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Detailed Itineraries
Day 1-
Lilongwe
Arrive in Malawi and transfer to a comfortable hotel in
town. A walk in the nearby Lilongwe Nature Sanctuary for
those who are willing and able. Our main target birds will
include African Finfoot, White-backed Night Heron, Schalow’s,
Half-collared Kingfisher, African Broadbill, Black-throated
Wattle-eye, Mountain Wagtail, Giolden Weaver and Pied
Mannikin.
Day 2 - Liwonde National Park.
After breakfast we head south, to the escarpment beyod Dedza,
then drop down into the hot, steamy Rift valley. We enter
Liwonde National Park - a 548 sq. km wilderness of swamps,
grasslands and mopane wodlands in the upper Shire River
valley. We will be staying at Mvuu Camp, a luxury tented
camp set beautifully overlooking the Shire river. An
afternoon boat ride on the river should add many waterbirds
to the list, possibly including specials like White-backed
Night-Heron, White-backed Duck, African Pygmy Goose, Lesser
Jacana, White-headed Lapwing, Long-toed Lapwing, Gull-biled
Tern, African Skimmer, Black Coucal and Southern
Brown-throated Weaver.
Day 3 - Liwonde National Park.
Two days of drives and bush walks should reveal a good
diversity of wood and and riverine forest birds. Our main
target birds will be Boehm’s Bee-eater, Brown-breasted
Barbet, Lilian’s Lovebird and Livingstone’s Flycatcher, with
other specials including Bat Hawk, African Cuckoo Falcon,
Red-necked Falcon, Dickinson’s Kestrel, Red-necked Spurfowl,
Yellowbill [Green Coucal ], African Barred Owlet, Pel’s
Fishing Owl, Mottled Spinetail, Eastern Nicator, Collared
Palm Thrush, Meve’s Long-tailed Starling and Broad-tailed
Paradise-Whydah. Among these will be more typical woodland
species such as Brown-headed Parrot, Purple-crested Turaco,
Green-capped Eremomela, Pale Flycatcher, Southern Black
Flycatcher, Black-crowned Tchagra, Tropical Boubou,
Grey-headed Bush Shrike and White Helmetshrike.
Day 4: Thyolo
We will spend much of these days walking in the forest.
Thyolo mountain [1462 m] is the most prominent feature of
the Shire Highlands. The mountain extends north and south in
long ridges, dropping sharply to the Shire River in the
west, and undulating gently down to the Thuchila and Ruo
Rivers in the east. Isolated pockets of a once-extensive
forest mosaic remain, but are becoming increasingly
threatened by illegal felling. We will be staying in the
delightful, well positioned colonial houses of a big tea
estate. A number of highly range-restricted species occur
here and our targets will include Green Barbet, near-endemic
Thyolo Alethe and White-winged Apalis. Other montane forest
specials could include Green-headed Oriole, Spotted Ground
Thrush, Esatern Bronze-naped Pigeon, Moustached Green
Tinkerbird, Cabanis’ Greenbul, Grey-olive Greenbul,
Evergreen Forest Warbler, Black-headed Apalis,
Black-throated Wattle-eye, Bar-tailed Trogon, White-eared
Barbet, Bertrand’s Weaver, Green-backed Twinspot and African
Citril.
Day 5 – Lengwe National Park.
A drive down into the Lower Shire offers splendid views of
the vast plains below. Lengwe National Park is an 887 sq km
wilderness of dense thickets and mixed open woodland. A wide
variety of typical woodland species occur here and the list
should grow considerably. Apart from Lengwe’s special birds
[see tomorrow], a good variety of more widespread species
should include [Western Banded Snake Eagle, Brown-headed
Parrot, Crowned Hornbill, African Golden Oriole, African
Paradise Flycatcher, Retz’s [Red-billed] Helmetshrike,
Southern [Miombo] Blue-eared Starling, Variable [
Yellow-bellied] Sunbird, African Yellow White-eye, Southern
Grey-headed Sparrow and Red-headed Weaver. Our overnight
chalets are comfortable and spacious all with en suite
facilities.
Day 6: Lengwe
Full day spent birding in the thickets and woodlands.
Lengwe’s special birds are found in the dense, low-lying
thickets and include Crested Guineafowl, Tambourine Dove,
Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo, Boehm’s Bee-eater, Green-backed
[Little Spotted] Wodpecker, Square-tailed Drongo, Cabanis’
and Grey-olive Greenbuls, Eastern [Yellow-spotted] Nicator,
Rudd’s Apalis, Livingstone’s Flycatcher, Black-and-white
Flycatcher, Woodward’s Batis and Grey Sunbird.
