Special Kenya Birding Tour

Kenya Birding Tour Special

NEXT TOUR: This is a Special offer valid from 15 April – 30 June 2021. The tour can be booked as a private birding tour or you can join our Group Birding Tour departing on 19 May 2021
Price: From USD 2700 per person sharing

ITINERARY – Kenya Birding Tour Special

DAY 1:
Arrival in Kenya and birding around hotel
Welcome to Kenya! You will be picked up at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and we will load your luggage into our comfortable, airconditioned vehicle. We will slowly make our way out of Nairobi, to our hotel just outside the city centre. We will be on the lookout for our first bird species which could include the amazing Superb Starling and the majestic Marabou Stork. We will enjoy dinner at our hotel.

DAY 2:
Nairobi National Park
After breakfast, we will make our way to Nairobi National Park, where we will spend the full day exploring this amazing area.
Nairobi National Park is Kenya’s oldest National Park, located just 7 kilometres from the edge of the Nairobi city centre, Kenya’s capital city. Indeed, this is Kenya’s capital birding location with over 500 species recorded in the park.

Some of the species we will be looking for here include Secretarybird, African Rail, Spotted Thick-knee, Black-winged Plover, African Finfoot, Pangani Longclaw, Jackson’s Widowbird, Kori Bustard, Hartlaub’s Bustard, Saddle-billed Stork, Northern Yellow White-eye, Common Nightingale, Ruppell’s Robin-chat, Northern Pied Babbler, White-tailed Lark, Rufous-naped Lark, Somali Short-toed Lark, Red-throated Tit, Speke’s Weaver, Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, Martial Eagle, Crowned Eagle, Wahlberg’s Eagle, Quailfinch, Zebra Waxbill, Harlequin Quail, Lappet-faced Vulture, Violet Wood Hoopoe, Nairobi Pipit, Grassland Pipit, Croaking Cisticola and Desert Cisticola. The gorgeous usambiro subspecies of D’Arnaud’s Barbet, a Kenyan near-endemic also occurs in this park, and we may encounter it on our visit.

The park also hosts four of the African Big Five (Lion, Leopard, Black Rhino and African Buffalo) as well as other interesting animals which we will be on the lookout for while birdwatching. We will stop at a beautiful picnic spot to enjoy our packed lunch. Late afternoon we will return to Nairobi for our overnight accommodation and dinner.

DAY 3 & 4:
Mount Kenya
Today we will drive north towards Mount Kenya. Birding around the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa will definitely be a major highlight. On the way, we will make short birding stops and to stretch our legs.

On arrival at our lodge we will start with birding around the lodge, targeting forest and woodland species. We will be on the lookout for Mountain Buzzard, Crowned Eagle, Olive Ibis, Bar-tailed Trogon, Grey Apalis, Black-throated Apalis, Mountain Yellow Warbler, Golden-winged Sunbird, African Olive Pigeon, Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeon and Oriole Finch.

We will also take some time to scout the local wetlands. Birds to expect in this area include Alpine Swift, Purple-throated Cuckooshrike, Grey Cuckooshrike, Mountain Wagtail, Cape Wagtail, Slender-billed Greenbul, Mountain Yellow Warbler, Cinnamon Bracken Warbler, Black-throated Apalis, Black-collared Apalis, Chestnut-throated Apalis, White-browed Crombec, Hunter’s Cisticola, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Crowned Hornbill, African Black Duck, Red-fronted Parrot, Hartlaub’s Turaco, Spectacled Weaver, Grey-headed Nigrita, Scaly Francolin, Brown-backed Scrub Robin, Ruppell’s Robin-chat, Abyssinian Crimsonwing, Abyssinian Ground Thrush, Black-fronted Bushshrike, Malachite Sunbird, Golden-winged Sunbird, Eastern Double-collared Sunbird, Black-headed Waxbill, Olive Ibis, Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo, Slender-billed Starling, Abbott’s Starling, Sharpe’s Starling, Kenrick’s Starling, Waller’s Starling, Kikuyu White-eye, Fine-banded Woodpecker, White-headed Wood Hoopoe, Bar-tailed Trogon, Yellow-crowned Canary, Dusky Turtle Dove, African Green Pigeon, Lemon Dove and African Olive Pigeon.

We will be on the lookout for local monkeys, squirrels and antelopes, among other mammals. The night sky may be graced by sounds from the Montane Nightjar and Southern Tree Hyrax. We overnight and enjoy dinner at our lodge in Mount Kenya.

DAY 5:
Mount Kenya to Lake Baringo
We will start the day with some more birding in Mt. Kenya, looking to spot any species we missed the previous day.

After our early morning birding, we will head for Lake Baringo, birding along the way. There will be several roadside stops to build on our list. If time allows, we will stop briefly at a cliff where we could see the mackinderi subspecies of Cape Eagle-owl and also at a roadside dam to check for some waterfowl. We will also stop at a local site where the endemic Hinde’s Babbler is often found. We will overnight and enjoy our dinner in Baringo.

DAY 6:
Lake Baringo
We will spend the full day in the Lake Baringo area. We will drive and walk around the scrubland and the cliffs surrounding the lake, in search of Spotted Eagle-owl, Northern White-faced Owl, Shikra, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Verreaux’s Eagle, Slender-tailed Nightjar, Donaldson-Smith’s Nightjar, Heuglin’s Courser, Blue-capped Cordon-bleu, D’Arnaud’s Barbet, Black-throated Barbet, Brubru, Grey-headed Bushshrike, Somali Fiscal, Three-streaked Tchagra, Spotted Thick-knee, Senegal Thick-knee, African Pygmy Kingfisher, Nubian Woodpecker, Crimson-rumped Waxbill, Little Weaver, Jackson’s Golden-backed Weaver, Northern Masked Weaver, White-billed Buffalo Weaver, White-bellied Canary, Beautiful Sunbird, Black-headed Plover, Jackson’s Hornbill, Yellow-billed Hornbill, Hemprich’s Hornbill, Northern Red Bishop, Brown-tailed Rock Chat, Mocking Cliff Chat, Somali Sparrow and Bristle-crowned Starling, among many other wonderful species of this region.

