Africa Birding Tours - Small Group Safaris for Impossible Endemics
Birding in Africa provides a hugely diverse set of experiences from innumerable untamed habitats and landscapes. We specialise in the less-travelled regions, with our tours focused on finding the hardest endemic birds in the most challenging countries and regions. Join our leaders for some of the best birding on the planet, where every day is different.
From the acacia-dotted savannas of East Africa to the ancient rainforests of the Congo Basin, and the lush montane forests of the Rift Valley escarpments to the windswept dusty plains of the Sahel, continental Africa delivers an unrivalled concentration of species, endemics, and sheer spectacle. Of course we can't forget the wonderful island of Madagascar, which makes the avid naturalist almost feel as if they are in another world whenever they enter the forests full of strange birds, chameleons, and lemurs.
Not Just Birds: Travel with Wildlife Experts
While our tour leaders are first and foremost birders, all of us are incredibly dedicated to finding and identifying exciting animals whenever possible. You can be assured that by travelling to Africa with Ornis Birding Expeditions, not only will the birding be exceptional but you are likely to be shown some truly rare and enigmatic wildlife far beyond the common antelope species and Big Five. Some of our recent birding tours have succeeded in finding Pygmy Hippopotamus, Western Lowland Gorilla, Mandrill, Aye-aye, Madame Berthe’s Mouse Lemur, Serval, Caracal, Bat-eared Fox, White-tailed Mongoose, Fosa, Maned Rat, Giant Jumping Rat, Golden-rumped Sengi, Hammerhead Bat, Gabon Viper, Black-necked Spitting Cobra, Nosy Komba Ground Boa, Usambara Three-horned Chameleon, Aberdare Mountains Dwarf Chameleon, and Amber Mountain Chameleon. If spotlighting is possible, we always do it!
Window Seats: Essential on Birding Safaris
Whilst birding in East Africa savannah, custom-modified 4WD safari vehicles with a lift-up rooftops are essential for birdwatching. Exiting the vehicle is often not allowed, you never know what could be hiding in the grass! These special vehicles can technically fit up to twelve people depending on the model, but we always set a limit of five to six guests. This means that everybody has a window seat with a great view, and there is plenty of space to quickly stand up and see out the opposite side of the vehicle without too many heads in the way.
Small Groups: The Key to "Impossible" Birds
The continent is famous for those wipe open plains, but equally important for avian diversity are the extensive equatorial forests of West Africa, from Gabon to Sierra Leone. It is in these difficult habitats that our strictly-limited maximum group sizes of six to seven guests become essential to have the best chance at seeing secretive birds like Black Guineafowl and Red-necked Picathartes. Even general forest birding is tough in these areas, where having fewer people on the trail can be the difference between a flushed bird, or an excellent life-tick view of that skittish flufftail and striking wattle-eye for the whole group.
Angola
Highly targeted tour to Angola focusing on all ~20 endemics and many West African specialties in a pleasingly short timeframe. Includes the stunning Red-crested Turaco, Gabela Helmetshrike, Braun's Bushshrike, and Angola Cave Chat.
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Cameroon
Comprehensive coverage of this fabulous country where West Africa meets the Congo Basin. Amongst several truly rare species like Mount Kupe Bushshrike for which we can cross our fingers, some of the expected standouts are Grey-necked Rockfowl, Grey-headed Broadbill, Bannerman’s Turaco, White-throated Mountain Babbler, and White-collared Starling.
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Ethiopia
Birding on the Roof of Africa, this tour across vast landscapes includes specialties like Arabian Bustard, Black-winged Lovebird, Abyssinian Owl, Ruspoli's Turaco, Star-spotted Nightjar, African Spotted Creeper, Stresemann's Bushcrow, Thick-billed Raven, and of course Ethiopian Wolf!
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Gabon
Visit one of the wildest countries on the planet, exploring huge tracts of forest which give access to the many Congo Basin endemics. Timed to match the nesting of African River Martin, we can also expect Black Guineafowl, Vermiculated Fishing Owl, Black-headed Bee-eater, Rachel's Malimbe, Lyre-tailed Honeyguide, and so much more.
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Kenya
Not your average safari in dried-up grasslands, this highly-targeted trip during the onset of the monsoon coincides with peak bird activity and beautiful plumages! We focus on all ~60 of the important endemic and near-endemic birds of Kenya.
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Madagascar
Birding on the "eighth continent", covering almost every endemic bird and dozens of lemurs in some of the most unique habitats on the planet! From Schlegel’s Asity to Long-tailed Ground Roller, we will see close to 100 endemics as we work across the island using the classic route to access the best habitats.
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Madagascar: Special
Visit a stunning wilderness area where the incomparable Aye-aye is near-guaranteed, then work south towards Madagascar Pochard, Red Owl, and Tsingy Forest Rail via many other exciting mammals like Golden-crowned Sifaka, Blue-eyed Black Lemur, and the unique Fosa. Expect many chameleons and other special reptiles too on this itinerary with a difference.
