| HST30:7 Days Highland Birding
Day 1: Olorgesaille
 We 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-rumpled Waxbill, Grey Wren Warbler, Taita Fiscal, Von der Decker’s Hornbill, Fischer's Sparrow-Lark, Grey-headed Silverbill, Grey-capped Social-Weaver, Red-fronted Tinker bird, Straw-tailed Whydah, 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. Dinner and overnight in Nairobi or similar.
Day 2: Gatamaiyu Forest & 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 mundane 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 Coots, 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 Greenshank, Sandpipers, Plovers etc.
Leave late afternoon for Lake Naivasha. On the way pass by the Kinangop plateau in search of Sharpe's Longclaw, one of the Kenya's endemic.
Dinner and overnight at Lake Naivasha .
Day 3: Lake Naivasha
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. We'll take an early morning boat ride and later birding in the KWS Hippo sanctuary. We'll be looking for such species as Goliath, Black Heron, Long-toed, Three-banded Plover, Cape Wagtail, Grey-headed Kingfisher, White-headed Barbet, Blacksmith Plover, Grey-headed Gull, Red-winged Starling, Northern Anteater-Chat, Grey-capped Warbler, Saddle-billed Stork, Arrow-marked, and Black-lored Babbler, White-winged Widowbird, White-fronted Bee-eaters, among many others. Big game such as the Giraffes, Hippos, Elands, Waterbucks, Buffalos are present.
Leave for Lake Nakuru National Park in the late afternoon.
Overnight in the park or equivalent.
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 of birds recorded. 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 Reticulated Giraffes, buffalos, Common Waterbucks, Elands, Hippos, both Black and White Rhinos, lions, Leopard, Spotted Hyenas, among many small mammals.
Overnight in the Park or equivalent.
Day 5: Lake Nakuru National Park - Lake Baringo
We take a morning birding or game drive in the park before we leave for the Lake Baringo Conservation Area, another one 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 Scoops Owl, Bristle-crowned Starling, Brown-tailed Rock Chat, Green-winged Pytilia, 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, among others.
Overnight at Lake Baringo Club or equivalent.
Day 6: Lake Baringo
Today we'll spend the day birding along the main road to Kapedo about 75km, lying on a semi-desert. 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. Picnic in the bush. overnight at Lake Baringo Club or similar.
Day 7: Lake Baringo - Nairobi
Today we take an early morning boat ride before going back to the cliff and the bush around the lake. After lunch leave for Nairobi where our tour end with a dinner before the transfer to the airport.
|
