14
Days Detailed Birding Safari
Day
1: Nairobi (arrival)
Arrive at the JKI Airport to be met by your guide. Birding starts right away from
the stairs off the plane as the Little, African Palm Swifts and the Superb Starling
appears common while the Red-winged Starling whistles to remind you to have your
binoculars ready. Transfer to the hotel for a rest, followed by a visit to the
Nairobi National Museum’s birds, ethnography, geology, prehistory galleries (among
others) as well as the Snake Park. This is the right place to learn and see many
of the Kenya's multifacets of culture, pre-history and it's natural resources.
Birding continues around the museum’s botanical garden or elsewhere depending
on the time.
Overnight
in Nairobi.
Day
2: Olorgesaille
We'll drive down the escarpment towards this dry, arid, scrub country about 75
km south of Nairobi (towards Lake Magadi). Makes an excellent whole day birding
trip. All the way down the rift valley, stops along the way shows ta distinctive
change of habitat and species. Recorded species includes the Cut Throat, Blue-capped
Cordonbleu, Northen Crombec, Banded Parisoma, White-bellied Canary, Crimson-rumped
Waxbill, Grey Wren Warbler, Taita Fiscal, Von der Decken's Hornbill, Fischer's
Sparrow-Lark, Grey-headed Silverbill, Grey-capped Social-Weaver, Red-fronted Tinkerbird,
Straw-tailed Wydah, Tiny Cisticola etc.
We'll
also spend some hours at the Olorgesaille prehistoric Site, a museum displaying
many hand tools by man. Picnic lunch at the Museum.
Overnight
in Nairobi.
Day
3: Lake Nakuru National Park via Gatamaiyu Forest
Leave early for the Gatamaiyu forest, located about 50-km n.w. of Nairobi stretches
through the Kieni forest (part of the central highland) and boost many montane
species includes the Chestnut-throated, Grey, Black-collared, Black-throated Apalis,
Montane Oriole, Narina & Bar-tailed Trogon, Black-fronted Bush-shrike, Yellow-rumped,
Mustached Green Tinkerbird, Scarce Swift, White-browed Crombec, while Abbott's
Starling and the Sharpe's Starling have been recorded, among others.
While
Manguo Ponds makes an excellent birding spot en-route to the forest. It boost
a wide variety of waterfowls such as the Yellow-billed Ducks, Little Grebe, Red-billed
Teal, Red-knobbed Coot, while Maccoa Ducks are regularly recorded, Grey, Black-headed
Heron, African Spoonbill, White-faced Whistling Duck, Hottentot Teal, while sometimes
waders may occur in large numbers such as the Greenshanks, Sandpipers, Plovers
etc.
Leave late
afternoon for Lake Nakuru National park passing by the Kinangop plateau in search
of Sharpe's Longclaw, one of the Kenya's endemic.
Overnight
at Lake Nakuru.
Day
4: Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake Nakuru National Park is referred to as the "the greatest ornithological
spectacle in the world" with both Lesser and the Greater Flamingoes sometimes
exceeding 1.5 million individuals. The alkaline habitat supports thousands of
resident and migratory waterfowl. The alkaline lake, acacia woodland, grassland,
rivers and inlets with marshes hold over the 450 species. Some of the common birds
includes the Little Grebe, Great White Pelican, Black-winged Stilt, Gull-billed,
Whiskered Tern, Grey-headed Gull, Cape and Red-billed Teal, Southern Pochard,
Long-crested, and African Crowned Eagle, White-fronted Bee-eater, Arrow-Marked
Babbler, Little Rock Thrush, Wailing Cisticola, Ruppell's Long-tailed Starling,
Lilac-breasted Roller, Cliff Chat and many species of waders.
In
addition, the park is rich in big games that includes the Giraffe, Buffalo, Waterbuck,
Eland, Hippo, both Black and White Rhino, Lion, Leopard, Spotted Hyena among many
small mammals.
Overnight
at Lake Nakuru.
Day
5: Lake Baringo
We take a morning game and bird-drive in the park before leaving for the Lake
Baringo Conservation Area, another Kenya's birding hotspots. Afternoon, visit
the cliffs not far from the lake, a good site for Hemprich’s & Jackson’s Hornbills,
White-faced Scops Owl, Bristle-crowned Starling, Brown-tailed Rock Chat, Green-winged
Pytilia, and Red & Yellow Barbet, Bat Hawk, Three Banded Courser, Slender-tailed
Nightjar (among many others). Birding along the camp site and the hotel
could yield the Verreaux's Eagle-Owl, African Pigmy kingfisher, Black Headed Plover,
Overnight at
Lake Baringo Country Club.
