Resident Pelecanus onocrotalus
Huge white pelicans that often fish in groups, herding fish into the shallows before scooping them up together.
Great White Pelicans are among the heaviest flying birds in Africa. In Tanzania they gather on the Rift Valley lakes and on Lake Victoria, sometimes in their hundreds.
They are easiest to see from the lake shore at Manyara, and on the soda lakes after good rains when there are fish in the shallower water.
Lake Manyara, Lake Natron, Lake Eyasi and the shores of Lake Victoria.
Guide’s tipWatch a feeding group for a few minutes. They move in a coordinated line, dipping their bills almost in unison.
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 Rift Valley soda lake where East Africa’s Lesser Flamingos breed.
Seasonal soda lake with flamingos, waterbirds and quiet dry bush.
Africa’s largest lake, with papyrus specialists and lakeshore birds.
Tree-climbing lions, groundwater forest and a soda lake full of waterbirds.
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.