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Namibia & Botswana
Covering some of Africa's best wildlife refuges, including four days in Etosha and three days along the Okavango. This tour is full of fantastic scenery and spectacular animal encounters, with plenty of near-endemic birds and other specialties from the coastal desert dunes to the rich papyrus swamps.
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Senegal
On our comprehensive tour of this welcoming country, we will look for Sahelian specialities such as White-crested Tiger Heron, Scissor-tailed Kite, Savile’s Bustard, Quail-plover, Golden Nightjar, Cricket Warbler, and more. Easy birding with great photographic opportunities!
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Sierra Leone & Liberia
While rarely-visited by birders, these two West African countries offer more Upper Guinea endemics than Ghana! All with no camping or long hikes, target megas like Rufous Fishing Owl, African Pitta, White-necked Picathartes, Black-headed Rufous Warbler, Sierra Leone Prinia, Nimba Flycatcher, Gola Malimbe, Emerald Starling, and many more.
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Tanzania: Eastern Arc
Covering Pemba Island and the isolated mountain ranges of eastern Tanzania! Around 20 expected endemics include Uluguru Bushshrike, Usambara Akalat, Long-billed Forest Warbler, Pemba Scops Owl, Lesser Seedcracker, Loveridge's Sunbird, Winifred's Warbler, Kilombero Weaver, and Usambara Weaver.
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Tanzania: Northern Specialties
Specialised safari from Mount Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti, with a focus on sought-after birds like Grey-breasted Spurfowl, Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, Bronze-winged Courser, Fischer's Lovebird, Grey-crested Helmetshrike, Maasai Apalis, Mbulu White-eye, and the extremely distinctive "Mbulu Robin-Chat". Plus unbelivable densities of mammals of course!
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Tanzania: Udzungwa & Rubeho
This extraordinary tour visits both the Udzungwa and the Rubeho Mountains in search of the mythical Udzungwa Forest Partridge, along with the skulking Dapple-throat. Other fabulous range-restricted specialties include Kipengere Seedeater, White-winged Apalis, Iringa Akalat, Rubeho Akalat, Rufous-winged Sunbird, Skye Double-collared Sunbird, and many more.
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Uganda
This extended tour to Uganda targets all the possible Albertine Rift endemics plus specialties of the remote north. Highlights include Green-breasted Pitta, Rwenzori Turaco, Black-breasted Barbet, Fox's Weaver, the incomparable Shoebill, and of course near-guaranteed encounters with both Mountain Gorilla and Chimpanzee!
Zambia: African Pitta & Endemics
Target African Pitta at the start of the breeding season, along with specialties like Grimwood's Longclaw, Black-cheeked Lovebird, Chaplin's Barbet, Bamboo Warbler, Bar-winged Weaver and Black-necked Eremomela. From the remote north-west to the mighty Victoria Falls, this tour has it all!
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The Ornis Birding Strategy in Africa
The most accessible parts of the Miombo Belt run primarily from Angola through Zambia and Zimbabwe then into Malawi. Across these three countries we have designed tours to see the specialsied dry woodland birds like Black-cheeked Lovebird, Pale‑billed Hornbill, Rufous-bellied Tit, Anchieta's Sunbird, Wood Pipit, and more. The much-wanted African Spotted Creeper is easiest to find in Zambia, but is a chance on any of these tours.
The biodiverse realm of East Africa and the Rift Valley is best explored through Kenya, Uganda, and our three Tanzania tours. The western Rwenzori Mountains visited in Uganda hold a completely different set of endemic birds to those in the Eastern Arc of Tanzania, while species in the southern Serengeti are replaced by others as the habitat dries going north through central Kenya. In a way, these four tours are the north, south, east, and west boundaries of this region, all our departures typically reaching species counts over 400 and sometimes exceeding 500. Although several places require driving in game reserves where exiting the vehicles is not allowed (or safe), we operate with large modified 4WDs with pop-up roofs which allow for the best birding experience possible in places like Tsavo East and the Serengeti.
Most birders know that the forests of West Africa are extremely hard work, where heat and humidity combined with naturally low bird densities can make the forests seem devoid of life at times. However some of the most exciting birds in the world can be found on our tours to Cameroon, Gabon, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Think Black Guineafowl, Grey-necked Rockfowl (or Red-necked Picathartes), Nkulengu Rail, African Pitta, Rachel's Malimbe, and so much more. Thankfully, in all these countries we are able to break up the tough forest birding with superbly rich habitats on the edge of the Sahel and upper Congo Basin where an abundance of stunners like Egyptian Plover, Black-headed Bee-eater, African River Martin, and Emerald Starling all feature.
