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A Trip to Kenya – February 2016

Discussion in 'Kenya' started by LaughingDove, 31 Jan 2016.

  1. Hix

    Hix Wildlife Enthusiast and Lover of Islands 15+ year member Premium Member

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    I agree 100% !

    :p

    Hix
     
  2. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    Part 6: Lake Nakuru and the Return to Nairobi

    The next day was the final day of the package safari that we had booked (however we had one further day in Nairobi) so we got up at a reasonable time, and after breakfast went to Lake Nakuru National Park. First though we drove through the small city of Nakuru itself which was surprisingly nice with cycle paths and lots of jacaranda trees in bloom that lined the roads. There were also many Pied Crows, Sacred Ibis, and Hadada Ibis about.

    When we reached Nakuru National Park, the area around the entrance was surprisingly much less green compared to the Maasai Mara. In these dry areas, there were quite a few common mammals including Zebras and Impalas, and one particularly interesting bird sighting early on was a Long-crested Eagle perched in a tree. There were also quite high numbers of Drongos about as well as common species such as Superb Starlings and Marabou Storks.
    We then entered the more wooded areas that surround the lake which were very nice with lots of big, tall trees (tall compared to those in the other national parks that we visited on this trip) and there were a few Baboons and Vervets around as well as some very interesting birds with main highlights being an African Black Duck, a Cardinal Woodpecker, and at least one Red-throated Wryneck which was a species that I particularly wanted to see at Nakuru, but unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a picture of it. On my previous visit to Lake Nakuru in 2007 I saw a Leopard, some Black-and-white Colobus, and a Verreaux’s Eagle Owl, so I kept a particular look out for those species, however I didn’t see any of them this time.

    We soon reached the lakeside itself and we could get out of the minibus to get a closer look at some of the waterbirds on the shore. There was quite a large variety of different species including both Pelican species, Marabou and Yellow-billed storks, African Spoonbills, African Darters, Cape Teals, and quite a variety of different waders which included Black-winged Stilts, Blacksmith Plovers, Greenshanks, Spotted Redshanks, Ruffs, and various other species. I also saw a small group of Greater Flamingos which were, unfortunately, the only flamingos that I saw on Lake Nakuru. Despite the lake being famous for huge numbers of Lesser Flamingos, I didn’t see any when I was there this time because apparently due to water level rises in the last few years, the flamingos no longer stay on the lake. This was disappointing because I remembered huge numbers of flamingos from last time, but at least there were a few Greater Flamingos around. While I was looking at some of the wading birds, a large Cape Buffalo began to approach so for safety reasons I had to quickly get back into the vehicle.

    View of the lakeside with an African Darter:
    [​IMG]

    We then continued on to a place called ‘Baboon Cliffs’ which is a picnic site and lookout point, however on the way we passed several giraffes. These looked different to the Maasai Giraffes that we had seen previously, so I later googled it, and they turned out to be Rothschild’s Giraffes that had been relocated there.
    [​IMG]

    When we got to the view point, the view was absolutely amazing. We could see all across the lake and down to the woodlands along the shores with the sheer cliffs going down, and with the clear blue sky it was fantastic.
    [​IMG]
    There were several Cape Buffalos in the forest below and lots of Swifts swooping in the sky in front with a pair of Cliff Chats in the trees on the edge of the cliff. The other fantastic thing was the many reptiles on the rocks around the picnic site and on the cliffs, the most spectacular of these being many Agama lionotus which did a lot of head bobbing.
    [​IMG]
    Looking down at the rocks of the cliffs, I saw many droppings, and then spotted the cause of the droppings which was a medium sized group of Rock Hyrax lying in the sun on a rock below. There were several other interesting birds around too such as a Grey Wagtail and some Red-cheeked Cordon-bleus and I really liked this area with the fantastic view, particularly with the good weather on that day, and since it is an official picnic site, we could walk around freely. So it was nice to spend some there before continuing on the drive around the National Park.

