10 Days Kenya Birding Safari

On arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International airport, meet with our representative and transfer to the hotel. . Depending on your arrival time, you can opt for a visit the National Museum Bird Gallery and later have a leisurely bird walk in the Nairobi National Museum Botanical Gardens.

Dinner on own arrangement

Accommodation: Fair Acres Boutique Hotel

Meal plan: Bed & Breakfast

After an early morning breakfast, bird to Lake Elmenteita- a shallow alkaline lake. Elmenteita’s surrounding natural vegetation of mainly Acacia and Tarconanthus camphoratus bushland interspersed with Themeda triandra grassland which favours a rich checklist of stunning biological species! We hope to nail the globally threatened Jackson’s Widowbird, Grey-crested Helmet shrike, Lesser Kestrel (a Passage migrant), and the vagrant Greater Spotted Eagle. Other species will include; Grey-headed Gull, Hadada Ibis, Helmeted Guineafowl, Hildebrandt’s Francolin, Horus Swift, Lesser Flamingo, Lilac-breasted Roller, Little Egret, Little Stint, Long-crested Eagle, Marabou Stork, Martial Eagle, Plain-backed Pipit, Rattling Cisticola, Red-billed Teal, Red-capped Lark, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, Red-eyed Dove, Rufous Sparrow, Sacred Ibis, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Secretary Bird, Speke’s Weaver, Splendid Starling, Tawny Eagle, Variable Sunbird, Wattled Starling, Yellow Bishop, Yellow-throated Longclaw, Mosque Swallow, Northern Anteater Chat, Northern White-tailed Lark, Olive Pigeon, Pale Flycatcher, African Fish Eagle, African White-backed Vulture, Augur Buzzard, Black Swift, Black-headed Oriole, Blacksmith Plover, Blue-eared Starling, Blue-naped Mousebird, Cape Teal, Cattle Egret, Common Bulbul, Common Drongo, Coqui Francolin, Crowned Plover, Egyptian Goose, Great White Pelican, Greater Flamingo, Grey Woodpecker, Grey-backed Fiscal, to mention but a few

Accommodation: Lake Elementaita Serena Camp (Full board)

After breakfast depart Ol Pejeta with game drive en-route to the picturesque shores of Lake Naivasha. Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake located on the rim of the Great Rift Valley. Famous for its bird life, the area is also home to animals such as giraffes and buffalo, as well as velvet and colobus monkeys. Your day on the lake will include a guided boat safari out on the lake to see hippos and water birds, and a visit to the Crescent Island Sanctuary where you can walk alongside zebras, giraffes, antelopes, and more and you look out for the bird.

The fascinating birdlife of over 350 species results from dense vegetation at the lake’s edge. Papyrus fringes the main lake’s shore and cloaks the inlets of the Gilgil and Malewa rivers

Accommodation: Sewera Lodge in a Superior room on Full board

After breakfast, we still bird the lake and its surroundings; we look out for the globally threatened, Grey-crested Helmeted-shrike, Basra Reed Warbler, Lesser Flamingo, and large congregations of Red-knobbed Coot, African Spoonbill, and Little Grebe. We continue for locality species among which might include; Grey-backed Fiscal, Pink-backed Pelican, Great Cormorant, Red-billed Teal, Black Crake, African Jacana, Giant and Malachite kingfishers, African Fish-Eagle, Little Grebe, Pink-backed Pelican, Long-tailed Cormorant, Southern Pochard, Gray-headed Gull, Whiskered Tern, Long-toed Lapwing, Blacksmith Lapwing, Three-banded Plover, Black Heron, Lesser Moorhen, Greater Painted-Snipe, African Skimmer, Purple Heron, Little Bittern, African Rail, Lesser Swamp Warbler, Red-chested Cuckoo, Pearl-spotted Owlet, White-fronted Bee-eater, Green Wood-Hoopoe, African Gray Hornbill, Red-fronted Barbet, Black-throated Honeyguide, Grey-headed Woodpecker, Gray-backed Fiscal, Gray-headed Bushshrike, White-browed Robin-Chat, Gray-capped Warbler, Black-lored Babbler, Purple Grenadier, Pin-tailed Whydah, Spectacled Weaver, Rueppell’s Griffons, Verreaux’s Eagle, Augur Buzzard, Lanner Falcon, Speckled Pigeon, Mourning Wheatear, and many more

Accommodation: Sewera Lodge in a Superior room on Full board

This morning after breakfast, we depart Lake Naivasha for Lake Nakuru Ramsar Site. Lake Nakuru National Park (Ramsar Site) boosts an up to 450 species bird checklist. Five globally threatened species are on paper for occurring here, namely Madagascar Pond-Heron, Lesser Flamingo, Pallid Harrier, Greater Spotted Eagle, Grey-crested Helmet-shrike, along with large congregations of Greater Flamingo, Black-necked Grebe, Little Grebe, Great White Pelican, Yellow-billed Stork, African Spoonbill, Black-winged Stilt, Grey-headed Gull and Gull-billed Tern

The lake is internationally famous for its healthy population of the globally threatened Lesser Flamingo; numbers can reach 1.5 million at times, though drastic and unpredictable fluctuations occur. Undoubtedly, Nakuru is an important feeding site for this species other that birds there is also wildlife such as the elusive Leopard among others.

