17 Day Birding Safaris
+ 6 Day (optional) Coastal Extension available
The cost includes:
-Transport with exclusive use of the safari van as from
the 1st day to departure day as per itinerary.
-Pick up and drop off on arrival and departure at the
airport.
-Accommodation as per the itinerary with all the meals
except 4 dinner/super meals in Nairobi
-Services of a tour leader, birdguide or and driver
plus the use of site/local birdguide
-Local flight. Malindi- Nairobi
-Parks, reserve and conservation areas entry fee
-Emergency evacuation
-Drinking water available from the van cool box
-Checklist of the birds of Kenya and other pre-tour
information
-Boat Rides in Lake Naivasha and Baringo
Exclusive of:
-Medical and travel insurance including luggages.
-Beverages
-Items of personal nature such as telephone, laundry,
gifts among others
-Visa, airport tax
-tipping of driver and or tour leader
Covering: Nairobi National
Park, Olorgesailie, Kireita Forest, Lake Naivasha, Hell's
Gate National Park, Lake Nakuru National Park, Molo
Grasslands, Lake Baringo, Saiwa Swamp National Park,
Kongelai Escarpment, Kakamega Forest, Busia Grasslands,
Kisumu, Masai Mara National Reserve, Tsavo West and
East National Park, Taita Hills Forest, Arabuko Sokoke
Forest, Mida Creek, Sabaki River Estuary.
Day 1: Nairobi,
2nd May 2009.
Arrive at JKI Airport to be met and transfered to the
hotel for an overinght.
Overnight at Sarova
Panafric Hotel.
Day 2: Nairobi
National Park, 3rd May
The park, only 10km off the cosmopolitan city has one
of the greatest avifauna with a record of over 515 species
in an area of only 117km².
Birds includes the newly-almost-described Nairobi Pipit,
Common Ostrich, Great, Long-tailed Cormorant, African
Darter, Great Egret, Saddle Billed Stork, Common, Madagascar
Squacco, Black-headed, Grey Heron, African Spoonbill,
White-faced Whistling, Knob-billed Duck, Red-billed
Teal, Secretary bird, Black-shouldered Kite, Lappet-faced
Vulture, Black-chested Snake-Eagle, Shelly's & Yellow-necked
Spurfowl, African Finfoot, Black-bellied, Hartlaub's
Bustard, Emerald Spotted Wood, Laughing Dove, Hartlaub's
Turaco, White-bellied Go-away-bird, White-browed Coucal,
African
Palm Swift, Blue-napped Mousebird, Little &
Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Lesser, Greater Honeyguide,
Eastern Honeybird, Nubian Woodpecker, White-tailed,
Singing Bush, Rufous-naped Lark, Wire-tailed,
Lesser-Striped Swallow, Rock Martin, Yellow-throated,
Pangani, Rosy-breasted Longclaw, Pale, African
Grey, Southern Black Flycatcher, Lesser Swamp
Warbler, 9 species of Cistocola, Abyssinian white-eye,
Red-throated Tit, Jackson's Widowbird, Martial
Eagle, Red & Yellow-billed Oxpecker |
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The park has big game
such as the buffalo, Burchell's Zebra, hippo, Masai
Giraffe, Coke's Hartebeest, Vervet and the Syke's Monkey,
both Black and White Rhino.
Overnight at Sarova
Panafric Hotel.
Day 3: Olorgesailie,
4th May
We will drive birding down the rift valley to Olorgesaille.
Though typically a hot country rewards could include
species like Cut Throat, Blue-capped Cordon-Bleu, Northern
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 Whydah, Tiny Cisticola, Crested
Francolin, Spot-flanked, Black-throated Barbet, Yellow-breasted
Apalis, Eastern Violet-backed, Beautiful, Scarlet-chested
Sunbird, among many more.
Overnight at Sarova
Panafric Hotel.
