Epic Kenya Raging Roadtrip Part 2: Naivasha to Mara Triangle

 April 6 - gearing up for the Mara

The next morning we slept in, then got ourselves organized and did the food shopping for the next leg of the trip. We piled as much firewood as we could in the back of the X-trail, to keep the wild beasts at bay for 3 nights in the mara. Hippos, elephants, hyenas, even lions have visited my campsite on past camping trips (and who knows what else). 

In the afternoon we made our way to Hell's Gate, with a spur of the moment stop at the Kinangop Plateau to a certain tiny nature reserve that has Sharpe's Longclaws. We saw the longclaws along with African Snipes, Wing-snapping Cisticolas and Jackson's Widowbirds. By the time we reached Hell's Gate, it was already dark! We did a half-hearted night drive to check for Spotted Eagle-owl, but were eager to sup camp and go to sleep. The next morning would probably be the most hectic day of the trip. We would do birding, climbing, driving the Masai Mara, and more birding in the same day. 

Sharpe's Longclaw

April 7 - birding at Hell's Gate

The morning was the best I've had at Hell's Gate. In the camp, we had Hildebrandt's Spurfowls pecking seeds outside the tent, Nyanza and Mottled swifts zipping overhead, and on the way to the special campsite we called in a flock of Gray-crested Helmet-shrikes and got amazing photos. At the special campsite, we found a pair of Little Rock Thrushes, the only time I've ever had it at Hell's Gate. 

Gray-crested Helmet-shrike

Little Rock Thrush

Griffon Vulture

White-fronted Bee-eater

Abyssinian Wheatear

We made our way to Fisher's tower before it got too hot for some climbing. After 2 or 3 climbs, we decided we better hit the road. On the last belay, as I lowered Dom down, I got a little too cocky with the rope and our 'speed climbing' turned into 'speed falling'. His ankle took a knock on the rock and his heel got a bit bruised and he was not happy with me about that. Then a huge baboon went into my car and casually ransacked our bead in one hand and our hotdog buns in the other. Depleted of our carbohydrates, we went to the big cliff to blast in a Cliff Chat then were on our way. By then Dom had cooled off about my almost breaking his foot earlier. 

Abdim's Storks along the highway just past Suswa

On the way to Mountain Rock Campground (just outside Sekanani Gate) we stopped in some acacia scrub to try for the Masai Apalis but it proved a 'bridge too far', it got dark and we left empty handed. 

April 8th - Backtracking for the Masai Apalis

We awoke before dawn, with unfinished business. Since the Apalis is such a good bird, we figured it was worth it to drive back there the next morning, even though it was about 30 km in the wrong direction. 

En route, I spotted a pair of Two-banded Coursers in a school football field. This was a particularly exotic bird for Dom. We had to keep our views brief as children were starting to come out of the school and we didn't want to look like perverts with our cameras and binoculars pointing at the school. 

Backtracking to the Apalis spot turned out to be a good tactical decision because we absolutely crushed the Masai Apalis plus we got the Banded Parisoma and Southern Grosbeak Canary along with both Silverbills. We spent the whole morning there, then proceeded to the Mara. 

Masai Apalis

The Mara Triangle would offer new territory for Dom, because on his last trip with Melissa, we had explored only the more easterly Main Reserve. The Mara Triangle offers more wetlands, more access to riparian forest, and the Leleshwa bush and woodlands up on the escarpment, particularly rich in regionally special birds highly sought-after in Kenya. The triangle is further to drive to, which means that there would be a lot less vehicles getting in the way of our raging.  Crossing over the crocodile-infested Mara River felt like stepping into a wider world of the African bush! This legendary river is where the great wildebeest migration reaches its climax as thousands of them hurl themselves across a gauntlet of crocodiles only to meet waiting lions on the other side. To see this spectacle one would have to visit in July, but April has its own advantages: way less tourists and much more rainfall which means much more birds, including migrants. 

It seemed we were on a never-ending mission to get to our campsite but had been continually waylaid by sighting after sighting after sighting. 

