Kenya Birds - Trip Report September 2002

Following the links above will take you to trip lists for each area. If you are interested in our overall tally for the visit go here.

A New Approach

This was our 9th trip to Kenya and we wanted to do something slightly different. While we love the National Parks and Reserves, we have long wanted to visit some of the places that are away from the main tourist routes. We wanted somewhere where we could go for a stroll and enjoy the bird life. So for this trip we went with a small Kenyan company, BES Tours, who scouted out some of the smaller, out of the way, places for us to stay. Our guide for the trip was, Benson (Ben) Mugambi, who is a member of Nature Kenya and a regular participant in the weekly bird walks so he was able to show us some of the local birding spots.

Our trip started, as ever, at Jomo Kenyatta Airport where we met with Ben and Oliver (our driver) and then we were off on a 2 week tour that was to take us to the eastern and western borders of Kenya (new areas for us) as well as to some familiar ground.

Tsavo East

From the airport we drove to Voi Lodge in Tsavo East - but not without a degree of trepidation. Not that Voi is unusual or out of the way - it's just that every time we've tried to stay there something has gone wrong! So far we've racked up a night at Gatwick airport (engine failure on 3 planes) thus missing our 1st night at Voi lodge; a mix-up over flights which led to cancellation of our final night in Tsavo; and then we had the, never to be forgotten, night in a safari bus stuck in a muddy hole (rather than dinner and comfy beds at the lodge). This time though everything went without a hitch.

Among the usual sightings of Drongo, Northern White-crowned Shrike, Batis, Green-winged Pytillia, Red-billed Quelea, Lilac-breasted Roller, Hornbills (Grey and Red-billed), Starlings (Superb, Wattled and Golden-breasted) and Eagles (Bateleur, Tawny Eagle, Brown Snake Eagle, Black-chested Snake Eagle and African Fish Eagle) there were some rarer (for us) sightings. In particular the area around the Aruba Dam threw up some nice species with Egyptian Vulture one of the highlights for us.

Heading away from Aruba we crossed the park to reach our second destination at Sabaki Estuary, but not without picking up a lifer (Chestnut-headed Sparrow-Lark) on the way.

Sabaki Estuary

This was probably the high spot of our holiday. We stayed at Malindi Camp and Cottage which is run by Rodgers Karabu and his family. If you want somewhere quiet, tucked away from the noise and bustle of a coastal hotel then this is an excellent place to stay. The rooms are basic but very clean, the food is local, nicely cooked and very filling. You eat with the family and some of the dishes had no English translation, but they were satisfying. There is no power but the highly effective storm lanterns mean you can eat and read in comfort. The cottage is situated above the estuary and a short walk brings you to the Sabaki river and beyond it to the Indian Ocean. And there's no one trying to sell you anything - it was heaven!

This was our first proper visit to the coast and we were hoping to get a glimpse of an African Skimmer. On our first gentle stroll, guided by Mtawali, Rodgers' young son, we were delighted to see a pair of Skimmers feeding in the estuary. This was to be the first of 8 lifers we saw at this location (the others being Golden Palm Weaver, Whimbrel, Grey Plover, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Dimorphic Egret, Madagascar Pratincole and the African Palm-Swift).

Being so close to the Arabuko-Sokoke forest, our coastal stop wouldn't have been complete without a short trip through the forest and the adjacent mangrove swamps of Mida Creek. For the trip we were joined by Anastasia (who is one of the forest research team) and Willis (a qualified forest guide). Anastasia familiarised us with some of the work being undertakn by the Sokoke Forest conservation team - including an impressive initiative working with the local farmers on designing and building fencing (from renewable resources) to protect their crops from forest elephants.

In the forest we were hoping for a glimpse of Clarke's Weaver and Sokoke Scops-Owl, two of the region's endemics, but in the short time available we had to "settle" for 8 additional lifers (Amani Sunbird, Little Yellow Flycatcher, Black-headed Apalis, Böhm's Spinetail, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Lizard Buzzard, Eastern Nicator and Mangrove Kingfisher). Willis did set out to locate the Scops for us but they were in hiding away from their normal haunts (as with much of the bird-life - they knew were coming so went to ground ..... not that we're paranoid or anything!).

