Country Accounts

The geographical area covered by the African Bird Club from an avian perspective, which we call the ABC region, comprises 63 countries and territories. These are on the mainland of Africa, the world’s second largest continent, or islands in the region. Apart from the African continent, the ABC region encompasses the Sinai Peninsula, Macaronesia, the Gulf of Guinea islands, the remote South Atlantic islands of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, the Socotra archipelago, Madagascar and other western Indian Ocean islands, as well as the far-flung islands of Saint-Paul and Amsterdam in the southern Indian Ocean.
The ABC region is home to more than half of all the bird families of the world, and over 2,750 bird species have been recorded within it. More than two thirds of them are found nowhere else, and more than one in ten are threatened with extinction. Little is known about many of them, and much of the region remains largely unexplored ornithologically. At the same time, many species on the checklists of certain countries and territories were last recorded some time ago and their continued presence is uncertain.

Click on the links below to explore each of the countries and territories that comprise the ABC region, which are listed in alphabetical order. You will find all the essential information you need on birds and birding, resources for birders and bird organisations in each of them.
Details of region-wide resources and organisations can be found under the ABC Region link.
Before planning a visit to any country or territory of the ABC region, get advice including the latest information on safety and security from your government’s travel advisory service. Travel advice by destination in English is available from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and in French from France Diplomatie.