    As we drove around, I noticed that there were a large number of Kenyan Wildlife Service officials, and actually extremely few tourists (I think we passed one tourist car but three KWS cars in the whole park), and I got a few more interesting bird sightings too such as a Grey-headed Kingfisher, Grey-backed Fiscals and a Hoopoe. We then visited the Makali Waterfall which was quite spectacular, there were many butterflies, and lots of Red-winged Starlings in the trees around.
    [​IMG]
    I did however notice a horrible smell coming from a bit further down so I walked down to a small bridge where the smell was coming from and found a rotting carcass of a Cape Buffalo stuck in the water under a small bridge.

    We then continued back across some open plains where there were a few interesting birds and common hoofstock, including two Common Ostriches and large herds of Waterbuck and Impala. We then came back up near to the lake edge and where there were two White Rhinos in the distance which were initially sitting down so were barely visible, but luckily they then got up. While we watched the Rhinos, I looked at the various waterbirds in a nearby water area/creek. There were quite a few Yellow-billed Ducks as well as Little Grebes, Black-headed Herons and small waders, as well as a group of Great White Pelicans flying overhead.
    [​IMG]

    Soon after that we left the National Park, with one notable sighting on the way out being an African Grey Hornbill. I felt that I would have liked to spend longer at Nakuru, and we probably would have had double the time if it wasn’t for getting stuck the previous day and missing the previous evening drive, but never mind, and I did see quite a bit of the park with a fair few bird species.

    There was a fair bit of traffic on the drive back to Nairobi, and I didn’t see any new birds during the drive, however we got back not long after four and were dropped off back in the very nice Hotel Troy that we had stayed at for the first night. I did see plenty of birds on the grounds, but nothing new, though I did manage to photograph a White-browed Robin-chat that I had failed to previously. We also met up with some friends that evening who live in Nairobi, and went to bed with one more day of 'zooing' and 'safariing' to go the next day.
     
    Last edited: 1 Mar 2016
  3. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    Part 7(a): Nairobi Safari Walk Review/Walkthrough

    The next day was our final day in Kenya, and our flight left that evening, however it wasn’t until 11PM so we had the whole day to do things in. We had arranged for a safari vehicle to come at 3:30 for a safari in Nairobi National Park and drop us off to the airport in the evening, however we had the morning to do things in so after a leisurely start in comparison to previous days (alarm set for 8 am) and a leisurely breakfast, we arranged for a taxi to the safari walk so we would have a few hours there. The Safari Walk is located next to the main entrance to Nairobi National Park which is also the headquarters for the Kenyan Wildlife Service, and was only about five minutes away from my hotel.

    Nairobi Safari Walk Review

    Upon being dropped off in the car park, I came up to the entrance which was a quite nice looking building set down a path with trees and lush vegetation on either side.
    Rather than giving a probably not brilliant description of the building, I have linked to a picture of it, and I will be doing this throughout. I will also be doing this review in a walkthrough stye because the zoo wasn’t particularly huge and has an obvious route going around it.
    Here is a picture of the map of the zoo so you may wish to follow around on the map, the walkthrough will go anticlockwise around the circular area starting from the entrance building on the far right of the map.
    [​IMG]

    Anyway, the entrance building was just a roof with open sides, and located over a fairly large pond covered in water lilies with vegetation around the sides, and in the pond were lots of Tilapia and Mosquitofish and at least one Pelusios sp. turtle. There were also lots of wild birds around which was the same all around the zoo, and no surprise really since the zoo directly borders Nairobi National Park. The entrance cost was (adult prices) $25 US for non-residents, 350 Shillings for residents, and 250 shillings for Kenyan citizens (the exchange rate that they accepted was 105 Shillings per dollar) so the price for foreigners was actually rather expensive even by most European zoo standards and extremely cheap for Kenyans – this was similar to the prices for most national parks which is understandable since Nairobi Safari Walk is managed by the Kenyan Wildlife Service.

