Western Kenya Birding Safari

Overview

The Western Kenya Birding Safari is a 12-day birding tour from Nairobi through the Rift Valley lakes of Elmenteita, Nakuru and Baringo, the shores of Lake Victoria, the equatorial Kakamega Forest, the Busia grasslands, Saiwa Swamp, Mt. Elgon and the Kongelai Escarpment: the least-visited birding areas in Kenya, with species found nowhere else in the country.

Itinerary

Day by day

1. 1

   Day 1

   Arrival in Nairobi

   We shall arrive on our Western Kenya Birding Tour via Nairobi, the tourism capital of Kenya.

   Depending on your arrival time and how tired you may be from the flights, you can choose to add an extra birding session this afternoon. Otherwise, you can relax and enjoy the local city birds from your hotel.

   Night in Nairobi.

2. 2

   Day 2

   Lake Elmenteita to Lake Nakuru National Park

   • Lake Nakuru

   Kick-starting our Western Kenya Birding Tour, we shall depart Nairobi early in the morning and head west to Lake Elmenteita. We will enjoy birding here along the lake shore and the nearby woodland, also keeping an eye out for local mammals such as Common Eland, Common Zebra and Cape Buffalo.

   We will continue our birding in the afternoon in nearby Lake Nakuru National Park. This is a great birding site and is rightly named “the birdwatchers’ paradise”. The park also hosts many mammals such as African Lion, Black Rhino, White Rhino, Leopard and Rothschild’s Giraffe.

   Night in Lake Nakuru.

3. 3

   Day 3

   Lake Nakuru to Lake Victoria

   We shall start the day with more birding at Lake Nakuru, targeting any species we may have missed earlier.

   Then we drive to the shores of Lake Victoria. The water here is fresh with lots of life, and the local riparian zone will be our major target. We expect many wetland and marsh species. We shall have a boat ride to access more of the lake, either that afternoon or early the next morning.

   Night in Kisumu.

4. 4

   Days 4–5

   Kakamega Forest

   We proceed to Kakamega Forest, where we hope to score many forest species. The time will be spent exploring Kakamega Forest, a remnant of the Guineo-Congolian equatorial forest. Species diversity here is plenty and we shall hope to have a huge addition to our list. We shall spend time walking in the forest in search of local specialities, with breaks in between.

   The forest is also great for different unique monkeys, antelopes and squirrel species.

   Nights in Kakamega.

5. 6

   Day 6

   Kakamega Forest to the Busia grasslands

   Enjoy our final birding session in Kakamega Forest this morning and then depart for a less-explored part of Western Kenya.

   Today we shall explore the Busia area, a habitat of pristine grasslands that have now largely been converted to farmland. Some small patches of habitat here still hold many special birds. This area often produces the best surprise species on our Western Kenya Birding Tour.

   Night in Busia.

6. 7

   Day 7

   Kitale and Saiwa Swamp National Park

   We shall continue on our Western Kenya Birding Tour and explore an area rarely birded by many groups. This unique area hosts a good number of birds that are not found elsewhere in Kenya.

   We do our birding in Kitale and Saiwa Swamp this afternoon. Here we may also see the very rare Sitatunga antelope and De Brazza’s Monkey.

   Night in Kitale.

7. 8

   Day 8

   Mt. Elgon National Park

   Our Western Kenya Birding Tour will explore this amazing park, home to Mt. Elgon, the second-highest free-standing mountain in Kenya. The park is often nicknamed “untamed wilderness, secluded splendour” and is one of the least-visited parks in Kenya. This makes the bird sightings here very special, and every tour produces a surprise species or more.

   Mt. Elgon National Park is also famed for its beautiful caves, which we shall explore during our birding safari. Mammals in Mt. Elgon National Park include Bushbuck, Olive Baboon, Defassa Waterbuck, Common Zebra and Savannah Elephant.

   Night in Kitale.

8. 9

   Day 9

   Kongelai Escarpment

   We shall start with a short bird walk around our hotel compound. Then we head out to the Kongelai Escarpment. This is one of Kenya’s best hidden spots and one of the least visited, and it will likely produce some great additional species for our Western Kenya Birding Tour. We shall traverse this rich ecosystem hoping to find special birds, in the main escarpment, the Kanyarkwat area and Suam.