Day 4: Manguo
Ponds- Gatamaiyu Forest- Lake Naivasha, 5th May
Today we head for Gatamaiyu Forest, a central highlands
montane forest. It boast many montane species including
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.
Also the Mountain Buzzard, Mountain, Cabanis’s
Greenbul, African Hill Babbler, White Starred Robin,
African Dusky Flycatcher, Cinnamon Bracken, Brown Woodland
Warbler, Hunter’s Cisticola, Black-backed Puffback,
Grey Cuckoo-Shrike, Northern Double Collared Sunbird,
Spectacle, Brown-capped Weaver, Grey-headed Negrofinch,
Yellow-bellied Waxbill among others.
While Manguo Ponds a
good birding spot en-route to the forest and has a wide
variety of waterfowls such as the Yellow-billed Duck,
Little Grebe, Red-billed Teal, Red-knobbed Coot, while
Maccoa Duck are regularly recorded, Grey, Black-headed
Heron, African Spoonbill, White-faced Whistling Duck,
Hottentot Teal, Long-tailed Cormorant, also waders such
as Black-winged Stilt, Blacksmith Plover, Ringed Plover,
Three-banded Plover, Marsh, Wood Sandpiper, Common Greenshank.
In the afternoon we’ll head to Naivasha en-route
via Kinangop in search of Sharpe's Longclaw a Kenya's
endemic and globally threatened species found on the
plateau. Hoping to see the said species, leave for the
Lake Naivasha.
Overnight at Elsamere
Centre (George and Joy Adamson’s House)
Day 5: Lake
Naivasha, 6th May.
The lake is one of the two fresh water lakes along the
rift valley and offers a superb birding site with lake
fringed by the papyrus on the shores and the acacia
woodland habitats supplemented by the dormant volcanoes
of Mt. Longonot, Mt. Eburru and the Ol Karia.
Take an early morning
boat ride along the papyrus shore of the Lake Naivasha
hoping to see Little Grebe, Great White Pelican, Great,
Long-tailed Cormorant, Great Egret, Purple, Goliath
Heron, Hamerkop, Sacred, Hadada Ibis, Greater, Lesser
Flamingo, Cape, Red-billed Teal, African Jacana, Pied
Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Three-banded, Long-toed
Plover, Marsh, Wood, Green Sandpiper.
Birding also along the
Elsamere compound before heading to the Hell’s
Gate National Park with array of birds of prey. Birds
here includes Common Ostrich, Secretary Bird, Egyptian,
African White-backed, Rüppell’s Griffon Vulture,
African harrier Hawk, Augur Buzzard, African Fish, Verreaux’s,
Long-crested Eagle, Speckled Pigeon, Red-eyed, Laughing
Dove, Montane, Slender-tailed Nightjar, Nyanza, Mottled
Swift
Overnight at Elsamere
Centre
Day 6: Lake
Naivasha- Lake Nakuru National Park, 7th May.
After an early morning breakfast we leave for Lake Nakuru
National Park to spend the whole day birding in the
park. It’s regarded as the "the greatest
ornithological spectacle in the world" with both
Lesser and Greater Flamingoes sometimes exceeding 100s
of thousand of individuals. The alkaline habitat, acacia
woodland, grassland, rivers and inlets with marshes
holds residents as well as migratory species.
Birds may include Little
Grebe, Great White Pelican, Black-winged Stilt, Gull-billed,
Whiskered Tern, Grey-headed Gull, Cape, Red-billed Teal,
Three-banded Plover, Little Stint, Long-crested, Tawny
Eagle, Black-shouldered Kite, Augur Buzzard, White-fronted
Bee-eater, Lilac-breasted Roller, Rock Martin, Arrow-Marked
Babbler, Little Rock Thrush, Wailing, Rattling Cisticola,
Rüppell’s Long-tailed Starling, Rüppell's
Robin Chat, White-shouldered Cliff Chat, African Grey
Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Common, Grey-backed
Fiscal, Tropical Boubou, Black Cuckoo-shrike, Red-cheeked
Cordon-bleu among many others.
