For birders all over the world

BACKGROUND :

This trip was my honeymoon but I managed to do a little birding, shnaarrff. Originally we had planned to go to eastern Canada in May but the whole trip was going to be rather more costly than planned. I suggested to Sheryl that we come up with another destination and as I'd always wanted to go to Kenya we went with that.

As this was to be our Honeymoon I couldn't book a Sunbirder trip (bit over the top) so we looked at several brochures from some of the High Street travel agents. There was several that offered Safaris which were called, unsurprisingly, Cheetah Safari, Leopard Safari and so on. These safaris didn't actually target the animals they were named after but generally differed in duration and the places visited. The Cheetah Safari for instance was a 3-day Safari around Tsavo and Amboseli with the rest of the holiday on the coast. We decided on the Leopard Safari as this was the most comprehensive of all the Safaris. It was going to be 12 days covering Tsavo, Amboseli, Samburu, Treetops, the Rift Valley Lakes (such as Lake Baringo and Lake Naivasha) and the Masai Mara.

I contacted Kuoni directly and we booked well in advance to guarantee our places. After a little research we decided to move the dates of the trips from early May to June (as well as the Wedding date) in the hope that we would miss most of the rains and catch some of the Wildebeest migration through the Mara. We also added four nights at the coast to our itinerary so Sheryl could relax a little, I had plans to hopefully visit Mida Creek, Sokoke Forest and possibly even Shimba Hills if time, and cash, allowed. As it turned out I had neither.

HEALTH :

Most immunizations are needed such as Polio, Hepatitis A, Tetanus, Typhoid and Yellow Fever. Anti Malaria drugs are also required with Larium being the first option but you run the risk of some of the myriad of, and sometimes horrible, side effects. Consult your doctor before taking anything.

REFERENCES USED:

1.Helms Birds of Kenya & Northern Tanzania by Zimmerman

2.The Kingdon field guide to African Mammals by Jonathan Kingdon

3.The Rough Guide to Kenya by Richard Trillo

4.GeoCenter World Map range of Kenya

1.The Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania is by far the best bird field guide to Kenya with some quite stunning plates and informative text and, although a little bulky, is an absolute essential purchase.

2.The same cannot be said for the Collins Illustrated Bird Guide for East Africa. This book covers a greater region thus a greater number of specie are depicted but generally the illustrations are just adequate and a poor relation to those in the previous book.

3.The mammal guide is the best for the whole continent as all mammal species are represented and most are illustrated. Again, as with the Collins guide above, the illustrations are not particularly inspiring. Another quibble is the key to the plates. For instance the different races of Giraffe are depicted sitting down, which you are unlikely to see, and the key on the opposite page is confusing and was a little difficult to work out what race was what and what the name was for the race. Eventually I ended up writing the names of the Reticulated, Rothchilds and Masai forms next to the illustrations. Why this couldn't have been done in the first place by the author is a mystery. As for the other African forms of Giraffe in the plate well good luck. These problems aside it is still the best mammal guide for Africa.

4.The travel guide would serve independent travellers better than us as all of our travel and accommodation requirements were all part of the Safari. The book is highly informative and I would suggest this as an essential purchase.

5.The map is one of the better ones I have come across for Kenya and I would recommend it for the independent traveler.

ITINERARY FOLLOWED:

Day 1: Morning Holiday Inn, Nairobi with afternoon excursion to the Karen Blixen Museum and the Giraffe Centre.

Day 2: Morning drive to Tsavo West and the Kilanguni Lodge with afternoon drive to Mzima Springs, night at Kilanguni Lodge.

Day 3: Early morning at Kilanguni Lodge followed by drive to Amboseli and the Ol Tukai Lodge. Rest of afternoon at lodge with evening game drive, night at Ol Tukai Lodge.

Day 4: Early morning game drive around Amboseli with rest of day at Ol Tukai Lodge. Evening game drive in Amboseli. Night Ol Tukai Lodge.

Day 5: Early morning at Ol Tukai Lodge with later drive north to the Windsor Country and Golf Club at Nairobi via border town of Namanga. Afternoon drive north to Outspan Hotel near the Aberdare Range, Night Outspan Hotel.

Day 6: Morning at Outspan hotel with walk down to the river. Drive north to Samburu and Samburu Lodge. Afternoon at Samburu Lodge with evening game drive in Samburu, Night at Samburu Lodge.

Day 7: Early morning game drive with late morning and afternoon at Samburu Lodge. Evening game drive in Samburu, Night at Samburu Lodge.

