Birdwatching East Africa
Karibaribi Farm House, Mang’u Rd
P.O. Box 7968-01000, Thika, KENYA
+254 722 329 570.
Kenya Birds & Big Game Photo Safaris - 17 Days
Arrive early in the morning at Nairobi’s JKI Airport or be picked up early in the morning from your hotel and transfer to Samburu National Reserve. (It’s recommended to arrive the previous night for ample rest time before embarking on our epic birds and a big mammals photo tour. Hotel room previous night could be arranged)
After breakfast, we’ll pass through pineapple plantations in Thika and coffee farms and later cross the open plains between the Mt. Kenya and Aberdare Ranges where stunning Long-tailed Widowbird in their breeding plumages excites each and every participant. Arriving at Samburu for lunch. We’ll spend the next 4 nights here and the game drive should take us through the three famous national reserves namely Samburu, Buffalo Springs, and Shaba (George and Joy Adamson did live here).
Overnight at Ashnil Samburu Tented Camp
Big Game here includes species well restricted to the arid conditions and nearly north of Equator such as Gravy’s Zebra, Somali Ostrich, Reticulated Giraffe, Gerenuk among large herds of Elephants, Impalas, Grant’s and Thompson’s Gazelles.
Vulturine Guineafowl is a species we hope not to miss. The Samburu tribesmen (closely resembling and sharing the Maa language with Masai) inhabits the area and a visit to their homestead is a treat to remember.
Overnight at Ashnil Samburu Tented Camp
After an early morning, breakfast and game drive leave for Naro Moru on the base of Mt Kenya. En route via Mt Kenya National Park.
Overnight at Naro Moru River Lodge
After breakfast a short bird walk on the lodge compound. This may as well be a morning with sunbirds, which may include Collared, Northern Double-collared, Variable, Bronze, Tacazze, Green-headed, Amerthyst & Scarlet-chested.
Other birds around the area may include Narina Trogon, Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike, Chinspot Batis, African Black-headed Oriole, and Black-crowned Tchagra. Later transfer to Nakuru stopping at a large cliff wall that is a roosting spot for the highly sought-after Mackinder’s Eagle-Owl. Also possible are Little Rock Thrush, Red-winged Starling, Pale Flycatcher, and Long-billed Pipit. Lunch along the way before entering the park.
The park hosts a great variety of mammals including the Lion, Leopard, Black & White Rhinos, large herds of Cape Buffalo, Common Waterbuck among other herbivores. The lodge where we stay is located in the hills.
Overnight at Lake Nakuru Lodge
Spend the day birding and photographing in the park.
Overnight at Lake Nakuru Lodge
After an early breakfast or picnic breakfast spend the early morning hours in the park photographing, lunch at the lodge, and leaving later for Lake Baringo Conservation Area.
Overnight at Tumbili Cliff Lodge
Woodland Kingfisher, Lake Baringo Conservation Area
Birding around Lake Baringo Conservation Area is interesting by the fact that we spend most of the day outside the car. We hope to see some of the specialties such as the Hemprich’s, Jackson’s Hornbills, White-faced Scops Owl, Bristle-crowned Starling, Brown-tailed Rock Chat. And while on the boat ride close proximity with Hippos and Crocodiles.
Overnight at Tumbili Cliff Lodge
Lake Naivasha, one of the two freshwater lakes along the rift valley. A boat ride on the lake gives us opportunities for close shots of some waterfowls such as the Great White Pelican, Goliath Heron among the gulls.
Overnight at Elsamere Centre
(The former house of George and Joy Adamson of the Born Free, Living Free, To Walk with the Lions films, etc)
We’ll visit Crater Lake Sanctuary or Lake Oloiden where flocks of Lesser Flamingoes gather on the alkaline lakes to feed on the Blue-Green Algae making it a “Little Pink Lake”. At the sanctuary, we will walk with the game that includes herds of different species of gazelles, impalas, giraffes, zebras, etc.
Overnight at Elsamere Centre
After early morning breakfast, we’ll head to our final destination, Masai Mara National Reserve where we’ll spend our next 4 nights in the far western part of the reserve and on the Olololoo Escarpment and not far from the banks of the Mara River in a luxurious tented camp.
Lioness, Masai Mara National Reserve ©chege wa kariuki
Overnight at a Matira Bush Camp
In the camp’s forest, a flock of both the Shallow’s and Ross’s Turacos may appear and herds of large mammals may be well visible from the dining area. During the famous Wildebeest migration, the big herds fill the area and you may frequently encounter large cats such as Lions, Hyenas, and Cheetah.
Here we may also opt to take a bird’s eye view balloon flight over the plains and wildlife of Masai Mara.
Overnight at Matira Bush Camp
We take a morning game drive and after breakfast fly back to Nairobi with lunch at the Giraffe Manor with giraffes later visiting the Giraffe Centre. Dinner at a Nairobi Restaurant before transfer to the airport for your outbound flight.
Overnight at Ole Sereni Hotel
And the last day we spend the whole day birding and photographing in Nairobi National Park, only 10km off the cosmopolitan city and has one of the greatest avifauna with a record of over 520 species in an area of only 117km².
Birds in the park includes Common Ostrich, Great, Long-tailed Cormorant, African Darter, Great Egret, Saddle Billed Stork, Common, Madagascar Squacco, Black-headed, Grey Heron, African Spoonbill, White-faced Whistling, Knob-billed Ducks, Red-billed Teal, Secretary Bird, Black-shouldered Kite, Lappet-faced Vulture, Black-chested Snake-Eagle, Martial Eagle, Shelly’s & Yellow-necked Spurfowls, African Finfoot, Black-bellied, Hartlaub’s Bustards, Emerald Spotted Wood, Laughing Doves, Hartlaub’s Turaco, White-bellied Go-away-bird, White-browed Coucal, African Palm Swift, Blue-napped Mousebird, Little & Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaters, Lesser, Greater Honeyguides, Eastern Honeybird, Nubian Woodpecker, White-tailed, Rufous-naped Larks, Wire-tailed, Lesser-Striped Swallows, Rock Martin, Yellow-throated, Pangani, Rosy-breasted Longclaws, Pale, African Grey, Southern Black Flycatchers, Lesser Swamp Warbler, 9 species of Cistocolas, Abyssinian white-eye, Red-throated Tit, Jackson’s Widowbird, Red & Yellow-billed Oxpecker, among others.
The park has big game such as the Cape Buffalo, Burchell’s Zebra, Hippo, Masai Giraffe, Coke’s Hartebeest, Vervet and the Syke’s Monkey, both Black and White Rhino, Lion, Cheetah, Leopard, Eastern White-bearded Gnu, Black-backed Jackal, Hyena, Grant’s & Eastern Thomson’s Gazelles, Bohor Reedbuck, and Southern Bushbuck, Common Warthog among others. Later in the early evening, we go out for dinner before transfer to the airport for your outbound international flight.
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4 nights Samburu/Buffalo Springs National Reserve
2 nights Ol Pejeta Conservancy
2 nights Lake Nakuru National Park
7 nights Masai Mara National Reserve
Kenya Birds & Big Game Photo Safaris – 17 Days
Kenya Birds & Big Game Photo Safaris – 17 Days
- Transport with exclusive use of the safari van.
- Pick up and drop off on arrival and departure at the airport.
- Fullboard accommodation and an extra lunch
- -Services of an English speaking safari guide.
- Parks, reserve and conservation areas entry fee including tracking permit
- Drinking water available from the van cool box.
- Medical and travel insurance including luggage. -Beverages
- Items of personal nature such as telephone,
- Laundry, gifts among others.
- Visa, airport tax,
- Tipping of safari guide.