ORNITHOLOGICAL SAFARI 2

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Your first day is spent relaxing in Nairobi and recovering from your flights. You can visit Nairobi National Park in the afternoon. Hartlaub's Turaco, Hadada Ibis, Ruppell's Robin-chat, Pin-tailed Whydah, Purple Grenadier, Speckled Mousebird, Fiscal Shrike, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher, Bronzy Sunbird, Amethyst Sunbird, Grey-backed Camoroptera, and many others are all easily seen in and around this bird-rich city.

Night 1 - Fairview Hotel, Nairobi

A small hotel in Nairobi with charming gardens and not too far from the National Museums of Kenya. The grounds of the Fairview are an excellent place to begin seeing many of Kenya's more ubiquitous bird species.

Night 2 - 4 - Mara Intrepids, Masai Mara

Sitting above a sweeping bend in the Talek River, at the confluence of the Maasai Mara’s four game-viewing areas, the camp enjoys one of the most spectacular locations in the entire Mara ecosystem. Intrepids is a short drive from the Mara River, where up to one-and-a-half million wildebeest and zebra make their perilous migration crossing every July and August. Some birds species that you can see include Saddle-billed Stork, Collared Sunbird, Arrow-marked Babblers, Paradise Flycatchers, Silverbirds, Chin-spot Batis, Verreaux's Eagle-owl, Grey-Backed Fiscal, Wattled Starling, Ground Hornbill, Coqui Francolin, Jackson's Widowbird, Black-bellied Bustard, Rose-Breasted Longclaws as well as many species of grassland birds such as Cisicolas and Larks.

Night 4 -7 - Rondo Retreat, Kakamega Forest

After the Mara we will drive north west toward Kakamega Forest and our lovely accomodation at Rondo Retreat. Rondo Retreat is a lovely rustic lodge set in beautiful gardens from which you can spot most of Kakamegas rich bird-life and monkeys.

Nights 7 - 10 Nakuru National Park - Karisia Mobile Camp

From Kakamega we will drive to Nakuru, a National Park renowned for its Flamingoes that tend to colour the shores of its central lake an incredible pink. In Nakuru one can see a great diversity of shorebirds and landbirds birds, as well as large land mammals. Nakuru is known to be the best park in Kenya for seeing Rhino (black and white) and the elusive Leopard.

Just some of the species one can spot in Nakuru include: Great White Pelican, Crowned Crane, Cape Teal, African Black Crake, Sacred Ibis, African Spoonbill, Yellow-billed Stork, Kittlitz's Sand-plover, Rufous-necked Wryneck, Bearded Woodpecker, Black-crowned Tchagra, Sulphur-breasted Bush-shrike, White-headed Barbet, White-bellied Tit.

Nights 11 - 14 Karisia Luxury Camp, Aberdare National Park

Aberdare National Park lies in the Aberdare Moutains which are part of Kenya's central highlands. The Aberdares boast incredible forests, bamboo thickets, cascading waterfalls and alpine moorlands.The Aberdares also host some of Kenya's rarest animals and birds, including the Bongo, Giant Forest Hog, Black Rhino, Crowned Eagle, Striped Flufftail and Jackson's Widowbird. In the Aberdares we will search for these and other species such as Grey Cuckoo-Shrikes, Olive Pigeon, White-headed Woodhoopoe, Chestnut-throated Apalis, Aberdare Cisticola, and Black and White-Casqued Hornbill.

Nights 15-18 Private house on Kenya's north coast - Watamu.

From the Aberdares we will drive to Nairobi and catch a local flight to Malindi on the peaceful Kenyan coast. From Malindi we will have a short drive south to our own private house in Watamu. On the beach in front of the house shorebirds can be seen and not far out the coral reef makes for some excellent snorkeling. Close to Watamu is the Mida Creek an excellent place to go during a rising tide to see shorebirds (including Crab-plovers!) and learn about Kenya's Mangroves. Across from Mida Creek is the beautiful Arubuko-Sokoke Forest. Arabuko-Sokoke Forest is a critically important bird area and it is also of great value for its populations of Red-rumped Elephant-shrews, Elephant, Blotched Genet Cats, and the critically endangered Abbott's Duiker. It was ranked second in importance for threatened bird species of African mainland forests. It is also the last sizeable remnant of the east African coastal forest ecosystem, which once extended from Somalia to Mozambique.

Some rare and endemic or rare birds one can see in The Arubuko-Sokoke Forest: Clarke's Weaver, Sokoke Scops Owl, Crested Guineafowl, Amani Sunbird, East Coast Akalat, and Sokoke Pipit. Besides these rare offerings 20 percent of Kenyas Birds have been recorded in the Sokoke and so a birdwatcher will never tire of finding new species in this rich and varied forest.