    In the same entrance building, but now inside the zoo, there were signs in English and Swahili about the fish in the pond, as well as many interpretive displays such as this once for animal footprints amongst others. This part of the zoo was the wetlands section, and the first enclosure I came up to was an enclosure for wetland birds, at least that’s what it was signed as, I didn’t see any captive birds in there at all, however it is probable that there were some smaller species hiding out from the midday sun in the dense bushes and I did see a small wild frog sitting on the sign for Great White Pelicans. Opposite the waterbird enclosure, was the Pygmy Hippo enclosure where I did see the inhabitant. Although a fairly inexpensive exhibit without the sort of things you would expect in a great hippo exhibit such as underwater viewing, the enclosure was large with lots of tall trees providing shade as well as sunny spots and a reasonable water areas and the hippo was basking under some very bright sun. The visitor viewing into the enclosure was pretty good too since it was slightly raised onto boards allowing you to see completely over the fence.
    We then came to a point where we could chose which way to go since it’s a circular loop around the zoo. Going left would have continued more of the wetlands area, however I went right and into the main Savannah Habitat area.

    The paths around the zoo were all extremely nice with lots of grass and tall trees around and loads of wild birds in the trees.
    [​IMG]
    Additionally, throughout the zoo there were many signs showing the commonly sighted wild birds and I saw quite a few of them around the zoo, though rather interestingly both Pygmy Kingfisher and Narina Trogon featured on one of these signs… though I failed to spot either of those two.
    Now into the Savannah section, on the right the Pygmy Hippo enclosure continued alongside the path – though without the dedicated viewing points into it, and on the left was an enclosure that was signed for two Kudu species and Cape Buffalo, however I only saw two Cape Buffalo and a single tortoise (Sulcata possibly). The enclosure was not massive, but large enough I think, and as with everywhere else in the zoo, very aesthetically pleasing with a variety of trees and grass and the wild Weavers and Paradise Flycatchers made the enclosure even better of course. Also visible across the enclosure was various hoofstock from the main Savannah enclosure on the other side, however I will discuss these when when I get to that enclosure.
    As with everywhere else in the zoo, there was a lot of signage around this enclosure for the species held and for various other Kenyan species. All the signs were bilingual, and of quite a good standard which is nice.

    A little further along on the left was a reasonably nice looking enclosure for Spotted Hyeanas, however they seemed to be in their small shelter so I didn’t see them using the enclosure, and opposite that was the ‘Children’s Museum’ which was closed at the time of my visit, however I could look through the windows and It seemed to have lots of taxidermy animals and various other displays.
    Continuing on, I then came up to the area that is marked on the map as ‘Primates Park’ with signs there for Vervets, Olive Baboons, Patas Monekys, Sykes Monkeys, and Black and White Colobus. I suspect the Vervets and Baboons referred to wild species around the zoo, of which I saw loads of baboons but not vervets, and the Patas Monkeys were no where to be seen. The Sykes Monkeys were visible, however through a crack in a fence that was blocking off an area that was without public access, so the only exhibit in this section was that for Colobus (Note: there was a fair bit of construction going on in the zoo, and the fence that I could see the Sykes through was blocking off some paths that are marked on the map as publicly accessible so the other species may have been temporarily off display.) The enclosure for the Colobus Monkeys really wasn’t great (and the Sykes Monkeys appeared to be in a similar enclosure) and I think was the worst enclosure in the zoo. It was a small circular enclosure with no natural vegetation, though there were some climbing opportunities inside the enclosure such as ropes and ladders and areas where the monkeys could sit at the top of the enclosure, it seemed to small and – although it’s irrelevant for the monkeys – was not aesthetically pleasing, whilst everywhere else in the zoo excelled in this.

