Africa - Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has a confirmed bird list of over 660 species and new vagrants continue to be spotted. Although there are no endemic species in Zimbabwe, some are restricted to the forests of the Eastern Highlands and western Mozambique.

There are many areas of interest for the visiting birder: the Eastern Highlands and the associated Haroni-Rusito and Honde Valleys; the Brachystegia woodlands of the plateau; the Chizarira Fault Block; the Save River basin; Hwange and the Kalahari Sandveld; the Granite domes of Matobos and the Zambezi River.

Hwange National Park is the largest National Park in Zimbabwe, over 14,600 km2 in area, and is one of the country's main tourist attractions. It has a good network of gravel roads, hides, guided walking trails, night drives, hutted camps, campsites and safari lodges.

The eastern highlands along the border with Mozambique form a major part of the globally important Eastern Zimbabwe Mountains Endemic Bird Area (EBA) which has a number of near endemic species such as Swynnerton's Robin, Briar Warbler and Chirinda Apalis. These are forest birds which are found in the relatively small patches of wet montane forest in the Bvumba and Nyanga mountains.

The Brachystegia woodland of the central plateau offers a lot of special birding places where the Zimbabwe Brachystegia specials such as Northern Grey Tit, Rufous-bellied Tit, Boulder Chat, Spotted Creeper and Miombo Double-collared Sunbird can be found. The Gosho Park Environmental Project near Marondera offers all these plus Collared Flycatcher in summer.

Orange Ground Thrush, copyright Pete Morris