The best time to see Mida is just before or just after high tide, timing constraints meant that we missed this prime spot but it was still well worth stopping (although we only had a very short time there). On the way to the creek we were delighted to see a small flock of Carmine Bee-eaters, not a rarity but the intense red and turquoise colouring makes a impressive display. The Creek itself gave us another lifer for our list in the form of Terek Sandpiper which we founbd in amongst the Grey Plover, Little Stint, Three-banded Plover, Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Common Tern and Greater Flamingo.

We have been looking for a suitable place to stop at the coast for a number of years, somewhere without water-sports, discos and "beach boys" .... now we've found it we only hope Rodgers and his family stay in business for a number of years to come!

Tsavo West

So onto Kilaguni Lodge in Tsavo West. This is a favourite of ours (it's the first lodge we ever stayed in and its appeal hasn't dulled over the years). We saw all the usual suspects, although a Yellow-spotted Petronia confused us slightly by actually having a visible yellow spot - we mostly identify them from the partial eye-ring! The Golden-breasted Starlings were in particularly good colour and we finally got close enough with a camera to snap them.

Detour

One of the advantages of taking a trip with Ben is his knowledge of some of the places visited by local birders that the casual visitor wouldn't know about. Among the stops we made was a memorable one to a dairy farm which had a reed-bed filtration system in its grounds. With permission from the owners we took a walk around the reeds and clocked up 26 species in as many minutes. These included; Plain Martin, Cattle Egret, Hadada Ibis, Purple Swamphen, African Jacana, Common Moorhen, Purple Heron, Long-crested Eagle, Wood Sandpiper, Grey Crowned Crane, Northern Double-collared Sunbird, Common Sandpiper, Long-toed Plover, Blacksmith Plover, Hottentot Teal, Lesser Moorhen, Glossy Ibis, Greater Painted Snipe, White-faced Whistling Duck, Common Fiscal, Sacred Ibis, Malachite Kingfisher, Squacco Heron, Common Waxbill, Yellow-rumped Seedeater and African Grey Flycatcher. Not bad for a small detour!

Thika

And so onto another new place - Thika Blue Post Hotel - and another very welcome lifer - the African Black Duck. Especially welcome for me as Paul has never quite forgiven me for being asleep the only other time he's seen one. Although he almost missed it this time due to incoherent babbling on my part (the cry "Quick, quick, quacking waterbird thingy" isn't a generally recognised piece of birding terminology). Our stop at Thika was relatively brief but we did get another lifer in the form of the Black Cuckoo-shrike - and even without this it's a great place for Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaters which are a favourite of ours.

Samburu

It's always exciting to get a lifer in the place that you know best and for us that's Samburu, so seeing Bare-eyed Thrush and Black-bellied Sunbird for the first time was quite a thrill. However one of the birds we were particularly keen to see and photograph was the Somali Courser. Ben had scouted the area a couple of weeks in advance and had reported seeing reasonable numbers in the almost desert-like lava regions of Buffalo Springs. So that was one of our destinations, and just where he said we would find them ....... we actually did find them (unusual for us .... normally everyone expresses surprise and deep regret about our not seeing such-and-such a bird ... so we tend to be amazed when a particular species turns up exactly as reported).

A long-time favourite Samburu species is the Palm-nut Vulture (which is not actually a vulture, it's an eagle). This is reported as wandering to the upper Uaso Nyiro but we never fail to see it on our trips to the park and we have watched it nesting in the trees along the banks of the river. Another local speciality is Donaldson-Smith's Sparrow-Weaver which is at the southern most point of its range in Samburu. We're always surprised at just how good a place it is to see woodpeckers and this trip was no exception with us seeing Nubian, Bearded, Cardinal and Grey.

Naro Moru

From Samburu we took the relatively short hop to Naro Moru River Lodge via the rutted and rocky road through Solio Ranch (although it didn't throw up any surprises this time it has done in the past so it's always worth going this way). At Naro Moru we enjoyed a long walk through the extensive grounds and caught some more lifers, another Cuckoo-shrike (this time the Grey) and also the Yellow-bellied Waxbill. We were also treated to the normal array of montane species including the Tacazze Sunbird and Bronze Sunbird. It also turned out to be the only place we saw the Great White Pelican in the whole trip.

