17th February 2007  Lake Naivasha to Lake Baringo

The day began with a Hippo on the lawn outside our rooms and after breakfast we strolled down to the nearby jetty where the trip at last got going with several distant Lesser Black backed Gulls! Although some of us caught up with Little Rush Warbler we could not locate a group of calling Coqui Francolins. However, other birds at the water edge included Black Crake, Whiskered and White-winged Black Terns, African Cormorant, Hottentot Teal, Great White Pelican and African Reed Warbler.

After checking out we made our way back to the Highway from Hell for another bout of wacky races as we headed back to Nakuru and then onto Lake Baringo. The journey took several hours but we managed one or two stops on the way. We surprisingly failed to find any Black-headed Plovers at a usually reliable site but some roadside ponds gave us Jackson's Golden-backed, Striped and Lesser Masked Weavers. Arriving at Lake Baringo mid-afternoon, we were able to birdwatch through lunch as our table was right next to a bird feeding station, with Red-and-yellow Barbet, D'Arnaud's Barbet, Northern Masked Weaver, Jackson's Golden-backed Weaver, African Mourning Dove and White-billed Buffalo-weaver all showing very well.

After taking an hour out we added Woodland Kingfisher and Bristle-crowned Starling in the hotel grounds before heading off to the hotel entrance to pick up two local guides for a targeted search for Heuglin's Courser, Greyish Eagle Owl, Northern White-faced Scops Owl and Slender-tailed Nightjar. Our guides predictably came up with the goods and in addition to all our targets we also saw Upcher's Warbler, Pygmy Batis and African Great Tit. Back at the hotel we spent half hour at dusk watching the reedbed and birds included African Fish Eagle, Purple Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, White-browed Coucal, Great Reed Warbler and a showy Nile Crocodile sat on the board walk.

SimpleViewer requires Macromedia Flash. Get Macromedia Flash. If you have Flash installed, click to view gallery