2
Day Birding Safaris
Option
One:
Day
1: Nairobi National Park
Day 2: Gatamaiyu Forest & Manguo PondsOption
Two:
Day
1: Olorgesaille
(near Lake Magadi)
Day 2: Gatamaiyu Forest & Manguo Ponds
Detailed
Itinerary
Nairobi
National Park
The
park located between two ecological zones (dry forest to the north and the grasslands
to the south) The Park, only 7km off the cosmopolitan city has one of the greatest
avifauna with a record of 517 species in an area of 117kmē. It offers a good birding
introduction to the bird families to expect during our safari. With a good assemblage
of the birds of prey, pipits, cisticolas, including waterbirds. Specialties includes
the Long-tailed Fiscal, Red-throated Tit, Jackson's Widowbird. We hope to see
the Bateleur, Ostrich, White-bellied Busturd, Red-billed Oxpecker, Rufous-naped
Lark, Yellow- throated Longclaw, Lilac-breasted Roller among many others.
The
park is full of big game such as the Bufallo, Burchell's Zebra, Hippo, Giraffe,
Hartebeest, Vervet and the Syke's Monkey, both the Black and the White Rhino.
Olorgesaille
This
is a dry, arid, scrub country about 75 km south of Nairobi (on the way to Lake
Magadi) and makes an excellent whole day birding trip. All the way down the rift
valley, stops along the way shows a distinctive change in 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.
Gatamaiyu
Forest & Manguo Ponds
The
forest located about 50-km n.w. of Nairobi stretches through the Kieni forest
(part of the central highlands) 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 occur in large numbers such as the Greenshanks, Sandpipers, Plovers, etc.