Tanzania Birding Safari: Savanna Birds, Wildebeest Migration & Eastern Arc Mountain Endemics

Tanzania surely comes closer to what people expect of Africa than any other country; the vast plains of the Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Crater, and Africa’s highest mountain (Kilimanjaro) epitomize the continent. Our Tanzania birding tour allows one to see the wildebeest migration, big cats, an abundance of birds (East Africa is the easiest place on the continent to amass a huge bird list), and then a suite of Tanzanian endemics that lurk in the Eastern Arc Mountains and on Pemba Island (a more idyllic version of Zanzibar). Tanzania has lots of endemics and is one of Africa’s greatest wildlife havens, boasting varied and spectacular scenery.

Yellow-collared Lovebird is an incredibly striking Tanzanian endemic.

We start our Tanzanian birding safari in the famous (for wildlife) northern parts of the country near the Kenyan border. After arriving at Kilimanjaro International Airport, we head for Arusha on a journey that (weather-permitting) will give us good views of Africa’s highest mountain. We spend a good amount of time in the great parks such as the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, finding not only the great herds and accompanying predators, but also localized lovebird species, Grey-crested Helmetshrike and other Kenya/Tanzania endemics, along with birds like Grey-breasted Spurfowl that inexplicably don’t cross into similar habitat on the Kenyan side. Birdlife absolutely abounds, and we also find a lot of more widespread African species. We then head southeastward from mountain range to mountain range, looking for afromontane forest endemics (many of them Tanzanian endemics).

Eventually this epic Tanzania birding tour ends at the tropical Indian Ocean city of Dar es Salaam, from where there is the option of joining a short extension to Pemba Island for its four endemics and/or a “rough” extension to some of the more remote Eastern Arc Mountains for endemics we won’t see on the main tour. Please email us if you are interested in either or both of these extensions.

Rufous-tailed Weaver – a highly range-restricted East African endemic.