CLASSIC KENYA TOUR, One Spot Open, Just For YOU!

One spot has opened up for our CLASSIC KENYA TOUR, scheduled for 1-16 November 2006. Airfares to Nairobi are currently very low from the US, approximately $1000-1200 instead of the usual $1500-1800, quite a savings. The cost of the tour is $4195 per person from Nairobi, based upon double occupancy. Here is the itinerary for this incredible tour of a lifetime: http://www.birdtreks.com/itin/keea06.html
The beginning of the tour is more than five weeks away, plenty of time to get you all set for this wildlife adventure that you will never forget. A few years ago we had a late opening, but with only 5 DAYS notice. We filled the spot and made all of the arrangements with no problems. You can expect to see more than 600 species of birds and 50 different mammals--What a Trip!

Contact the Bird Treks office IMMEDIATELY if you would like to join the tour. Contact information is listed at the end of this message.

Please read what a former participant had to say about the Classic Kenya Tour.

CLASSIC KENYA!
1-16 November 2003
by Ramsay Koury, tour participant

I have dreamed about going to Africa since I was a child and I had hoped this would be the trip of a lifetime. In every way it was! I saw 630 different birds and 55 species of mammals. This is the only trip I have ever been on where the mammals were more exciting for me than the birds. We saw all the big animals one hopes to see--Lion, Cheetah, Leopard, Elephant, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, Hyena, Rhinoceros, African Buffalo, Zebra, Baboon, Gazelles, and many others.

The trip ran as smoothly as possible. We arranged the trip through Bird Treks and our guides, Kevin and Steven Easley, were superb. They are excellent birders and are a lot of fun to travel with. They did a great job of finding the birds and mammals and then making sure that everyone in the group had good looks. Our accommodations were great and so was the food. We had plenty of excellent food to eat. We were even able to eat the salads, and purified water was easily available everywhere we went. I never felt ill at all.

The weather was just about perfect. Many people think of Africa as a very hot place. Most of the time the weather was quite comfortable. Only once or twice did I really get hot, and then the clouds rolled in or we had light rain and it became comfortable again. Actually, more than once on this trip I was too cold! We were at higher elevations sometimes and it gets quite cool. I was glad to have several layers of clothing and even used gloves a couple of times!

Insects were not a problem. We had a few mosquitoes at Lake Baringo, but other than that, nothing really annoying. Mosquitoes in Florida or gnats in Pennsylvania are far worse! As for snakes, we saw two dead cobras on the road--one was a Red Spitting Cobra, sounds like an animal you would want for a pet, doesn't it? We also had a brief look at one live snake as it disappeared quickly. Considering all of the hiking we did in the forests one would have expected to see more, especially after Steven listed all of the various poisonous snakes that were present the night before hiking in Kakamega Forest!

Safety had been a major concern for me in planning this trip. I had agonized for several months whether it was safe to go considering the world situation with terrorism. More than once I almost decided not to go. Once I was there, Kenya appeared to me to be a very safe and peaceful place. I never once felt threatened or unsafe or even uncomfortable. The Kenyans were very friendly, helpful, and curious. We would often attract a crowd while we were birding along a road. I enjoyed having the kids look through my binoculars or telescope.

In every way this trip exceeded my expectations. I was hoping to see about 500 new species of birds--I saw around 630! I saw all of the animals I wanted to see, the guides were fantastic, and the other 11 participants were fun to travel with. I had been worried about being in a vehicle most of the trip, but we were able to get out and hike far more than I expected. My only problem now is deciding how soon I can go back!! Here is a day-by-day account.

October 31st: Jason Horn, Joan Renninger, and I flew from Newark, NJ to London, England. We met Troy Corman there--he had arrived a day earlier. We stayed overnight at the Ibis Hotel, an appropriately named place for a birder to stay!

November 1st: We had arranged for a day of birding in Kent, southeast of London. Chris Bradshaw and Andy McKee picked us up at the hotel early in the morning and we spent the day birding the English countryside. We saw many of the birds common to this area of England, some of which stray occasionally to the US like Fieldfare, Redwing, Eurasian Kestrel, and Jackdaw. We had lunch at an English pub and had sandwiches and chips (French fries). The weather was typical--cold, windy and rainy. I guess I would have been disappointed if it had been warm and sunny! Some of the birds we saw included Little Owl, hundreds of Eurasian Wigeon, European Robin, and Eurasian Goldfinch. We had about 80 species -- a nice total for the day. Chris and Andy dropped us off at Heathrow Airport as we had a 10:00 PM flight to Nairobi.

