Resident Tauraco rossae
Deep violet with a yellow face and crimson wings. One of the most beautiful birds in Africa, and Gombe is where we see it.
Ross’s Turaco belongs to the forests of Central Africa and only just reaches western Tanzania along Lake Tanganyika. The yellow bill and face shield stand out against glossy violet plumage, and when it flies the wings flash red.
At Gombe we usually find it on the walk in from the lakeshore, feeding in fruiting trees above the trail. It is a bird that makes even non-birders reach for the binoculars.
Lakeshore forest and the wooded valleys of Gombe National Park.
Guide’s tipListen for a loud, rolling chuckle from the canopy, then look for a shape too big to be a starling.
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.
Clear lake, western forest birds and the gateway to Gombe and Mahale.
Track wild chimpanzees in the forests where Jane Goodall began her research.
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.
