KENYA SPECIALITIES - Sokoke, Marsabit, Kakamega & Beyond!

Kenya provides the ultimate African birding adventure and this tour will see us targetting some extremely localised and rare birds as we head from the south coast at Sokoke, through Tsavo East & West National Parks, into the Taita Hills, and visiting some classic sites (and a few lesser known sites) such as Lake Naivasha, Lake Victoria, Kakamega Rainforest, Lake Baringo, Marsabit, Samburu, Buffalo Springs, Aberdares and Mount Kenya.

We begin at Arabuko-Sokoke Forest for Sokoke Scops Owls, Sokoke Pipit, Amani Sunbird andSpotted Ground-Thrush before checking the coastal mudflats for Crab-Plover. Nearby Dakacha woodland has the localised endemic Clarke’s Weaver, as well as Red-headed Quelea and Violet-breasted Sunbird. And then we head inland birding our way across Tsavo East National Park seeing many mouth-watering African species including Three-banded Courser, Somali Courser, Somali Bee-eater, Chestnut-headed Sparrow-Lark, Golden Pipit and many more. The Taita Hills are next and this is where we look for Taita Apalis, Taita White-eye and Taita Thrush, before driving into Tsavo West National Park in the afternoon. No doubt we will bump up the trip list here before reaching a superb hotel in Nairobi for the night. Next up is the stunning Lake Naivasha where we will spend the night. Species such as Grey-crested Helmetshrike, the endemic Sharpe’s Longclaw, Jackson's Widowbird and many, many others are present. Moving on to Lake Victoria we will look for Papyrus Gonolek, Papyrus Canary, Papyrus Yellow Warbler, Carruther’s Cisticola and White-winged Swamp Warbler, before driving to Kakamega Rainforest. Our primary target is the unusual Grey-chested Babbler (one of 3 members in a family with the mega-skulkers Spot-throat and Dapple-throat). There's a fine supporting cast of really cool species we could see over two full days here including Blue-headed Bee-eater, Chubb’s Cisticola, Kakamega Greenbul, Uganda Woodland Warbler, Bocage’s &  Lühder’s Bushshrike, Stuhlmann’s Starling, Equatorial Akalat, Scaly-breasted Illadopsis, Jameson’s & Yellow-bellied Wattle-eyes, and much more. We will then call into Lake Baringo, before reaching Marsabit, where we target Heuglin's Bustard and Masked Lark. At Buffalo Springs there's the rare William’s Lark and Masked Lark, and at Mount Kenya we will target Elgon Francolin. There's a bunch of great birds possible at Mount Kenya and the Aberdare's such as Aberdare Cisticola, Jackson’s Spurfowl, Kikuyu White-eye, Scarlet-tufted and Golden-winged Sunbirds, endemic Kikuyu White-eye, Black-collared, Grey, Black-throated and Chestnut-throated Apalis. Kandt's Waxbill and much more. And we will also look for the endemic Hinde's Pied-Babbler as well.

This tour is a typical birding safari with much of the time spent in safari vehicles, although there are a number of sites where it will be necessary to walk for up to 3 kms to find our target species. Although birds will be our priority, needless to say, there will be a huge variety of other wildlife to see each day with all the typical African mammals on offer from Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Giraffe, Plains Zebra and African Elephant to lesser known mammals such as Sable, Fringe-eared Oryx, African Crested Porcupine, Aardwolf, Small-spotted Genet, Honey Badger and even Caracal or African Wild Dog. Who knows what will appear?  

And we can definitely guarantee this will be a thrilling, action-packed, bird-filled ride across one of the most exciting birding destinations in all of Africa.