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ZAMBIA
Birdquest's Zambia birding tour features a large African country that is still largely unknown to the birdwatching fraternity. Our Zambia tour has the most comprehensive itinerary available and, as well as producing a large bird list, focusses on the endemics and other specialities that are concentrated in both the southern and northwestern regions of Zambia.
Sunday 8th September -
Monday 23rd September 2013
(16 days)
Southern Zambia Post-Tour Extension to Saturday 28th September (5 days)
Leader:
Nik Borrow
Group Size Limit: 9
Tour Category: Easy for the most part, occasionally Moderate (and some optional fairly Demanding bog-stomping)
The stunning Miombo Rock Thrush is a retiring species that occurs at low density through the vast swathes of miombo that cover Zambia(Nik Borrow)
Deep in the interior of Central Africa lies Zambia, a huge, stable and friendly country that straddles the ‘Spine of Africa’, its barely perceptible watershed separating the vast basins of the Zambezi and the Congo.
Although well known for its prolific big game and spectacular scenery, Zambia has a bird species list of over 750 that includes many exciting birds, including a range of endemics and other localized specialities that are impossible or extremely difficult to see elsewhere on the continent. Zambia is the ultimate country to visit in order to see Africa’s miombo woodland specialities.
Within the borders of this amazing country sprawls a sparsely inhabited landscape. This exciting trip will take us to some of the most remote regions of the country, taking in open mopane woodlands and dense, dark evergreen ‘mushitus’ (forests), spectacular miombo wilderness, wide floodplains and ‘dambos’ (marshes), and, during the optional extension, the mighty Zambezi and the incredible Victoria Falls. We will even be able to see for ourselves how the Zambezi starts from little more than a puddle of water in the forests of far northwestern Zambia!
We will begin our journey at Lusaka and from here we head towards the far northwest of Zambia, breaking our stay at a comfortable lodge where Pel’s Fishing Owls are regularly seen and where a marvellous selection of miombo birds such as Whyte’s and Miombo Pied Barbets, and Chestnut-mantled Sparrow-Weaver can be found.
In the Mwinilunga region, a remote area tucked well out of the way in the extreme north-west corner of the country (where we will divide our time between the area around Mwinilunga town and the pleasant Hillwood Farm Estate), lies an area of forest more typical of the huge rainforests of the Congo basin. Here, at the source of the Zambezi itself and in the water-logged dambos and rich, riparian forests known as mushitus, such special birds as Black-backed Barbet, Angola Lark, Black-and-rufous Swallow, Grimwood’s and Fülleborn’s Longclaws, Bocage’s Robin-Chat, Bamboo Warbler, Laura’s Woodland Warbler, Bannerman’s Sunbird and Bocage’s Weaver can all be found.
The beautiful Cryptosepalum or mavunda woodlands that lie a little to the south are the type locality of the White-chested Tinkerbird, a species that has never been seen since the original specimen was collected in 1964! Here we shall be hoping to be the first to see this mysterious bird, but, more realistically, we shall also be looking for the beautiful Perrin’s Bush-shrike and the localized Margaret’s Batis.
After partly retracing our steps, and looking for Sharp-tailed Starling along the way, we will turn to the northeast. Miombo is a special Central African habitat that reaches its zenith in Zambia and we shall travel onwards through these marvellous and seemingly endless woodlands with their gnarled, lichen-covered trees until we end come to the spectacular, domed granitic inselberg landscapes of Mutinondo. Here we should encounter the delightful Bar-winged Weaver and we will also search for Anchieta’s Barbet, Locust Finch and the ultra-secretive Chestnut-headed Flufftail.
During the optional extension we will first explore the area around Livingstone and the famous Victoria Falls, for here in the southwest can be found the endangered Black-cheeked Lovebird, an endemic species that only questionably straggles to neighbouring countries.
Moving on, we shall stay at one of the cattle ranches of the Kafue basin with its large, spreading fig trees that support Zambia’s only other endemic, the striking Chaplin’s Barbet.
Birdquest has operated tours to Zambia since 2004.
(Note: The above is a summary of the tour. For more information please download the detailed, day-by-day itinerary. The button is at the top right of the page.)
Accommodation & Road Transport: The hotels and lodges are mostly of normal Birdquest standard. At Mwinilunga town we will stay for a total of three nights in a basic resthouse with shared bathroom facilities and two or more people in each room. At Chimfunshi we will stay one night at a simple but pleasant field centre on a private farm (bathroom facilities are shared and basic). We will be travelling in 4x4 vehicles or minibuses on a mixture of well-surfaced tarred roads and dirt roads.
Walking: The walking effort is easy almost throughout, although there will be some optional fairly strenuous ‘bog-stomping’ in order to look for a few of the special birds.
Climate: The weather is normally hot with a mixture of sunny and overcast conditions at this season. Rain can be expected at times and it can be heavy.
Bird Photography: Opportunities are quite good.
Tour Price: (provisional): $5330 Lusaka/Lusaka. Post-Tour Extension: $2010. Price includes all transportation (including Lusaka-Livingstone flight), all accommodations, all meals, bottled water, some drinks, all excursions, all entrance fees, all tips for local drivers/guides and for accommodations/restaurants, leader services.
Single Room Supplement: (provisional): $447 (excluding three nights at Mwinilunga town). Extension: $267. At Nkanga, Chimfunshi and Mutinondo the number of rooms is limited: anyone having to share unexpectedly at any of these locations will receive an appropriate refund.
Deposit: 10% of the tour price (excluding any single supplement).
Air Travel To & From The Tour: Our in-house IATA ticket agency can arrange your air travel in connection with the tour from a departure point anywhere in the world, or you may arrange your own air travel if you prefer. We can tailor-make your itinerary to your personal requirements, so if you would like to travel in advance of the tour (and spend a night in an hotel so you will feel fresh when the tour starts), or return later than the end of the tour, or make a side trip to some other destination, or travel business class rather than economy, we will be happy to assist. Please contact us about your air travel requirements.
Even at their driest the Victoria Falls are nothing less than spectacular (Nik Borrow)
Pale-billed Hornbills although a widespread miombo specialist can also be surprisingly elusive (Nik Borrow)
79 photos
View Gallery Photos From ZAMBIA
We have a good chance of encountering the enormous marmalade-coloured Pel’s Fishing Owl near our lodge along the Kafue River (Nik Borrow)
The retiring Racket-tailed Roller can be notoriously difficult to find in the miombo woodlands (Nik Borrow)
The Black-cheeked Lovebird is virtually endemic to Zambia as the few records outside of the country are thought to refer to escapes or feral birds (Nik Borrow)
The striking Chaplin's Barbet is endemic to Zambia and frequents the old Sycamore Figs that grow on the ranches within the Nkanga River Conservation Area (Nik Borrow)
The attractive Fülleborn’s Longclaw should be easy to find as we explore the numerous dambos that occur throughout the country (Nik Borrow)
Zambia is surely one of the best countries to get to grips with an array of miombo specialists and this Miombo Scrub Robin is just one of them (Nik Borrow)
The retiring Böhm's Flycatcher is sparsely distributed throughout the miombo and tracking one down will be one of the challenges of the tour (Nik Borrow)
The Chestnut-backed Sparrow Weaver is another miombo specialist that we will hope to find during this tour (Nik Borrow)
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Ph: 512-343-1700, Fax: 512-343-1701
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