At last we reached our primitive campsite, Iseya Public Campsite, tucked away in a small patch of woodland . A far cry from the luxury Serena Lodge just a few hundred meters up the hill, this kind of setup is not everyone's cup of tea, so we enjoyed quite a lot of privacy (although we would have an uninvited visitor later that night). In the past, Wilson and I had a harrowing experience when 4 huge male lions had a brawl in the bushes just beyond the edge of the campsite at 5:45 in the morning! 

My legendary bush cuisine

It was already evening but the best sighting of the day was yet to come. Just before our turnoff, we saw some vehicles down a track. They were observing a pair of cheetahs sleeping in the long grass. We video-called my mum so that she could share a little bit of the moment with us, at least in spirit. 

We had just enough time to squeeze in an evening game drive along the Mara River. The main spectacle was an endless stream of Openbill Storks flying from the vast swamp to the trees over the river, with a backdrop of a double rainbow. We topped off our day with a Dwarf Bittern hunting the bank of a creek in the twilight. 

Birding until the last minute of daylight

April 9th - Ololoolo Escarpment

That morning we took a meandering drive along the Mara River. With the recent rains and resulting lush vedge, we were fully expecting to hear some Grassbirds. However, they were mysteriously absent the entire trip. The grasslands were simmering with cisticolas of various species. We took a meandering route toward the escarpment and snagged a lioness with a tip from a ranger. 

Southern Ground Hornbill

We took a narrow, winding road up the escarpment and parked the car at the little gate and got permission from the guard to walk around. This gate is specifically for access to a lodge and a camp that are right on the edge of the Triangle Reserve although technically just outside. To make a long story short, the birding was epic. We beat around the Leleshwa Bush, coming up with a gorgeous Rock-loving Cisticola and some Green-capped Eremomelas. We then bush-wacked across the vegetated valley past the waterfall and up the other side where we tracked the song of a Trilling Cisticola. Brown-throated Wattle-eye was also found and Ross's Turaco. 

Green-capped Eremomela

Rock-loving Cisticola

We forgot to look for Buff-throated Apalis but they are there. With literally hundreds of target species, its inevitable that one highly local species that requires playback to detect would slip through the cracks. Overhead, we had great views of Ayre's Hawk-Eagle, Brown Snake-Eagle and Western Banded Snake-Eagle catching thermals over the escarpment. By 10am the birds had quieted down and it looked like we would probably need to come back for the Schallow's Turaco the following day. 

The Rock-loving Cisticola habitat is along the top portion of the Ololoolo escarpment

The Eluai campsite on top of the hill

We took a long loop around the whole south end of the triangle. I was quite determined to find this connector track that would take us from the main road to the other main road. In other words, we would bypass the Purungat bridge and drive along a nice creek which would increase our changes of finding leopard. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong turnoff and the track got worse and worse. While I was backing up and getting ready to do a 3-point-turn, I struck a large rock that jolted the car quite violently. My little adventure did not pay off even though we did flush an African Crake, a lifer for Dom. But the X-trail got properly shit-mixed. 

Back on the main road, we took the regular way past the Purungat Bridge and reached the track for "Maji ma Chafu" which means "dirty water" from the other side. We did spot a flock of Black-rumped Waxbills which was pretty cool as they are very range-restricted in Kenya. We did an evening drive back to camp for a campfire and feast. 

Common Snipe

Black-rumped Waxbills

April 10: Masai Mara day 3

During the night, we were stirred awake by the sound of loud chewing. I was very tired but this was bothering me a little so I stuck my head out of the tent and shone my torch light at it. It was a very large Hippopotamus. I told it to move along and it duly sauntered back into the trees, leaving us in peace and we went back to sleep. We had a big day ahead of us and would need our beauty sleep, beast or not. 

We started our day by packing up and moving up the hill to the Eluai Public Campsite just for a change of scenery. This is an open glade surrounded by thick bushes atop a bluff, offering stunning views during sunset and sunrise. We drove back to Mara West Camp to look for the Schallow's Turaco, but took a small detour through the swamp by the Mara River. On our way, we passed some sleeping (mostly hidden) lions, and got a tip that a Black Rhino had just crossed the road and we just missed it. In fact, its droppings were still steaming on the road. We scanned the bushes and found the shy beast hiding among some bushes a couple hundred meters off the road. We then proceeded back to Mara West Camp. Since we'd arrived earlier this time, we found two separate Schallow's Turacos feeding on fruit up by the tents of Mara West. If Fischer's Turacos get you excited, then multiply this x10. A bright green Turaco with bright red wing flashes and an absurd long green crest, and very local in Kenya. We also saw Miombo Wren-warbler and Golden-tailed Woodpecker, both only found along Kenya's southern border. 

