Day 1: JKIA /Nairobi
Day 2: Nairobi
Day 3: Nairobi – Mt Kenya
Day 4: Mt Kenya – Samburu
Day 5: Samburu
Day 6: Samburu – Lake Nakuru
Day 7: Lake Nakuru – Lake Baringo
Day 8: Lake Baringo
Day 9: Lake Baringo- Kakamega Forest
Day 10: Kakamega Forest
Day 11: Kakamega – Kisumu
Day 12: Kisumu – Maasai Mara
Day 13: Maasai Mara
Day 14: Maasai Mara
Day 15: Maasai Mara – Lake Naivasha
Day 16: Lake Naivasha – Nairobi /JKIA
Itinerary
Day 1
Arrival in Nairobi where you will be met by a Kenya Wildstep tour leader/guide and taken to your hotel to check-in and relax. In the afternoon, we visit the Karen Blixen Museum and bird watch in the beautiful gardens with a fully guided tour inside the small museum.
Overnight in Nairobi
Day 2
Early breakfast, then we head westwards out of Nairobi for a day trip birding the Magadi road. Here your are pleasantly introduced to the dry thorn bush species like Red-cheeked Cordon-Bleu, Yellow-spotted Petronia, Grey-capped Social Weaver, Banded Parisoma, Superb Starling and Purple Grenadier. We take a break at Olorgesaile and have our picnic lunch then continue birding around this area.
Overnight in Nairobi
Day 3
Early breakfast then we drive from Nairobi to the slopes of Mt Kenya with a brief stopover along the way to find the Long-tailed and Jackson’s Widowbird. We arrive at Mid-day check-in, have lunch then have an afternoon birding. Hartlaub’s Turaco, Oriole Finch, Slender-billed Greenbul, Taccazze Sunbird, Fine-banded Woodpecker are a familiar sight around the lodge. Good mammal at the lodge are White-tailed Mongoose, Bush Pig, Giant Forest Hog, Tree Hyrax (with weird calls at Night) Mountain Genet and highland Elephant.
Overnight at Mt Kenya
Day 4
On this day you will be woken up earlier than usual for dawn activities, Brown-capped Weaver, Chestnut-throated Apalis, Silverly-cheeked Hornbill, Red-fronted Parrot and the retiring Verreaux’s Eagle Owl are among the early risers we hope to see. After breakfasting, we drive north to Samburu National Park. We stop along the way to find the rare Borana Cisticola and inside the park we shall bird watch as we head to our lodge for check-in and lunch. In this park we have some target species to look out for since they are not easily found elsewhere. They include Pringles Puff-back, Pale Prinia, Somali Long-billed Crombec and the endemic Donaldson-Smith Weaver. Uncommon mammals of this park include the Grevy’s Zebra, Giraffe -antelope or Gerenuk, Reticulated Giraffe and the Beisa Oryx
Overnight at Samburu
Day 5
Today we go further afield to locate more Somali arid region species; we shall be birdfinding species like Somali Bee-eater, Pink-breasted Lark and with a lot of luck the William’s Lark. Vulturine Guineafowl, Heuglin’s Courser, Martial Eagle, Penduline Tit, Water Thicknee, Golden Palm Weaver, Grey-headed Bush-shrike, Pygmy Batis are other wonderful birds we will encounter. We shall also be on the lookout for the Bat Hawk which has been observed hunting around the river.
Overnight at Samburu
Day 6
Early breakfast and then we drive towards the highlands east of the Rift Valley; we will have a stopover at the spectacular Thompson’s falls to enjoy the view while looking for the Slender-billed Starling. We will continue loosing altitude until we reach Lake Nakuru on the floor of the Rift Valley; here we will see the spectacular gathering of lesser Flamingoes in there hundreds of thousand together with an abundance of other water birds like the Western Reef Heron, Lesser Jacana, and Black-headed Gull. We will also look for Acacia forest species, including Green-wood Hoopoe, Hildebrandt’s and Coqui Francolins, Rufous-naped and Fawn-colored Larks, the scarce Grey-crowned Helmet-shrike, Arrow-marked Babbler, Bearded Woodpecker, Mottled Swift, White-shouldered Cliff Chat, Striped Kingfisher and Brown Babbler. On the baboon cliff we shall be on the lookout for Fox Kestrel and other species of falcons.
Overnight at Lake Nakuru
Day 7
Early morning birding at Lake Nakuru with a visit to its shores. The rising sun usually cast a beautiful light on the lake and good images of flamingoes and other water birds can be taken. We continue birding then head back to our hotel for a late breakfast. We leave L. Nakuru and travel to one of the best areas for birding in Kenya, Lake Baringo, this area has the highest record of birds seen in a full birding 24 hour period (over 300). We shall take full advantage of the area by staying for two nights. Arrive in time to have lunch, check in and relax to avoid the extreme heat at this time of the day. In the later afternoon, we will go on a leisurely bird walk in the hotel grounds along the lake and the surrounding environs. Hemprich’s Hornbill, Crowned Hornbill, White Crested Turaco, Brown-tailed Rock Chat, Common Kestrel, African Cuckoo, Red-fronted Barbets, Red-fronted Tinker barbet, Spot-flanked Barbets and Spotted Eagle Owl are species we should see.
