Join us in celebrating 10000 birds. For 26 years Rockjumper has been showing birds to people from across the globe. Our reach has spanned over 120 countries and your support during this time has been amazing. Last month we managed to achieve a major birding milestone when Rob Williams was able to show his guests our 10,000th world species. Rob managed to find several great new Rockjumper species on his recent tour but the bird in question was the newly split Panao Antpitta, an extremely localised antpitta that is endemic to only a small area in the eastern Andes of Central Peru.

The Rockjumper focus has always been about the experience and ensuring you always have a memorable time on tour. Seeing great birds is one important aspect but there are many factors that go into making a first-class tour. We have always enjoyed the thrill of finding and showing you special birds and if they happen to be new for us then that is simply an added bonus. Do we have dreams of reaching 10,500 or dare we say 11,000? Not really. Would it be nice to do? Sure, why not but only if it means having fun on tours and getting to share magical experiences with all of you.

Thanks for all the memories so far, and here is to many more!

For us to have shown our guests 90% of the worlds known birds, we have had to travel the globe comprehensively but also ensure that we focus on regions with large species diversity and high rates of endemicity. Below we have outlined a few key tours that either reward birders with huge species totals or an exceptional variety of endemics, due to several factors like, geographic isolation, topography, or climate.

Madagascar is an extreme example of this, after being separated from the other continents for over 100 million years, it has allowed life to evolve into the most wonderful variations of those found in Africa and Asia. This legendary uniqueness is nowhere better reflected than in its birds, and the island hosts no fewer than five endemic families (the ground rollers, cuckoo roller, mesites, Malagasy warblers and asities), plus the near endemic vangas!

On our pursuit of the worlds birds in these incredible natural areas, we constantly come across fascinating distractions and the mammals, reptiles and vegetation in Madagascar are just as alien to the continents that surround as the birds, with 107 endemic lemurs, both massive and miniscule chameleons, spiny forests and impressive baobabs all to be found throughout this stunning country.

This mind-boggling variety is mirrored in Indonesia, particularly the Eastern archipelago with the likes of Sulawesi, Halmahera and the surrounding islands. Due to the remarkable biogeography of the region, each island hosts its own set of exciting endemics, like the monotypic Hylocitrea and stunning Ivory-breasted Pitta. Birding in this part of the world has also exposed us to the likes of Wilson’s Bird-of-paradise, possibly the best looking bird on earth, as well as Magnificent and King Bird-of-paradise, numerous imperial pigeons, fruit doves (Wompoo, Superb, Orange-bellied and Pink-spotted Fruit Doves to name a few), gargantuan Western Crowned Pigeon, parrots (including the localized Black Lory and Moluccan King Parrot) and many more.

With rising oceans having severed the majority of the land bridge joining Australia to Indonesia some 50 million years ago and also due to Australia’s huge continental size, another extreme variety of endemics can be found. In the east of this vast country, several relatives of New Guinea’s top bird families can be found, like the Victoria’s Riflebird, alongside Golden and Tooth-billed Bowerbirds, Chowchilla, outrageous Southern Cassowary and fascinating wet tropic endemics. The wet and dry country also offers incredible species such as Superb Lyrebird, unique Pilotbird and Rockwarbler, the strange Plains-wanderer and many more.

Australia’s unique mammals have become well known worldwide for their unusual features, with species like Platypus, Short-beaked Echidna, padamelons, sugar gliders, kangaroos and Koalas all ranking as some of the worlds most weird and wonderful!

In complete contrast to Australia’s harsh interior, Brazil offers some of the most lush rainforest to be found. Northeast Brazil holds some of this endemic rich rainforest as well as other habitats, each with their own set of special species. We typically see over 100 endemics, including the Critically Endangered Lear’s Macaw, White-browed Antpitta, Great Xenops, Cherry-throated and Seven-colored Tanagers, the striking Araripe Manakin, White-collared Kite and too many others to mention here!

Brazil’s birding is extremely exciting and the areas we explore in the Northeast often yield over 500 species during our 27 days in the field. The volume of endemics is mind-boggling with an extremely long list of rare or threatened species that we usually see.

A similar variety can be expected on our adventures in South Africa, with us seeing over 500 species on our Mega tours! South Africa holds the highest number of endemic and near-endemic bird species of any country on the African continent. Some of these special birds such as Drakensberg Rockjumper and Blue Crane – are beautiful and charismatic; while others, including the endangered Rudd’s and Botha’s Larks, are less striking but incredibly range-restricted. To boot, South Africa is also home to two very impressive endemic families, the striking Rockjumpers and Sugarbirds. We aim to see as many of these South African endemic, breeding endemic and near-endemic species as possible. Every single one of the 99 birds falling into this category as well as most of the 78 species falling into the category of endemic or near-endemic to the southern African sub-region are targeted during our mega tour and are accompanied by iconic mammals too.

Cheetah, Black and White Rhinoceros, Meerkat, African Wild Dog, Springbok and others are all welcome distractions in South Africa, we have also found an incredible diversity of reptiles, amphibians, and other wildlife on our tours in South Africa throughout the spectacular habitats we are so fortunate to visit regularly.

Nowhere in Africa can you see more species on a birding tour than in Kenya. We started running our mega tours almost 20 years ago and many of these departures have seen close to or over 800 species! Quite incredible and shows the immense diversity of this fantastic country. We explore a wealth of habitat from coastal forest to savannas, woodlands, wetlands and rainforest in our search for Kenya’s best birds and other wildlife. Highlights include such gems as Sokoke Scops Owl, Sharpe’s Longclaw, Blue-headed Bee-eater, Golden-winged Sunbird, Hartlaub’s and Fischer’s Turacos, Sokoke Pipit, Taita Thrush, Scaly Chatterer and many more.

Thank you to each and every one of you for joining us on these wonderful adventures around the globe and we look forward to many more!