Resident Apaloderma narina
Emerald back, scarlet belly, and a habit of sitting absolutely still. Finding one is a highlight of any forest walk.
The Narina Trogon is one of those birds that seems too tropical for East Africa. It perches upright in the shade of the canopy, turning its head slowly, and lets you walk right past if you are not looking.
Our guides find it by its soft, repeated hoot, which carries a long way through the forest. Lake Manyara’s groundwater forest and the forest road in Arusha National Park are both reliable, and the Usambaras add the chance of the rarer Bar-tailed Trogon on the same day.
Groundwater forest at Lake Manyara, the forest road in Arusha National Park and the Eastern Arc forests.
Guide’s tipTrogons face away from you to hide the red belly. Scan for a green back with a long tail hanging straight down.
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.
Montane forest, the Momella Lakes and Hartlaub’s Turaco, just 45 minutes from Arusha.
Tree-climbing lions, groundwater forest and a soda lake full of waterbirds.
Ancient Eastern Arc forests holding Tanzania’s rarest endemic birds.
Track wild chimpanzees in the forests where Jane Goodall began her research.
Rainforest endemics, Sanje Falls and the Kilombero Weaver in southern Tanzania.
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.
