Kenya Birding Safari (13 days)

Kenya Birding Safari

(13 days)

Description

Discover the diversity of Kenya's birds across four diverse habitats.

Included:

Lunch Included

Breakfast included for 12 days, 11 Lunch, and 11 Dinners. Ask a travel specialist for more details.

Virtuoso

All tours depart daily and are private, highly personalized and luxurious. Virtuoso travelers receive amenities and VIP treatment on all Artisans of Leisure tours.

Professional Guide

All tours include a guide to show you all there is to see on the tour.

Hotel Pickup & Drop-off

Private airport transfer for every Virtuoso member

Trip Itinerary

DAY #1 - Nairobi, Kenya Hotel Intercontinental Nairobi
Arrive Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. After clearing customs and immigration formalities, you will be met by an A&K representative and transferred to The Hotel Inter-Continental.
DAY #2 - Naro Moru, Kenya Serena Mountain Lodge
After breakfast, depart Nairobi for Mountain Lodge, Mount Kenya National Park. Bird watching and picnic lunch en route.
Mount Kenya produces a treasure-trove of forest species, including the elusive scaly francolin, eastern bronze-naped pigeon, dusky turtle dove, white-headed wood hoopoe, and the magnificent golden-winged sunbird. Raptors are especially well represented on the mountain like Eleonora’s falcon, northern hobby, Montague’s and pallid harriers and even the occasional lammergeier soaring in the distance.
DAY #3 - Samburu National Reserve, Kenya Samburu Lodge
After breakfast drive to Samburu Game Reserve with bird watching, game viewing and picnic lunch en route.
DAY #4 - Samburu National Reserve, Kenya Samburu Lodge
You have the full day for birding and game viewing.
Samburu National Reserve (225 sq km) offers what is arguably Kenya’s greatest – and least changed – encounter with the wild Africa of yesteryear. This harsh, savagely beautiful wilderness depends on the steady flow of the Uaso Nyiro River for its existence; the river waters a wide variety of animal species not found south of the Equator, including the majestic Beisa oryx, the reticulated giraffe, the thin-striped Grevy’s zebra, and the ‘giraffe-necked’ gerenuk antelope, which stands on its hind legs to feed. Elephant, buffalo, lion and leopard can all be seen along the river, and the 400-plus species of birds are positively spectacular.
DAY #5 - Lake Bogoria, Kenya Lake Bogoria Spa Resort
After breakfast depart for Lake Bogoria. Bird watching and picnic lunch en route.
Lake Bogoria offers visitors a close encounter with avian Africa – including giant marabou storks that strut around the grounds like they are guests themselves!
DAY #6 - Lake Bogoria, Kenya Lake Bogoria Spa Resort
You have the full day bird watching and game viewing.
A dramatic escarpment, steaming hot springs, the pink reflection of multitudes of flamingos feeding in the emerald waters makes Lake Bogoria one of the most impressive of the Great Rift Valley Lakes. Stand back and watch the Fantasia-style array of hot bubbling springs and steaming geysers. This is one of the best areas to see the spiral horned greater Kudu that blend perfectly with the semi-arid savannah of the park. Scan the rocks for klipspringer antelope, and also leopard and caracal in the early evenings and mornings. The lake relies on upland seasonal streams that maintain the warm waters to a depth of 30 feet in this shallow soda lake that is too alkaline to support any fish life, crocodile or hippo.
DAY #7 - Kakamega, Kenya Rondo Retreat Centre
After breakfast drive to Kakamega Forest with picnic lunch and bird watching en route to Rondo Retreat Centre.
Sunshine dapples through the leaves of the tall trees and butterflies flicker from flower to flower, while black and white colobus, red-tailed and blue monkeys swing high above in the trees, making Rondo Retreat Centre the perfect escape from the turmoil of modern life. Set in the middle of the Kakamega rainforest, the Centre offers peace and tranquillity amidst lush green gardens with towering trees and the songs from a myriad of birds, many of which can only be found in this part of Kenya.
A saw miller originally built the main house in 1948 for his wife who asked that her home be built at the base of “the largest tree in the forest”. She got her wish and the Elgon Olive still stands in the gardens. The rooms are elegantly furnished in a turn of the century country-style reflecting the Centre’s past colonial ties. Fires are lit in each of the cottages’ sitting rooms in the evening to keep the chill of the rainforest’s cool climate at bay.
DAY #8 - Kakamega, Kenya Rondo Retreat
You have the full day bird watching in Kakamega Forest.
Kakamega is one of Kenya’s most well-known and revered birding destinations. 194 forest-dependent species call Kakamega home, including an estimated 45 species found nowhere else in the country.
Birders will spend the day in Kakamega targeting these regional specialties, including such enigmatic species at the great blue turaco and blue-headed beeeater, as well as more cryptic species like the globally threatened Chapin’s flycatcher and Turner’s eremomela. With luck, even the charismatic and famously intelligent African grey parrot, of which only an estimated 10 birds remain in Kakamega may be seen.
But the exploration of Kakamega won’t stop with birds – there’s also an impressive array of insects, flora, amphibians, reptiles, and even mammals not likely found anywhere else in Kenya. A night walk will yield views of Tree Civets, Potto, and even Lord Derby’s Anomalure, a giant flying squirrel.
DAY #9 - Naivasha, Kenya Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge
After breakfast depart for Naivasha. Arrive in time for lunch.
Cruise through floating hippos and listen to the shrill cry of the Fish Eagle while on a boat ride excursion on Lake Naivasha. It is Kenya’s second largest fresh water lake and as such it plays host to a massive number of birds including kingfishers, herons, pelicans, fish eagles among many others. The boat ride provides an excellent opportunity to not only watch but also photograph the birds up close in a stunning and tranquil environment.
DAY #10 - Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya Mara Serena
After breakfast drive to Maasai Mara with picnic lunch and bird watching en route to Mara Serena Lodge.
Situated on a hill, overlooking the 1,800 square kilometers of rolling plains of the Maasai Mara, Mara Serena Safari Lodge blends into its surroundings and reflects the lifestyle of the local Maasai people through the use of native materials, decorations and the style resembling a traditional Maasai manyatta. Each room is an individual “hut”, with an en suite bathroom, spread out to give each a private view of the plains, the meandering riverine forest, and the silhouetted hills beyond. The main dining area, with a Maasai theme décor is spectacularly housed in three large domes and three smaller ones resembling enlarged manyattas, providing a variety of international menus. The lodge has 56 twin rooms, 20 double bedded rooms and 01 presidential suite. 10 rooms have interconnecting doors.
Later go on an afternoon game drive.
DAY #11 - Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya Mara Serena Lodge
The jewel in Africa’s crown, Maasai Mara is host to the most spectacular array of wildlife. Her 1,510 square kilometers of open savannah, woodlands and tree-lined river creates an eco-system which supports huge numbers of bird and mammal species. The western border of the park is the spectacular Siria Escarpment, and together with the acacia dotted plains, creates scenery of stunning beauty. Lion are found in abundance throughout the park as are elephant, giraffe, a variety of gazelle species and zebra.
Cheetah and leopard are also regularly seen and, if lucky, you may also find rhino. Game viewing is never dull in the Mara, and patience is often rewarded with unique sightings: a pride of lion stalking their prey; a solitary leopard retrieving its kill from the high branches of an acacia tree; male wildebeest sparring to attract females into their harem; or even a herd of elephant protecting their young from opportunistic predators. The annual wildebeest migration traditionally is present in the Mara from July-September and at this time nature’s dramas unfold before your very eyes at every turn. As well as wildlife, the Maasai Mara is also home to many members of the colourful Maasai tribe who may be seen around the borders of the park – morans (warriors) loping across the plains, young boys herding goats, or elders grouped under a tree discussing matters of the day.
DAY #12 - Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya Mara Serena Lodge
In addition to unparalleled game-viewing, the Mara Triangle boasts a bird list approaching 450, and a thorough day of birding can easily reach 120 species. Highlights include 5 species of breeding widowbirds, including the East African endemic Jackson’s widowbird. The Mara also offers an excellent study of more than 10 species of cisticola. The wetlands near the Mara River will yield plenty of waders and water birds, such as grey crowned crane, African jacana, white-faced whistling-duck, and a wealth of storks, herons, and the last wave of migrating shorebirds. Heading south to the Tanzania border, birders lookout for rufous-tailed weaver, previously considered a Tanzanian endemic, but with an expanding range that in recent years has found it in the Maasai Mara.
DAY #13 - Nairobi, Kenya Eka Hotel
After breakfast drive back to Nairobi and transfer to Eka Hotel where dayrooms are reserved until your transfer to the airport for your departure flight.

