This exceptional 18-day birding adventure resembles a very successful trip we’ve run three times previously—twice in 2019 and once in 2022. The difference is that this one adds a visit to Zimbabwe and Victoria Falls. It takes us through three different countries, offering a rich tapestry of breathtaking and varied landscapes. Our journey begins in the coastal Namib Desert at Walvis Bay, where towering dune fields (home to sought-after, localized near-endemics) meet rich lagoons teeming with flamingos, pelicans, shorebirds, and regional specials like Damara Tern and Chestnut-banded Plover.
The Erongo Mountains of the beautiful Namib Escarpment are next on our itinerary, and here we search for Rosy-faced Lovebird, Herero Chat, Rockrunner, Monteiro’s Hornbill, Damara Red-billed Hornbill, the batis-like, although largely terrestrial, White-tailed Shrike, and other charismatic species of northern Namibia.
Eventually we leave the desert and enter the grassland, savanna, and woodland of one of Africa’s greatest game parks, Etosha National Park. This is one of the world’s best places to see Black Rhinoceros and big cats, along with a good assortment of other African megafauna. It is also excellent for a fine range of very special birds, such as Namibia’s dazzling national bird, Crimson-breasted Shrike, the world’s heaviest flying bird, Kori Bustard, the diminutive Pygmy Falcon, and many more.
After Etosha, we head into an incredibly bird-diverse tropical corner of Namibia, the Kavango East and Zambezi Regions (formerly the Caprivi Strip), and the adjacent panhandle of the Okavango Delta, which falls just within the borders of Botswana. The magnificent wetlands, riparian forests, and woodlands in these parts support Pel’s Fishing Owl (this is the world’s most reliable area for this iconic species), Rock Pratincole, White-backed Night Heron, African Finfoot, Slaty Egret, Southern Carmine Bee-eater, and literally hundreds of other spectacular species. Finally, we bird around the impressive Victoria Falls for yet another rich assemblage of birds. We typically record close to 400 bird species on this tour of varied habitats – and we also get one of the highest mammal lists of any of our tours on this transect.
If you haven’t had enough of Southern Africa after nearly three weeks, you can combine this tour with Birding Ecotour’s Comprehensive Subtropical/Eastern South Africa Birding Tour which precedes it, for a 35-day Southern African adventure and even, preceding that, their Best of Cape Town and Beyond Birding Tour for an even longer, 42-day Southern African mega tour. Another possibility is to combine it with Best of Madagascar: 14-day Birding and Wildlife Tour, a great trip which the Travel Program has run several times in the past.
Price: R 167,812 per person sharing, assuming 4–8 participants (approx $10,000)
Single supplement: R 22,400 (approx $1,400)
Questions? Contact GGBA Travel Coordinator Eric Schroeder at travelprogram@goldengatebirdalliance.org.
Ready to register? Contact Eric first. He will put you in touch with Birding Ecotours.
