East Africa · Regional sound archive

East Africa Sounds

Compare wildlife sound collections by country, recording year, and contributor.

Current to 20 Sept 2026

Latest week All weeks Open Xeno-canto

Regional recordings

27,926

+138 since 13 Sept 2026

Cataloged species

1,034

All wildlife taxa

Unidentified sounds

120

Awaiting identification

Monitored countries

Explore by country

Compare country archives

Recording counts and species represented. Open a country to explore its archive.

Country coverage across East Africa. Sorted by recordings (high to low).

Kenya

#1 · 32.9% regional share

Recordings: 9,195
Species: 657
Mystery: 41

+89 this weekOpen the archive

Tanzania

#2 · 31.9% regional share

Recordings: 8,900
Species: 581
Mystery: 36

+22 this weekOpen the archive

Uganda

#3 · 20.3% regional share

Recordings: 5,679
Species: 507
Mystery: 27

+23 this weekOpen the archive

Ethiopia

#4 · 10.2% regional share

Recordings: 2,844
Species: 415
Mystery: 11

+4 this weekOpen the archive

Democratic Republic of the Congo

#5 · 1.7% regional share

Recordings: 463
Species: 202
Mystery: 1

0 this weekOpen the archive

Rwanda

#6 · 1.5% regional share

Recordings: 423
Species: 178
Mystery: 3

0 this weekOpen the archive

Burundi

#7 · 1.1% regional share

Recordings: 295
Species: 112
Mystery: 1

0 this weekOpen the archive

Somalia

#8 · 0.4% regional share

Recordings: 107
Species: 54
Mystery: 0

0 this weekOpen the archive

South Sudan

#9 · 0.1% regional share

Recordings: 20
Species: 14
Mystery: 0

0 this weekOpen the archive

Latest weekly changes

13 Sept 2026 → 20 Sept 2026

Added sounds: +138
New species: +1
Mystery sounds: 0

Additions by country

KE +89UG +23TZ +22ET +4

Country breakdown

KEKenya+89 sounds+1 species
UGUganda+23 sounds
TZTanzania+22 sounds+1 species
ETEthiopia+4 sounds

New species documented

+1 taxon

This snapshot publishes the species gain, not the names behind it. The week’s own page lists every taxon it records.

Net growth of +138 sounds across 4 countries. Expanded regional coverage to 1,034 species.

Browse the week’s full breakdown →

When were these sounds recorded?

Explore recording years or switch to upload years to see when sounds entered the archive.

Recordings by country

Nine East African archives, stacked by field year.

KE KenyaTZ TanzaniaUG UgandaET EthiopiaCD Democratic Republic of the CongoRW RwandaBI BurundiSO SomaliaSS South Sudan

9 East African countries stacked (2000–2025)

Leading contributors (10)

Ranked by recordings in this regional archive

#	Recordist	Sounds	Species	Countries
01	Louis A. Hansen	5,231	222	2
02	Peter Boesman	2,979	651	4
03	isaac kilusu	2,658	461	3
04	Martin St-Michel	1,398	361	2
05	Frank Lambert	1,391	401	2
06	James Bradley	1,248	380	1
07	Jonathan Onongo	1,145	239	2
08	Rory Nefdt	876	291	6
09	Andrew Spencer	780	337	2
10	Bram Piot	762	295	9

A contributor's countries are the archives their recordings were filed under.

Recent archive updates (5)

Net changes between published snapshots

Snapshot date	Sounds	Delta	Species	Status
20 Sept 2026Current	27,926	+138	1,034	verified
13 Sept 2026	27,788	+51	1,033	verified
6 Sept 2026	27,737	+22	1,033	verified
30 Aug 2026	27,715	+3	1,032	verified
23 Aug 2026	27,712	—	1,032	verified

Every retained snapshot is dated, so a figure quoted here can be traced back to the week it was published.

Help identify unclassified East African sounds

Community bioacoustics challenge

120 mystery recordings awaiting identification

These wildlife audio vouchers from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and DR Congo need species confirmation. Listen to the recordings, review spectrograms, and propose IDs on Xeno-canto.

Review mystery sounds

Source data through 20 Sept 2026 · published 20 Sept 2026

Metadata and taxonomy courtesy of Xeno-canto.org