Kenya (and Tanzania) Bird Watching Africa

>> Bird watching Kenya (and Tanzania)

>> Weather info special for bird watchers

PS. If there is any special area or object which the client wants to observe please enquire!

The variation in habitat across Kenya means that different areas of the country have very different bird lists, making it a fascinating part of the world of Africa for ornithologists to visit. Since so much of the country is open grassland or bush the birds are also relatively easy to see. Some specialist tours reckon on 300 - 600 species in a two week tour.

For bird watchers we have plenty of birds in our different Kenyan parks and game reserves.
There are a number of different types of organized tours available in Kenya. Mostly the most common tours are classic wildlife safari. This offers a good chance to see a number of different parks and habitats. It can however be very frustrating for birder's when they are along with tourists whose aim is to see "the big 5" (Lion, Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Leopard and Rhino).

This means in search of the wild the guide may drive past a tree full of interesting looking birds but with an experienced guide they always stop when they sport birds and tell the clients about them. Its usually very hard to persuade five or six non-birder's that it's worth spending 20 minutes watching and identifying an insignificant looking little brown bird that its really a worthy cause. That why Easafas wants to give a special safari with clients who love birding adventures so they can share their interests without having conflicting interests when they are mixed with tourists who are interested in the game only.

That is not to say that such tours are a waste of time- they're not. Many of the guides are quite knowledgeable and quite happy to point out interesting looking birds and many of the lodges are themselves home to lots of species and often have their own bird walks through the grounds.
You will still see plenty of species but it is more likely to miss out on a few good opportunities.

We do special bird tours; its most interesting watching the birds sometimes they vary from tours where people actually stop and watch the birds in a fairly leisurely manner. Bird tours are special where the apparent aim is to rack up as many species as possible in the shortest possible time.
You can succeed in sporting as lists in excess of 500 birds in a couple of weeks.

We offer a variation on the standard safari where you pay a bit more and have the safari-bus or car plus expert driver/guide to yourself and even draw up your own itinerary. This can be fairly expensive, but has the great advantage that on game drives you stop when you want, watch what you want and with only a few people in a safari-bus you can always get to a window on both sides.

Alternatively take one of the standard safaris but book with a group of birder's. It should then be possible to get all the birder's on the same bus. Ask for an expert guide who knows where to find the specific birds.

When to Bird?
The best time is between October and April when more than 120 migrant species have arrived from the Northern hemisphere, mostly from the Palaearctic but with some African migrants such as Forbes-Watson's Swift; there is also the chance of finding one of the passage migrants such as the Sooty Falcon in March-April and October-December. If you are interested in bird-ringing, the latter period is when there is a large bird ringing exercise at Ngulia in Tsavo National Park.

The coast is particularly good during this period with large flocks of water birds congregating at Mida Creek and Sabaki Estuary, while The Rift Valley lakes and Amboseli attract a lot of northern waterfowl.

From April to October the northern migrants are replaced by birds from the southern hemisphere and Madagascar, but these are much fewer, no more than 10 or 12 species. It is however the time when many of the birds are in breeding plumage following the long rains, which makes species such as the various weavers much easier as well as much more colorful.
This is also the best time of year for big game. In July and August the huge herds of wildebeest and zebra enter the Masai Mara and provide spectacular game watching. This also makes vultures much easier to find because of the numbers of animals that don not survive the migration.

The Mara River regularly collects mixed flocks of vultures and Marabou feeding on the animals that failed to cross the river. There's usually a fair number of crocks as well!