After an overhaul and period in reserve, Habicht was reactivated in 1885 for another deployment overseas, this time to patrol in the recently acquired colonies in German West Africa.

To replace these older vessels, the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) ordered the six Carola-class corvettes and three Habicht-class gunboats.

They met the screw frigate Hertha, and the three ships represented Germany at the Melbourne International Exhibition, which was taking place at the time.

On 11 May, Habicht sailed from Apia with the German general consul, Otto Zembsch, on board for a tour of the region, including a voyage through the Marshall Islands that lasted from 29 May to 24 June.

While there, she received orders to sail back to Egypt to protect German and Austro-Hungarian citizens and economic interests in the country during the Urabi revolt.

On 10 July, the day before the British bombardment of Alexandria, Habicht embarked Germans in the city and took them to the outer roadstead during the attack.

Alexandria then devolved into chaos as the government collapsed, so the British and neutral warships in the harbor, including Habicht, sent landing parties into the city to restore order.

[9] In 1884, Germany acquired the colony of Kamerun in Central Africa, which required warships to be permanently stationed there to maintain German control.

She sailed from Wilhelmshaven on 27 January and stopped in São Vicente, Cape Verde, on 1 March, where she met the screw corvette Ariadne, which was returning to Germany.

By 9 November, the new commander of the squadron, KAdm Carl Heinrich Theodor Paschen, arrived aboard his flagship, the corvette Prinz Adalbert.

[10] Prior to Habicht's second cruise, the German navy had historically recalled ships after two years in tropical conditions, owing to the difficulty for the crews in the unfamiliar climate.

The government steamship SS Nachtigal arrived on 5 August, and the ships thereafter began extensive surveys and cartographic work in the colony.

Habicht departed for a cruise to visit the British colony at Ascension Island in October to give the crew a break from the tropical climate.

After arriving back in Kamerun, she sent a landing party of 63 men ashore in response to repeated attacks by tribes living inland against trade caravans.

On 8 January 1888, Habicht sent a contingent of men ashore to serve as the honor guard at the funeral for the German explorer Gustav Nachtigal in Douala.

From 23 August to 20 October, Habicht cruised south in the cooler bay near Benguela, Portuguese Angola, to rest the crew.

The year 1890 passed largely uneventfully, except that Burich became very ill with malaria and had to leave the ship and turn over command to KK Erich von Dresky in October.

In early July 1891, Habicht sent a landing party to respond to raids by the Bakoko on farms in the area around Grand Batanga.

Later that month, another detachment was sent aboard the small steamer SS Soden up the Wouri in response to reports of unrest upriver, but their presence proved to be unnecessary.

Habicht made another cruise in cooler waters in September and October, and thereafter sent a contingent of officers and sailors ashore to help train local police forces who had been recruited from Dahomey.

Since she had been abroad for eight years by this point, Habicht was ordered home; she left Kamerun in early September and arrived in Kiel on 20 November.

In January 1901, the ship sailed to Sao Paulo de Luanda, Portuguese Angola, for her annual overhaul instead of Cape Town.

[16] Habicht arrived in Cape Town on 10 January 1904 for her annual overhaul, but two days later, before work began, she received news of a major uprising in German South West Africa.

On 14 January, the Imperial Admiralty Staff ordered Habicht to sail to Swakopmund, German South West Africa.

He sent his executive officer, KL Hans Gygas, ashore with a landing party of fifty-two men and a doctor, to assist the local Schutztruppe defending the town of Karibib.

The landing party made their way to Karibib, their progress slowed by rebel attacks on the rail and telegraph lines, but they arrived on 19 January.

The next day, a second detachment of twenty-six men, led by one officer, went ashore with five 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon and two MG 08 machine guns.

Not long after, Habicht's landing party returned to the ship, though from 24 April to 2 May, a contingent of thirty men went ashore to take over guard duties from a cavalry unit.

The two vessels cruised together briefly, and Kommodore Ludwig von Schröder transferred to Habicht for a voyage up the Congo River in early January 1905.

By 18 March, Habicht had returned to Cape Town for her annual overhaul, and that day the crew celebrated the ship's 25th anniversary of entering service.