Day 7,8,9 - Dzalanyama Forest Reserve
Days birding the rich miombo woodlands. Some of the many
target birgs will include Pale-billed Hoenbill, Whyte’s
Barbet, Miombo Pied Stierlng’s Woodpecker, Miombo [Central
Bearded] Scrub-robin, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Rufous-bellied
Tit, Boehm’s Flycatcher, White-tailed Blue Flycatcher,
Souza’s Shirke, Anchieta’s [Red and blue] Sunbird, Shelly’s
Sunbird, and the rare Olive-headed Weaver. Along with these
should be a number of typical miombo birds such as
Green-backed Honeybird, White-breasted Cuckooshrike,
Spottede Creeper, Miombo Grey Tit, Retz’s [ Red-billed]
Helmetshrike, Wood Pipit, Miombo Rock Thrush, Southern [
Mashona] Hyliota, Peters’ [Red-throated] Twinspot, Breaod-tailed
Paradise Whydah, Miombo Double-collared Sunbird, Western
Violet-backed Sunbird, Black-eared Seedeater and Cabanis’
Bunting. Overnight at Dzalanyama Forest Lodge.
Day 10 – Vwaza Marsh Game Reserve
An early morning drive northwards with stops on the Viphya
plateau will hopefully produce a number of endemics like
White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, Miombo Rock Thrush, African
Spotted Creeper, Trilling Cisticola, Brown Parisoma, Rufous-bellied
Tit, Miombo [ Northern Grey] Tit, Anchieta’s [ Red and Bule]
Sunbird, Miombo Double-collared Sunbird and Reichard’s
[Stripe-breasted] Seedeater. We will arrive at Vwaza Marsh
Game Reserve at early afternoon. The surrounding woodlands
host two highly localised specials, White-winged Starling
and Chestnut-mantled Sparrowweaver. In the late afternoon,
we undertake a birding / game walk around Lake Kazuni.
Overnight in a luxury tented camp at Lake Kazuni..
Day 11 & 12 : Nyika
After a morning birding walk along the shores of Lake Kazuni
and followed by breakfast, we continue to Nyika. A short
stop will be made to search riparian forest at Thazima Gate
[entrance to Nyika National Park ] for the highly localised
Black-backed Barbet. Two days birding the mountain
grasslands and forests of the Nyika Plateau. We will
overnight in the delightful Chelinda lodge with commanding
views of the surrounding grasslands The Nyika and Viphya
Plateau have a host of birds that are scarce or absent
elsewhere in Malawi. Some of our target birds will be
Rufous-chested Sparrow hawk, Red-winged Francolin, Denham’s
[Stanley’s] Bustard, Rwenzori [Mountain] Nightjar, Angola
Swallow, Jackson’s Pipit, Black-lored [ Mountain ] Cisticola,
Churring Cisticola, Mountain Yellow Warbler, Cinnamon
Bracken Warbler, Red-tufted Malachite Sunbird, Mountain
Marsh Widow and Streaky Canary. Aside from these, we could
also find Shelley’s Francolin, Common Quail, Blue Swallow,
Wattled Crane, Augus Buzzard, Malachite Sunbird, and a
number of common grassland birds. Hopefully some of the
monatne evergreen forests near the Zambian border and the
forests on the eastern rim of the plateau. A bewildering
array of new birds await, hopefully including Dusky
[Pink-breasted] Turtle Dove, Waller’s Starling,
Slender-billed Red-winged Starling, Olived-flanked
Robin-chat, White-chested Alethe, Brown-headed Apalis,
Chestnut-throated Apalis, African Hill Babbler, shape’s
Greenbul, Green-headed Sunbird, Baglafecht Weaver, and a
number of more widespread forest specialists such as
Schalow’s Turaco, Bar-tailed Trogon, Moustached Green
Tinkerbird, Fuelleborn’s Boubou, Malawi batis, White-starred
Robin, [ Olive-breasted] Mountain Greenbul, Orange Ground
Thrush, Evergreen Forest Warbler, White-tailed Crested
Flycatcher, and others. The eastern forests have several
birds not found elsewhere on Nyika, namely Mountain
Illadopsis, Sharpe’s Akalat and Oriole Finch.
Day 13 – Chintheche
After an early morning’s birding and breakfast we pack our
things and head off to the shores of Lake Malawi. Remnants
of Lowland evergreen forest en route support East Coast
Akalat, Red-capped Robin-chat, Green-backed [Little Spotted]
Woodpecker, Eastern Sawwing, Grey-olive Greenbul,
Purple-banded Sunbird, Yellow bill [Green Coucal]
Yellow-spotted Nicator, African Broadbill and Eastern Olive
Sunbird. If time permits we will also search for
Lemon-breasted Canary on the floodplain. We arrive in the
early afternoon at Makuzi Beach, south of Chintheche. Our
comfortable chalets are on the beach overlooking the lake.
Day 14 –
At Chintheche at leisure and exploring the surroundings.
Day 15:
Transfer 4 hrs along the lakeshore to Lilongwe in time to
catch your return flight.
Logistics –Vehicle used –
Toyota Land Cruiser specially built to seat 7 or 9 people
comfortably – trailer taken for luggage
Accom Used – varied accom used according to the area –
generally 1 to 2 star accom. (In some forest lodges we
provide our own provisions however there is a chef to do the
preparation)
Guides –
1 driver / guide – He is a keen and enthusiastic birder and
is fully trained.
Renowned local area guides usually join us in their area of
operations.
Includes:
all meals, accom, entrance fees, Guide, bottled drinking
water, bird checklists, game walks, game drives, boat
safaris etc.
Excludes:
Flights to and from Malawi, departure taxes, alcoholic
drinks.
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