Option One:
Day 1: Nairobi National Park
Day 2: Gatamaiyu Forest & Manguo Ponds
Option 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.