A boat ride on Lake Baringo will be done during our visit, in search of water birds like African Jacana, Black Crake, Goliath Heron, Little Bittern, Purple Heron and White-faced Whistling Duck. The boat ride experience will also help you enjoy the beauty of the lake and see the local African Fish Eagles advertising their territories as they hunt too. We will again overnight and enjoy dinner in Baringo.

DAY 7 & 8:
Kakamega Forest
Early this morning we start making our way to Kakamega Forest. We will arrive just before lunchtime.

We will spend our two days here exploring the Kakamega Forest, a remnant of the Guineo-Congolian Equatorial forest. There is a huge variety of species present in the forest and we hope to add a few specials to our ever growing bird list. We will spend most of our time walking in the forest in search of local specialties, with short breaks in between.

Here we expect species such as the Yellow-mantled Widowbird, Little Greenbul, Shelley’s Greenbul, Cameroon Sombre Greenbul, Ansorge’s Greenbul, Toro Olive Greenbul, Great Blue Turaco, Western Banded Snake Eagle, Crowned Eagle, Chapin’s Flycatcher, Red-headed Bluebill, Oriole Finch, Black-faced Rufous Warbler, Uganda Woodland Warbler, White-chinned Prinia, Buff-throated Apalis, Turner’s Eremomela, Green Hylia, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Olive-Green Camaroptera, Square-tailed Drongo, Red-headed Malimbe, Black-necked Weaver, Black-billed Weaver, Vieillot’s Black Weaver, African Broadbill, Petit’s Cuckooshrike, Blue-shouldered Robin-chat, Snowy-headed Robin-chat, Grey-throated Barbet, Hairy-breasted Barbet, Yellow-spotted Barbet, Yellow-billed Barbet, Pink-footed Puffback, Green Sunbird, Western Olive Sunbird, Orange-tufted Sunbird, Green-throated Sunbird, Mackinnon’s Fiscal, White-spotted Flufftail, Dusky Tit, African Emerald Cuckoo, Klaas’s Cuckoo, Bocage’s Bushshrike, Luhder’s Bushshrike, Black-crowned Waxbill, White-breasted Nigrita, Bar-tailed Trogon, Least Honeyguide, Buff-spotted Woodpecker, Brown-eared Woodpecker, Yellow-crested Woodpecker, White-headed Wood Hoopoe, Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill, Equatorial Akalat, White-tailed Ant Thrush, Blue-headed Bee-eater, Western Black-headed Oriole, Brown-throated Wattle-eye, Jameson’s Wattle-eye and Yellow-bellied Wattle-eye.

The forest is also host to different unique monkeys, antelopes and squirrel species. We overnight and enjoy dinner in the Kakamega Forest area.

DAY 9:
Lake Naivasha
This morning we will leave early and slowly make our way to Naivasha as we enjoy more roadside birding. In Naivasha, we will stop at all the local birding spots. We will search for more savannah and bushland birds.

Lake Naivasha is a Ramsar Site and IBA and offers great birding. We will stop on the lakeshore to maximise our chances of spotting the shorebirds that inhabit this area.

Expected species include Mosque Swallow, Lyne’s Cisticola, Chestnut Sparrow, Abyssinian Wheatear, Nyanza Swift, Mottled Swift, White-fronted Bee-eater, Mocking Cliff Chat, Bearded Woodpecker, Plain-backed Pipit, Giant Kingfisher, Grey-backed Fiscal, Grey-crested Helmetshrike, Brimstone Canary, Cape Teal, Pied Avocet, Black Heron, Goliath Heron, Lesser Flamingo, Maccoa Duck, Great White Pelican, Common Greenshank, Ruff, Green Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Hildebrandt’s Francolin, Arrow-marked Babbler, Black-lored Babbler, African Fish Eagle, Verreaux’s Eagle, Tawny Eagle, Western Osprey, Red-throated Wryneck, Golden-breasted Bunting, Buff-bellied Warbler, Grey Crowned Crane and Black Cuckoo.

Animals such as African Buffalo, the tippelskirchi subspecies of Giraffe, Nile Crocodile, Hippopotamus and Common Wildebeest are common here.

Late afternoon we will do a boat cruise on the lake looking for waterbirds. We will overnight and enjoy dinner in Naivasha.

DAY 10:
Kinangop Plateau and departure
From Naivasha we will head to the iconic Kinangop Plateau. Home to some of the best of Kenya’s endemic birds, this area promises to be rewarding.

We will explore the local grasslands and wetlands as we seek the special birds that the plateau is known for. Expected species here include Black-winged Plover, Red-throated Wryneck, Common Quail, Hunter’s Cisticola, Levaillant’s Cisticola, Wing-snapping Cisticola, Long-tailed Widowbird, Jackson’s Widowbird, Angola Swallow, Montane Nightjar, Sharpe’s Longclaw, Mountain Buzzard, Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawk, Red-throated Pipit, Black-tailed Godwit, African Snipe, Lesser Jacana and African Stonechat.

Later this afternoon, we make our way to Nairobi, with a possible stop at a local swamp for some water birds. After the last birding, we will make our way to the airport, to catch our international flights home.

Make the most of this special offer and go birding with us in Kenya. Contact our team at info@naturetravelafrica.com