Day 8: Early morning at Samburu Lodge followed by drive back through Buffalo Springs reserve to Outspan Hotel. Mid afternoon drive to Aberdares and Treetops Lodge. Evening game drive around the Aberdares, Night at Treetops.

Day 9: Early morning at Treetops with drive to Outspan Hotel, Mid morning drive to Lake Baringo via Thompsons Falls. Rest of day walking Lake Baringo Club grounds. Night Lake Baringo Club.

Day 10: Early morning birding at Lake Baringo Escarpment with mid morning visit to Lake Bagoria. Mid afternoon at Lake Baringo followed by Boat trip on Lake. Evening at Lake Baringo Club grounds. Night Lake Baringo Club.

Day 11: Early morning at Lake Baringo with drive south to Lake Nakuru with lunch at Lake Nakuru Lodge. Afternoon drive south to Lake Naivasha. Evening at Lake Naivasha Club.

Day 12: Early morning at Lake Naivasha Club with drive south to Masai Mara. Afternoon at Keekorok Lodge. Evening game drive into Masai Mara. Night at Keekorok Lodge.

Day 13: Early morning game drive into Masai Mara with rest of day at Keekorok Lodge. Evening Game drive into Masai Mara, Night Keekorok Lodge.

Day 14: Early morning at Keekorok Lodge with mid morning drive back through Masai Mara to Nairobi. Rest of day at the Holiday Inn, Nairobi. Night Holiday Inn Hotel.

Day 15: Most of Day at Holiday Inn Hotel with evening flight to Mombassa, Night at Nyali Beach Hotel.

Day 16: Day at Nyali Beach Hotel, Night at Hotel.

Day 17: Morning to mid afternoon excursion to Bamburi Nature Trail, rest of day at the Nyali Beach Hotel, Night at Hotel.

Day 18: Day at Nyali Beach Hotel, night at Hotel

Day 19: Morning excursion to Bamburi Nature Trail with late afternoon flight to Nairobi. Night at the Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi.

Day 20: Day at Intercontinental hotel with late evening flight to London, Heathrow.

HOTELS + LODGES:

Holiday Inn, Nairobi: Fairly good hotel with a couple of restaurants but the grounds are a little restrictive for birding. The best spot is from the balcony just behind the pool side restaurant kitchens which over looks a small cultivation. Birds here included Variable Sunbird, Cape Robin Chat, Olive Thrush, Streaky Seedeaters, Mannikins, Firefinch and Baglafecht Weavers.

Kilanguni Lodge, Tsavo West: A top-notch lodge with a view from the Bar / Restaurant to die for. The lodge over looks some excellent waterholes which have many birds and animals visiting with some corkers at night. There is class views of the Savannah, Acacia thorn scrub with the mountains beyond. There are several bird tables that will blow you away as they can be packed with Superb, Hildebrandts and Fischer's Starlings, Buffalo Weavers, various Sparrows, hornbills, D'Arnaurds Barbets and not to forget the nesting Lesser Striped Swallows just below the balcony. The lodge grounds themselves are excellent for birds with many scrubby areas along with the more manicured grass. An excellent lodge with excellent birding. A favorite this one.

Ol Tukai Lodge, Amboseli: A good lodge with fairly decent grounds for birding but suffers from not over looking a water hole. The plus points are that you can walk along the fence and look out (scope) across the marsh. The best spot I found was from the fence directly out from the outside dining area. Here I scoped Fan Tailed Widowbird, Pangani Longclaw, a close Didric Cuckoo, numerous Herons and Egrets as well as Zebra, Elephants, Wildebeest and many other animals. The lodge also has excellent views of Mt. Kilamanjaro (cloud permitting). The food is really good here and the lodge is situated in the middle of the park and right next to a superb marsh which was perhaps the best marsh I have ever visited.

Outspan Hotel: An up market hotel with reasonably good food but lacked any real charm that the game lodges have. The cheaper rooms are a little lackluster but you can have an open fire burning in the corner, cozy. The grounds are well maintained but are surprisingly full of birds. By the river walk gate you can view over the top of the Riverine Forest below which produced some excellent birds. A bird guide can hired to take you down to the river through the forest is well worth the £3 costs. Highlights from the grounds and river walk trail included Cape Robin Chat, White Starred Robin, Chinspot Batis, Tropical Boubou, African Citril, Cinnamon Chested Bee Eater, Montane White Eye and Ruppell's Robin Chat to name but a few.

