming, but one of the rangers said he’d seen an Abbott’s in the area about 5 years ago. I know of at least two other people who have seen Abbott’s along the trail up to the hut, with one sighting taking place about 10 years ago, so there are certainly others around. The thing is there are few open areas along the trail where one is likely to be able to see a duiker (they would be hard to find in the thick vegetation which borders most of the trail), although you would certainly increase your chances of seeing one if you climbed either early morning or late afternoon, when all of the hikers/porters are no longer on the trail.

This duiker also hung around the ranger post at night, once the climbers had gone to sleep. Whether the duiker is mainly nocturnal is an interesting question. Many of the other large duiker species are frequently seen during the day. Until recently the Abbott’s duiker was only found in areas that were either unprotected or had very little protection, and that might have influenced their behaviour. The forests around Kilimanjaro for instance were only incorporated into the National Park in 2005, and before then there was heavy poaching in the area. Our camera trap surveys have shown that predominantly diurnal species become increasingly nocturnal in areas with high human disturbance, and this might be the case with the duiker as well. I suspect there will be increasing numbers of sightings along some of the Kilimanjaro climbing trails as the animals realise that the humans there pose little threat to them.

However, all that said, given the presence of stray dogs in the Machame area, if you are thinking of looking for the animal I would go sooner rather than later.