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
Overnight at Sarova
Lion Hill Lodge
Day 7: Lake
Nakuru- Molo Grasslands- Lake Baringo Conservation Area,
8th May
After breakfast drive through the highland grasslands
of Molo in search of two Kenyan endemics Aberdare Cisticola
and Sharpe’s Longclaw will also look for more
specialties like Wing-snapping, Levaillant’s and
Hunter’s Cisiticola, Jackson’s Widowbirds,
Great-crested Grebe and after leaving for Lake Baringo
arriving for lunch and spending the afternoon birding.
Overnight at Lake Baringo
Club.
Day 8: Lake
Baringo, 9th May
We have a whole days birding around Lake Baringo Conservation
Area and if lucky we hope to see some the specialties
such as the Hemprich's, Jackson's Hornbill, White-faced
Scops Owl, Bristle-crowned Starling, Brown-tailed Rock
Chat, Green-winged Pytilia, Red & Yellow Barbet,
Bat Hawk, Two Banded Courser, Slender-tailed Nightjar
while birding along the camp site and the hotel grounds
could yield the Verreaux's Eagle-Owl, African Pigmy
Kingfisher, Black-headed Plover.
Overnight at Lake Baringo
Club.
Day 9: Lake
Baringo- Kitale, 10th May
Take a boat ride and explore the lake for water birds
such as Long-tailed Cormorant, Common Squacco, Green-backed,
Purple, Goliath Heron, Yellow-billed Stork, African
Darter, Knob-billed Duck and later after the breakfast
go birdwatching along the cliffs for more species as
we head for Kitale. Picnic lunch
We spend the late afternoon in the smallest national
park in Kenya, 2km² in size we’ll walk around
birding through the well-structured boardwalks above
the swampy marshes with reeds and other wetland vegetation.
Birds includes the African Paradise Flycatcher, Black-throated
Wattle-eye, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Double-toothed
Barbet, Fine-banded Woodpecker, Angolan Swallow, Grey
Apalis, Northern Puffback, Black-billed, Brown-capped
Weaver, Black-crowned Waxbill, Black & White Mannikin.
Overnight at Sirikwa
Cottages.
Day 10: Kongelai
Escarpment, 11th May
We drive down the Kongelai Escarpment where we expect
local specialties such as the Yellow-billed Shrike,
Lesser Blue-eared Starling, White-crested Turaco, Chestnut-crowned
sparrow-weaver, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Golden-breasted
Bunting, Double-toothed Barbet, Northern Brownbul, Brown
Snake, Martial Eagle, Eastern Grey Plantain-Eater, Brown
Parrot, Black-winged Red Bishop, Stripe-breasted Seedeater,
and White-crested Helmet-shrike. Also the Hartlaub’s
Marsh Widowbird among many other interesting species.
Overnight at Sirikwa
Cottages.
Day 11, 12 &
13: Kitale- Kakamega Forest, 12th-14th May
After an early morning breakfast leave for Kakamega
Forest; the only true 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,
Grey-winged Robin, Yellow Spotted, Yellow-billed Barbet,
Shelly's, Joyful, Toro olive, Cabanis' Greenbul, African
Blue Flycatcher, African Shrike-Flycatcher, Snowy-headed
Robin Chat, Common, Jameson's, Chestnut Wattle-eye,
Olive Green Camaroptera, Green, Cooper Sunbird, Mackinnon
Shrike, Luhder's Bush-Shrike, Bocage's Bush- shrike,
Petit's Cuckoo-shrike, Black-necked, Dark-backed, Vieillot's
Weaver, Red-headed Malimbe, Red-headed Bluebill.
Overnight at Rondo Retreat
Centre.
