10 Days Coastal Birding Safari

Day 1: Nairobi-Amboseli National Park

We depart early morning and head to Amboseli for a 2 nights stay with few brief stops along the way. On these stops we hope to find some special birds which include the Kenya-Tanzania endemic Red-throated Tit, Bare-eyed Thrush, Athi Short-toed lark, Short-tailed Lark, Fawn-colored Lark, Blue-naped Mousebird, eastern pale chanting Goshawk, Tawny Eagle, Booted Eagle, Wahlberg’s Eagle, Eastern Paradise Whydah, Von der Decken’s Hornbill, African grey Hornbill, Brubru, Lilac-breasted Roller, African Hoopoe, Golden-palm Weaver and African Golden Weaver. Amboseli’s signature attraction is the sight of hundreds of big-tusked elephants set against the backdrop of Africa’s best views of Mt Kilimanjaro (5895m). Africa’s highest peak broods over the southern boundary of the park, and while cloud cover can render the mountain’s massive bulk invisible for much of the day, you’ll be rewarded with stunning vistas when the weather clears, usually at dawn and/or dusk. Apart from guaranteed elephant sightings, you’ll also see wildebeest and zebras, and you’ve a reasonable chance of spotting lions, cheetahs and hyenas. The park is also home to over 370 bird species and an agreeably mild, dry climate. Some of the birds we expect to see include African Fish Eagle, African Hawk Eagle, Secretary Bird, Bateleur, Gabar Goshawk, Black-chested Snake-eagle, Collared Prancticole, African Jacana, Black-winged Stilt, African Spoonbill, Goliath Heron, Namaqua Dove, African mourning Dove, Black-faced Sandgrouse, Grey-headed Silverbill, Fischer’s Starling, Pink-breasted Lark, Buff-crested Bustard, Pangani Longclaw and Greater painted Snipe.

DAY 3 and 4: Tsavo West National Park

Today we travel south east to Tsavo West N. Park which is one of Kenya’s larger national parks (9065 sq. km), covering a huge variety of landscapes from swamps, natural springs and rocky peaks to extinct volcanic cones, rolling plains and sharp outcrops dusted with greenery. The savannah ecosystem comprises of open grasslands, scrublands, and acacia woodlands, belts of riverine vegetation and rocky ridges including the Poacher’s Lookout where visitors can see the teeming herds in the plains below. Tsavo West offers some of the most magnificent game viewing in the world and attractions include elephant, rhino, Hippos, lions, cheetah, leopards, Buffalos, diverse plant and bird species including the threatened Corncrake and near threatened Basra Reed Warbler. Other specialties include Northern Wheatear, Isabelline Wheatear and Pied Wheatear (PM), Lesser grey, Isabelline and Red-backed Shrike (PM), Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush (PM), Thrush Nightingale (PM), Upcher’s, River, Marsh, Barred and Olive-tree Warblers, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Kori, Buff-crested, Black-bellied and Hartlaub’s Bustards, Eastern Violet-backed, Scarlet-chested, Variable, Amethyst and Tsavo Sunbird. Pearl-spotted Owlet, Long-crested Eagle, Martial Eagle, Northern White-crowned Shrike, Magpie, Golden-breasted, Ruppell’s, Hildebrandt’s and Greater Blue-eared Starlings, Greyheaded, Rosy-patched and Orange-breasted Bushshrike.

Day 5: Taita Hills

After our early morning breakfast we will head towards the nearby Taita Hills on the southern side. Staying close to the hills is the key to successfully finding all three of the hills’ Kenyan-endemic species, namely the Taita White-eye, Taita Apalis and Taita Thrush. This highly threatened forest is extremely small and it is quite clear that these birds are on the very brink of their existence. However, the forest is now protected and apart from the three endemic specialties we will also be looking for Lemon Dove, Striped Pipit, Stripe-cheeked, and Placid Greenbuls, Evergreen Forest Warbler, Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler and Orange ground Thrush.

DAY 6: Tsavo East National Park

It is one of the oldest and largest African safari parks in Kenya, which was established in 1948 and covers 11,747 km², although not all of the park is open to the public. It is a natural area of flat, dry plains, with thorny bushes and swampy marshland near the river. Some of the birds here include the bizarre-looking Vulturine Guineafowl, Scaly Chatterer, Fire-fronted Bishop, Golden Pipit, Somali Courser, Somali Ostrich, Somali Bee eater, Harlequin Quail, Yellow-necked Spurfowl, Bateleur, White-backed Vulture, Fischer’s Sparrow-Lark, Grey Wren-warbler, Abyssinian White-eye, Cut-throat Finch, D’Arnaud’s Barbet, Namaqua and Laughing Doves and the Red-winged Lark.

DAY 7: Watamu, Malindi

After breakfast we pick up from where we had left, birding on our way to Watamu, Malindi. Watamu is a beautiful and peaceful village on the Kenya Coast, nestled between pristine beaches and lush tropical forest. Since it was first settled as a remote Swahili outpost at Gedi, this area has remained a haven of peace and tranquility and is still one of the coast’s most undeveloped and natural areas.

DAY 8: Arabuko Sokoke Forest-Mida Creek

After our morning breakfast we proceed to the largest and most intact coastal forest in East Africa, the Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve. It is a 420 km2 coastal forest with 20% of Kenya’s bird species, 30% butterfly species and at least 24 rare and endemic bird, mammal and butterfly species. There are over 270 species of birds recorded in this forest including several rare and endemic species like the Clarke’s Weaver and Sokoke Scop’s Owl. Other special birds we expect to observe include Amani Sunbird, East Coast Akalat, Sokoke Pipit, Spotted Ground Thrush, Mombasa Woodpecker, Little Yellow Flycatcher, Retz’s and Chestnut-fronted Helmet-shrikes, Yellow-bellied, Fischer’s and Tiny Greenbuls, Southern Banded Snake Eagle, Ayres’s Hawk-Eagle and Bohm’s Spinetail. Later we leave the forest and head to Mida Creek, a broadwater tidal creek surrounded by extensive mangroves and lined with palms. This 32km2 creek has wide, healthy beds of seagrass and coral, home to many species of fish and feeding sea turtles, while in the mangroves smaller streams and inlets provide a refuge for crabs and birdlife. Here we hope to see the Crab plover, Grey Plover, Oystercatcher, Greater & Lesser Sandplover, Terek sandpiper, Mangrove Kingfisher, Whimbrel and Eurasian Curlew.

DAY 9: Sabaki River Mouth

Athi-Galana-Sabaki River is the second longest river in Kenya (after the Tana River). It has a total length of 390 km, and drains a basin area of 70,000 km². The Sabaki River Mouth is where the Athi, Tsavo and Galana rivers that rise and converge ultimately disgorge their heavily silted waters into the coral reef fringed seawater of the Indian Ocean five kilometers north of Malindi. This convergence in turn provides one of the richest feeding grounds for birds in Africa and the Sabaki River Mouth has rightly taken its place as one of the Important Bird Areas (IBA’s) in Kenya. Our highlights here will be the Sooty Gull, Saunders’s Tern, Dimorphic Egret, Osprey, Eurasian Marsh Harrier, Pied Avocet, Collared Pratincole, Madagascar Pratincole, Ruddy Turnstone, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Brown Noddy, Sandwich, Roseate and Little Terns, Fire-fronted and Zanzibar Red Bishops in the surrounding reedbeds.

DAY 10: Malindi – Nairobi

Today morning after enjoying your breakfast we bid farewell before transfer to Malindi airport for your local flight to Nairobi JKIA in time for your international departure flight.