Tanzania Birding Tour
TANZANIA BIRDING TOUR
Trip duration
15 days/ 14 nights
The Tanzania Birding Tour can be combined with our Southern Tanzania Birding Tour to make our famous Tanzania Mega Birding Tour.
Day 1: Arrival in Tanzania
Our Tanzania Birding Tour will start in Tanzania’s tourism capital, Arusha.
On this day, if we have an early arrival, we may explore local attractions around Arusha. Otherwise, we can relax and enjoy the nice Arusha birds from our lodge.
Night in Arusha.
Day 2 and 3: Lark Plains to Tarangire National Park
Our Tanzania Birding Tour will depart Arusha early and head on a detour North to the Lark Plains- to enjoy a site for the very rare Beesley’s Lark. We shall enjoy the morning birding here, and then start heading south to Tarangire.
We may make some strategic stop-overs to add some few species on the way. Soon, we shall enter Tarangire, the land of Elephants and Baobab trees; where many birds await us. Big game will also be encountered as we bird. The local Acacia woodland is also very graceful and full of birds. We shall enjoy birding here for the next two days of our Tanzania Birding Tour.
Nights in Tarangire.
Day 4: Lake Manyara to Ngorongoro Crater
We shall leave our hotel early, carrying picnic lunches. We shall drive to Lake Manyara, a pristine soda lake in the Rift Valley near Tarangire. The local Baobab trees will illuminate our journey through this lowland region. Here we see lots of birds and during good time, lots of Flamingos are seen in the soda waters. We shall keep birding this interesting place during the day. The local game is mainly composed of monkeys. Others include Savannah Elephants, Lions and much more.
In the afternoon, we shall carry on with our Tanzania Birding Tour, and proceed to Ngorongoro Crater, a large and scenic crater located at about 2000m above sea level. We shall have an opportunity to learn about the crater and also view models of the entire area. This crater is about 600m deep and has an amazing view both from the top and inside the crater. The crater is nestled in a pristine natural forest, full of beautiful indigenous trees.
We shall bird the forest, crater rim and our hotel compound.
Night in Ngorongoro.
Day 5: Ngorongoro Crater
Today we shall descend to the crater floor for more birding. The mighty Ngorongoro is an amazing place. It is known as one of the wonders of Africa. Descending down the crater floor takes you through great scenery and you get to experience the local Euphorbia tree varieties. Many birds will be encountered in the crater.
Herds of wild animals are plenty inside the crater as well as wonderful views of the crater walls. Look out for the local Lions, Black Rhinos, Common Zebras, assorted Gazelles, Nile Hippos and Wildebeests.
Night in Ngorongoro.
Day 6 and 7: Serengeti National Park via Ol Duvai Gorge Pre-Historic Site
The first day will see us cross from the highlands of the Ngorongoro, through Acacia woodlands and into the grassy plains of Serengeti.
On the way, we shall make a short trip to Ol duvai Gorge. The gorge has led to multiple archaeological and paleontological discoveries. Home to the great work by Louis and Mary Leakey, this is a phenomenal destination. Some famous discoveries here include Zinjanthropus, Homo habilis and Homo erectus. You will get to learn all about the work going on at the site in a very interactive way.
We shall later head to Serengeti National Park. The journey to the park passes through the Ndutu Plains and welcomes you to Naabi Area; the beautiful locations where the annual Wildebeest migration starts, by thousands of females calving on these plains.
The following day we shall spend time scouting the vast Serengeti as we enjoy birds we may have missed the previous day. We shall spend time looking around some of the famous rock outcrops, often referred as Kopjes. Look out for animals such as Leopard, Cape Buffalo, assorted Gazelles, Maasai Giraffe, Wildebeest, Common Zebras, Savannah Elephant and Lions.
Here you shall also get an opportunity to learn all about the famous migration and get to follow in the steps of the Wildebeests in a lovely Kopje, modelled to imitate the migration cycle.
Nights in Serengeti.
Day 8: Serengeti National Park to Arusha
On this day we shall enjoy more birding in Serengeti all morning. Later, we drive back to Arusha picking some extra birds on the way.
We shall also hope to pick any species we missed earlier in Ngorongoro Conservation Area; as we transect through.
Night in Arusha.
Day 9 and 10: West Usambaras
We shall leave Arusha early and head southwards to the mighty Usambaras- one of the most iconic birding sites in Africa. This is one of our top birding sites on the Tanzania Birding Tour.
Soon we shall arrive at the West Usambara Forest. We shall spend the next two days enjoying the birds here.
Nights in Lushoto.
