Spot 1000 Species: A 13-Day Birding Bonanza in Kenya

Arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and transfer to your hotel in Nairobi for an overnight stay.

We’ll begin this morning tour by visiting Nairobi National Park. The only national park in a capital city.

The hotel environs itself will help us spot our first local African birds, including Olive Thrush and Speckled Mousebird. We’ll spend the rest of the day in the rolling grassland and scattered acacias of Nairobi National Park where we’ll find gazelles, giraffes, and we hope Black Rhinoceros. We'll also spot an array of birds including Ostrich, Gray Crowned-Crane, Secretary-bird, Verreaux’s Eagle, Long-tailed Fiscal, and Red-billed Oxpecker among many others.

At the famous Hippo pools, we’ll take a walk among the yellow-barked acacias in search of local specialties such as Red-throated Tit, Dark-capped Yellow Warbler, and African Moustached Warbler.

Dinner and overnight stay in Nairobi.

After breakfast, we start our safari by driving north to Mt.Kenya forest reserve stopping en route at Mwea rice plantation area where we are expect to record species like Yellow-crowned Bishop,Yellow-mantle Widowbird, Oriole Finch, Winding Cisticola and various species of aquatic birds.

We will continue to Castle forest where your forest birding will begin and will only end when checking in at the lodge.

After a small break, we will start our afternoon birding on the main forest road, which is an excellent trail. We’ll see many species, including Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Olive and Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeons, Hartlaub’s Turaco, Rüppell’s Robin-Chat, Mountain Yellow Warbler, Abbot and Sharp’s Starling. The Doherty’s and Black-fronted Bush-shrike, Cinnamon braken and Evergreen forest warbler and Yellow-crowned Canary, White-starred Robin, Abyssinian Crimson-wing, African Crowned Eagle, African Emerald Cuckoo, and Moustached Green Tinkerbird amongst others.

The forest is also a great place for watching both Guereza Colobus monkey and the Syke’s monkey.

Night at camp/lodge.

Full day of birding at Mt.Kenya Forest reserve. Overnight stay at lodge /camp.

Start the day with an early breakfast and after checking out at Lodge /camp, we will drive north to Samburu National Reserve.

Beyond Isiolo, the habitat becomes very dry and the signature Doum Palm tree becomes apparent along the waterway. Once inside Samburu you will see why this is one of the most exciting reserves in East Africa.

An afternoon game drive will produce many of the specialty birds of the area like Somali Ostrich, Palm-nut Vulture the tiny African Pygmy Falcon, Vulturine Guineafowl, Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, African Orange-bellied Parrot, Violet Wood-Hoopoe, White-headed Mousebird, Somali Bee-eater, Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbill, the glorious Golden breasted Starling, Bare-eyed Thrush, Rosy-patched Bush-Shrike, Black-capped Social-Weaver, and Cut-throat Finch.

Head back to the lodge and watch for Water Thick-knee, Red-billed Hornbill, Gray-headed Kingfisher, Rufous Chatterer, Spotted Mourning Thrush, Eurasian migrants including flocks of Eurasian Hobby, both Nightingale and Thrush-Nightingale, Upcher’s and Olivaceous Warblers, and Spotted Flycatcher.

Other birds in this area include the handsome Buff-crested Bustard, Pink-breasted Lark, Three-streaked Tchagra, the aptly named Shining Sunbird, and Somali Golden-breasted Bunting.

Enjoy your overnight stay at the lodge/camp.

Full day birdwatching in Samburu game reserve which is great for big game with Lion, Cheetah, Striped Hyena, the beautiful Reticulated Giraffe, Cape Buffalo, Beisa Oryx, the unusual looking Gerenuk, which means Giraffe-Antelope, and the endangered Grevy’s Zebra.

The biggest animal of the African Savanna, the African Elephant, is also common.

Exploration of the reserve will produce a large array of bird species including: Palm-nut and Hooded Vultures, Bateleur, Martial Eagle, African Hawk-eagle, Crested and Yellow-necked Francolins, Vulturine Guinea fowl, Buff-crested and White-bellied Bustards, Black-faced and Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse, Red-bellied Parrot, African Scops-owl, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Somali Bee-eater, Rufous-crowned Roller. The Von der Decken's Hornbill, Red-and-yellow Barbet, Bearded Woodpecker, Pink-breasted Lark, African Bare-eyed Thrush, Rosy-patched Bushshrike, Hunter's and Black-bellied Sunbirds, Golden-breasted and Fischer's Starlings, Donaldson-Smith's Sparrow-weaver, Cut-throat and the stunning Somali Bunting.

Overnight stay at lodge /camp.

After breakfast we will hve a game drive on our way out of the park to Nakuru national park. We expect to be there for lunch.