Tour Pricing

11-13 People

From Tulum
$ 80 per person
  • Private Transportation
  • Entrance into Chichen Itza
  • Lunch
  • Tequila Tasting Tour
  • Cenote entrance
Popular
11-13 People
From Playa del Carmen
$80/person
  • Private Transportation
  • Entrance into Chichen Itza
  • Lunch
  • Tequila Tasting Tour
  • Cenote Entrance
11-13 People
From Cancun
$93/person
  • Private Transportation
  • Entrance into Chichen Itza
  • Lunch
  • Tequila Tasting Tour
  • Cenote Entrance

Reviews

A&K is always reliable and makes our travel adventures easy and stress free. Outstanding people who are eager to please and make the travel experience enjoyable.
Honey Mistry
07 Sep 2021
A&K was great, meeting us at the appropriate times and being sure our trip made all connections without a hitch. Guides we had were all very good.
Jean Pickard
28 Sep 2019
Unbelievable, fantastic, no detail missed. Picked up at airport greeter was terrific, transportation was great all accommodations were exceptional. The camp staffs were amazing, great food, drivers were incredibly knowledgeable and fun. Could not have been any more perfect! Would go again with A&K.
Sandra Ortiz
05 Nov 2018

from $80/person

Payment Options

We accept Venmo, Zelle, Revolut, Cash App, or Credit Card.

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