Golden-tailed Woodpecker

Schallow's Turaco

Driving back down into the plains, we were shocked to see two Red-winged Francolins scurry across the road! This was a real nemesis of mine, much rarer and shier than the often seen Coqui Francolin. I promptly sent photos to my birding buddies on Whatsapp to induce maximum jealousy. 

Red-winged Francolin!

Black Coucal

That afternoon, I had a surprise for Dom that was sure to be a layup because Adrian had given me the location from his recent visit on Ebird. We got permission to briefly exit the triangle into the main reserve about 1 km past the bridge to a picnic area under a Balanites tree where people are allowed to get out of the car. This is an extremely local species in Kenya but more typical of the Serengeti. They were Rufous-tailed Weavers with big nests of sticks above our heads. We got super nice view. Actually we were feeding them chunks of bread. It looked like the weather was about to turn so we started making our way back to camp. 

Rufous-tailed Weaver

A storm was brewing

Full Rage Mode

As we drove on, the clouds got darker and more doom-like. We got feeling that this was not going to be a regular rainstorm...this would be something Biblical. It came very suddenly. It was less like rain and more like someone was pouring a giant bucket on the car. We had to drive very slowly as the car got pounded by the deluge. The roadside ditches became small rivers. It stopped as quickly as it started. As soon as it stopped raining, a pair of Red-winged Francolins and an African Crake appeared on the side of the road. 

Red-winged Francolin sighting #2

Back at the campsite, the evening rainstorm had flooded our tent. Luckily, because we had set it up in a haste that morning, we had not yet put our sleeping bags and mattresses inside. We had the idea of sponging up all of the water with a towel, then putting the tarp on the floor to cover the wetness, then sleeping on top of that. It worked very nicely. 

The tent was in a sorry state

April 11: Masai Mara exit and hockey game 

On our last morning in the Mara, we had until 10am checkout to make our way out of Sekanani Gate which is about a two hour drive from camp. We had a phenomenal time. 

It was very ambitious but we decided to get out super early at the crack of dawn and squeeze in a visit to this long straight road that cuts from the airfield across to the escarpment. It had become a huge seasonal swamp with water even flowing over the road. There were waterbirds and shorebirds actually foraging on the road. We had a couple Rufous-bellied Herons and some Cardinal Queleas and Black-rumped Waxbills enjoying the conditions. Dom had to answer the call of nature while I scanned some bushes. As I scanned, I saw a crake pop up and then land at the edge of a bush. Another African Crake! Dom was able to get it in his bins from a squatting position. 

Rufous-bellied Heron, a Triangle specialty

It was too bad we had to leave while the birding was red hot. As we reluctantly drove back to the bridge (even debating adding an extra day), we spotted 3 small falcons fly into a tree. Based on the underwing pattern (all dark) we could easily tell these were not the more common Amur Falcon but in fact Red-footed Falcons, a lifer for both of us. Falcons can be extremely frustrating with fly-by views but these gave us pretty nice views in flight and perched. 

Red-footed Falcon!!!

Red-winged Francolin sighting #3!

Further along we found a group of 3 Red-winged Francolins foraging in the ditch. We wondered if the saturated grass was forcing these birds to forage more out in the open than usual. We were almost at the gate but were forced to stop the car. What had been a little stream a couple of days earlier now had a hippo floating over the road! 

Yup...we're gonna need to go around

We had to turn back, drive all the way past the Serena Airfield the long way back to the bridge. It turned out this was one of the only roads still drivable in the entire triangle. Little did we know that just a few days later the entire Triangle was to be completely inaccessible because the Purungat Bridge got demolished by the River and my guide friend Apollo had to have his tour group evacuated by helicopter from their lodge! That was over by the Talek River on the other side of the Mara. Looks like we dodged a bullet there! 