November 2nd: The 8-hour flight wasn't as bad as I had expected; I even managed to get some sleep. We arrived at about 9:00 in the morning. Our guides, Kevin and Steven Easley, met the four of us and 2 other participants, Bill and Mary Jo Collins. The six of us, having arrived earlier than the remaining participants, had arranged for an afternoon of birding. After lunch at our hotel, the Nairobi Holiday Inn, we met up with Dave Wilton who had arrived a day earlier. We then spent the afternoon birding the Magadi Road, a short distance from Nairobi. This was dry scrub habitat, reminding me of Arizona. We saw this habitat frequently throughout the country on our tour. Even in the afternoon the birding was excellent. In a few hours we saw around 90 species. Only a few of these were familiar, and many of the new ones had unusual names: Pale-chanting Goshawk, Black-chested Snake-Eagle, and White-bellied Go-Away Bird! Later that evening the remaining 5 participants arrived: Dick Colyer, Judy White, Sherry Perry, and Jack and Libby Craver.

November 3rd: We spent the entire day at Nairobi National Park. The park is located on the edge of Nairobi--you can see the city skyline in the distance as you look at the wildlife and birds. Despite its proximity to the city there is an abundance of wildlife here. As a group we saw 200 species of birds just in this one day! We also saw lots of mammals: Olive Baboon, Black-faced Vervet Monkey, Black-backed Jackal, 100s of Zebra, African Buffalo, Waterbucks, Masai Giraffe, Gazelles, and Impala. We saw several Black Rhinos, one of which charged the other van! It was fun watching another Rhino chase some Ostriches! The best sighting of the day was watching a pair of Lions copulating! Some of the great birds we saw: Secretary Bird, four species of kingfishers (Striped, Pied, Malachite, and Pygmy), Little and Eurasian Bee-eaters, very colorful flycatcher-like birds, and many starlings. African starlings are far more colorful and interesting than our starlings. They have many species and most are quite striking. Many have a coloration that I would describe as electric blue. In most of the game parks you cannot get out of your vehicle, except for a few small, designated areas. Fortunately, the vehicles we were using had a pop-up roof so that the six of us could all stand up and look out at the animals, while still being protected in the van. The animals are fairly used to the vehicles and often come quite close. We spent the night back at the Nairobi Holiday Inn.

November 4th: We left Nairobi and made a stop at Limuru Pond, just outside of town. There were lots of ducks and other waterbirds here. It was windy, rainy and cold! I was glad I had brought a raincoat and gloves! Many people assumed it was going to be very hot in Africa, but that was not the case today. Our next stop was in the highlands at the Kieni Forest. This was similar to a cloud forest of Central or South America. We had a great selection of birds and saw our first Elephant here. There was only one, a nice large male. Our next stop was some farmland at even higher elevation. We saw a very rare and local bird, the Sharpe's Longclaw, similar to our meadowlark. We saw another rare bird, Eleonora's Falcon, which was a life bird even for Kevin. You know the bird is rare when it's new for the guide! Another neat thing at this stop was that we had parked in front of a school. When their lunchtime arrived, all of the kids came over to the fence to watch the crazy Americans looking for birds! There must have been at least 300 of them! I have seen curious children many times in Honduras, but this was a little different. They even cheered when I took pictures of them. From here we drove to Lake Naivasha for the night. We stayed at the Lake Naivasha Country Club. Yes, this was a very nice place; we weren't roughing it on this trip! In fact, Colin Powell had been here two weeks earlier for a meeting with leaders of the East African countries.

November 5th: Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in the Rift Valley. It attracts a great variety of waterbirds. We went on a boat ride on the lake this morning. We saw about ten Hippos. They are huge and we got fairly close to a couple of them. I took a picture of one with a Lesser Black-backed Gull perched on its back! We saw Goliath Heron, the largest heron in the world. We also saw a Giant Kingfisher, a well-named bird. We had lots of shorebirds including many Ruffs, five species of plovers, and many shorebirds which stray to the US: Common Greenshank, Little Stint, Wood, Common, Green, and Marsh Sandpipers. We also had dozens of both Whiskered and White-winged Terns, a few of which were in breeding plumage. We had several species of raptors, with good looks at African Fish-Eagle. After the boat we did a little birding around the hotel and headed toward Lake Baringo. On the way we stopped at a sewage pond: what birding trip would be complete without a trip to a sewage pond? Here we saw more shorebirds, including Temminck's Stint and Curlew Sandpiper. We arrived at Lake Baringo, another great spot for birds in the Rift Valley. This was the only spot where we really had any mosquitoes and they were only bad after dark. At several places we slept under mosquito netting, but this was the only spot where we actually needed it. We saw very few mammals here, but we did see Hippos. They come out onto the lawn in front of the cabins at night to graze on the grass. I only saw one -- they look really huge out of the water -- but others in our group saw a mother and young one. We were warned how dangerous hippos can be and we needed to watch out for them when we returned to our rooms after dinner.

