BACKGROUND

This trip gave me an opportunity to see birds in a region of Kenya that I had not visited on my previous three trips. Although I was only there for a relatively short time, I really enjoyed the birding and saw over 270 species.

Having been allowed to retire early at the end of December, I treated myself to the trip while my wife and son went skiing. A good result for all concerned! I arranged the visit through my friend Jonathan Baya [www.tracktours.weebly.com]. As this region is outside of Jonathan’s normal patch, he, in turn, contacted Joshua from “Birdwatching East Africa”. Together, they were excellent guides. I was totally spoilt as, at times, I had three guides with me!

This western area [Lake Baringo, Kakamega, Lake Naivasha] is brilliant for birds and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in world birding. Given the limited time available, I concentrated on birds rather than animals. Obviously, the Masai Mara NP was well within range but I didn’t have time to fit it in. One for later…

ITINERARY

17 FEB – Left Newcastle for Heathrow and took the BA flight to Nairobi, arriving around 9pm. Met Jonathan, who had driven the van from Watamu, and Joshua and then moved on to stay in a hotel on the outskirts of Nairobi, which was OK but I’m not recommending it!

18 FEB – There was an awful amount of traffic in Nairobi and we were held up for a long time before we got out of the built up areas. Gradually, we picked our way towards Nakuru, seeing a few birds along the way. We were heading for the Lake Baringo area and making good progress until smoke appeared from the back of the van! Great.. a stop at the next garage took out a couple of hours. In the end, it was just poor quality petrol that was causing the problem so it could have been worse. We lost a fair amount of time though. I saw a few birds from the garage forecourt  but it wasn’t birding at its best.

Moving on, we made our way to Mogotio, [the Equator stop], where we got out of the van and had a look around the area. This was more like it!. Grey Backed Fiscal, Silverbird, Marico Sunbird and Upcher’s Warbler were all lifers for me and seen within a couple of minutes.

We moved on for a mile and got out again to cover a small wetland area. There weren’t too many new birds but plenty of passerines, including two more Upcher’s Warblers, which I watched for several minutes. Strange looking Warblers, constantly flicking tails and crashing through the brambles. Something like a very large Barred Warbler came to mind. A reminder of things back home included a few Northern Wheatears and a Common Sanpiper. More African by nature were Brubru [4], African Spoonbill, Sacred Ibis and Black Headed Heron.

We moved on towards Lake Baringo. Josh had arranged to meet our local guide, Francis, at a site where there were a few specialities. Within 20 minutes, I had Star Spotted and Slender Tailed Nightjars on my list, together with Heughlin’s Courser [4] and Spotted Thick-knee [2]. Four Lichenstein’s Sandgrouse weren’t new but still very good to see, as was the Spotted [Greyish] Eagle Owl. Nice place.

We moved on to Lake Baringo Country Club, which is fairly expensive but I deserved it after 40 years in Local Government!

19 FEB – We were up early and we again met Francis, who quickly took us to an area near a cliff. Lifers came thick and fast. Bristle Crowned Starling [2], Jackson’s Hornbill and Vitelline Masked Weaver were seen very quickly from the van. We then got out and walked around the area, adding a few distant Cliff Chat, Three Streaked Tchagra, Brown Tailed Rock Chat and Hunters Sunbird to my list. We then watched three Hemplich’s Hornbills fly over us. Two landed for a minute or so before flying away. A few other birds flitted around the bushes, including Green Winged Pytilia, Northern Grey Tit, and a Purple Grenadier, which I missed. I still haven’t seen one!

Back for breakfast with the birds. The staff at the hotel put out some rich pickings for them and there were birds everywhere. These included lifers in the shape of Arrow Marked Babblers, Little Weaver and White Billed Buffalo Weaver. Three species of Hornbill, numerous other Weavers and Starlings, plus the occasional Coucal, Lilac-Breasted Roller and others made it difficult to concentrate on what I was eating.

Finally, I was dragged away and we walked through the grounds. There were a few distant Carmine Bee-eaters on the trees in the Lake, with other Bee-eater species, which could have been Blue-Cheeked. Herons, Terns and Egrets were plentiful. In the Gardens, we saw Woodland Kingfisher, African Scops Owl and White Faced Scops Owl. A few Spotted Morning Thrush bobbed around on the grass, together with the ever-present, but beautiful, Superb Starlings.

We then booked out and started the long journey through Kerio Valley to Kakamega. We stopped a couple of times but more for a stretch of legs than anything else. It’s a long trip. On arrival at Rondo Retreat, there were a few birds around but we quickly made our way to meet our local guide, Wilberforce. What a lovely man. He knows his birds too. Jonathan had trained as a guide with him many years before and it was their first meeting since - so that finished the day, birding wise!

A nice meal and off to my spacious room. Again, Rondo isn’t particularly cheap but it’s the place to stay if you’re going to Kakamega. Prior to departure, I had been told that there was no alcohol allowed but I did see other people drinking wine at the table so the rules might have been relaxed a little.

20 FEB – I was up in good time for breakfast and had a brief look around the gardens. White Headed and Black Saw-wings were already in position and I had a glimpse of Black and White Casqued Hornbill. I would get much better views later on. We made our way a few miles up the track and arrived at Wilberforce’s house. We continued to the Reserve office and then walked into the Forest. Tree Pipit and Willow Warbler!! Where am I? Oh, African Blue Flycatcher, I remember now.. And then new birds came along in good numbers, starting with Brown Chested Alethe, Joyful Greenbul, Yellow Spotted and Yellow Billed Barbets [among other Barbets], Equatorial Akalat. I could go on but I won’t. I’ve listed them separately in the appendix to this report. What I will say is that I saw 5 Blue Headed Bee-eaters and that was THE moment of the trip for me. I’ve even got about a minute’s worth of camcorder footage to prove I saw at least two of them!

