Volcanoes National Park Birding — The Albertine Rift’s Avian Riches
Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park is one of the most significant birding destinations in Africa, not because of the absolute number of species it contains — the park’s high-altitude, single-ecosystem character limits total species count compared to lower-altitude diverse-habitat sites — but because of the proportion of those species that are endemic or near-endemic to the Albertine Rift. The Albertine Rift, which runs along the western edge of Rwanda and Uganda, is one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots for birds, and the forests of the Virunga range at the heart of this zone support a concentration of restricted-range species that serious birders rank among the must-see concentrations in Africa.
Albertine Rift Endemics at Volcanoes National Park
The Rwenzori turaco (Ruwenzorornis johnstoni) is among the most visually striking of the Albertine Rift endemics accessible at Volcanoes National Park — a large, crested, vividly crimson-and-purple turaco of the montane forest canopy whose calls carry through the bamboo zone and whose approach to a fruiting tree produces a descent of colour into a visual range that even non-birding gorilla trekking visitors remember. The handsome francolin (Pternistis nobilis) — a large, boldly-patterned forest francolin with a rich, far-carrying song — is frequently heard and regularly seen in the bamboo zone during the gorilla trek approach. The Rwenzori double-collared sunbird, the blue-headed sunbird, and the scarlet-tufted malachite sunbird all occur in the afroalpine zone above the forest.
Grauer’s broadbill (Pseudocalyptomena graueri) — a small, jewel-green broadbill of the forest interior — is one of the most sought-after Albertine Rift endemics and one of the more difficult to locate, preferring the dense canopy of the older forest sections above the bamboo zone. The red-throated alethe, the strange weaver, the Rwenzori batis, and the Kivu ground thrush complete a list of restricted-range species for which the Virunga forest is one of the most reliable localities in their range.
The Birding Walk at Volcanoes National Park
Rwanda Development Board offers a guided birding walk in the forest adjacent to the park boundary — a morning activity that can be combined with a gorilla trekking day or taken on a dedicated birding day. The birding walk targets the montane forest bird community rather than the bamboo zone species, entering the forest on a trail that focuses on the lower-forest sections where Grauer’s broadbill, the forest robins, and the montane greenbuls are most active. The walk is guided by a park-trained birding guide whose knowledge of the specific call sites for the restricted-range species within the accessible forest section improves the probability of encounter for the key endemics.
Combining Birding with the Gorilla Trek Morning
The gorilla trek approach walk is itself a productive birding opportunity — the bamboo zone and lower forest sections traversed during the approach to the gorilla family support the bamboo-specialist species, and the return walk, taken at a slower and more alert pace once the gorilla encounter is complete, is the best birding opportunity of the trek morning. Bringing binoculars into the forest for the gorilla trek is useful for both the gorilla encounter (where the ability to observe the family in detail at seven metres adds to the experience quality) and for the birds encountered during approach and return. The binoculars should be compact enough to carry comfortably in a jacket pocket; the full-size birding binocular is impractical for a trek morning in dense vegetation.
