Kenya Highlights

There is no doubt that Kenya is a magical country. Bearing a functional veneer of Westernisation, it is bustling and colourful, and packed with variety: a melting pot of everything African.  Despite pressure from tourism and a growing population, this country remains the naturalist’s first choice in Africa ... and perhaps the world. The reasons are clear.  Game in the reserves is abundant; both it and the birdlife — a staggering thousand species, unrivalled by any other African area of similar size — are exceptionally colourful, approachable, and easily photographed. From arid deserts to verdant rainforests, from rolling grasslands to snow-capped equatorial peaks, from lush green hills and cultivated plains to the individual lakes and spectacular escarpments of the Great Rift Valley, Kenya has a variety of scenery and habitats unrivalled in Africa. All this is serviced by a good network of roads, and by standards of accommodation and cuisine as high as any on this great continent. Few visitors may complain!

We begin our holiday with a very scenic drive north to Samburu, perhaps the most attractive of Kenyan game reserves. Situated in the ‘arid north’, Samburu’s mix of crocodile-filled rivers, dry grasslands and acacia woodlands, together with its beautiful Dom Palms and Baobab Trees, provide us with a great range of birds and some unusual mammals that include Reticulated Giraffe, Grevy’s Zebra, Beisa Oryx and Gerenuk.

Next we move south once more for a 2-night stay at Mountain Lodge, situated at an elevation of 2,190 metres on the forested slopes of Mount Kenya. Here, on guided walks, we should see a wonderful variety of montane and forest birds, including such species as Red-fronted Parrot, Hartlaub’s Turaco, White-starred Forest Robin and Montane Oriole. Most exciting of all, though, is the anticipation at dusk, dawn and during the night as such elusive mammals as Bush Pig, Giant Forest Hog, Large-spotted Genet and perhaps even a Black Rhinoceros may emerge from the forest to drink at the waterhole beside the lodge.

Leaving Mount Kenya we visit three very different Rift Valley lakes. The birdlife at each is outstanding. At Nakuru we explore the salty mudflats and hilly woodland around this flamingo-laden soda lake. This beautiful park is home to a large number of White Rhino and Leopard. At Lake Bogoria we search for Greater Kudu and visit hot springs, and at Lake Baringo we have plenty of time to explore a beautifully unspoilt freshwater lake, set amidst a rugged dry land of cliffs, plateaux and boulder-strewn acacia woodland, where Verreaux’s Eagles and Hemprich’s Hornbills are amongst many other unusual birds to be seen.

We conclude our holiday in the Masai Mara, travelling over the Rift Valley and viewing the spectacular Longonot volcano as we cross the cultivated plains of the valley towards the rolling grasslands of ‘the Mara’, where we spend three nights.  This is the finest of Kenya’s reserves, and teems with animals, especialIy in July, August and September when huge herds of Blue Wildebeest, pursued by their predators, are migrating into the Mara from the adjacent Serengeti in search of fresh pastures. Topi, Hartebeest, gazelles, Burchell’s Zebra, Giraffe, Elephant and African Buffalo feed with them on the plains, and attendant Lions, Cheetahs, jackals and Spotted Hyenas. The birdlife may take second place, but is nonetheless abundant. Vultures, Martial Eagles, Secretary Birds, Ostriches, Ground Hornbills, and colourful barbets, weavers and finches litter the grasslands and acacias.

For those wishing for a more complete overview of Kenya’s highlights, we should be delighted to offer a tailor-made extension to Amboseli, Tsavo and the coast (or to any other country in east Africa). These areas, sitting beneath snow-capped Kilimanjaro, present fine photographic opportunities, and a habitat of dry, rolling grassland where yet more bird and mammal species may be found.  Finally, at Turtle Bay, in the heart of Kenya’s Marine National Park, you may choose to snorkel on the coral reef, explore the bird-rich coastal forest of Sokoke, and the mudflats and mangroves of Mida Creek.