Nile Monitor

With a full morning of birding and a long detour, it was surprising we could pack all that in before 10 am, we actually had one more target to see which was possible from the road and would require careful checking of the bushes and trees while driving at a rapid speed. We worked as a team as I dodged obstacles and Dom poked his head out of the sunroof scanning for Magpie Shrikes. We got very luck because I only see this species in about 1 out of 4 trips to the mara. We birded briefly outside of the park to try to find Tabora Cisticola but instead found a flock of uncommon Horus Swifts flying overhead. 

A pair of male lions seen on the way out. At the edge of the horizon is the Serengeti

Magpie Shrikes! 

It was quite a long drive back, which gave us enough time to memorize all of the lyrics to "I'm Just Ken" from the Barbie Movie. "Do you wanna play some hockey tonight?" I asked Dom. "It's a Wednesday". Dom could not resist the chance to play a scrimmage with the Ice Lions, so he scrounged up the best pair of crappy used skates he could find and we had a game. Dom complained almost the entire time about his shitty skates but all in all we had a fun time with the buds.

How many people can say they've skated with the legendary ICE LIONS?

Epic Kenya Raging Roadtrip Part 1: Nairobi and the Coast

White Rhino

We sat in the house as it rained non-stop. It was early in the morning and I had to get ready for work. 

Dom tallied up the lists. 595 species. He had one more day to get to 600 while I went to work. Instead, he stayed home to rest and tried to scrounge up 5 more armchair species that had not made it onto the checklists. 

Finally, just as I step out the door Dom remembers that we had heard a Gray-capped Warbler somewhere...was it at the park boundary at Meru NP? Yes that was it. That makes....600 species! 

So how did we do it? 

Let me tell you a tale of how it all went down...

March 30th, Nairobi National Park

NNP can be either hit or miss. Sometimes underwhelming, sometimes overwhelming, and other times, merely whelming. Hopefully this was gonna be one of those magical times. This was Angela's last day in Kenya, and Dom's first. He had arrived late the night before. I had made sure to get to the airport early this time, not like last time. Of course, his flight arrived late cause of this (Murphy's law). We went back to my place and got some sleep. Tomorrow would be a big day. 

The morning rain boded well for our quest

We rolled up at the East Gate at about 6am sharp, the earliest you're allowed into the park. We were sticking out heads out of my sunroof, ears fully tuned to any song that could suggest a possible lifer for Dom. About 1km in, we were stoped in our tracks by three massive white rhinos, one of which refused to move out of our way. He was an absolute tank. Unable to leave and use the other gate without paying twice, we were forced to wait. One small car decided not to wait, and skirted behind the rump of the beast. He tried to ram the car but was not quick enough. We were hopping for something to send to Ozzy Man Reviews. Past the Rhino barricade, we cruised toward Athi Dam, hoping for Shelley's Francolin. It was not long before we found a single keener which almost attacked our car when I played its call on the speaker. 

Shelley's Francolin

Pangani Longclaw

Some lions were walking across the grassland, tailed by hyenas. At the vulture pools, we found about 15 Short-tailed Larks feeding with Red-throated Pipits in breeding plumage. Not a bad start to the day! On our way to the dam, we briefly got good bin views of a White-tailed Lark on the road, but it flushed before we could snap it. We circled round the Dam, almost getting stuck in mud twice. We heard a Pearl-spotted Owlet at a distance, and got a sneak peak at a White-backed Night Heron hiding in a fallen-over Acacia tree. between the Hippo Pools and Kingfisher we had a lovely mixed flock with a Wahlberg's Honeybird and some Red-throated Tits, birds you don't see every day. Kingfisher Picknick site was the best I've seen it. We had Green-backed Honeybird and a pair of Black-faced Waxbills were detected by the faintest of chip notes. By day's end, we'd tallied a very respectable 175 species. We went to Carnivore Restaurant for a goodbye dinner for Angela, where we ate some of the animals we'd spent the day viewing, then dropped her at the airport and drove home. 

