Kenya The Ultimate Wildlife Tour A Greentours Trip Report 9th October to 27th October 2004 Leader – Ian Green Day 1 October 9th Arrival It took just twenty five minutes from Nairobi Airport into town and the Boulevard Hotel where we settled in for the night. Day 2 October 10th To Nakuru Out front of the reception were the ubiquitous Black Kites and there was a Gymnogene soaring in the bright blue sky. An immature Great Sparrowhawk had flown by during breakfast. Bronze and Variable Sunbirds visited flowering trees and the former had a nest right above the reception. Soon we were on our way. Less than an hour into the journey and we stopped by a large pond at Limuru. Pink-backed Pelicans sailed across water’s populated by many Yellow-billed Ducks and Red-billed Teal. A scattering of herons and egrets were joined by a couple of African Spoonbills and Yellow-billed Stork. At the back of the pond were two male Maccoa Ducks and in the middle a Southern Pochard. Nearer at hand a pair of Blacksmith Plovers constantly bullied a persevering pair of Three-banded Plovers – hardly a fair contest! Augur Buzzards and a pair of Lanner Falcons soared overhead. We found a chameleon clinging tightly to a Leonotis stem. This delightful beast, complete with miniature ‘triceratops’ headguard and a stubby little beard was none other that Von Höhnel’s Chameleon, a species endemic to the Kenyan Highlands though rather common at Limuru according the fieldguide! The pleasant rolling landscape was more than 2300m above sea level though there was little indication that this was so until suddenly the Great Rift Valley appeared below the road. A view point was stopped at (there are many!) and we admired the huge vistas below and in front of us including the 3000m high Longonot Volcano. Then it was past Naivasha and down into The Rift Valley and through lovely Yellow-bark Acacia woodlands. As these thinned out and were replaced by drier thornbush scrub the animals started to appear. First were roadside Zebra but before long we were spotting Grant’s Gazelle’s and Warthogs and several troupes of Olive Baboons were only one pyramid seller away from being roadside fruit hawkers. 1 © Greentours Limited. Visit www.greentours.co.uk for further details. Telephone 01298 83563 We arrived at Nakuru before one o’clock and with gate formalities swiftly over were down at the Lion Hill Lodge in a few minutes. A quick perusal of our rooms (and the grounds) and it was in for an impressively varied buffet lunch. There was time for an hour or so’s relaxation or potter around the grounds. The latter activity yielded sightings of many birds including Klaas’s Cuckoo, Black Cuckoo-shrike, Rattling Cisticola, Lesser Blue-eared Glossy Starling, Purple Grenadier and Hildebrandt’s Starling. There were even a few butterflies with African Golden Arab the commonest. We set off for the afternoon drive at three-thirty, Ben taking us slowly around the north side of the lake, visiting it at regular intervals and then spending the last hour before dark amongst the marvels on the west shore. We passed several Impala, a stunning Noble Swallowtail and plenty of birds before stopping after just ten minutes by the lakeshore and getting out for a potter. This was a marvellous spot. Herds of distant Buffalo had Waterbuck and eventually Zebra, Giraffe and White Rhinoceros in front of them. Around a thousand flamingoes were split more or less evenly between Lessers and Greaters. White Pelicans showed off their breeding finery and a flock of Glossy Ibis shone in the sun. Hammerkops, Wood Sandpipers and Snipe flew up out of the reedy fringes and there were also Ruff, Squacco Heron, a lone Maribou Stork and an assortment of egrets to enjoy. We stopped off at a couple of shoreside sites after this with more of the same. Additional highlights included distant Eland and closer at hand Long-crested Eagle. The final hour was blissful as we witnessed one of nature’s great spectacles – hundreds of thousands of flamingoes in a tight group stretching along the lakeshore and these perfectly lit with the sun behind us and deep blue sky beyond the rift’s walls - superb! There was even the added bonus of a number of Fish Eagles all sat along the shore all with recently caught flamingoes to eat. Maribou Storks were already moving in to help with the disposal of the bodies and so too were a number of efficient-looking Grey-headed Gulls. There were numerous waders down here including such delights as Kittlitz’s Sandplover, Temminck’s Stints and Avocet, but it was the larger birds, the storks, pelicans and flamingoes, that stole the show. The closely cropped