    Continuing on, there were some views into the main Savannah Habitat enclosure on the left (which I will discuss when it comes to the main viewing area) with signs for Klipspringer and Hyrax in this part of the Savannah Habitat. I didn’t spot either of those however, which was a particular shame about the Klipspringer (which I’m not sure was there to be honest). On the right was the Rhino enclosure with a large viewing area and a medium sized enclosure in which I saw a single White Rhino. There were signs for White and Black, however there was only one Rhino in the on show area. The enclosure also had a lot of barbed wire all around it – I guess poaching is a concern.

    The next part of the zoo that I reached was the ‘Woodland Trail’ which was entered by going through a building with various displays and signs. Inside, the whole area was one reasonably large walkthrough enclosure which had all of the natural vegetation of the native woodlands with many tall trees. There were quite a few butterflies, and there were also many signs for the native birds that could be spotted of which I saw many of them. There were also a few benches around and it was quite a nice, relaxing place. Soon after entering, I came across the signs for the species in the enclosure which were Bush Duiker, Kirk’s Dik dik, and Giant Forest Hog. The Duiker turned out to be very easy to spot, and there were a fair few of them including one that seemed to be a younger one with its mother. The other two species however proved to be more difficult to spot, and I did see both eventually, though only on a return visit to the enclosure later. The Giant Forest Hog was of course a species that I particularly wanted to see, however I only saw one that was sitting on the ground deep within some vegetation on the edge of the enclosure that I was only able to see at all through the binoculars that I had fortunately brought to look at the wild birds. If I had the whole day, I would have tried to wait for it to come out, but I didn’t, so I had to accept the view that I got. Also in the Woodland Trail, was a view point that looked out over a waterhole in Nairobi National Park itself. I didn’t spot any game there, however there were a fair few wild birds, including a Black Sparrowhawk.

    After leaving the Woodland Trail section, the next enclosure that I came across back in the Savannah section was the Lion enclosure. There was a very nice, large viewing building with seats and large windows looking into the enclosure. I’m not sure how large the enclosure was due to the large amount of vegetation around the edges; however I think it went back quite a way into the trees. I only saw one lion – a male – though there could well have been more in the thick vegetation.
    Outside the Lion enclosure was a toilet building, and viewing into the main Savannah Habitat Enclosure.
    [​IMG]
    (picture only shows a small part of the enclosure)
    This large enclosure which had some parts divided into seperate sections had a mixture of hoofstock including Impala, Thomson’s Gazelles, Defassa Waterbuck, Eland, a single Giraffe which seems to be a hybrid of Reticulated and Baringo (not sure where the hybrid comes from, though I have a theory that it may have come from the Giraffe Centre to prevent it breeding with pure giraffes there?), and Common Zebra including one individual – signed as albino – that is probably leucistic. Also with the hooftstock were two Ostriches that seemed to be Somali Ostrich, and lots of Wild Baboons that had entered the enclosure from Nairobi National Park, as well as plenty of wild birds too of course. The path then turned into a raised boardwalk, giving a view down into the enclosure, and on the other side was a very nice looking Leopard Enclosure.
    [​IMG]
    The leopard enclosure was open-topped with the boardwalk forming the walls, so as you would guess they were quite high off the ground. There were also viewing buildings into the leopard enclosure which did give a fairly good view. I saw one leopard in the enclosure that was pacing back and forth long the back fence, however the enclosure was quite large and there were lots of tall trees and natural vegetation in the enclosure, as well as raised platforms for the leopard. One of these platforms had a wild Yellow-billed Kite on it that was probably trying to steal some meat.

    Also along the boardwalk around here were many wild Ochre Bush Squirrels as well as wild Baboons and of course many wild birds. The boardwalk then extended outwards into the national park with a large viewing area providing a view over the national park. This was, however, a dead end because the further boardwalks that were being constructed to make a loop back into the zoo itself were still under construction.

    This meant that I couldn’t go any further along to complete the circuit of the zoo, so I went back around to the area where I turned off from around the hippos, to go the opposite way around and come back to where the boardwalk ended. This was only a stretch of a few metres of boardwalk forming the loop that was impassable, so I will continue from where I would be if I had gone straight across the boardwalk.