Overnight at Baringo
Day 8
Early morning bird walks through the acacia thorn scrub towards the cliffs nearby where there is a roosting sites of the White-faced Scops Owl and Nubian Nightjar, other species of interest includes Northern Grey Tit, Gambaga Flycatcher, Beautiful Sunbird, Bristle-Crowned Starling, Jackson’s Golden-backed, Little and Northern Weavers, White Bellied Canary, Three Banded Courser . We shall continue hiking along the cliff base looking for the Lanner falcon, Fan-tailed Raven and the local race of the Common Kestrel. Back to the hotel for lunch and a siesta. Later in the afternoon we have the option of taken a boat to see the Fish Eagle feeding, closer views of Hippos and Crocodiles or visit the southern part of the lake to look for species like Black-headed Plover, Northern Red Bishop, Violet Wood-hoopoe, Pygmy Kingfisher, and other wonderful birds.
Overnight at Baringo
Day 9
Today we have a very early breakfast and leave the Rift Valley for the unique rainforest of Kakamega. Along the way we will have birding stops to locate more species and have a stopover for lunch. Arrive in Kakamega in the late afternoon check in and immediately go for an evening bird walk, around the hotel grounds the following species are easily seen. Joyful Greenbul, Veillot’s Black Weaver, Great Blue Turaco, Grey Throated Barbet, African Blue Flycatcher, White-chinned Prinia and Brown-throated Wattle-eye.
Overnight Kakamega
Day 10
Today we venture into the true forest to locate the much harder to see forest specialists, we shall lookout for the Brown Iladopsis, Black-billed Turaco, Blue-headed Bee-eater, Equatorial Akalat, Yellow-billed Barbet, Red-headed Bluebill, Barred Prinia, Ludher’s Bushshrike, Bocages’s Bush-shrike Yellowbill and Southern Hyliota among others. On our way back to the hotel for lunch break, we shall bird the forest edges and species likely to be seen includes Chubbs Cisticola, Blue-shouldered Robin Chat Mackinnon’s Fiscal, and Black-faced Rofous Warbler. After lunch we shall head back into a different part of the forest to locate more birds like Shelley’s Greenbul, Pale Illadopsis, Chapin’s flycatcher (hopefully) White Spotted Flufftail, African Broadbill and Yellow- whiskered Greenbul among others.
Overnight Kakamega
Day 11
Today after breakfast we shall make our way to shore of Lake Victoria the largest freshwater lake in Africa. The area around the lake is home to many birds not found in other parts of Kenya. After check-in we will immediately head for the swamplands adjoining the lake to look for Greater Swamp Warbler, Swamp Flycatcher, Carruther’s Cisticola Northern Brown-throated Weaver, Red-chested Sunbird, Slender- billed, Black-headed and Golden-backed Weavers. After lunch we will go to a different patch of swamp to find the Papyrus endemics, Papyrus Warbler, Papyrus Gonolek and Papyrus Canary. Along the edges of the swamp and in the adjacent areas we shall locate Black-billed Barbet, Black-headed Gonolek, black-lored Babbler and Yellow-billed Shrike.
Overnight Kisumu
Day 12
We start out early after breakfast to be able to make a few stops along the way for the Open-billed Stork, Black and Southern Red Bishop, Red-headed Quelea among other. Arriving at the gates of this famous park we shall slow down our pace considerably and species we will see includes Blue-spotted Wood-dove, Red-necked Francolin, Coqui Francolin Wattled Plover and Ground Hornbill.
Overnight at Maasai Mara
Day 13
Maasai Mara is famous for its abundant wildlife and is always a highlight on any itinerary. In this respect, you will not be disappointed, while driving within the reserve birding, we shall see animal like Lion, Cheetah, Wildebeest, hartebeests, Topi, Thompson’s and Grant’s Gazelles Hyenas, Black-backed Jackals among others. Bird watching here will be delightful and highlights should include Temminck’s Courser, Yellow-throated Sand-grouse and with luck Black-bellied Bustard.
Overnight at Maasai Mara
Day 14
After an early breakfast we shall continue birding while enjoying the spectacular animal life. We should add to out list the following species Black-chested Snake Eagle, Little Sparrowhawk, Rosy-breasted Longclaw Grey-capped Warbler, Pale Prinia, Striped Pipit, Schalow’s Turaco, and Saddle-billed Stork. After lunch we shall once again visit a different area to bird find some of the rarer species found here, Zitting Cisticola, Ross Turaco, Magpie Shrike, Double-toothed Barbet, Tabora Cisticola, Karamoja Apalis, Little Spotted Woodpecker and Desert Cisticola are some of the species we might add to our list.
Overnight at Maasai Mara
Day 15
Today we leave the Maasai Mara very early so that we can arrive in Naivasha in time to do some birding inside Hells Gate National park. Here we should see Mourning Wheatear, Northern Ant-eater Chat, masses of Nyanza Swift and an occasional Alpine and Mottled Swift, Malachite Sunbirds are also present when the Leonotis flowers are in bloom. Along the cliff we should find Lanner Falcon Ruppell’s Griffon and White-backed Vultures. At the base of the cliff we should add Wailing and Siffling Cisticolas to our list. There have been sightings of the Little Rock Thrush here and we will be on the lookout for it as well.
Overnight at Lake Naivasha
Day 16
The nearby Kinangop plateau is known as the stronghold of the endemic Sharpe’s Longclaw. We shall drive to the plateau early in the morning and other species we shall see apart from the Longclaw will include some highlands species like Red -capped Lark, Wing-snapping Hunter’s, and Levaillant’s Cisticolas. We shall continue driving towards the gate of Aberdare National Park and in the higher altitude we should encounter, Aberdare Cisticola, Jackson’s Francolin, Alpine Chat and we may also spot the Mountain Buzzard.
Leave Lake Naivasha for Nairobi and arrive in time for lunch. Check-in a day room.
Optional
Depending on flight plans we can bird around Nairobi until the evening in time for your drive to the airport for your onward flight.