   In the afternoon, we shall try our luck at a local nesting site for the rare Heuglin’s Masked Weaver, a highly sought-after species on our Western Kenya Birding Tour. We shall also visit a local swamp to search for the rare Hartlaub’s Marsh Widowbird.

   Night in Kitale.

9. 10

   Day 10

   Kerio Valley to Lake Baringo

   On this day we shall head for Lake Baringo, birding along the way. Birding will be active on this route and we shall make strategic stopovers to enjoy the birds, arriving in Baringo in the afternoon. In the afternoon, and also the next day, we will enjoy birding in this vast area, driving and walking around the scrubland and the cliffs surrounding the lake in search of the special birds of this unique area.

   Night in Baringo.

10. 11

    Day 11

    Lake Baringo

    A boat ride early in the morning will help us enjoy one of the iconic moments of our Western Kenya Birding Tour. This will help you enjoy the beauty of the lake and see the local African Fish Eagles advertising their territories as they hunt.

    Later, we continue enjoying the terrestrial birds of Baringo. Our target will be to add species we may have missed the previous day.

    Night in Baringo.

11. 12

    Day 12

    Lake Baringo to Nairobi

    On the last day of our Western Kenya Birding Tour, we shall drive back to Nairobi, enjoying birding on the way.

    We shall arrive in Nairobi later in the afternoon, in time for our evening flights home.

Highlights

What you may see

Highlight birds

Jameson’s Wattle-eye, Yellow-bellied Wattle-eye, Three-banded Courser, Spotted Thick-knee, Mosque Swallow, Lynes’s Cisticola, Chestnut Sparrow, Slender-tailed Nightjar, Nyanza Swift, Mottled Swift, White-fronted Bee-eater, Blue-headed Bee-eater, Plain-backed Pipit, Red-headed Malimbe, White-billed Buffalo Weaver, Black-necked Weaver, Northern Masked Weaver, Vieillot’s Black Weaver, Green Sunbird, Beautiful Sunbird, Green-throated Sunbird, Mackinnon’s Fiscal, Grey-backed Fiscal, Grey-crested Helmet-Shrike, Silverbird, Brimstone Canary, Shelley’s Greenbul, Ansorge’s Greenbul, Cape Teal, Red-headed Bluebill, Oriole Finch, Lesser Flamingo, Great White Pelican, Hildebrandt’s Francolin, Arrow-marked Babbler, Brown Babbler, Brown-tailed Rock-Chat, Crowned Eagle, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Verreaux’s Eagle, Chapin’s Flycatcher, Black-faced Rufous Warbler, Uganda Woodland Warbler, Pale Prinia, White-chinned Prinia, Turner’s Eremomela, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Tawny Eagle, Hybrid Lovebird, Hoopoe, Yellow-shouldered (-mantled) Widowbird, Great Blue Turaco, Square-tailed Drongo, African Broadbill, Petit’s Cuckooshrike, Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat, Snowy-headed Robin-Chat, White-spotted Flufftail, Dusky Tit, Acacia (Northern Grey) Tit, Klaas’s Cuckoo, Bocage’s Bush-Shrike, Lühder’s Bush-Shrike, Narina Trogon, Bar-tailed Trogon, Yellow-crested Woodpecker, White-headed Wood-Hoopoe, Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill, Jackson’s Hornbill, Hemprich’s Hornbill, Equatorial Akalat, White-tailed Ant-Thrush, Grey-headed Silverbill, Greyish Eagle-Owl, African Scops-Owl, Northern White-faced Scops-Owl

Highlight mammals and others

Red-tailed Monkey, Common Zebra, Common Impala, Nile Crocodile, Nile Hippo, White Rhino, Black Rhino, Rothschild’s Giraffe, Leopard, African Lion

Habitats covered

Equatorial forest, Wetlands, Savannah, Semi-arid Scrubland

Photographic opportunities

Excellent

Special moments

Forest walk, the Great Rift Valley, boat rides on Lake Victoria and Lake Baringo