    The next enclosure along on the left was the Cheetah enclosure.
    This backed onto the main Savannah paddock, as can be seen in the picture linked above with the giraffe being visible through the Cheetah enclosure.
    The enclosure wasn’t huge, nor was it tiny, and it did have a fair bit of natural vegetation, including an area of dense bushes in which they could hide. When I first got to the enclosure it seemed like that is what they were doing because they were not visible, however when the Cape Buffalo in an enclosure on the opposite side of the central Savannah Habitat started running for some reason, it seemed to startle the Cheetahs so they – two of them – came out into the middle of the enclosure. The other thing worthy of note from this enclosure is that there was a group of Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaters nesting in the mud bank in the enclosure which was pretty cool. As with the lion and leopard enclosures, the cheetah enclosure also had a fairly nice viewing building.

    Directly opposite the cheetah enclosure was the Bongo enclosure.
    [​IMG]
    I felt that this would have been better in the Forest Habitat section to fit the theming of the zoo better; however there probably isn’t space there since the map also shows a substantial off-show bongo holding area. The enclosure itself was very lush with lots of tall trees and vegetation, and it appeared to extend back a fair way. I only saw a single bongo near to the front of the enclosure; however it is likely that there were more further back.

    Continuing along further, I went down a path that had quite a bit of interesting signage including this one that I thought was quite effective, and the area also represented the ‘desert habitat’ however didn’t have any actual live animal exhibits for this and was just a few signs. There were also plenty of trees, many of which had signs about them. Also in the middle of the path was another frog – the same species that I saw on the sign for the pelicans earlier – which I’m not completely sure of the ID yet, though it could be a Marbled Reed Frog. I then came back near to the entrance/exit and back in the Wetlands Habitat and I came up to the final enclosure which was for two Nile Crocodiles. [​IMG]
    The pool was a bit small, however the land area was fairly large and the whole enclosure quite natural looking, and there was also a viewing deck here, with a wild Ochre Bush Squirrel too.

    By this point I had seen the whole zoo properly, and I popped back to a couple of places to revisit some bits because I still had 20 minutes until the taxi was due to return to pick us up. I also spent some time looking at the wild birds, including a spectacular African Paradise Flycatcher. Overall then, I quite liked the zoo. Not huge, but generally to a high standard for the visitors and animals, and the location right next to Nairobi National Park really makes the place great with wild birds and the natural vegetation in a way that it would be impossible for any zoo outside of Africa to replicate with an African exhibit. The zoo was fairly empty when I visited with only a few other groups of people, however I am told that on Sundays it is quite busy (I visited on a Saturday).

    Next I will post the second half of the day, my visit to Nairobi National Park (I decided to split this day so the post wouldn't be too long and so I could include the maximum number of pictures).
     
  4. devilfish

    devilfish Well-Known Member

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    Great - thanks for sharing the review LD, it's nice to hear more detail about this place. :)
     
  5. Hix

    Hix Wildlife Enthusiast and Lover of Islands 15+ year member Premium Member

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    Yes, a good thorough review. Considering they are displaying native species, I'm really surprised they have pygmy hippos which, to me, seem out of place (although easier for them to manage than Common Hippos).

    :p

    Hix
     
    Last edited: 6 Mar 2016
  6. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    Thanks :)
    Yes, it was a bit surprising to see the Pygmy Hippos, however the enclosure would have been too small for Common Hippos.

    I was interested in the origin of these hippos, so I looked it up and found this:

    From a news article about the death of one of the former pair.
     
  7. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    Part 7(b): Nairobi National Park and the Return Journey

    After going around the Safari Walk, the taxi then picked us up at the time we had already arranged, and took us back to the hotel where we had a late lunch and picked up our bags. We had arranged for a safari minibus to pick us up at 3:30 to take us on a final few hours of safari in Nairobi National Park. It came nice and promptly, so we headed off slightly early. As we were driving down the driveway of the hotel, the guide suddenly pointed out a small snake in the bush by the side of the road which was a baby Green Mamba (probably Eastern based on distribution). It soon disappeared out of sight into the bush, however it was a very cool thing to see, and I’m pleased we saw it as we were leaving the hotel on the last day and not when we were arriving on the first day, because if my mum knew there were Mambas about then I wouldn’t have been allowed to wander around freely looking for birds.