Common Elands

Red-throated Pipit

Short-tailed Larks

Short-winged/Siffling Cisticola

March 31st - flight to Malindi

We woke up at the ass crack of dawn to catch our morning flight to Malindi on the coast. Unfortunately, I'd made a rookie mistake. Given that it was a Sunday, it was impossible to get a Bolt taxi that early, and I'd neglected to arrange a ride with my own guy. With no time left to hesitate, we had no choice but to take my car and park it at JKIA for the week, whatever the parking fee may be. At least we caught our flight. 

We got the rental van and made our way to the Tana River Primate Reserve, with a stop at the Sabaki River Mouth. We drove as far as we could on the sandy road then walked past the mangroves and over the sand dunes, to behold an epic spectacle of nature. There were hundreds of shorebirds on the mudflats, flamingos and gulls and terns covered a sandbar at the mouth. The salty sea breeze invigorated our lungs and the cool waters of the Sabaki tickled our toes. We were titillating with excitement for what rarities we were about to pick out form the flock. We let our fee tsink into the rich stinky mud, nourishing our skin with minerals, a more rejuvenating experience than even the fanciest spa resort in Malindi. A good combing of the shorebirds revealed two Broad-billed Sandpipers in full spankin' breeding plumage and I briefly glimpsed a White-cheeked tern flying over the surf. Triumphant, we walked back through the mud with our shoes off to make our way to the primate reserve. 

Here you can see the wing pattern of the Broad-billed...the primary coverts form distinctive dark patches, and the white uppertail covers are only on the side unlike curlew which is a broad white band all the way across. 

Various gulls and terns at the Sabaki mouth

Common Ringed Plover, Lesser Sand-plover, Curlew Sandpiper and Broad-billed Sandpiper!

Curlew Sandpipers moulting into breeding plumage

Greater and a few Lesser Flamingos with mangrove forest and dunes in the background

On our way to the Tana River Primate Reserve, we encountered more and more dry scrub birds typical of places like Samburu or Tsavo, making several stops on the side of the road. The best sighting was just north of Sabaki, a soaring Ayre's Hawk-Eagle. 

Ayre's Hawk-Eagle

Vulturine Guineafowl

Buff-crested Bustard

We got there a little before dark. The head warden guy was eager for us to pay first but he struggled to keep our attention because Two Grayish Eagle-Owls were being mobbed by several birds, among them a pair of sunbirds, which at the time we thought to be Violet-breasted Sunbirds but we later found out they may have been Tsavo Sunbirds. 

"Grayish" Spotted Eagle-owl

Dopamine surged across our synaptic gaps in every nerve of our body as our optic nerves delivered the action potential to our overstimulated brains, giving us a powerful natural high. Eventually, it got dark and we could no longer see birds, which posed a logistical challenge. To the warden's relief, we were availed to finally able to pay the fees. The warden said we'd have to camp outside the office for the night because the tracks were too muddy for our van. 

We thought at the time this was a Purple-breasted Sunbird...but after more research we later think it wqas a Tsavo Sunbird based on the twin violet/maroon band which is not that thick (the maroon was not visible in the field). 

April 1st - Birding the Tana River Primate Reserve

Golden Pipit

In the morning, we drove to the river where the primates live. It was this mini relict lowland tropical forest with two endangered monkeys: The Tana River Red Colobus and the Tana River Crested Mangabey. The birding was not bad either. Particularly easy on the eye were some magnificent Fischer's Turacos, running up the thick limbs of ancient trees, squawking and gorging on fruit just as they had done for thousands of years. Not even the most cynical, city-blunted citizen could sight one and not succumb to their splendor. 

There's a Fischer's Turaco somewhere in this fig tree

Tana River Crested Mangabey - one of the ultra rarest primates in the world

Interesting snake...an Asp?

Later that day, we drove further up the Tana to a riverside monastery with a special mission. We were to rent a small boat that my friend Victor had told us about, hoping to find a Pel's Fishing Owl just as he and Angela had recently. There we were, in the middle of nowhere, getting into a boat with some monks at a monastery, looking for an owl on a river in the midday sun. We used half the trip's supply of sunscreen just on this one boat ride. There we were in our bright orange life jackets in a hippo-infested river, roasting in the midday sun, just as Icarus' wings melted as he flew to close to the sun, so too did we realize that we were trying to pack too much into one day. We did not see a Pel's that day, but it was a fun boat ride. Our wallet's lighter from the boat ride, we drove on to Dakacha where our cheap hotel and guide Julius awaited in the village of Marafa. 