Day
6: Kapedo
We
drive north of Lake Baringo about 75km to Kapedo lying on a semi-desert and the
specialties around this area includes the Magpie Starling, Chestnut-headed Sparrow-Lark,
Pigmy Batis, Somali Sparrow, Somali Fiscal, Pale Prinia, Mouse-Coloured Penduline-Tit,
among others.
Overnight
at Lake Baringo Country Club.
Day
7: Kitale
Today
we take an early morning boat ride before going back to the cliff and the bush
around hoping to see the Goliath, Grey Heron, Great White Pelicans among many
waterbirds. Before lunch we leave for Kitale where we spend the night looking
forward for tomorrow birding day down the Kongelai Escarpment.
Overnight
in Kitale.
Day
8: Kongelai Escarpment
We drive down the Kongelai escarpment on the west of Makutano (Kitale - Turkana
Road). This is yet another excellent birding area where we expect localized birds
such as the Yellow-billed Shrike, Lesser Blue-eared Starling, White Crested Turaco,
Chestnut Crowned Sparrow-weaver, Dark Chanting Goshawk among many other interesting
species.
Late
afternoon we leave heading for the Kakamega Forest.
Overnight
in Kakamega.
Day
9 & 10: Kakamega Forest
2 Days long around the forest trails in the northern circiut. The Kakamega Forest,
the only rain forest remaining in Kenya, was once a continuation of the Guinea-Congolian
rainforest, rich in species nowhere else to be seen in Kenya. Spending a few days
here we hope to see a good number of these forest species that could include the
Blue-headed Bee-Eater, Red-headed Malimbe, Green Sunbird, Grey-winged Robin, Yellow
Spotted, Yellow-bellied Barbets, African Blue Flycatcher, African Shrike-Flycatcher,
Snowy-headed Robin, Common, Jamesson's, Chestnut and with much luck the Yellow-bellied
Wattle-Eyes and may be the Blue-shouldered Robin Chat among many others.
Overnight
in Kakamega.
Day
11: Kisumu (Lake Victoria)
Birding before breakfast and after, later drive to Kisumu City just-by the second
largest fresh-water lake in the world. Visit Impala Sanctuary and the Sewerage
Works that could yield a Southern Red Bishop, Black-billed Barbet.
Overnight
at Kisumu.
Day
12: Masai Mara Game Reserve
Today
we take an early morning boat ride along the Papyrus vegetation at the Dunga Beach
(a fishing village/jet) with expectation to see some the specialties like the
Papyrus Canary, Papyrus Gonolek, Swamp Flycatcher, Slender-billed, Northern Brown-throated,
Jackson's Golden-backed, Yellow-backed Weavers, Greater Swamp Warbler e.t.c.
After
this we leave for the world famous Masai Mara Game Reserve for the next 3 days.
Overnight in Mara.
Day
13: Masai Mara Game Reserve
Masai
Mara Game Reserve is a plain of rolling grassland dotted with a mixture of acacia
trees and the plain game which includes large herds of Elephants, Zebras, Topis,
Hartebeests, gazelles, Impala’s not forgetting the well known Mara/ Serengeti
Wildebeest’s migration, Lions, Cheetah among other cats. We'll stay on the western
part of the reserve along the Olololo Escarpments blended by river, swampy, grassy
and forested habitats. Specialties could include the Tabora, Rock Loving Cisticola,
Wattled Plover, Penduline Tit, Pale Wren Warbler, among others. Those interested
with Balloon Safari- this is the place to view Mara and her wildlife by air.
We'll
spend sometime in the afternoon to visit the Masai Village for a cultural dance
and experience their way of life.
Overnight
in Mara.
Day
14: Nairobi
En route game drive on our way to Nairobi while searching for more bird species
especially the Magpie Shrike and others on the eastern part of the reserve. While
on the way to Nairobi we'll stop in search of the Swallow-tailed Kite.
Return to Nairobi where our tour ends with a dinner before the transfer to the
airport.