grassland all around us was dotted with herbivores. Buffalo were numerous and Thomson’s Gazelle’s hardly less so. Zebra too were everywhere. Grant’s Gazelles numbered much fewer. Three mother calf pairs of White Rhinoceros grazed serenely and allowed tremendously close approach. Eventually we just had to leave as the sun was going down – half an hour back to the lodge then a fine dinner to finish a fabulous day. Day 3 October 11th Nakuru The morning was fine and sunny though we were still shaded from the sun as we took our 6.15 tea and coffee and snacks in the restaurant. Ben took us out the gate at spot on six-thirty. It was still decidedly chilly under the acacias and not much was moving so we headed straight round the lake to somewhere warmer! We visited the lakeshore where a spring emerged from the woodland’s edge. The slightly warm water steamed in the early morning cool and the stately Waterbuck sat in the grass looked decidedly ethereal. In front of us was a bunch of busy birds! A large group of White Pelicans were stamping their feet (surely not the cool?) whilst waders such as Ruff, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper and Black-winged Stilts scurried hither and thither. In the channel several Pied Kingfishers put on a 2 © Greentours Limited. Visit www.greentours.co.uk for further details. Telephone 01298 83563 show of precision fishing. Further down a bunch of ducks swam animatedly about – mostly Hottentot Teal but also a few Shoveler and Common Teal. The only birds not joining in the hustle and bustle were still lethargic Cattle Egrets! We drove on, taking a back route near to the town’s sewage works which abuts the park’s fence. It was most strange to look out over the manicured grass ridges between ponds and see herds of Waterbuck and a happy-looking Hippo! We stopped by some argumentative Green Wood-Hoopoes and then by a flock of Helmeted Guineafowl. Zebra and Impala were passed before we regained the lakeshore at the same fabulous spot we’d ended up at the night before. Hippo Harry in a posh landcruiser complete with clients in matching hats stayed inside their vehicle and as they left they paused by us to warn us of the dangerous bull Buffalo across the (very!) deep stream in front of us. They drove off and the buffalo promptly turned round and sat down amongst several thousand White Pelicans! It was really an extraordinary number of pelicans – there were so many that it was difficult to see the hundreds of thousands of flamingoes beyond! We walked along the stream edge enjoying the chance to photograph the many Maribous who barely managed to stir themselves as we approached. A lovely Malachite Kingfisher allowed us good views and down by the shore were numerous wading birds and gulls. Fish Eagles called resonantly from the tall acacias behind and in the grassland between were Plain’s Zebra, Grant’s and Thompson’s Gazelles, lots of Buffalo and a few White Rhinoceros. We ignored the closest of these to approach a wonderful group of four – two mothers and two babies, the youngest perhaps two years. This one was rudely disturbed from its restful posed and so it went and suckled at mum. The other’s came closer, the largest standing proud on a little mound – it really was an impressive sight with Nakuru’s natural majesty behind. Around a dozen Red-billed Oxpeckers had forsaken the large herd of Buffalo as they walked past and had taken up station on the rhinos. Yellow Wagtails kept an eye on anything they might disturb and in the very sort grassland we found Yellow-throated Longclaw, Red-capped Lark, Zitting Cisticola and a Pectoral-Patch Cisticola, the latter giving a pretty good impersonation of a mouse! It was time to go and so we circled the lake to the lodge but inevitably there were stops – a Long- crested Eagle here or a Red-chested Cuckoo there! Beakfast was of course attacked with gusto – and a varied and tasty selection there was too! Most of us were straight out again on a walk round the grounds. There had been so many birds along the main track as we drove back that we were keen to see what was in the trees and we weren’t disappointed! A quick visit to the bird table where Speke’s Weaver and Yellow Bishop had joined the normal throng and then we were on the lawn below the pool. A White-browed Robinchat sat beside the small stream. Above there was plenty of action as a pair of magnificent Verreaux’s Eagles soared over the lodge being harassed by an Augur Buzzard, this dwarfed by the eagles. Even rarer than the eagles, much more so in fact, was the unlikely sight of at least two Fawn-breasted Waxbills in the trees above the stream.