Day 14: Kakamega
Forest– Kisumu (Lake Victoria), 15th May
After
an early morning breakfast we head on the west
in search of the localized Rock Pratincole along
the river while birding the whole morning on the
villages, farmland and the Busia Grasslands. We
hope to find a few more localized birds such as
the Bar-breasted Firefinch, Yellow-throated Leaflove,
Senegal Coucal, White-crested Turaco, Copper’s
Sunbird, among others. Arriving in Kisumu later
in the late afternoon.
Overnight at Kisumu
Sunset Hotel. |
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Day 15: Kisumu
(Lake Victoria)- Nairobi, 16th May
A morning birding on the shores of the second largest
fresh-water lake in the world. Along the Papyrus vegetation
at the Dunga Beach (an old fishing village/jet) with
expectation to see some of the specialties like the
Papyrus Gonolek, Swamp Flycatcher, Greater Swamp Warbler,
White-winged Warbler, other birds includes Hamerkop,
Little Egret, Yellow-billed Stork, Pied Kingfisher,
White-winged, Whiskered Tern, African Skimmer, Red-chested,
Copper Sunbird, Shikra, African Thrush, Black-headed
Gonolek, Slender-billed, Northern Brown-throated, Yellow-backed,
Jackson’s Golden-backed Weaver, Fan-tailed Widowbird,
Southern Red Bishop, Swamp Flycatcher, Black-billed
Barbet.
After this we leave
for the world famous Masai Mara National Reserve, 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. We'll
stay on the western part of the reserve along the Olololoo
Escarpments blended by river, swampy, grassy and forested
habitats. Specialties could include the Long-tailed,
Rock Cisticola, Wattled Plover, Rufous-bellied Heron,
Penduline Tit, Pale Wren Warbler. Other birds could
include Rosy-breasted Longclaw, Ashy Flycatcher, Grey-rumped,
Red-rumped Swallow, White-headed, Lappet-faced, White-headed
Vulture, White-naped Raven, Ross Turaco, Black-backed
Puffback, Croaking Cisticola, Fan-tailed Widowbird,
Hildebrandt’s Starling, Yellow-billed Oxpecker,
Black & White Casqued Hornbill, Narina Trogon, Lilac-breasted
Roller, Common Wattle-eye, Silverbird, Plain and Long-billed
Pipit, Saddle-billed, Woolly-necked Stork, Yellow-fronted
Canary.
Overnight at Mara Serena
Lodge/Mara West Camp.
Day 16: Masai
Mara National Reserve, 17th May
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We’ll
take birdwalk along the escarpment in search
of the Red-tailed Chat, Long-tailed, Rock Cisticola
while if lucky we get a bonus of the Mwanza
Flat-headed Agama.
Lunch at the camp later in the afternoon heading
for Mara Serena with an en-route game drive
arriving late in the evening.
Overnight at
Mara Sarova Tented Camp. |
Day 17: Masai
Mara National Reserve- Nairobi, 18th May
En route game drive in Masai Mara National Reserve on
our way to Naivasha while searching for more bird species
especially the Magpie Shrike and others on the eastern
part of the reserve. Picnic lunch along the way.
The tour ends with a
dinner and transfer to the airport.
Optional 6 day
birding coastal extension available
Day 18 &
19th Tsavo West National Park
Head Tsavo West with an en route birding where habitat
is relatively denser thicket of savanna dominated by
acacia-Commiphora bush land with Baobab, grassy plains,
riverine woodland, the Mzima Springs. We bird in the
park en route heading for Taita Hills Forest where we
hope to see endemics “Taita Three” Apalis,
White-eye and Thrush. Other specialties include Striped
Pipit, Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler, Striped-cheeked
Greenbul.
Overnight at Ngulia
Safari Camp.
Day 20: Tsavo
East National Park- Malindi;
Tsavo East is mainly made of large track of open country
with lava ridges and rocky outcrops, Acacia-Commiphora
woodlands and Galana River with its bushed thickets
dominated by the Doum Palm.
