More information on birding tours with expert guides & safari holidays to South Africa, India, Latin America, Costa Rica & beyond:
SOUTHERN & EAST AFRICA
South Africa offers a wide range of birding tours with expert guides & safari holidays, with habitats ranging from the dry bushveld of the Kruger National Park to the iSimangaliso St Lucia Wetlands & the spectacular Drakensberg Mountains, with its many raptors. The pelagic birds off Cape Town are also not to be missed. The considerable distances provide both challenges and opportunities to enjoy over 900 species, including over 175 endemics. On birding holidays & safaris to South Africa, the Cape White Eye and the Violet Eared Waxbill are special favourites.
Botswana’s seasonal flooded Okavango Delta offers some of the best birding holidays & safaris on the continent, whilst South Luangwa National Park in Zambia offers the opportunity to view tens of thousands of brightly coloured carmine bee-eaters nesting. Here you can also visit the might Victoria Falls and combine your trip with birding in Namibia.
Uganda is famous for its gorillas and chimps, but also offers superb birding – particularly in Queen Elizabeth National Park & at Murchison Falls. Rwanda is another top primate country, with outstanding birding at Nyungwe Rainforest, Lake Kivu and Volcanoes National Park.
On birding holidays & safaris to Kenya the Kakamega rainforest, Lake Baringo & the open plains of the Masai Mara are hot spots. On birding holidays & safaris to Tanzania, Lake Victoria & the Serengeti are not to be missed.
The rainforests of Madagascar are home to lemurs, as well as many endemic bird species seen nowhere else on earth.
LATIN AMERICA
Costa Rica in Central America tops the list for bio-diversity in birding holidays & safaris, with an astonishing bird count in excess of 800 species, of which around 100 are endemic. Geographically it is a small country with multiple habitat types and boasts both an Atlantic and Pacific coastline with rainforests, as well as mountains covered with cloud forests. This makes it an ideal destination for maximising bird count. Iconic species on birding tours to Costa Rica include the Resplendent Quetzal, the Lovely Cotinga and the great variety of stunning hummingbirds
In South America, it is the Amazon Basin that takes pride of place, spreading across eight different countries including Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.
On birding tours with expert guides & safari holidays to Brazil, the Pantanal Wetlands and Iguassu Falls offer spectacularly different eco-systems, as do as the Atlantic rainforests - but the variety of birding is considerable, so tailoring your birding tour is vital. Total bird species in Brazil alone exceeds 1,800 with nearly 240 endemics. Iconic birds of the Pantanal include Hyacinth Macaw and the Blue Crowned Trogon. The Ibera wetlands in neighbourin Argentina, and the thousands of flamingos that winter in the Mar Chiquita wetlands are another unforgettable sight.
Finally an expedition cruise through the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador will top many birders’ bucket list.
INDIA & SRI LANKA
India is another vast sub-continent offering many different habitats - with birding tours with expert guides & safari holidays ranging from the grasslands of Gujarat, with its many migrant species, to the wetlands of Bharatpur in the historic Golden Triangle, and the lush backwaters of Kerala.
The Sundarbans Delta in West Bengal is another hotspot, as are Kaziranga and Jim Corbett National Parks in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is critical to pick the right time to visit this huge and varied country. With nearly 1,400 bird species in India and Sri Lanka, including over 160 endemics, you will not be disappointed with the kind of focused birding holidays & safaris we can put together for you. Iconic birds include the Scarlet Minivet and the Purple Rumped Sunbird.
Sri Lanka offer a smaller birding population than the Indian mainland - around 450 species, including over 30 endemics - but with the advantage of relative geographic compactness. As a result it is a favoured destination for birding tours with expert guides & safari holidays. Iconic birds include the Sri Lanka Blue Magpie and the Stork Billed Kingfisher.