Zambia: Birding the East and African Pitta

Nestled in the heart of southern Africa, Zambia is a land of breathtaking natural beauty, diverse wildlife, and rich cultural heritage. With its friendly people, stable politics, vibrant traditions, and good infrastructure, Zambia beckons adventurers, wildlife enthusiasts, and birders alike to explore its natural wonders. Comprising this quintessential African landscape are an array of contrasting habitats: mature evergreen miombo woodland comprises a large portion of the landscape, but occasionally this makes way for impressive, towering expanses of moist forest known as mushitus; an environment more typically associated with the adjacent Democratic Republic of Congo. Although Zambia has only one true avian endemic – the Chaplin’s Barbet – it supports an impressive overall bird list exceeding 790 species and provides birders with a fantastic opportunity to connect with some notoriously difficult southern central African mushitu and miombo specialities. Undoubtedly one of the continent’s most underrated birding destinations, Zambia is appealing for not only global listers, but also those seeking an introduction into southern African birding, whilst also delving ever so slightly into some of central Africa’s avian treasures.