Myanmar (Burma), saddled between Thailand and India, remains a poorly known birding destination, partly due to the difficulty in obtaining necessary permits for visiting the more interesting birding localities. However, with the help of our local operator, we have obtained permission to visit some of these seldom-visited hotspots, affording us the fantastic opportunity to bird in some of the planet’s least explored birding localities! To the north of Yangon (Rangoon) lie the Irrawaddy plains, holding not only important populations of declining waterbirds, but also supporting no less than four endemic species (the striking Hooded Treepie, Jerdon’s Minivet, White-throated Babbler and Burmese Bush Lark), which are confined to the dry forest and thorn scrub characteristic of this endemic-rich area. A good proportion of our time will be spent at the southern end of the eastern mountains known as the Chin Hills, in the vicinity of Mount Victoria. These mountains form part of the Eastern Himalayas, another endemic-rich bird region that also sustains several species only seen by a handful of intrepid birders during the past 40 years. These include White-browed Nuthatch, Mount Victoria Babax, Burmese Bushtit, Black-bibbed Tit and Chin Hills Wren-Babbler, among many others. Our final destinations will be in the southern Shan State, situated in the mountains of central Burma. Here we will explore the broad-leaved forests around Kalaw for Burmese Yuhina, another range-restricted species, and a good selection of other hill forest birds. Lastly, we will visit Inle Lake to search for the highly localised Jerdon’s Bush Chat and near-endemic Collared Myna, amongst a wealth of interesting wetland species.

This tour is made available through our Tailor-made tours department. To explore this offering further for pricing, precise day to day itinerary, inclusions & exclusions, or to tailor the tour to your personal requirements, please contact our Tailor-made team on tailormade@rockjumper.com