Samburu Lodge, Samburu: A must stay lodge. There are other lodges / camps in Samburu but this one is superb. The bar over looks the river and in the evening you can watch the Leopard that regularly visits the other bank. In the evening Slender Tailed Nightjars hunt in the floodlights. The paths run through large riverside trees and produce an array of birds such as Narina Trogon, Red Headed Weaver, Spotted Whistling Thrush, Violet Backed Sunbird and African Scops Owl. There are no fences around this lodge and it's not unusual to have a large troop of Baboons walk past your room door. The food is excellent. As this is the more arid region of Kenya there are more creepy crawlies than usual with a False Scorpion in our room (harmless) to a 3 - 4 inch "real" scorpion on the restaurant floor, hhmmmm. This lodge is an excellent base for exploring the park.

Treetops, Aberdares: Set in the Aberdare Mountains this was not best lodge for birding. If you're after birding then Mount Kenya Lodge would be a far better choice. Here it's mainly for novelty value but still produces some excellent mammals, especially at the nighttime floodlight water hole. Still it was bloody superb watching the Black Rhino walk in to drink at 10.30pm. The mealtime can be an event if the windows have been left open, we had hundreds of 2inch long flying Termites having dinner with us.

Lake Naivasha Club, Lake Naivasha: The grounds are half decent but the lake shore is far more interesting with many water birds to be found and most can be rather approachable. The Lodge itself is a little lacking in atmosphere but with White Browed Robin Chats and Speckled Weavers to be found in the gardens that doesn't really matter does it.

Keekorok Lodge, Masai Mara: A busy lodge but the grounds are for good birding and it has it's own small nature trail on a wooden boardwalk above a wetland patch and overlooking a large water hole. It also runs through some large trees and the whole makes for some excellent birding. Many good birds were found along the boardwalk and it was often used during the day with new birds each time. How this compares to other Mara Lodges I can't say but if you choose this one then you won't be disappointed

Lake Baringo Club, Lake Baringo: The lodge is simply a must stay at. Excellent birds abound here and the resident guide is pretty good. He will take out in the morning to the nearby escarpment for goodies such as White Faced Scops Owl, Cliff Chat, Brown Tailed Rock Chat, White Browed Scrub Robin, Bristle Crowned Starling, Black Throated Barbet, Black Eagle and possibly even Spotted Eagle Owl. The grounds of the lodge are good for birds with several bird tables attracting a whole horde of Weavers, Starlings and Doves while the gardens have Fiscal's, Verreaux's Eagle Owls, nesting Red and Yellow Barbets, Brubru, several Cuckoos, Nubian Woodpecker, Melba Finch, Babblers and a the white form of Paradise Flycatcher. The lake has shrunk in recent years so a path leads through the scrub to the shore where Herons, Ibis, Storks, Ducks as well as Hippos and Crocodiles can be found. Boats for a trip around the lake are here but the lake trip is not good for those wanting serious birding as it visited the more barren end of the lake instead of the swamp at the other end where all the birds are. It was worth it only to see the Fish Eagles fishing but otherwise you may part with a lot of money for nothing.

Nyali Beach Hotel, Mombassa: Hotel was good for a beach holiday but the grounds are pretty poor for birding and a lot of effort will be needed to find anything. The best place that I found was behind the tennis courts along the fence that divides the hotel from the property next door. It is next door that had all the birds as the gardens there still had some undergrowth and bushes. The beach will be hard work also but some persistence can pay off on a seawatch with Lesser Crested and Roseate Terns being seen. On one day when it was a little windy in front of an approaching weather front I had both a White Cheeked Tern and a Brown Noddy out beyond the reef. The hotel is ideally situated for visits to the Bamburi Nature Trail which, although can be hard work, is very good. It is a regenerating disused quarry site and is now of secondary forest stage. The best birds I found here were an Adult Crowned Eagle sitting on an overhead branch eating a monkey and a pair of gorgeous Peter's Twinspots.

If you want coastal birds though with a coastal hotel then try nearer Malindi. This will offer opportunities to visit Mida Creek (Sooty Gull and Crab Plover) and Sokoke Forest (Endemics).

WEATHER:

Generally the weather during our trip was tolerable with many overcast days but with some clear skies and absolute scorchers at Samburu. The coast was, for the most part, wet with rain everyday although this would only last a few hours here and there.

TRAVELLING

For independent travel it would be recommended to get a 4x4 as some of the tracks in the Game Parks may be a bit difficult to get by with anything but. The roads can also vary in quality from good tarmac to pot holes to size of Lake Baringo. Outside of towns driving is easy with little traffic to worry about but as with any other African country town driving requires you to have a tin opener so you can get out of the jams and balls as big as boulders to just go for it as if you owned the road, everyone else does.

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