Flyway

A flyway is the whole area covered by a species or population of migratory birds over the course of the annual cycle, including breeding and non-breeding grounds and the connecting migration routes.

The Rift Valley / Red Sea Flyway

With over 1.5 million soaring birds migrating through it twice a year, the Rift Valley / Red Sea flyway is one of the biggest in the world! The flyway links the European breeding grounds with the African wintering areas of migrating birds.

The Rift Valley / Red Sea flyway includes the Jordan Valley down through Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine, and then splits into three with two routes crossing the Gulf of Suez then one passing down the Nile Valley and the other the west coast of the Red Sea (Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti), and a third route following the east coast of the Red Sea (Saudi Arabia and Yemen) crossing the southern end at the Strait of Bab al-Mandeb to re-join the other two before continuing south to the East African Rift Valley.  

The Migratory Soaring Birds Project aspires to make the Rift Valley / Red Sea flyway a safer and more hospitable route for its visiting birds.

Find out more about BirdLife's Migratory Birds and Flyways Programme.