Birds include Singing
Bush Lark, Bare-eyed Thrush, Scaly, Rufous Chatterer,
Black-headed Plover, Somali Courser, Black-bellied,
White-bellied Bustard, African Scops Owl, Striped Kingfisher,
Pringle's Puffback, Violet Wood-hoopoe, Southern Black,
Gambaga Flycatcher, Spot-flanked, Red & Yellow,
D'Arnaud's, Black-throated, White-headed Barbet, Greater,
Scaly-throated, Lesser, Pallid Honeyguide, Yellow-billed
Oxpecker, Northern White-crowned Shrike, Vulturine Guineafowl,
Northern Brownbul, Desert, Zitting, Ashy, Rattling,
Tiny Cisticola, Purple-banded, Hunter's, Eastern Violet-backed
Sunbird, African Orange-bellied Parrot, Jameson's Firefinch,
Green-winged Pytilia, Fire-fronted Bishop, Red-headed,
Vitelline Masked, Lesser Masked, Black-necked Weaver
among others
Driving through the
park we arrive in Watamu, Malindi in the late afternoon
Overnight at Turtle
Bay Beach Club.
Day 21, 22:
Arabuko Sokoke Forest, Mida Creek and Sabaki River Estuary
We visit the Arabuko Sokoke Forest which is the largest
remnant of coastal forests that once covered most of
the East African coast. Specialties include Sokoke Scops
Owl, Sokoke Pipit, East Coast Akalat, Spotted Ground
Thrush and Amani Sunbird and a Kenyan endemic Clarke's
Weaver.
Also Plain-backed, Olive
and Mouse-collared Sunbird, Retz's and Chestnut-fronted
Helmet-Shrike, Four-collared Bush-Shrike, Lizard Buzzard,
Southern Banded Snake Eagle, Pale Batis, Blue-mantled,
Ashy, Little Yellow Flycatcher, Fiery-necked Nightjar,
Fisher's Turaco, Yellowbill, African Pigmy, Mangrove
Kingfisher, Eastern Green Tinkerbird, Mombasa Woodpecker,
Pallid Honeyguide, Böhm Spinetail, Scaly Babbler,
Red-tailed Ant Thrush, Red-capped Robin Chat, Fischer's,
Zanzibar Sombre and Tiny Greenbul, Black-bellied Starling,
Eastern Bearded Scrub Robin, Eastern Nicator, African
Golden Oriole.
A visit to Mida Creek
fringed by mangrove forest, the creek has a large area
that fills with the saline water during high tides.
It's a birding haven for birdwatchers with thousands
of waders making it an important passage and wintering
habitat for migrants. Birds include and hope to see
the Crab-Plover, Greater and Lesser Sandplover, Black-tailed
Godwit, Sanderling, Grey Plover, Curlew, Terek Sandpiper,
Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew, Oystercatcher, Dimorphic
Egret, Yellow-billed and Wooly-necked Stork, Mangrove
Kingfisher.
Also Sabaki River Estuary
an area characterized by sandbanks, mudflats, mudbanks,
sanddunes, fresh pools and marshes. The site is important
for both intra-African and Palearctic migrants for roosting,
resting and feeding ground for gulls and terns
A good site for Madagascar Pratincole, Afrcan Skimmer.
Also Dimorphic and Little Egrets, Great, Lesser Flamingo,
Water Thick-knee, White-fronted Plover, Greater, Lesser
Sandplover, Sanderling, Curlew, Terek Sandpiper, Whimbrel,
Eurasian Curlew, Ruddy Turnstone, Heuglin's, and Lesser
Black-backed Gull, Gull-billed, Caspian, Greater-crested,
Lesser-crested and Common Tern, also the Carmine Bee-eater,
Ethiopian Swallow, Zanzibar Red Bishop also nearby Malindi
Pipit
Overnight at Turtle
Bay Beach Club.
Day 23: Malindi- Nairobi
Fly to Nairobi to connect to the main 17 days Birding
Trip.
