Day 1: Nairobi
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) that makes an excellent whole day birding. All
the way down the rift valley, stops along the way shows
a 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: Gatamaiyu, Manguo Ponds
Leave early for the Gatamaiyu 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.
Leave late afternoon for Lake Nakuru. On the way pass 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 are 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 we
leave for the Lake Baringo Conservation Area, another of
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 Club.
Day 6: 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. After lunch we leave for Kitale where we
spend the night looking forward for tomorrow birding
down the Kongelai Escarpment.
Overnight in Kitale.
Day 7: 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 8: Kakamega Forest
Day 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 9: Kakamega forest
Birding in the forest trail and later in the afternoon
leave for 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 Black
Bishop, Black-billed Barbet.
Overnight at Kisumu
Day 10: Kisumu
Today we take an early morning boat ride along the
Papyrus vegetation at the Dunga Beach (an old 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 Yellow-backed Weavers, Greater
Swamp Warbler e.t.c.
Return to Nairobi where our tour ends with a dinner
before the transfer to the airport.