Day 11 and 12: East Usambaras
We shall start with more birding at Lushoto, then move to the nearby East Usambaras to continue our birding in this great place. On the way we may be lucky to find more birds and we shall stop to pick any species we may be still missing on our Tanzania Birding Tour. Our destination will be Amani Forest, a hidden gem in northern Tanzania. We shall spend the next two days exploring this area for its rich birds.
We shall try for the rare Usambara Eagle-Owl during a night search.
Nights in Amani.
Day 13 and 14: Same-Mkomazi National Park Area
We shall scan the East Usambaras forest for more birds in the morning. Later, we shall leave the Usambaras and head north to the Same area. We may find more interesting species on the way and we shall make several stop-overs to enjoy birding. On arrival at Same, we shall bird the area, where many dryland and open habitat species will be awaiting us; then relax at our hotel for the night.
The following day, we shall enjoy birding in the mighty Mkomazi National Park the whole day, with breaks in between. This amazing park is home to Black Rhinos, African Wild Dog, Common Zebra, Maasai Giraffe, Savannah Elephant, Cape Eland and Common Impala. Birds are in plenty too, including many species from Southern Kenya- which highly boosts our Tanzania Birding Tour list.
Nights in Same.
Day 15: Nyumba ya Mungu Reservoir Area to Arusha
On this day, we shall return to Arusha, with a detour visit to a nearby reservoir. We can expect to add some more birds that we have missed earlier.
Later, we shall drive to Arusha arriving in time for our evening flights home; marking the end to our lovely Tanzania Birding Tour.
Highlight Birds
Usambara/Eastern Double-collared Sunbird, Banded Green Sunbird, Amani Sunbird, Uluguru Violet-backed Sunbird, Golden-winged Sunbird, Taita Fiscal, Black-fronted Bush-Shrike, Magpie Shrike, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Blue-capped Cordon-bleu, Spotted Thick-knee, Woodland Kingfisher, Gabon Nightjar, Fischer’s Lovebird, Yellow-collared Lovebird, Black Coucal, Swahili Sparrow, Red-tailed Ant Thrush, Sharpe’s Akalat, White-chested Alethe, Kurrichane Thrush, Usambara/Olive Thrush, Usambara Akalat, Spot-Throat, Dappled Mountain Robin, Pale-breasted Illadopsis, Scaly Chatterer, Usambara Eagle-Owl, Rosy-breasted Longclaw, Pink-breasted Lark, Beesley’s Lark, Southern Ground Hornbill, Tanzania Red-billed Hornbill, Bare-faced Go-away-bird, Schalow’s Turaco, Saddle-billed Stork, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Northern Grey Tit, Red-throated Tit, Black Bishop, Heuglin’s Courser, Grey Crowned Crane, Kori Bustard, Secretarybird, Lesser Flamingo, Greater Flamingo, Chestnut-banded Plover,
Moustached Tinkerbird, Grey-Olive Greenbul, Crested Guineafowl, Purple-throated Cuckooshrike, Common Scimitarbill, Abyssinian Crimsonwing, White-tailed Blue-Flycatcher, Narina Trogon, Long-billed Tailorbird/Forest Warbler, Kretschmer’s Longbill, Southern/Usambara Hyliota, Karamoja Apalis, Coastal Cisticola, Lyne’s Cisticola, Hunter’s Cisticola, Southern Grosbeak Canary, Southern Citril, Thick-billed Seedeater, Goliath Heron, Great White Pelican, Taveta Weaver, Rufous-tailed Weaver, Fire-fronted Bishop, Southern Red Bishop, Grey-breasted Spurfowl, Hildebrandt’s Francolin, Coqui Francolin, Meyer’s Parrot, African Broadbill, Mombasa Woodpecker, Banded Parisoma, Green Woodhoopoe, Brubru, Usambiro Barbet, Red and Yellow Barbet, Superb Starling, Ashy Starling, Golden-breasted Starling, Hildebrandt’s Starling, Forest Batis, Pygmy Batis, Red-throated Twinspot, Oriole Finch, White-headed Mousebird
Highlight Mammals and others
Leopard, African Lion, Cheetah, Black Rhino, Savannah Elephants, Cape Buffalo, Nile Hippopotamus, Nile Crocodile
Habitats covered
Savannah, Highland Forest, Wetlands, Semi-arid Scrubland, Eastern Arc Mountains
Photographic opportunities
Excellent
Special moments
Nature Walks, Ngorongoro Crater, Ol duvai Gorge, Tanzania endemic Birds, Usambara Mountains