Birding and Birdwatching           

Trip Report - Kenya & Zanzibar 7-27 October 1999 Part 3

We left Samburu on the morning of the 15 October taking last looks at the Grevy's Zebras, Beisa Oryx and Gerenuks. We now headed back towards the Mount Kenya uplands, turning westwards through the tea and coffee plantations of the Aberdare Mountains towards the eastern wall of the Great Rift Valley. It was showery but dry when we got to the viewpoints over the Great Rift Valley. The valley was as spectacular as its name suggests, a great gash in the earth's crust which runs from Mozambique to the Jordan Valley. It was green too with lush vegetation on the walls amongst which were set small farms clinging to the valleys sides. We passed these as we descended into the valley on our way to Nakuru.

Nakuru 15/10-16/10/99

Our campsite at Nakuru was at the entrance to the National Park but as we arrived it was raining again and we had to pitch our tents quickly. It was a relatively late night for us as we had a bar nearby where we enjoyed a few beers.

The next day we went into Lake Nakuru National Park. The habitat here was a mixture of open grassland, scrubby hills and magnificent Yellow-barked Acacia woodland. The centrepiece of the park is the alkaline lake of Lake Nakuru. The park was full of animals and it was here that we had our best chance f encountering a leopard. We did see our only Rhinos of the trip, all of them were White Rhinos and a young calf was evidence that they were at home here. There are Black Rhinos here too but they stay in dense bush and so are less visible than the larger, more placid grazers that are White Rhinos. Other animals seen here were Cape Buffalo, Common Zebra, Thomson's Gazelle, Impala, Waterbuck, Rothschild's Giraffe, Olive Baboon, Vervet Monkey, Black-backed Jackal and Lions.

Birdlife around the lake was prolific with reasonable numbers of both species of flamingo as well as White and Pink-backed Pelicans, egrets, herons, plovers and sandpipers. We saw our first Secretary Birds of the trip and my second ever European Roller (the first was in Scotland). The viewpoint on Baboon Cliffs was teeming with swifts and hirundines. We drove through the park in search of Leopards, despite the rain, but failed to see this or the Red-necked Wryneck, one of the area's avian specialities.

That evening we ascended to higher ground to stay at a private campsite on a farm. We arrived late and just had time to pitch our tents, grab a shower and head to the restaurant to enjoy an excellent meal of marinated Eland. In the morning I was able to see a few new birds before we headed back north to Lake Bogoria.

Lake Bogoria 16/10/99

It was a long drive to Lake Bogoria but it was worth the detour. This is another National Reserve but it has few large animals, the main reason for coming was to see the thousands upon thousands of Lesser and Greater Flamingos. From a distance it looked as if there were blankets of pink water lilies all over the lake but concentrated around the shoreline. When we arrived we went stopped for lunch and watched the geysers and hot springs. I birded in the bush seeing a few species, including my first ever Eleonora's Falcon. This dark, long winged and long tailed falcon was spotted among the clouds of hirundines which appeared to be passing through the area. These were mainly Barn Swallows, possibly from eastern Europe and Russia on their way south. From here we headed back south to our last stop in the Great Rift Valley, Lake Naivasha.

Lake Naivasha 16/10-18/10/99

We arrived at Fish Eagle Inn campsite on the shores of Lake Naivasha in the late afternoon and after pitching our tent I walked through the Yellow-barked Acacias to the lake shore. The shore was lined with Papyrus but there were egrets and ibises feeding there and out on the lake I could see Whiskered Terns, Grey-headed Gulls, Pelicans and Cormorants. There were, naturally, lots of Fish Eagles. The next day I got up early and birded the lake shore again, as well as the Acacias.

After breakfast we went to town to exchange money which meant that our walk in Hells Gate National Park had to be curtailed. It was, nevertheless, an interesting day with the Fish Eagle Lodge's resident naturalist Joseph Ouma Oluoko. If you are ever in the area you can hire Joseph to take you on walking safaris, he is extremely knowledgeable about the ecology and conservation of the whole area and despite losing his binoculars to baboon has a sharp eye for birds. His address is PO Box 1064, Naivasha, Kenya. I will be sending him my copy of Zimmerman Turner and Pearson in the near future so at least he will have a field guide.

Anyway Hells Gate is magnificent with lots of mammals and raptors set in a splendid landscape of rock pinnacles, cliffs and dormant volcanoes. We didn't make it as far as the Gorge where there are colonies of vultures, including Egyptian, but we did see enough to realise what a gem this park is. This was one of the warmest days so far and my legs were sunburnt.

After Hells Gate Joseph took us to Elsamere which was Joy Adamson's home. He took us on a birdwalk in the grounds where the others saw some mote Black and White Colobus Monkeys. We walked back to camp with Joseph and he showed us the resident Fischer's Lovebirds beside the Fish Eagle Inn. The next day we said goodbye to Joseph and started our journey to the world famous Masai Mara National Reserve and the last leg of our tour.

Part 1 | Part 2| Part3 |Part 4 |Part 5

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