Resident Lamprotornis regius
Arguably the most beautiful starling in the world, a bird of the dry northeast with a tail longer than its body.
Golden-breasted Starlings look as if they were painted: iridescent blue and green above, golden yellow below, with a long graduated tail. They live in small groups in the driest country of northern Tanzania.
They are not a park bird so much as a bird of the scrub between parks, and our 18-day birding tour through Mkomazi and the South Pare foothills is the trip that finds them best.
Dry thorn scrub east of Tarangire and around the Lark Plains and Mkomazi.
Guide’s tipThey feed on termites on the ground, then fly up to a bare bush. Watch the flock, not the bird.
Sightings are never guaranteed: these are wild animals in wild places. What we can promise is a guide who knows where to look.
Destinations
The parks and reserves where our guides look for it, each with its own best season and safaris.
The only place on earth to see the critically endangered Beesley’s Lark.
Huge elephant herds, ancient baobabs and Tanzania’s endemic birds.
Keep exploring
Chersomanes beesleyi
Fewer than a hundred birds left, all on one patch of plain north of Arusha. Nowhere else on earth.
Tauraco hartlaubi
A flash of crimson wings in the forest canopy. Arusha National Park is the easiest place to see one.
Tauraco fischeri
The coastal and Usambara forests’ turaco, with a red crest tipped white. A target bird for every East Usambara trip.
Sagittarius serpentarius
A raptor that hunts on foot, stamping snakes to death in the grass. Unmistakable striding across the plains.
Balearica regulorum
The golden crown, the dance and the bugling call. Endangered, but still a daily sight on the crater floor.
Ardeotis kori
The heaviest flying bird in the world, pacing the plains with its neck puffed up in display.
Phoeniconaias minor
Pink crowds on the soda lakes. Numbers rise and fall with the water, so your guide checks before you go.
Lamprotornis unicolor
Tanzania’s own starling: long-tailed, dusty grey and common around the baobabs of Tarangire.
Tell us your dates and the birds or animals you most want to see. We’ll reply within 24 hours with a route and a full quote.