Accommodation: Lake Nakuru Lodge on Full board

During the whole day of birding, we have lunch in the field. We search for Grassland, trees and scrub species among which shall include; the Red-chested, Klaas’s, Black and Diederik Cuckoos, Speckled Mousebird, Striped Kingfisher, Broad-billed Roller, Green Wood-hoopoe, African Paradise Flycatcher, Common Wattle-eye, Black-crowned and Brown-crowned Tchagras, Northern Puffback, Black Cuckoo-shrike, Common Drongo, Black-headed Oriole, Rüppell’s Long-tailed Starling, Amethyst Sunbird, Speke’s and Baglafecht Weavers, Red-billed and African Firefinches, Greater and Scaly-throated Honeyguides, African Grey-headed Woodpecker, Spotted Flycatcher, Willow Warbler, Grey-backed Camaroptera, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Red-faced Crombec, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, Common Waxbill, Little Rock Thrush, helmet-shrikes, Coqui Francolin, Helmeted Guineafowl, Long-crested Eagle, Lilac-breasted Roller, African Hoopoe, White-fronted Bee-eater, Grassland and Plain-backed Pipits, Yellow-throated Longclaw, Whinchat, Schalow’s Wheatear, Northern Anteater Chat, Winding, Rattling and Pectoral-patch Cisticolas, Pied Crow and Red-billed Oxpecker among others.

After breakfast drive to the incredible Masai Mara game reserve, known for its incredible diversity of game, including the Big Five. The Mara is Africa’s richest ecosystem. The stunning acacia highlighted savannah will greet you first and sightings of the park’s rich game will soon follow.

Masai Mara hosts the highest and most varied concentration of wild animals than any other wildlife park in the region. The scenic appeal of the tree studded savannah plains, the moderate climate and diversity of wild game species makes it a one stop shop for game viewing activities.

Afternoon game viewing drive in this location known for high concentration of wildlife with high chances of spotting the most elusive wild cats and a productive birding activity including Grassland bird species 12 species of Cisticola and 53 birds of prey.

The Mara’s extensive grasslands are a stronghold for the threatened, migratory Corncrake and the threatened, restricted-range Jackson’s widowbird. The woodlands around the reserve are probably the centre of abundance for the threatened species such as restricted-range Grey-crested Helmet-shrike, the restricted-range Rufous-tailed Weaver among others.

Accommodation: Ashnil Mara Camp – full board.

Today we bird the Mara plains in search for, Usambiro Barbet, Foxy Lark, Red-throated Tit, Hildebrandt’s Starling, Swahili and Kenya Rufous Sparrows, Little Bee-eater, Bare-faced Go-away Bird, White-headed Barbet, Long-billed Pipit, Pale Wren-Warbler, Red-tailed and Sooty Chats, Trilling, Rock and Long-tailed Cisticolas, Variable Sunbird, Yellow Bishop, Cinnamon-breasted Rock Bunting, Harlequin Quail, Red-necked Spurfowl, White-bellied and Black-bellied Bustards, Senegal and Black-winged Plovers, the localized White-tailed Lark, Red-capped Lark, Fischer’s Sparrow-Lark, Rosy-breasted Longclaw, Stout and Croaking Cisticolas, Northern, Pied and Isabelline Wheatears, African Quail finch, Jackson’s, Yellow-mantled and Red-collared Widowbirds, Caspian Plovers, Banded Martin, Rufous-chested, Ovambo Sparrowhawk, Black-chested Snake Eagle, Bateleur, Pallid and Montagu’s Harriers, Lesser Spotted, Tawny and Steppe Eagles, Grey Kestrel, and many more

Accommodation: Ashnil Mara Camp – full board.

With a picnic lunch and breakfast head out for a game drive and look out for more species possibly missed the previous days. From the game drive, we proceed to Nairobi for your last night.

Accommodation: Fair Acres Boutique Hotel

Meal plan: Bed & Breakfast

After breakfast transfer to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for your outbound flight.