Birding pace that fits the hardcore to amateurs

Other Wildlife included

Private Guided Birding

Kenya Birding Tour: 12 Days Eastern & Coastal Birding

Embark on a journey of discovery with our Eastern & Coastal Kenya Birding Tour, where you will encounter a diverse array of birdlife and wildlife. From the beaches to the cloud forest of Taita Hills, this tour boasts sightings of three Kenyan endemic birds - the Taita Thrush, Taita Apalis, and Taita White-Eye.

Visit some of the best birding sites in Kenya and spot unique birds such as the Sokoke Scops-Owl, Sokoke Pipit, Malindi Pipit, the majestic Crab Plover, Red-naped Bush-shrike, Scaly Chatterer, Nairobi Pipit, Manda Boubou, Somali Sparrow, Somali Courser, Friedmann’s Lark, Southern Grosbeak Canary, Clarke’s Weaver, Mangrove Kingfisher, Amani Sunbird, East Coast Akalat, and Spotted Ground Thrush.

Our tour also offers the best chances for spotting other wildlife such as the Big Five, Cheetah, Desert Warthog, Golden-rumped Elephant-shrew, and Gerenuk among many others.

Relax in great and luxury accommodation in most sites o this tour. Our tour is guided by a local expert bird guide for groups of 1-6 people per car, with guaranteed window seat.

Day 1: Nairobi - Tsavo West National Park

Our Kenya Coastal Birding Tour begins with a transfer to Tsavo West National Park with an en-route birding where habitat is relatively denser thicket of savanna dominated by acacia-Commiphora bush land with

Birding Tour: Grasshopper Buzzard

Grasshopper Buzzard, ©chege wa kariuki

Baobab, grassy plains, riverine woodland. The park is also famous for the autumn bird ringing at the Ngulia Safari Lodge with thousands of European and Asian Palearctic migrants on their way south.

Overnight at Ngulia Safari Lodge.

Day 2: Tsavo West National Park

Depending on the time of your visit Tsavo West National Park may be the site for the enigmatic Friedmann’s Lark, Red-naped Bush Shrike, Scaly Chatter which would be some of the star birds of this Kenya Birding Tour. Other birds may include Singing Bush Lark, Bare-eyed Thrush, Rufous Chatterer, Black-headed Plover, Quail-Plover,

Red-naped Bush-Shrike

Red-naped Bush-Shrike ©chege wa kariuki

Somali Courser, African Scops Owl, Pringle’s Puffback, Olive-tree, Basra Reed Warbler, Violet Wood-hoopoe, Southern Black, Spot-flanked, Red & Yellow, D’Arnaud’s, Black-throated, White-headed Barbet, Greater, Scaly-throated, Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Vulturine Guineafowl,

Birding Tour: Scaly Chatterer

Scaly Chatterer ©chege wa kariuki

Northern Brownbul, Desert, Zitting, Ashy, Rattling, Tiny Cisticola, Tsavo Sunbird, Hunter’s Sunbird, Jameson’s Firefinch, Green-winged Pytilia & Fire-fronted Bishop.

Overnight at Ngulia Safari Lodge.

Day 3: Tsavo West National Park- Lake Jipe - Taita Hills

Birding Tour: Taveta Golden Weaver

Taveta Golden Weaver ©chege wa kariuki

We will bird in the Ngulia area enroute to Lake Jipe in search of Taveta Golden Weaver and Hartlaub’s Bustard retiring on the Taita Hills late in the evening.

Overnight at Taita Hills

Day 4: Taita Hills - Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary

Today we drive to Taita Hills Forests and spend most of the day birding up the hills. If lucky enough these hills and patches of bits of forest, rising abruptly to 2200m are home to 3 Kenyan endemic “The Taita Three” namely the Taita Apalis, Taita Thrush and Taita White-eye. It’s the only site on our Kenya Birding Tour that gives us a chance to see 3 kenya endemic birds. Also look for are Striped-cheeked Greenbul, Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler and Striped Pipit. Hopefully after locating them we will drive back making several stops for other birds.

Birding Tour: Taita Thrush

Taita Thrush ©chege wa kariuki

In the late afternoon birding in Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary bordering Tsavo East National Park. Here we have (though very limited) walking space in search of birds unlike in the park and we will take a nocturnal birding drive. Birds may include Friedmann’s Lark in case it were still wet. Bare-eyed Thrush, Scaly & Rufous Chatterers, Black-headed Plover, Quail-Plover, Somali Courser, Hartlaub’s, Bustard, African Scops Owl, Pringle’s Puffback, Southern Black Flycather, Red-winged Lark, Tiny Cisticola, Tsavo & Hunter’s Sunbird, Orange-bellied Parrot, Jameson’s Firefinch,

Quail-Plover

Quail-Plover ©chege wa kariuki

Dolnaldson Smith Nightjar and Spotted Eagle-Owl and Red-naped Bush-Shrike

Overnight at Rukinga.

Day 5: Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary - Shimba Hills National Reserve

Today Kenya Coastal Birding Tour takes us to Shimba Hills National Reserve, it’s the only site in kenya for the Green-headed Oriole and Uluguru Violet-backed Sunbird also we may see Fischer’s Turaco, Green, Brown-breasted, Black-breasted & White-eared Barbets.

Kenya Coastal Birding Tour: Crested Guineafowl

Crested Guineafowl, ©chege wa kariuki

Lunch at the lodge and afternoon birding in the Reserve.

Small-eared Galago

Small-eared Galago ©chege wa kariuki

Overnight at Shimba Hills Lodge

Day 6: Shimba Hills National Reserve - Malindi

Morning birding in Shimba Hills National Reserve before transfer to Malindi. On arrival, our Kenya Birding Tours staright away visit the Arabuko Sokoke Forest and with the help of the local guides we will track down Africa’s smallest owl the Sokoke Scops Owl.

