Resident Sagittarius serpentarius
A raptor that hunts on foot, stamping snakes to death in the grass. Unmistakable striding across the plains.
With its long legs, grey plumage and black “quill pen” crest, the Secretarybird is one of the most distinctive birds in Africa. It walks up to thirty kilometres a day hunting snakes, lizards and grasshoppers.
The short grass of the Ngorongoro Crater floor and the Serengeti plains are ideal, and we see them on most game drives there. They are also regular on the Lark Plains during our Beesley’s Lark walks.
Open grassland in the Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater floor and the Lark Plains.
Guide’s tipSecretarybirds nest on top of flat acacias. If you see one return to the same tree twice, there may be a nest.
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.
The only place on earth to see the critically endangered Beesley’s Lark.
Huge elephant herds, ancient baobabs and Tanzania’s endemic birds.
A volcanic caldera with black rhino, lions and big grassland birds.
Vast plains, the Great Migration and big cats all year round.
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.
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.
Agapornis personatus
Green, yellow and masked in black, chattering in flocks around the baobabs. A Tanzanian endemic you will hear before you see.
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.
