Understandably we had a lie in, following our nightmare the previously day. We headed out to see the Singing Wells, a place where the Samburu people come to water their cattle, after breakfast. I saw this wonderful pair of Wahlberg's Eagles on the way:
After a great hour at the wells, we headed back. Up at the waterhole, a large flock of birds appeared in a small bush. I found the following species in amongst the flock: pin-tailed, straw-tailed and eastern paradise whydah, african and grey-headed silverbills, chestnut and lesser masked weaver, African and red-billed firefinch, blue-capped and red-cheeked cordon-bleu, cut-throat finch and crimson-rumped waxbill. It made quite a remarkable sight. I found a mixed group of northern brownbuls and rufous chatterers feeding the thick scrub behind our house as well. On our evening drive I added white-headed mousebird, northern crombec and magpie starling to my list. We headed out once again after supper, and were rewarded with a fantastic aardwolf sighting.
I put my camera next to the porcupine den in camp and caught these pictures:
August 6th:
A morning drive once again brought a good number of new birds for the holiday, with African mourning and dusky turtle doves, long-billed pipit, tiny cisticola and pale flycatcher. On the way back, we saw a pair of African hawk-eagles gliding high in the sky. My only new bird in the afternoon was a black-headed oriole which flew over our garden. Beside several genets and white-tailed mongeese, our evening drive brought very little, but our night drive more than made up for that. We found nightjars, thick-knees and Heuglin's courser on the road, but it seemed very little else was around. We did however have a great view of a buff-crested bustard by the roadside.We had given up seeing anything of great interest and were speeding up the airstrip when one of the spotters started calling 'gele-gele.' I knew this meant aardvark and we got our driver to stop. He reversed and I got a glimpse of the aardvark disappearing into the bush, my second in as many trips to Sarara. We spent a short while searching for it, but it seemed to have disappeared down into a burrow, but I did see a new bird for the holiday, a pair of common button-quails which we disturbed with our car.
Buff-crested Bustard, Sarara 6/8/12
I put my camera out around the back of the camp, hoping to catch the bush pig and anything else that went past.
Bushpig, Sarara
Porcupine, Sarara
Vervet Monkey, Sarara
White-tailed Mongoose, Sarara
August 7th:
We decided to go and explore the semi-desert area a little way away from Sarara this morning. On the way I saw my first harlequin quail ever and an Abyssinian white-eye. A little further on, we had a stunning view of a pair of lanner falcon perched in the top of a tree. In the semi-desert we searched for bat-eared fox, but to no avail. We did, however see a mixed flock of wattled and Fischer's starlings. We also saw a single Liechtenstein's and a pair of black-faced sandgrouse. There were several grassland pipit and fawn-coloured larks as well as a gabar goshawk. As we headed back, we saw the magnificent white-breasted bustard, as well as several of the stunning golden pipit. We found a pair of black-headed lapwing on the way back as well as a perched African hawk-eagle. It ended up as being quite a magnificent morning's bird watch.
Liechtenstein's Sandgrouse, Sarara 7/8/12
Lanner Falcon, Sarara 7/8/12
Black-faced Sandgrouse, Sarara 7/8/12
Black-headed Lapwing, Sarara 7/8/12
African Hawk-Eagle, Sarara 7/8/12
An afternoon watch at the waterhole brought the usual mammals, including elephant and lesser kudu, as well as the usual finches in the the same bush next to the waterhole. One new addition to the bush was a lifer for me, a yellow-bellied waxbill. A lizard buzzard was a great bonus. Walking back to our house, I saw the tiny shikra, Africa's second smallest bird of prey after the pygmy falcon at only 26cm long.
In the late afternoon we drove up to the foot of Wargis mountain to head up to our camp, a short way up the mountain, seeing the resplendent African paradise flycatcher and a group of helmeted guineafowl on the way. On our short climb, I saw my first common fiscal of the trip and had a great view of a pair of African hawk-eagle hunting. As we arrived, my first Hemprich's hornbills flew overhead, creating a magical sight. A short, but superb walk behind camp in the montane forest as the sun set brought a montane oriole, a speciality up in these hills, as well as African cuckoo and grey-headed bush-shrike, but sadly no sign of the Narina trogon we were searching for.
August 8th:
Early in the morning, we had another search for the Narina trogon, sadly to no avail. He did however see the stunningly colourful Hartlaub's turaco, as well as another pair of Hemprich's hornbills and African firefinches. We went down from the hill to take breakfast, before driving to Lewa. On the course of the drive, we saw two Somali ostriches on the road (right), as well as a gerenuk, tawny and martial eagles and black-shouldered kite. We then passed through the particularly unappealing town of Isiolo, seeing a black-headed heron flying overhead. A little way out of the town, a spectacular small roadside pond contained several more black-headed herons and a single grey heron, as well as sacred ibis and grey-crowned crane. We arrived at Lewa, just before lunch. On the way in, we saw Grevy's and Burchell's Zebra, elephant, reticulated giraffe, waterbuck and black rhino. Near the entrance was a group of green wood-hoopoe and in the marsh were several sacred and hadada ibises, grey-crowned cranes and a pair of blacksmith lapwings. Remarkably, while taking lunch we disturbed a Verreaux's Eagle Owl from its roost. In the early evening we went for a drive, seeing more of the same mammals we had seen earlier, as well as white rhino. The drive also took my holiday bird list past 200, with lappet-faced vulture, white-browed coucal, Shelley's francolin, taita fiscal, rufous sparrow and kori bustard, the world's heaviest flying bird, being the new additions to my list. We also saw more black-shouldered kite, tawny eagle, gabar goshawk and bateleur. We headed back towards the marsh, with the stunning spectacle of flocks of grey-crowned cranes, sacred and hadada ibises, grey and black-headed herons and great egrets. A little further on, we found a group of lion, resting on a dead tree.
Lion, Lewa
August 9th:
In the early morning, a scarlet-chested sunbird appeared in the garden, before we went over to a nearby river in an attempt to do some crabbing(!). A group of Fischer's lovebirds were in a dead tree next to the river, and an African pied wagtail was on the rocky stream. A spot-flanked barbet appeared in the tree over the river, and an African paradise flycatcher flew downstream. After we had caught literally hundreds of crabs, we drove over towards the exit of Lewa. I went past my last Kenya holiday total as we drove down to Nairobi via Nanyuki, with yellow-throated longclaw and long-tailed fiscal before we left Lewa, and African stonechat, baglafecht weaver and wire-tailed swallow before reaching Nanyuki. After taking lunch in Nanyuki, we pushed on towards Nanyuki. I added Cape rook and speckled pigeon as we approached Nairobi. In Nairobi, the skies were filled with yellow-billed kites, and there were marabou storks on top of every roadside tree and in every roundabout. We got to the Nairobi aeroclub late in the afternoon, and an afternoon's birdwatch brought me several new species for the holiday, African citril, yellow-rumped seedeater, bronze and collared sunbirds, bronze mannikin and Cape robin-chat. I also saw more yellow-billed kites, marabou storks, little swifts, baglafecht weaver, common bulbul, house sparrow and streaky seedeater.
At eight o'clock, we drove to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and caught our flight back to London, ending a remarkable holiday.
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