Anthony Raphael

Anthony Raphael is widely recognized by most major birding tour companies as Tanzania's top bird guide. He has been a birding guide in Tanzania for nearly twenty years and started his career as a wildlife guide several years before that.

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He has extensively studied the birds of Tanzania and he knows better than anyone (as he is local) the country's key birding sites. He knows how best to find the Tanzania endemics and specialties. Besides Tanzania, he has guided extensively in neighboring Kenya, which is typically linked to our eighteen-day birding tour of Kenya and Tanzania.

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Combined with his field experience in both bird-finding and wildlife study and along with his love of nature, he has attained a reputation as one of the leading birding and wildlife guides for birders and bird photographers in East Africa. In addition to guiding ornithological tours throughout Tanzania and its isles, Anthony also has experience as a bird guide throughout other parts of East Africa (including Kenya and Uganda), and he has led tours in Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zambia.

He graduated from one of Africa's top wildlife colleges at the base of the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and has a degree in wildlife management.

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Anthony's guiding experience is mostly focused on guiding birding groups, but he has also led private tours with clients with a wide range of experience from new bird watchers to well-known world-class birders. Over his twenty-five-year career, he has also guided international researchers, biology students, and bird field guide authors.

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When not guiding, Anthony works as an ornithologist in and around Arusha, where he lives. He is an assistant at the National Natural History Museum of Arusha, participates in training upcoming local bird guides in Arusha, and updates bird lists for several national parks in Tanzania (and several private reserves).

His colleagues and our clients praise his field skills and good company. His keen eye and bird-finding skills have given him the reputation among his guiding colleagues as” the man with an eagle eye”. Anthony particularly loves the challenge of identifying cisticolas and resident warblers. Our clients tell us that they enjoy Anthony's sense of humor. He loves to share time with clients as they find new life birds and he loves sharing opportunities with clients as they watch African Elephants (especially those with babies).