    The entrance to the national park was in the same place as the Safari Walk so we were there in a few minutes, and while the guide went to pay the entrance fees, I noticed dozens of Wahlberg’s Epauletted Fruit Bats roosting under the roof of the entrance building. They were very nice looking bats, and it was nice to see a bat that is easy enough to identify without a bat box (which I don’t have).
    [​IMG]
    Upon entering the national park, there were many baboons sitting in the trees along the sides of the roads where were, surprisingly, paved. There were quite a few birds around too including White-eyed Slaty-flycatchers, and Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaters. We then came up to a large pond/small lake that had hundreds of Sacred Ibis around it. There was also a single African Spoonbill, as well as a Long-tailed Cormorant, some Cattle Egrets, and Egyptian Geese. There were also several Giraffes around the lake. While we were watching, and African Fish-eagle swooped down and startled quite a few ibis. It did this a few times and flushed out some small waders too, before perching on a branch above a tree where hundreds of Ibis were roosting.

    We soon came out into open grasslands that were fairly similar to those in the Maasai Mara. There were quite a few ungulates around which were Impala, Thomson’s Gazelles, Coke’s Hartebeest, Eland, Zebra, and Cape Buffalo, though seemingly no Topi or Wildebeest. There were also quite a few Maasai Ostrich around, and I saw a very impressive looking Martial Eagle on a tree. There were also quite a few small brown birds around which included several Cisticola species, Pipits, Chats, Wheatears, Sparrows, and Seedeaters. There were also large numbers of Long-tailed Fiscals including one that happily posed for me,
    [​IMG]
    and a few more small, colourful birds as well such as Red-billed Firefinches, Common Waxbills, and quite large numbers of Red-cheeked Cordon-bleus. There were also views across the plains to the city of Nairobi itself with many tall skyscrapers, and we were also under the flight path to Nairobi International Airport which is directly next to the national park, and I thought it was really cool to have such a large area of wilderness with many bird species right next to the city.

    As well as all of the regular hoofstock, we saw a small group of White Rhinos which included what seemed to be a younger one.
    [​IMG]
    It was a fairly distant view, however not too far, and it would have been nice to see some Black Rhinos, which are also present in the park, however White Rhinos are better than no rhinos. Not too far along, I saw another very interesting mammal which was a Striped Ground Squirrel that sat by the side of the road and then ran across.

    There were a few more interesting bird sightings which included a Speckled Pigeon flying overhead, a Variable Sunbird out in the bright sunlight, as well as a Yellow-throated Longclaw and a Black-winged Kite perched in two nearby bushes. I then spotted a Secretarybird that wasn’t too far away from the car, and it was nice to see one close up after the distant view from the Maasai Mara. The Secretarybird also seemed to be disturbing a pair of Crowned Lapwings that were flying up and down and around that area and trying to get the Secretarybird to go away.
    There was also a European Roller nearby which was nice to see since the majority of rollers that we had seen on the trip were Lilac-breasted. We then came to a fresh Lion kill which was a large Eland.
    It had loads of flies on it, but no lion, and it turned out that the lion had left about five minutes ago. We would have seen the lion if we hadn’t kept stopping to look at birds, but I don’t regret missing it since we saw lots of lions inthe Maasai Mara.