Lake Baringo

From Naro Moru we moved on to Lake Baringo stopping at Thompson's Falls en route. Despite being busy and noisy, the Falls afforded us an opportunity to see Mountain Buzzard nesting. We also saw our first ever Abyssinian Crimsonwing. Baringo is normally where we take a break and put our feet up for 4 or 5 days but we were short of time this year and so we only had 2 nights. This gave us enough time to visit the cliffs and Lake Bogoria (wonderful views of Black-necked Grebe) and have a wander around the grounds of Lake Baringo Country Club. The area was much drier than it has been in recent visits and it was strange to see the lake without any fishing boats (fishing had been banned on the lake due to the low water levels and shortage of fish).

Kakamega Forest

From Baringo we headed west to Kakamega, crossing the Rift Valley. This is a marvellous journey along comparatively good roads. The scenery is really breath-taking and there are opportunities for sighting rare species such as the Gambaga Flycatcher. At Kakamega we stayed at the Rondo Retreat although we took the opportunity to take a guided walk through the forest itself. In terms of lifers this was a very profitable leg of our trip we clocked 21 new species - Vieillot's Black Weaver, Great Blue Turaco, Red-headed Bluebill, Snowy-headed Robin-Chat, Joyful Greenbul, Black-and-White-casqued Hornbill, African Blue Flycatcher, Collared Sunbird, Yellow White-eye, Grey-throated Barbet, Yellow-crested Woodpecker, White-headed Saw-wing, Black-necked Weaver, Green-throated Sunbird, Blue-headed Bee-eater, Dark-backed Weaver, Black-faced Rufous Warbler, Ansorge's Greenbul, Red-tailed Bristlebill, Blue-spotted Wood-Dove and African Thrush.

The forest was a fascinating area to walk through although we really needed to have been there earlier in the day to make the most of the bird life. However it was fascinating to talk to Ben, our guide for the walk, who has been a Kakamega guide for 9 years. He was telling us about some of the recent successes in terms of bird conservation with species such as the African Grey Parrot (once thought to be almost extirpated in Kenya) making a comeback. He told us that, although they are difficult to spot, he had encountered large family groups on a couple of occasions in recent times.

Lake Victoria

At Lake Victoria we stayed at the Lake Victoria Safari Village - Mbita Point. Due to road closures this turned out to be quiet a significant distance from Rondo Retreat and we followed the Lake shore from Kisumu to Mbita Point. Once again we were lucky enough to record yet more lifers, this time African Open-billed Stork, Swamp Flycatcher, Slender-billed Weaver and Red-chested Sunbird.

Mbita Point is relatively close to Ruma National Park (one of the less visited of Kenya's parks). It is renowned mostly for its Roan Antelope and Oribi but it has recently excited the birding world by producing a flock of Black-backed Cisticola (thought to have died out in Kenya). We saw neither this elusive Cisticola nor the other speciality of the park, the Blue Swallow. For us the highlight was seeing a group of Broad-billed Rollers next to the airstrip.

Back at the safari village we were interested to encounter a group of Brown Babblers. Mbita Point is outside their usual range and the birds were around morning and evening on both days we stayed. Similarly the African Grey Flycatcher (which is generally absent from the Lake Victoria basin) was also present in the grounds.

Time to Go Home

The journey back from Victoria to Nairobi was interesting both in terms of the bird life encountered and for the spectacular failure of our vehicle's brakes (one of the shocks fell off severing the brake pipe). Our totally unflappable driver carried on for 20km until we reached Naivasha and a garage! Among the more spectacular sightings was Ross's Turaco seen on the roadside as we crossed the Rift Valley.

As we got close to Nairobi and journey's end Ben had another surprise for us. Leaving the main road we drove a short distance to Manguo Pond where, surrounded by boys playing football, people washing clothes, herdsmen driving their livestock for an evening drink, business men returning home for the day and all the normal bustle of a busy district we saw our first ever White-backed Duck swimming alongside the first Maccoa Ducks we've ever seen in the wild in Kenya. There's nothing like finishing on a high note!

And so back to the UK ..... with fingers crossed for some new photos for our pages!

Trip Report September 2002

Itinerary