November 6th: We spent all day birding around Lake Baringo. In the morning we went to some nearby cliffs. We had numerous species of small birds and a few new starlings. I actually enjoyed seeing starlings in Africa. It is a shame North America ended up with Eurasian Starlings--there are so many more colorful species we could have had. Back at the lodge we enjoyed watching the feeding platform. Many species came in while we were eating, including many species of weavers. Africa has lots of weavers; we saw over 20 species on the tour. Most of them are yellow and black and make nests similar to our Baltimore Oriole. They nest in large groups and we saw many trees dripping with weaver nests. Early in the afternoon we went in search of some roosting nocturnal birds. With the help of some local people we found three species of roosting owls. The most impressive was the Verreaux's Eagle-Owl. As the name implies this bird is large, huge actually. Its talons were especially enormous. I am not easily impressed by owls, but this one really amazed me. We saw it near a nest that held one fledgling. Another of the birds we found was a group of over 20 Slender-tailed Nightjars. They were roosting on the ground, next to a house. They were incredibly camouflaged and they allowed us to approach very close. The most interesting roosting bird we found was several Heuglin's Coursers. This is a large shorebird, much like a plover, but taller and thinner. They sat on the ground under bushes and were also very well hidden. Late in the afternoon we went on a boat ride onto Lake Baringo. The water level was high, as there had been lots of rain in the highlands. We were still able to find some good birds: Black and Goliath Herons, as well as close looks at African Fish-Eagles.

November 7th: We left Baringo and headed west. In the highlands we saw several Grey Crowned Cranes along the road. They are large -- almost four feet tall. We spent a couple of hours in the Kerio Valley. Here we found a great variety of birds, including several species of Hornbills. Hornbills are the African counterpart to the toucans of Central and South America. They were much tamer and easier to see than toucans. Most species also seemed to be fairly common. Our destination today was the Rondo Retreat in the Kakamega Forest of western Kenya. Rondo is a religious retreat center, but they allow some tourists to stay there. This was a great, quiet place and I could easily have stayed here for a week. We had good birding right around the buildings. One of the birds was the Great Blue Turaco, a large (30 inches long) chicken-like bird. It is blue with a bright yellow bill and a crest. There was also a nesting pair of Long-crested Eagles near the dining hall.

November 8th and 9th: We spent both of these days in the Kakamega Forest. Kakamega is an extension of the West African rain forest that barely reaches into Kenya. Thus, there are many birds found here that are not seen in the rest of the country. We had great birding these two days and saw many birds our guides considered fairly rare. One, the Black-billed Turaco, was one neither Kevin nor Steven had previously seen in Kenya. Another, the Chapin’s Flycatcher, is only found in Kakamega and one other forest. Something I noticed in Kakamega, and it seemed to be true in the rest of Kenya, was that the birds were most active in the couple hours before sunset. Everywhere else I have traveled, including here at home, birding is best in the morning. Morning was a good time in Kenya as well, but late afternoon was better. A very good thing that we saw was an environmental awareness day at one of the schools. There was a big crowd of kids learning about the importance of the forest. It was a great thing to see. Another incident that shows how small the world really is: We were coming out of the forest and as we emerged into a small yard around a house we ran into a student who was studying primates. He was from York, Pennsylvania, 25 miles from my home!! What a small world. As far as mammals go, we saw three kinds of monkeys: Blue, Red-tailed, and Black and White Colobus. We also saw two Egyptian Mongooses. We spent very little time in the vehicle during our time at Kakamega--it was great to do so much hiking. When we arrived Steven wanted us to be aware of the fact that there were lots of poisonous snakes and listed 6 or 7 species including a nasty sounding one, the Gabon Pit Viper. Of course we didn't see a single snake, which has been my usual experience all over the world.

November 10th: We left Rondo and headed west to Lake Victoria on the border between Kenya and Uganda. Actually, we were just on a little inlet of the lake. We saw lots of neat birds including African Open-billed Stork and Papyrus Gonolek, a very colorful shrike-like bird. We then drove to Lake Nakuru, another lake in the Rift Valley, although this one is salty water. This lake is famous for the flamingoes. There are about 800,000 Lesser Flamingoes around the lake! It looks like a pink carpet around the edges. There are also smaller numbers of Greater Flamingoes and thousands of pelicans. Also along the lakeshore are many shorebirds and wading birds. Troy picked out a Terek Sandpiper, a neat shorebird with an upturned bill much like an avocet. Troy and I had missed one of these birds in California by a day many years ago, so it was great to finally see one! The lodge we stayed in was excellent, as were all of our accommodations. A bonus before dinner was some native dancers.