While all this birdwatching was on-going, we did stop to admire Black and White Colobus, Red-tailed and Blue Monkeys. There was also a squirrel or two and many butterflies. It’s a lovely place. We stopped for lunch and had a few hours out in the afternoon. It was less birdy but I added a few new birds and saw others well.

21 FEB – Another early start saw us head along the track in the opposite direction to the previous day. We stopped near a bridge where Wilberforce quickly got into his stride, pointing out a number of lifers for me in a couple of hours. There was all sorts, Greenbuls, Tinkerbirds, Bush-Shrikes, Starlings. We just stood in the same place and waited for them to come to us. A walk off the road and into an open area brought about a number of different birds, including Chubb’s Cisticola, Double Toothed Barbet, Vieillot’s Black Weaver and Augur Buzzard.

In the afternoon, we walked along a trail at Rondo. I was still missing Great Blue Turaco and was just beginning to wonder whether I was going to dip out when two beauts flew in front of us and landed in the open for stonking views! As if that wasn’t enough, Wilberforce then tracked down a White-Spotted Flufftail, which showed really well. I hadn’t expected to see one of those. It was excellent overall and I was very grateful to Josh for arranging to have Wilberforce for the extra local knowledge. After a long chat  [we had a few of those!] in the Rondo Garden, we said our farewells as the light faded. There was still time to see a few more Turacos around the big trees on the edge of the Garden.

22 FEB – Another long day beckoned as we made our way from Kakmega to Lake Naivasha. It took some time and we only made one stop for birds, overlooking a lake by the main road, which is well known for Lesser Jacana [but not when I’m there!]. A fleeting glimpse of Golden-Winged Sunbird was very frustrating but it was one! Lots of common waterbirds apart, there wasn’t too much happening. A brief diversion here. I really did not like the road we were on around this time. It’s the main road from Nairobi to the West. It was literally a long piece of tarmac, featuring four massive ruts from the weight of the lorries that have travelled along that piece of road over the years. It was more like a railway line. If you wanted to pass anything, you had to come out of your deep “rails” and then go back into them once you were ahead. Thankfully, this only lasted for about 20 miles and Josh said that the Government is planning to completely repair the road to the high standard nearer to Nairobi, which is excellent. Can’t come soon enough…

We arrived in the Naivasha area in good time and went past the Lake Naivasha Country Club [yes, more expense] to Lake Oloiden. Here we saw thousands of Lesser Flamingo. There were also many common waders and hundreds of Yellow Wagtails. No lifers but a great place. We made our way back to the hotel, checked in and then it started to rain. That was the first rain we had experienced since arrival at the airport. It didn’t last and we were able to make our way through the grounds and onto the walk-way towards the lake. We saw many different birds in a very short time. It’s a good place to stop for birders. I then went for dinner and had an unusual experience when I arrived at the same time as 20 or so Chinese chaps. I thought I’d let them get theirs first. I was in no particular rush. I hadn’t banked on them being a professional food demolition squad! Anything and everything went on the same plate and vanished. The waiters took pity on me and got the chef to renew some of the plates. I got in quickly…

23 FEB – We walked around the grounds again and saw even more than on the previous evening. Northern Anteater Chat [2] was a new bird for me. We walked into an adjacant field and saw Red Faced Crombec and Gabar Goshawk, along with many more Yellow Wagtails. Two Giant Kingfishers flew past and on the return walk, Hunter’s Cisticola [2] showed well and brought yet another lifer my way.

I could have stayed longer but we had places to go and birds to see so we left mid morning for Kinangop Grassland. We were hoping for Sharpe’s Longclaw but despite walking the area thoroughly, we didn’t see one. However, I did add a few lifers with Black-winged Plover, African Snipe and Mountain Buzzard. We then moved on to Gatamaiyu Forest, which is only about an hour’s drive from Nairobi. We had about three hours here and it was slow at times but good at other times. Lifers included White Starred Robin. White Tailed Crested Flycatcher, Black throated Apalis, White Browed Crombec, Black-fronted Bush -Shrike, Mountain Oriole and Grey Cuckoo Shrike. Again, it’s a place I can recommend but I’d also recommend that you take Josh with you!

Having got back onto the main Nairobi road, it was plain sailing through to the airport and I arrived in good time to check in before the flight back to London. I arrived early on the following morning and after a couple of hours’wait, flew back to Newcastle.  It had been an excellent trip. A number of people had said that it was a long way to go for just 6 nights. However, having seen over 270 species, including many lifers, I’d say it was well worth it. Obviously, it would have been nice to have stayed on for a day or two at Kakamega to do it complete justice but there’s always next time! One of my main regrets was that birds came at us so quickly at times that I just couldn’t keep up! That’s a nice problem to have. With three other people looking, in different directions, there was always a chance that I would miss quite a few. I thought I‘d missed a dozen or so but as you will see from the Appendix, I seem to have missed a good few more than that! I think some of it is down to the fact that I couldn’t record everything at the time of seeing the birds and I missed a few that way. Normally, I’m pretty good at remembering what I’ve seen but this was a case of volume overload!

Finally, I would like to thank Jonathan and Josh for their help and care. They made the trip very easy for me. Thanks also to Francis and Wilberforce. I think you need this extra local knowledge if you are going to get the best out of a trip. It helps them too, financially. I know Jonathan very well now and can recommend him unreservedly as an excellent guide along the coast and in the Tsavo area. The places we went to on this trip are well outside of his patch and he does not know all of the birds. I’m sure Josh and his colleagues at Birdwatching East Africa would be excellent if you were to book through them. Alternatively, Jonathan will be in regular contact with Josh about trips and he will be happy to act as middle man if you are looking to cover the coast as well as the Western part of the country.