Where should we visit next? (1 Viewer)

[pookiecake]

My partner and I are trying to squeeze as many birding trips before we start a family in a few years. We are not "listers", but would love to see as many birds (and other wildlife) as possible. We are currently at ~1,300 birds. Here are the places we have birded or visited already -- which birding areas would you recommend to fill in our gaps (e.g., recommendation in Asia). Budget is flexible. We are both very active. If it helps, my partner has an affinity for antpittas and kingfishers.

We have birded or visited already, by region:

• Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe
• Asia: Taiwan, Thailand
• Latin America: Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Costa Rica, Brazil (2026)
• Europe: Austria, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, UK, Ireland, France, Italy
• North America: US, Canada

On our list:

• Ecuador - Mindo Valley and Galapagos (my partner is convinced Galapagos is a trip we do in our >50s b/c it's not active - open to comments)
• Antarctica/penguin trip (my partner is also convinced this is a trip we do in our >50s b/c it's not active - open to comments)
• Maybe New Zealand + Australia?

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

New Zealand and Australia would be 80+% different to those you have already done, but are quite practical to leave til your 50s. Madagascar is another with a different, non-overlapping range, c150 species, and challenging!

 

[Jim M.]

There is, fortunately for you, a lot of choices and great places left to visit! I think my top recommendations to fill in your gaps would be Borneo, Madagascar, Eastern Australia, and Uganda. All these should give you an excellent overall wildlife experience. (Though Australia isn't particularly demanding – so you could leave for later in life.) But priority places better to visit now rather than 20 years from now, would include Madagascar (some of the wildlife may go extinct by then), Antarctica (global warming), and high elevation locations (better to do when young), e.g. Eaglesnest in India (Himalayas), the high Andes (if you haven't already been there).

Some particular notes:

– As noted, looks like your biggest gap is Australasia. New Guinea is the most challenging place to visit and bird (birds are often hard to see), but it also has the most spectacular birds of paradise. I don't recommend doing Papua New Guinea on your own – for safety reasons. I'd only do that as part of a group tour. Indonesian New Guinea is safer, but the tourist infrastructure isn't well-developed. Australia is also great and much easier to do on your own – but it's a big country and different parts deserve separate tours of their own. Also a great overall wildlife experience, and the birds and wildlife are much easier to see than in New Guinea for various reasons. New Zealand is something I would leave for your fifties or later – great birds and scenery but easy to do on your own. Also not much in the way of other wildlife.

– For Asia, I would recommend Borneo for an excellent overall tropical wildlife experience. Lots of unique wildlife, as well as many Kingfishers and Pittas. Eaglesnest in India with its high altitude pheasants, Grandala, etc. would be something to consider. Central India's tiger reserves also should be on your list.

– Looks like you've primarily been to southern Africa, so East Africa, e.g. Uganda (gorillas & Shoebill) and/or Kenya/Tanzania should be on your list. Probably the easiest place to rack up a big bird list as well.

– As for Galapagos, many tours are by boat and usually include snorkeling in somewhat challenging conditions, so I wouldn't consider that as not active.

 

[pookiecake]

New Zealand and Australia would be 80+% different to those you have already done, but are quite practical to leave til your 50s. Madagascar is another with a different, non-overlapping range, c150 species, and challenging!

Thank you so much for your helpful response. Appreciate the rough estimates and notes about difficulty.

 

[Jim M.]

Think OP missed my post above because I had it open at the same time, so just bumping here.

 

[foresttwitcher]

In addition to what other have said:

Asia: Japan is well worth a visit & I suspect Taiwan also;

Middle East: UAE & Oman are also good.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

A couple of places that haven't been mentioned so far that are worth considering are Ghana and China. Both are hard to do independently, which will add to the costs, but the quality of birds in both is as high as I've encountered anywhere. Would particularly recommend visiting Qinghai or Sichuan in China. Lots of incredible birds and landscapes, and also good for mammals. Ghana has great quality with birds like White-necked Rockfowl, Egyptian Plover, Standard-winged Nightjar and many more. The mammals and butterflies are also great.

 

[pookiecake]

There is, fortunately for you, a lot of choices and great places left to visit! I think my top recommendations to fill in your gaps would be Borneo, Madagascar, Eastern Australia, and Uganda. All these should give you an excellent overall wildlife experience. (Though Australia isn't particularly demanding – so you could leave for later in life.) But priority places better to visit now rather than 20 years from now, would include Madagascar (some of the wildlife may go extinct by then), Antarctica (global warming), and high elevation locations (better to do when young), e.g. Eaglesnest in India (Himalayas), the high Andes (if you haven't already been there).

Some particular notes:

– As noted, looks like your biggest gap is Australasia. New Guinea is the most challenging place to visit and bird (birds are often hard to see), but it also has the most spectacular birds of paradise. I don't recommend doing Papua New Guinea on your own – for safety reasons. I'd only do that as part of a group tour. Indonesian New Guinea is safer, but the tourist infrastructure isn't well-developed. Australia is also great and much easier to do on your own – but it's a big country and different parts deserve separate tours of their own. Also a great overall wildlife experience, and the birds and wildlife are much easier to see than in New Guinea for various reasons. New Zealand is something I would leave for your fifties or later – great birds and scenery but easy to do on your own. Also not much in the way of other wildlife.

– For Asia, I would recommend Borneo for an excellent overall tropical wildlife experience. Lots of unique wildlife, as well as many Kingfishers and Pittas. Eaglesnest in India with its high altitude pheasants, Grandala, etc. would be something to consider. Central India's tiger reserves also should be on your list.

– Looks like you've primarily been to southern Africa, so East Africa, e.g. Uganda (gorillas & Shoebill) and/or Kenya/Tanzania should be on your list. Probably the easiest place to rack up a big bird list as well.

– As for Galapagos, many tours are by boat and usually include snorkeling in somewhat challenging conditions, so I wouldn't consider that as not active.

Apologies, I had to step away from my computer!

Thank you so much for the helpful comments about elevation, extinction, and climate change, the specific recommendations for India (had never heard of Eaglesnest before), and the wildlife details in each of your recommendations.

Ah, Borneo! That's a lovely addition to our list. So are Madagascar, India, and Uganda. Good to know that Uganda is where to go for shoebills.

We are admittedly scared to visit New Guinea, even part of a group tour. We have discussed visiting Indonesian New Guinea instead, so helpful to hear that the infrastructure is not the same as Papua New Guinea's. Have you done a group tour for Papua? Did you feel safe?

Is Australia less demanding because it is flat and done mostly in a car?

Lastly, thanks for the compelling arguments for visiting Galapagos and Antarctica while we are younger.

 

[Jim M.]

We are admittedly scared to visit New Guinea, even part of a group tour. We have discussed visiting Indonesian New Guinea instead, so helpful to hear that the infrastructure is not the same as Papua New Guinea's. Have you done a group tour for Papua? Did you feel safe?

Is Australia less demanding because it is flat and done mostly in a car?

New Guinea – I've been on a group birding tour of PNG in 2023; I have been on a group snorkeling tour to the islands just west of West Papua, and I did some birding on my own while there. PNG actually has pretty good tourist infrastructure, at least for group tours, apart from totally unreliable domestic flights and flights out of the country. Here's a recent thread discussing West Papua versus PNG: PNG or West Papua?

Australia – birding Australia is kind of like birding in the U.S., except they drive on the wrong side of the road ;-) and only things under the water are looking to eat you. Obviously, it is a highly developed country, they speak English, and there's lots of bird information available. Plus the birds are often easy to see, though there are some terrible skulkers.