November 11th: We spent the morning at Nakuru. We saw many mammals here including Black and White Rhinos, Olive Baboon, Rothchild's Giraffe, Eland, Black-backed Jackal, Zebra, Impala, Grant's and Thompson's Gazelles, and Warthog. Another attraction here is the birds of prey. We saw DOZENS of eagles, many of which were Steppe Eagles, but we also saw Tawny Eagle, Greater Spotted Eagle, Long-crested Eagle, and African Fish-Eagle. At one spot we had three species of eagles in one tree! It was hard to leave Nakuru, but we had a long journey north. Just after dusk we drove through grassland and Jason was able to spotlight a Marsh Owl flying beside us. This was an excellent trip for owls as we actually SAW EIGHT different species! On most trips I have been on, I have been lucky to see any owls, although we often heard some. This was really amazing to see so many different species. We stayed the night at Nara Moru River Lodge.

November 12th: We spent a couple of hours birding around the lodge. We found a Narina Trogon sitting over the river. As we watched it a Great Sparrowhawk came from behind and almost caught it! The trogon was lucky and got away. Another highlight was watching SEVEN species of sunbirds in a large flowering tree. Africa doesn't have hummingbirds, they have sunbirds. Sunbirds are larger, have large curved beaks, are very colorful, and actually sit still and let you get good looks at them, unlike most hummingbirds. They come to flowers just as hummingbirds do, so this flowering tree was a great spot for them. After Naru Moru we drove to Samburu Reserve.

November 13th: Samburu Reserve was a great spot. There were lots of birds here, but the mammals were even better. In many ways this is what I expected Africa to be like. Our lodge was in a fenced in compound: this was to protect us from Lions, Elephants, Leopards, and other large mammals. We spent the whole time in our vehicles; we were not allowed to get out while we were in the reserve. We saw several groups of Elephants, Grevy's Zebra, Impala, Beisa Oryx, Gerenuks (which means giraffe-antelope), Greater Kudu, and lots of Kirk's Dik-diks, a very small deer. The main highlights of course were the big cats. We came upon 3 Lions, 2 adult females and a cub. They were sitting under a bush in the shade. They did not seem at all disturbed by our presence. In fact, we saw them a few hours later as we drove past the area a second time. Our driver spotted the Cheetahs. There was a mother and one cub. We saw them at a distance, but amazingly they walked toward the road and we were able to drive right up to them. They sat down a short distance away under a bush! We only watched them for a few minutes, as our guide didn't want to disturb them for any length of time. As for the Leopard, we saw it from the grounds of the lodge. The lodge staff puts out food every evening on a platform on the other side of the river. We watched him for over half an hour as he ate the food. It was really exciting to see all of the big cats in one day!

November 14th: We spent the morning at Samburu. We saw Somali Ostriches, different from the Common Ostriches we had seen earlier in the trip. The males have blue necks and legs as compared to the pink of the Common Ostriches. This was also a great place for birds of prey. Actually I am beginning to think that all of Africa is! We watched a Verreaux's Eagle diving on a Martial Eagle and saw a perched Martial Eagle. The Martial Eagle is a huge, crested eagle with enormous talons. This afternoon we drove to Mountain Lodge at 7800 feet on the slopes of Mount Kenya. We arrived near the lodge with an hour or so of daylight. We were lucky to find two African Crowned Eagles! This is another huge, crested eagle, similar to the Harpy Eagle of South America. We had great looks at these two perched eagles. They are capable of taking very large prey. Mountain Lodge is a neat place. The lodge is built to have a view of a large mineral lick / watering hole--every room has a view of it. As soon as we got there we sat on the porch watching the watering hole. There were Bushbucks, a type of deer, and many African Buffalo. Shortly we got a look at a Common Genet, an animal sort of like a raccoon. During dinner, we had a good look at a Spotted Hyena. An interesting thing about this lodge is that you can request to be awakened during the night if an animal you wish to see comes to the watering hole. Fortunately, we saw most of the animals we were likely to see before bedtime, so we had plenty of sleep.

November 15th: Our last day in Kenya! We spent some time around Mountain Lodge this morning to find a few more high elevation birds. We saw a Crowned Eagle again and heard an Elephant trumpeting! We then made our way back to Nairobi with a few stops en route. At Wajee Camp we found a roosting Wood Owl and saw an Ayre's Hawk-Eagle, two great birds. We stopped along the road at some rice fields and found Yellow-crowned Bishops, neat black and yellow birds that look like giant bumblebees when flying. Troy picked out two Painted Snipe, another cool bird. We arrived back in Nairobi, cleaned up and had dinner. We then went to Nairobi Airport and said our goodbyes. We had fairly easy flights home.

I hope I have been able to give some idea of how great a place Kenya is and that my enthusiasm for the trip shows in my writing. I think anyone who is interested in natural history should try to go there. This was certainly the experience of a lifetime for me--it exceeded my wildest expectations in every regard.

Contact Bird Treks today if you wish to join the Kenya Tour. There is one spot open and we hope that you will be able to join us.