11 Days Kenya Sunbird Birding Holiday Safari

Leave Nairobi after your breakfast and drive north along the Great Rift Valley onto the world most famous Game Reserve Masai Mara. Stop en-route at the viewpoints of the Great Rift Valley floor for stunning views arriving Mara in time for lunch. This reserve has a vast area of rolling grasslands with scattered pockets of acacia woodland.

Interesting species such as: Secretary bird, numerous vultures among them Lappet Faced Vulture & the White Backed Vulture, eagles and hawks, Watt led Plover, Yellow-Throated Sand-Grouse, Bare-Faced Go-Away bird, Gabon Nightjar, Lilac-Breasted Roller, Ground Hornbill, Sooty Chat, and a wide variety of Larks, Pipits and Widow Birds. In the thick riverine forest bordering the Mara and Talek rivers, several notable birds are found: African finfoot, Livingstone’s turaco, Ross’s Turaco, Giant and Woodland Kingfishers, Blue Flycatcher, Double-Toothed Barbet and occasionally the rare Pel’s Fishing Owl. Dinner and overnight stay at Masai Mara Base Camp.

After our morning breakfast leave the lodge with our picnic lunches and spend the whole day exploring the wonders of this famous game reserve returning late in the evening for our Dinner and overnight stay at Masai Mara Base Camp booked on full board.

After breakfast, we depart for Lake Naivasha National Park. You will have a bird walk before time for lunch at Lake Naivasha Lodge. Lake Naivasha being a fresh water lake on the rift is home to an incredible variety of bird species. Over 400 species have been recorded here. Some of these birds are African darter, squacco heron, Black headed heron, Egyptian goose, Pied kingfisher, African fish eagle, Grey headed gull, Spur- Winged goose, White faced whistling duck, Jacana, Red knobbed coat, Malachite kingfisher. An afternoon option of either a boat rides or a visit to Hell’s Gate National Park before returning for Dinner and overnight stay at Lake Naivasha Kongoni Lodge.

After breakfast, we leave Lake Naivasha for Lake Nakuru National Park, regarded by many as the greatest world ornithological spectacle on earth for it millions of flamingoes that congregates at the lake every year. Arriving by mind-morning at the Lake for a game drive en-route before check-in at lake Nakuru Lodge for Lunch. Afternoon game drive followed by a walk along the lakeshores to try and identify the available waders.

A late afternoon game drive will allow you to see the many wild animals in the park like the Rothschild giraffe, impala’s Thomson’s’ gazelles and not to mention the park is home to the Black and white Rhino. In Nakuru you will look out for the common bird species to include Rock Thrush, Lesser and Greater Flamingoes, Rupp ell’s long tailed starling, Green wood hoopoes, African Fish Eagle, Tawny Eagles, and many other winter and intra African Migrants. You will also be taken to a cliff viewpoint overlooking the lake. Dinner and overnight stay tonight will be at Lake Nakuru Woodlands Lodge.

Spend the whole day bird watching at the Acacias of Lake Nakuru National Park. If lucky enough today we have a chance to see the shy cat ”the leopard”, mostly seen in this park before returning for lunch at the lodge and relax for a few hours before taking another game drive to try and capture what was not seen during the day before the dusk engulfs us. Dinner and overnight stay tonight will be at Lake Nakuru Woodlands Lodge.

After breakfast, leave for the Aberdare and drive past the Kikuyu Agriculture farmlands of Coffee and Tea Plantations, in the highland region of Kenya. Aberdare has its share of bird species. We’ll arrive in time for lunch at the Aberdare Country Club, which was built by British settlers during the colonial era. Afternoon we spend our day by taking a late bird walk. Here we expect Birds such as Giant Kingfisher, Black Duck, Hartlaub’s Turaco, Grey Apalis, Rufous Chatterer, Yellow-bellied Waxbill, and Crowned Hornbill and up to nine sunbird species. Dinner and overnight stay will be at Aberdare Country Club.

After breakfast we travel to Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Rhino Reserve also known as Sweetwaters Game Reserve. The Ol Pejeta Conservancy – a 90,000-acre private wildlife conservancy – is situated on the equator, in Kenya’s Laikipia District, between the foothills of the Aberdares and the magnificent snow-capped Mount Kenya.

1200 Hours: We arrive at our camp/ lodge. Lunch follows. Later we embark on an afternoon game drive. Today you also have an opportunity to have a night game drive.

The Ol Pejeta Conservancy boasts an astounding variety of animals, including the Big Five (the endangered black and white rhino, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and lion), Grevy’s zebra, Jackson’s hartebeest, cheetah, and chimpanzee.

This morning we travel by road to Kenya’s northern frontier. Wild and rugged, Samburu is fiercely beautiful with its arid savannahs watered by the lovely Uaso Nyiro River. It is also one of Kenya’s most protected areas and home to species only found north of the equator, from the reticulated giraffe to Grevy’s zebras and Beisa Oryxes. We also enjoy Larsens Tented Camp or Samburu Intrepids Camp, our luxurious hostelry set beneath a canopy of acacia trees along the banks of the river. Overnight at Samburu Shaba lodge. Meal Plan {Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner}

Dawn breaks in golden bands as we start our day in the bush by scanning the river from our tent’s veranda with a cup of steaming coffee in hand. Before the dew is off the grass, we’re off in pursuit of the elephants, lions, leopards, and cheetahs that thrive in the reserve’s grasslands and acacia woodlands. And so the day is spent in alternating pursuits of exploration in the bush and relaxation in our cozy camp.

There have been more than 390 bird species recorded in Samburu and Buffalo Springs national reserves. The reserves protect a variety of habitats, home to different bird species including arid acacia savannah, scrub and gallery forest alongside the Uaso Nyiro River. The dry, open country offers very rewarding birding opportunities and boasts a number of northeast African dry-country species shared with Ethiopia and Somalia, such as vulturine guineafowl, Somali bee-eater and golden-breasted starling. Overnight at Samburu Shaba lodge. Meal Plan {Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner}

Morning game drive to savour the beauty of the park, return to lodge for breakfast. After, depart for Nairobi arriving in the afternoon. Meal Plan {Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner}