9 Days Kenya Bird Watching Safari Holiday

After breakfast, we enter Nairobi NP as soon as the gates open, and spend a full morning exploring this gem of a park right on the outskirts of this huge city. Here we have a chance to sight a range of big mammals including most of the “big 5”. This park is especially good for lions and giraffes, sometimes even against the high-rises of downtown Nairobi! There is also the abundant and colorful bird life typical of the African Savannah. After lunch, we head down into the Great Rift Valley. In the late afternoon, we arrive at another of Kenya’s gems the lake Nakuru National Park. Dinner and overnight at Lake Nakuru Woodlands lodge.

With a full day to explore Nakuru, we will focus on rhinos. Both white and black rhinoceros occur here in good numbers, and one can often find these prehistoric beasts drinking with a haze of flamingos for an awesome photographic backdrop. There is also bountiful antelope, and good chances at lion and leopard. On the bird front, are 1000s of pelicans, storks, herons, flamingoes, and shorebirds. The adjacent woodlands hold their own set of species like barbets, woodpeckers, honeyguides, and starlings. Dinner and overnight at Lake Nakuru Woodlands lodge.

After a final morning in Nakuru, we head towards Lake Naivasha, a stunning Rift Valley Lake full of birds and mammals. A leisurely boat trip on the lake in the afternoon will provide plenty of photographic opportunities of mammals and birds at very close quarters. Here we will wander amongst the many giraffes, waterbuck, and gazelles that feed on the lake shores. There are few predators here and the tame animals offer phenomenal photographic opportunities.

Hippopotamus lounge in the languid waters, Pied Kingfishers, herons, and storks frequent every secluded bay, and flotillas of pelicans pass by loafing crocodiles. Before we know it our several hours on the water will be over. Lake Naivasha will give us amazing chances to photograph African Fish-Eagles in flight. Lake Naivasha will give us amazing chances to photograph African Fish-Eagles in flight (Ken Behrens). Dinner and overnight at Lake Naivasha Kongoni lodge.

Lake Naivasha is a picnic and camping spot and a bird watcher’s paradise. During your safari, you will have a chance to visit Hell’s Gate National Park which has over 100 species of birds including vultures, Verreaux’s Eagles, augur buzzard, and swifts.  African buffalo, zebra, eland, hartebeest, Thomson’s gazelle, and baboons are also common. The park is also home to klipspringer antelope and Chanler’s mountain reedbuck. You will also visit Crescent Island Game Park a peninsular and is accessible by boat from East or West as well as by road for guided walk amongst animals. Crescent Island has an abundance of animals including Giraffe, Hippopotamus, Buffalo, Waterbuck, Wildebeest, Zebra,Impala, Python, Mongoose, Jackal etc. Dinner and overnight at Lake Naivasha Kongoni Lodge

The boat trips on Naivasha are so good that we are going to do another one on this morning! There will be different light, a slightly different mix of species, and undoubtedly a lot of great new photo opportunities. In the late morning, we leave the Rift Valley and head west, reaching the Masai Mara area by evening. Dinner and overnight at Masai Mara Base Camp Lodge

The Mara, the northern portion of the magnificent Serengeti system, offers spectacular vistas over flat-topped acacia and grassy plains riddled with ungulates and other animals. We’ll spend three full days in the reserve looking for East Africa’s famous Lions, Leopards, Cheetahs, African Elephants, gazelles, and other wildlife. However, bird photography does not take a back seat, and we should be rewarded with views of many large raptors and vultures that gather at the kills, as well as storks, Kori Bustard, Southern Ground-Hornbill, and other species that suffer from disturbance outside these large protected areas. Other highlights may include Rufous-bellied Heron, Saddle-billed Stork, Temminck’s Courser, Sooty Chat, and Schalow’s Turaco. There is never a dull moment in the Mara. Often it’s a matter of choosing which amazing photo opportunity to take advantage of… elephants on one side of the vehicle, and a teed-up barbet on the other! Dinner and overnight at Masai Mara Base Camp Lodge

Though Maasai Mara National Reserve is famously known as one of the most important wildlife safari destination to do game viewing safari not knowing that also hosts with big diversity of unique bird species such as the Ostriches, Kori bustard many more others. It is so honouring Maasai Mara National Reserve to be one of best Kenya bird watching destination with high population of bird species in relation to other Kenya national parks. Most of travelers who have visited Maasai Mara on their birding safari tour wonder a lot about the uniqueness of birds spotted around.

Travelers who enjoy visiting Kenya birding safari destination, Maasai Mara National Reserve would be your stopping destination point of the journey. And this is because it haven with diversity of unique bird species and some of the number to be spotted include; Unique Ostriches, Kori bustard, Hamer kop ,Marabou ,Handed Ibis , Sacred Ibis , Rappel Vulture , Egyptian Vulture, African fish Eagle, Tawny Eagle, secretary bird, Sooty chat, yellow billed stork , Great Egrets ,Long tailed car mount ,Woolly necked stork ,Tabora cist cola, Swahili sparrow ,silver bird ,Rufous bellied heron ,Red-throated fit, Lazy cist cola ,Giant king fisher, Africa wool owl , Abdi’s stork , African fin foot , Hooper and wood hoopoes, horn bills ,barbets and tinkers birds, honey guides, brown throated sand Martin , spur winged goose , Egyptian Goose , Comb Duck , Northern pintail , Red billed teal , white-faced whistling duck , African spoonbill ,Glossy Ibis , Marabou stork , Little white stork , African Open bill stork , Yellow-billed stork , purple Heron ,  Dwarf Bittern , Common squacco-Heron , Rufous bellied Heron , Goliath Heron , Black headed Heron and many others which can be encountered on Maasai Mara National Reserve –birding tour. Dinner and overnight at Masai Mara Base Camp Lodge.

After a couple hours of photography around our lodge, we’ll head towards Nairobi, where we’ll end the trip, undoubtedly laden down with myriad excellent images, and the memories to match!