Birding Tour: Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher

Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher ©chege wa kariuki

Overnight at Turtle Bay Beach Hotel

Day 7: Arabuko Sokoke Forest

Our Kenya Coastal Birding Tour takes into the famous Arabuko Sokoke Forest, which is the largest remnant of the East African Coastal Forest. We hope to see the rarely seen Kenyan endemic Clarke’s Weaver among the rich diversity of other bird species. These may include near endemic Amani Sunbird, Sokoke Pipit & Malindi Pipit, East Coast Akalat, Scaly Babbler, Mombasa Woodpecker. Other birds may include Little Yellow Flycatcher, a localized Collared Palm Thrush, Four-coulored Bushshrike, Fischer’s Turaco, Mangrove Kingfisher,

Kenya Coastal Birding Tour: Sokoke Scops-Owl

Sokoke Scops-Owl ©chege wa kariuki

Scaly-throated & Pallid Honeyguides, Eastern Green Tinkerbird & Green Barbet, Mombasa & Green-backed Woodpecker amongst many others.  This is also the home to near endemic Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew.

Depending on the tide we will either visit Mida Creek or the forest fringed by mangrove forest, the creek has a large area that fills with the saline water during high tides. Watching and identifying wading birds here is superb, fun and hard. They may include the “the special one” Crab-Plover, Greater & Lesser Sandplovers, Black-tailed Godwit, Sanderling, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Curlew & Terek Sandpipers, Whimbrel & Eurasian Curlew, Oystercatcher, Dimorphic Egret, Yellow-billed & Wooly-necked Storks, Mangrove Kingfisher.

Day 8: Arabuko Sokoke Forest/Sabaki River Mouth

Birding tour in Arabuko and later or in between squeeze some time to visit Sabaki River Estuary an area characterized by sandbanks, mudflats, mud banks, sanddunes, fresh pools and marshes. The site is important for both intra-African and Palearctic migrants for roosting, resting and feeding ground for gulls and terns.

A good site for Madagascar Pratincole, African Skimmer. Also Dimorphic & Little Egrets, Great & Lesser Flamingos, Water Thick-knee, Ruddy Turnstone, Heuglin’s, Sooty and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Gull-billed, Caspian, Greater-crested, Lesser-crested & Common Terns, also the Southern Carmine Bee-eater, Ethiopian Swallow, Zanzibar Red Bishop also nearby Malindi Pipit.

Birding Tour: Sokoke Pipit

Sokoke Pipit ©chege wa kariuki

Overnight at Turtle Bay Beach Club

Day 9: Arabuko Sokoke forest - Lamu Island

Birding in Arabuko Sokoke Forest and later in the afternoon our Kenya Bird Tour will finally take us to Lamu Island and particularly birding on the Manda Island in search of a near endemic the Manda Boubou. Also Mouse-coloured Sunbird, Purple-banded Sunbird etc

Overnight at Lamu Island

Day 10: Lamu Island - Tsavo East National Park

Birding Tour: Bateleur

Bateleur, ©chege wa kariuki

Morning birding in search of the bird we may have missed in the forest and later transfer to Tsavo East National Park.  Afternoon birding en-route to our lodge arriving in the dusk.

Overnight at Ashnil Aruba Lodge

Day 11: Tsavo East National Park - Nairobi

Birding Tour: Buff-crested Bustard

Buff-crested Bustard, ©chege wa kariuki

More birding in Tsavo East National Park and later transfer to Nairobi.

Overnight at Swara Acacia Lodge

Day 12: Nairobi National Park

Our Kenya Coastal Birding Tour ends with a day in Nairobi National Park, only 10km off the cosmopolitan city has one of the greatest avifauna with a record of over 520 species in an area of only 117km².

Birds  may includes the newly-almost-described Nairobi Pipit, Common Ostrich, Saddle-billed Stork, African Spoonbill, Saddle-billed Stork, African Spoonbill, 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.

Birding Tour: Grey Crowned Crane

Grey Crowned Crane, ©chege wa kariuki

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.

Lion cub

Lion cub, ©chege wa kariuki

In the evening if time allows we visit a Nairobi restaurant for  a dinner before transfer to the Nairobi airport for your outbount flight

 
 

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Highlights

Tsavo West National Park

Taita Hills Forest

Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary

Shimba Hills National Reserve

Arabuko Sokoke Forest

Lamu Island

Sabaki River Estuary 

Mida Creek

Tsavo East National Park

Nairobi National Park

Eastern and Coastal Birding Tour

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Kenya Birding Tour: 12 Days Eastern & Coastal Birding Safari

The Cost is Inclusive of:

  • Transport with exclusive use of the safari van as from the 1st day to departure day as per itinerary.
  • Pick up and drop off on arrival and departure at the airport.
  • Accommodation in lodges as per the itinerary with all three meals a day
  • Services of a knowledgeable bird guide
  • Boat ride at Lakes Naivasha and Baringo
  • Parks, reserve, and conservation areas entry fee
  • Emergency evacuation
  • Drinking water available from the van cool box
  • other pre-tour information

The Cost is Exclusive of:

  • Medical and travel insurance including luggage.
  • Beverages
  • Items of personal nature such as telephone, laundry, gifts among others
  • Visa, airport tax
  • Tipping of Safari driver guide, lodge porters, waiters, etc
  • Other extras such as balloon Safari, Masai Village visit
Book This Safari

Keep In Touch

Birdwatching East Africa Ltd
Karibaribi Farm House, Mang’u Rd
P.O. Box 7968-01000, Thika, KENYA
Whatsapp +254 722 329 570.
info@birdwatchingeastafrica.com