Another dream destination, though for different reasons, is Lake Natron. This is not a Big Five area, and populations of mammals are restricted to just a handful of herbivores. However, if you’re bonkers about birds, you are guaranteed a good time here! That’s because, from November to April each year, the salt-and-soda lake is home to over 2.5 million lesser flamingo, the world’s largest breeding colony!
Birding elsewhere in Tanzania is pretty amazing too. You can see both greater and lesser flamingos in the north and south safari areas, in addition to a lot of other waterfowl. Avocets, bitterns, cormorants and shags, ducks and geese, herons, ibises, jacanas, kingfishers, pelicans, plovers, sandpipers, snipes, stilts, storks… parts of this country really are a birder’s paradise! Many of the national parks contain abundant raptors too, as well as babblers, bee-eaters, bulbuls, canaries, crows, cuckoos, darters, doves, drongos, finches, flycatchers, francolins – and that’s just the beginning of the alphabet! With individual park highlights including the crowned crane, secretary bird, and intriguingly named bare-faced go-away bird, we highly recommend that you remember to bring your binos!