After lunch, we'll head out for afternoon game drive and then an overnight stay in a camp/Lodge.

We’ll spend the morning at Lake Nakuru national park, world famous for its vast flock of pelicans, Flamingo and a wealth of other waterbirds.

In the acacia woodland around the lake, we’ll look for species like the Narina Trogon, Red-throated Wryneck, Greater and Scaly-throated Honeyguides, Arrow-marked Babbler, and African Firefinch.

We will then return to the lodge for lunch and check-out as we bird on our way to the exit gate.

While exploring the Acacia woodland and the lakeside marshes we will encounter many wonderful avian delights including: the Great White Pelican, Great Cormorant, African Spoonbill, African Fish-eagle, African Harrier-hawk, Hildebrandt's Francolin, Grey-headed Gull. The Broad-billed Roller, Levaillant's Cuckoo, White-browed Coucal, Green Woodhoopoe, Grey Woodpecker, Black Cuckoo-shrike, Northern Anteater-chat, Grey-backed Fiscal, Brown-crowned Tchagra and African Firefinch.

Mammals are also quite common in the park and, it is one of the few places in East Africa where the endangered White Rhino can be found. Some of the other mammals we hope to find include Rothschild's Giraffe, leopard, Buffalos and Deffasa waterbuck.

This is also a good area for Leopards; who often spend the day asleep in the yellow-barked acacia trees.

We'll then exit Lake Nakuru National Park and drive north of the Rift Valley to a fresh water lake, located 47 miles north of equator. Lake Baringo is a birding paradise. Along the road we will stop for the search of Silverbird, Black-headed Lapwing and Dark Chanting-Goshawk.

Overnight stay at camp /Lodge.

We will start the day by going for 2 hours boat excursion around Lake Baringo. Here you see species like Goliath, Green-backed, Squacco and Black Crowned night Heron, Senegal Thick-knee, Crimson-rumped Waxbill, Malachite, Woodland and Giant Kingfishers and many more.

In the afternoon we’ll bird the cliffs on the western edge of Lake Baringo at sunrise, out target here will be to see species like Fan-tailed Taven, Hemprich’s Hornbill, Cliff chat, Brown-tailed Rock-chat, Yellow-bellied Eromomela, Mouse-coloured penduline tit, Pale Prinia, White-billed Buffalo-Weaver and Bristle-Crowned Starling.

We'll also venture out into the nearby scrub, where incredibly sharp-eyed local guides will help us find Spotted Thick-knee, Heuglin’s Courser, Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, and Northern White-faced Scops-Owl. At dusk Slender-tailed Nightjars come gliding along the lakeshore.

Head back for the night at the lodge / Camp.

Today after breakfast we drive south-west to Masai Mara national reserve. The Mara is the northern extension of the famous Serengeti plains. Here we will find a wide assortment of bird life and some of the most spectacular mammals on the continent.

Complementing the wildlife in the Mara is the dramatic scenery of endless grasslands, lush river valleys and steep rock-strewn escarpments.

Birds we can expect in this area of the Mara are Rufous-bellied Heron, Saddle-billed Stork, Wahlberg's Eagle, Coqui and Red-necked Francolins, Grey Crowned-crane, Temminck's Courser, Wattled Lapwing, Ross's and Schalow's Turacos, Malachite and Woodland Kingfishers. The Yellow-throated Longclaw, Rufous-chested Swallow, White-tailed Lark, Familiar Chat, Silverbird, Red-faced, Trilling and Tabora Cisticolas, Green-capped Eremomela, Black-crowned Tchagra, Hildebrandt's and Violet-backed Starlings, Yellow-fronted Canary and Cinnamon-breasted Bunting.

This is the best area in the Mara to see big game up close and some of the many mammals to be seen here include Black-backed Jackal, Bat-eared Fox, Banded Mongoose, Spotted Hyena, Serval Cat, African Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Bush Hyrax, African Elephant, Common Zebra, Hippopotamus, Common Warthog, Masai Giraffe, African Buffalo, Eland, Steinbuck, Bohor Reedbuck, Thomson's and Grant's Gazelles, Impala, Topi, Coke's Hartebeest and thousands of Wildebeest. We will also see many massive Nile Crocodiles, some over 15ft in length, basking in the sun along the banks of the Mara River.

Overnight stay at Lodge/camp

Full day exploration of the Masai Mara game reserve.

Overnight stay at Lodge/camp.

Full day exploration Masai Mara Game Reserve.

Overnight stay at Lodge/camp.

Today we will drive out of Masai Mara birding en route Nairobi.

Depending on what time your flight departs Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, you will be transferred to the Airport in time to catch your flight back home at the end of Safari.