    By this point we had been driving around for a few hours and we would have less than two further hours until sunset, so we headed to the Ivory Burning Site. On the way though, we passed a pair of Grey-crowned Cranes which had chicks and despite having seen a pair on the Maasai Mara were still really cool to watch.
    The Ivory Burning Site is a picnic area, so when we got there, we were able to get out of the vehicle and have a look around on foot. There were signs explaining about the site, and that 1 million dollars’ worth of confiscated Ivory was burned rather than sold. There were two huge piles of ivory ash, as well as various commemorative plaques and displays, and it was nice to be able to visit this place which did give a very powerful message.
    [​IMG]
    As far as wild birds around there, there were just a few Rufous Sparrows and Red-winged Starlings, so we headed out for a bit more driving as we headed towards the exit.

    There were quite a few further particularly interesting sightings, these included a large group of Helmeted Guineafowl crossing the road, an area of trees with several White-backed Vultures perched on top of them, and a White-bellied Go-away Bird hidden deep within a bush that my guide somehow managed to spot.
    [​IMG]
    I was particularly excited about this one, as I had wanted to see some Turacos so it was nice to see a second species on the trip. A little further along, I saw a tree with several fairly large interesting looking birds. I didn’t really know what they were at first, however after a flick through my field guide, I found that they were Northern Pied Babblers, and also the final family level lifer for the trip.
    [​IMG]


    After leaving the national park, we headed straight to the airport. There was a fair amount of traffic so the sun set before we reached the airport, and we had to pass through a weird security checkpoint along the road in which the passengers of the cars had to get out and walk through a separate area, though no one seemed to be checking much. We had plenty of time though, because our flight wasn’t due to take off until just before 11 so we had dinner in the airport before we boarded our flight. We flew Emirates via Dubai as we had on the way there, however the transit was only a few hours rather than 12 hours as it was on the way there, and it was a night flight, so we got back to Warsaw the next day – Sunday – in the early afternoon.
     
  8. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    So that concludes my amazing trip! :)
    I hope you have enjoyed these posts, and the pictures in the gallery, and I look forward to my next inter-continental trip which should be pretty awesome too ;)
     
  9. Hix

    Hix Wildlife Enthusiast and Lover of Islands 15+ year member Premium Member

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    I can't speak for anyone else but I know I've enjoyed reading about your travels, and your photos are pretty good too!

    Thanks for sharing your journey with us!

    :p

    Hix
     
  10. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    These posts were very enjoyable to write, so I'm pleased you enjoyed them. :)
     
  11. zooboy28

    zooboy28 Well-Known Member

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    Great thread laughingdove, enjoyed reading your reports. The diversity of wildlife you have seen is astounding. I guess the open savannah makes animals easier to spot than in a forest setting, but even then you have seen a lot! Do you have final numbers of birds and mammals seen?
     
  12. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    Thanks :)
    Yes, open savannah does make wildlife spotting easier, and I did cover a fair distance over the seven days visiting five different national parks which meant I didn't quite do any park completely thoroughly (except possibly the Mara), however got the common species and a few rarer ones in each place.
    As for final totals - 198 bird species, 27 mammal species

    Out of those, 81 bird species, and 5 mammal species were lifers.


    (I actually have managed to confirm the IDs for a few more bird species that I haven't included on the Big Year thread yet, but my above number takes those into account. I will be updating the Big Year thread sometime today or in the next few days when I have everything IDed)
     
  13. zooboy28

    zooboy28 Well-Known Member

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    1 Aug 2010
    Posts:
    4,439
    Location:
    Christchurch, New Zealand
    Almost 200 bird species in one week! I've never gotten to 200 in one year! I'll have to get to Africa...
     
  14. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    16 May 2014
    Posts:
    2,492
    Location:
    Oxford/Warsaw
    You should, it's awesome, and I hope to be able to go back soon! :p

    Also it's worth noting that apart from the first day which was only a half day, and my last day in which I was too tired to get up early, I birded for pretty much 14 hours a day, including in the car.
     
  15. elefante

    elefante Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    12 Aug 2009
    Posts:
    2,139
    Location:
    North Dakota, USA
    I saw one of your pictures and clicked on this link. I went to Kenya this summer and visited Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha, the Masai Mara, Nairobi National Park, and Amboseli National Park. It was all incredible.