7 Days Kenya Bird Watching Trip: Lake Baringo, Kakamega Forest, Lake Nakuru & Naivasha

Pick up from your hotel or JKI Airport and drive through Limuru tea farm, gradually descending to the floor of the Great Rift Valley, passing Mt. Longonot en route to Lake Baringo. This is one of the two fresh water Lakes in the Rift Valley and a bird watcher’s paradise. It has over 460 recorded bird species check in at Lake Baringo club where you will find plenty of information on the area’s bird life in your room. A resident ornithologist leads walks before breakfast and in the evenings Your driver/guide will gladly assist with any queries.

Key Bird Species

Popular Bird Species seen on this Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria National Reserve Tour: African Fish Eagle, Yellow-billed Hornbill, Greater Flamingo. Greater Flamingo, Lesser Flamingo, African Fish Eagle, African Jacana, Black Crake, Goliath Heron, Little Bittern, Purple Heron and White-faced Whistling Duck, Spotted Eagle-Owl, Northern White-faced Scops Owl, Shikra, Dark Chanting-Goshawk, Verreaux’s Eagle, Slender-tailed Nightjar, Heuglin’s Courser, Blue-capped Cordon-bleu, D’Arnaud’s Barbet, Black-throated Barbet, Brubru, Grey-headed Bushshrike, Jackson’s Golden-backed Weaver, Northern Masked Weaver, White-billed Buffalo-Weaver, Beautiful Sunbird, Jackson’s Hornbill, Yellow-billed Hornbill, Hemprich’s Hornbill, Northern Red Bishop, Brown-tailed Rock Chat, Mocking Cliff-Chat and Bristle-crowned Starling.

Dinner and overnight at lodge/hotel.

Full day in Baringo with a visit to lake Bogoria. The lake is host to thousands of shocking –pink flamingoes as well as other water birds such as the pelican and Gerbe. After picnicf lunch visit the streaming geysers found in the area. These are spectacular displays of superheated water sprays which shoot out of natural underground rocks.

Lake Bogoria National Reserve has more than 350 birds on its list, but the main attraction is an estimated two million lesser flamingos which flock in the shallow waters feeding on algae. Mixed in are many greater flamingos as well. Lake Bogoria is one of the best places in Kenya to see large flocks of these birds. Plenty of other waterbirds are easy to spot, and the call of a fish eagle is never far off.

Dinner and overnight at Hotel.

Drive to Kakamega National Reserve after breakfast. This is the country’s only tropical rain forest and formed part of the dense rain forest that scotched from west Africa, a cross central Africa and into the night lands area’s East and west of the Great Rift Valley. The forest is world –renowned as home to several hundred species of birds including rare shake –eating birds, insects, monkeys and other mammals, as well as countless, exotic tree species.

Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Full day in Kakamega National Reserve with bird walks accompanied by game wardens and our driver /guide. Kakamega Forest is an eastern extension of the great Congo Basin rain forest. It is one of Africa’s most famous birding forests, and it supports over 80 species on the eastern limit of their range from central and West Africa. Examples of this are the spectacular great blue turaco and the colorful blue-headed bee-eater. More than 350 bird species have been recorded, 36 of which are endemic to the forest and can only be found here.

Full board and overnight at the hotel.

Key Bird Species

Popular Bird Species seen on this Kakamega Forest Birding Tour: Blue-headed Bee-eater, Great Blue Turaco, Ross’s Turaco, Crowned Eagle, Great Blue Turaco, Crowned Eagle, Black-faced Rufous Warbler, Chapin’s Flycatcher, Yellow-mantled Widowbird, Red-headed Bluebill, Uganda Woodland Warbler, White-chinned Prinia, Turner’s Eremomela, Green Hylia, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Vieillot’s Black Weaver, Olive-Green Camaroptera, African Broadbill, Snowy-headed Robin-Chat, Hairy-breasted Barbet, Green-throated Sunbird, Mackinnon’s Fiscal, White-spotted Flufftail, Dusky Tit, Luhder’s Bush-Shrike, Black-crowned Waxbill, White-breasted Negrofinch, Yellow-crested Woodpecker, Equatorial Akalat, White- tailed Ant-Thrush, Blue-headed Bee-eater, Common Wattle-eye, Jameson’s Wattle-eye, Black-billed Turaco and Yellow-bellied Wattle-eye.

Drive to lake Nakuru National park after an early breakfast arriving at lake Nakuru Woodlands for lunch. After lunch bird spotting drive in the park, home to stunning flocks of lesser flamingoes, which literally turn the Lakeshores into a magnificent pink stretch. The bird life here is world – renowned with the park being a beacon for leading ornithologists, scientists and wildlife film makers. Full board and overnight at the lodge.

Lake Nakuru is a great birding destination with more than 500 species recorded. The soda lake is a birding hotspot and supports a lot of birdlife, including large flocks of pelicans. Unfortunately, flamingos are no longer the drawcard here as unfavorable conditions have driven many of them to other Rift Valley lakes. Nakuru is also one of the best places in Kenya to see the striking, long-tailed widowbird.

Lake Nakuru national park hosts various kinds of birds such as endemic, near endemic species, critically endangered, endangered species and globally threatened species. Endangered species include Gray Crowned-Crane, White-backed Vulture and Rueppell’s Griffon. Vulnerable species include Abyssinian Thrush, White-headed Vulture, Lappet-faced Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle and Imperial Eagle. Near threatened species include Maccoa Duck, Lesser Flamingo, Black-tailed Godwit, Great Snipe, Bateleur, Crowned Eagle, Pallid Harrier, European Roller, Sooty Falcon and Gray-crested Helmetshrike.

Early morning bird- spotting drive in the park and around the lake before returning to the lodge for breakfast. Drive to lake Naivasha thereafter entering via Hell’s gate famous for its natural steaming geysers and a haven for bird’s watcher. The cliffs are breeding grounds for vultures, verrequx’s Eagles, Augur Buzzards and thousands of swift over 130 bird species have been recorded here lunch at lake Naivasha country club. Afternoon at leisure to explore the rich bird –filled gardens or an optional boat ride to crescent lsland (at an extra cost). Dinner and overnight at the Lodge.

Key Bird Species

Popular Bird Species seen on this Lake Naivasha Birding Tour: Great White Pelican, Saddle-billed Stork, Goliath Heron, Giant Kingfisher, Cape Teal, Pied Avocet, Black Heron, Goliath Heron, Maccoa Duck, Great White Pelican, Common Greenshank, Ruff, Green Sandpiper, Hilderbrandt’s Francolin, Arrow-marked Babbler, African Fish Eagle, Verreaux’s Eagle, Tawny Eagle, Osprey, Hybrid Lovebird, Red-throated Wryneck, Buff-bellied Warbler, Grey Crowned Crane, Black Cuckoo, African Hoopoe, Malachite Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Giant Kingfisher, Greater Flamingo, Lesser Flamingo, Pink-backed Pelican, Pied Avocet, Blacksmith Plover, Coqui Francolin, Hilderbrandt’s Francolin, Black Cuckoo, African Cuckoo, Grey-crested Helmetshrike, Cape Teal, Hottentot Teal and Red-billed Teal, Dusky Nightjar, Montane Nightjar, Maccoa Duck, Malachite Sunbird or White-backed Duck.

After a leisurely breakfast drive back to Nairobi and off at your hotel or JKI Airport.