At The Ark we started the morning with a short, informal birding session from the balcony by the watering hole. Little Swifts were roosting in the rafters overhead and Hunter’s Cisticola, Collared Sunbirds, Tropical Boubou and many other birds were active in the shrubs and amongst the rocks below. I even saw a White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher and Common Bulbul on the open terrace inside the hotel.
We spent some time birding the forest again, finding African Citril and Moustached Green Tinkerbird amongst others. Then we traveled for several hours, where the star bird of the journey was a tall, grey Secretarybird striding across the edge of a field. I was sat near the front of the vehicle so was lucky enough to spot this, but those on the wrong side of the bus, including Tim, were not so lucky and unfortunately this was the only time we saw this rather gangly species. Shortly afterwards we stopped at a restaurant for lunch, sitting outside in a lovely garden with many flowering shrubs attracting sunbirds, Streaky Seedeaters and a new weaver species -Speke’s Weaver.
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| Moustached-Green Tinkerbird |
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| African Citril |
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| Speke’s Weaver |
We had another long journey today, heading towards Samburu National Park in the arid north of the country. The Samburu people are nomadic and pastoral, reliant on grazing. There has been a two year drought in this area and this was clearly a more impoverished part of the country than we had visited previously. Some stalls beside the road were selling African beaded jewellery and everywhere our vehicle was spotted children appeared to wave and hope to sell their wares.
At the Samburu National park entrance we again had a break from the vehicle while paperwork was completed, and as always when we stopped, we were soon finding many birds - excellent views of a White-bellied Go-away bird, looking enormous next to a tiny Pygmy Falcon. A Spotted Ground Thrush hopped at the foot of the gate and a Red-billed Hornbill sat on the ground. Soon we were back on board and began a slow drive through the park towards our hotel. We soon encountered a Buff-crested Bustard which wandered right in front of the vehicles, giving point blank views. And just a short distance further on there was a Kori Bustard, a taller and sturdier bird with distinctive flank patterning. Next up was a beautifully marked Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush and a stunning and powerful Lanner Falcon, which posed majestically before lifting off in search of prey. A family of Somali Ostrich came into view, the male with blue neck and legs, in contrast to the pink of the Common Ostrich.
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| Somali Ostrich |
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| Pygmy Falcon |
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| Buff- crested Bustard |
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| White-bellied Go-away Bird |
There was plenty of bigger wildlife around the park too, with Bright’s Gazelle stretching on tiptoe to reach the tastiest leaves and tiny Dik-dik (Kirk’s Dieker) running across the barren terrain. Elegant Oryx with long horns and dark markings nibbled at the grass. Beautiful Reticulated Giraffe were also seen, but by now dusk was descending and our drivers knew we needed to get to our hotel before nightfall. This was where things started to go wrong, as we discovered the track to the lodge had been damaged by recent rain, and a detour was needed. Unfortunately, one dusty, deeply rutted red track looks much like another and there were several false turns and detours as darkness fell. A lone Elephant was highlighted in the beam of the vehicle lights, but did not appear fazed by our presence. A Spotted Thick-knee was also caught in the headlights and the other bus saw a nightjar, although this could not be identified to species level. Eventually, to everybody’s relief we found the correct road and were able to check into our rooms. It had been a varied and interesting day, with a complete change of habitat throwing up a good variety of exciting new birds and wildlife.
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| Bright’s Gazelle |
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| Beisa Oryx |
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