That night was one of the hottest nights I've ever had, and not in a good way. We stripped ourselves of every layer of clothing and lay there soaking in our own sweat, praying for the morning to come. We were meant to search for Barred Owlet the night before but had arrived too late, so this morning would be our only crack at that highly elusive coastal species. We'd had a couple pass over our heads in the dark but never got a look. As the day broke, we birded on...

We birded a beautiful site called Kibaoni Nature Preserve. It's kind of a Miombo Woodland kind of savannah where you can just walk between the trees, there is no trail. As we birded by day, I was making calculations in my head on how we could re-jig the itinerary to have another shot at the Barred Owlet. Dom however was mesmerized by the onslaught of lifers: Retz's Helmetshrikes, Fiery-necked Nightjar, Retz's Helmetshrikes, Eastern Nicators, Gray-headed Bush-shrikes...By about 12:30pm, in the heat of the mid-day sun, to my absolute shock, I heard the unmistakable purring of a Barred owlet. We honed in on the sound as I tried to ignore the post-traumatic stress of having almost seen this species many times, with many hours of sleep lost that I will never get back. We got closer the the bush from which the angry purring emanated. As we closed in, the intensity of the call increased, tickling the hairs in my cochleas. I felt a tingling in my forearms and my arm hairs stood on end, an ancestral response to some man-eating beast of ancient times. Cortisol diffused between neurons as a fight-or-flight response kicked in, raising my blood pressure, dilating my pupils and heightening my senses. Where was it? We circled round the bush as we pannic-scanned the foliage. Finally, we spotted its face looking straight at us, at 180 degrees to its body. The nemesis was finally vanquished. 

The incredibly hard to see (at least in Kenya) African Barred Owlet

Black-collared Barbet

Julius is not much of a conversationalist, but he's damn good at finding birds. His fine ear tuned ear detected a Black-collared Barbet which we spotted atop a snag. 

That night, our suffering was at an end because we took up lodging at a fancy coastal resort with air conditioned room and a buffet fit for a king. We washed the grime off our bodies and took a dip in the serene Indian Ocean, and feasted on a buffet. 

Fancier accommodation than usual

The next morning, we birded Arabuko-Sokoke with our guide Kalama. I'd never used Kalama before, but he turned out to be an ace guide. It's a good thing because he wasn't cheap. Within the first hour of birding, we'd already gotten smoking views of two Four-coloured Bush-shrikes, requiring us to do some intense Pilates under branches on the forest floor. We spent quite alot of time chasing after these interesting weird cuckoos that kept giving us the slip. Finally we got one to settle on a distant branch and confirmed what we'd suspected...Asian Lesser Cuckoo! We happened to be in the brief window when the pass through on spring migration. How lucky! After a sterling morning in which we were bedazzled by Amani Sunbird, Sokoke Scops Owl and Sokoke Pipit, we met up with my friend Ivy who had recently taken up birding, at Mida Creek. 

Four-coloured Bush-shrike

Asian Lesser Cuckoo

Sokoke Scops Owl

Amani Sunbird

Narina Trogon

The 'bird hyde' at the end of the boardwalk provided a perfect opportunity for a beginning birder, especially with the scope. 

It was really good! We saw Eurasian Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwits in the scope. Our spirits were satiated by magical coastal birds as we quenched our thirst with fresh coconut water. What a day! 

A great day with great friends

Taking an evening dip in the Indian Ocean

The next day was more birding in Arabuko-Sokoke. At the elephant swamp, we we got a decent look at a Mascarene Martin. Apil 5th was left open. Originally we'd meant to do Sokoke again, but calculated that we might get more lifers at Dakacha and that it was worth the extra drive. Julius took us to a nice creek that had Dwarf Bittern and Fischers Turaco, after which he took us to his secret stake-out for Brown-headed Parrots on someone's farm. Eastern Nicator joined the list. 

Dwarf Bittern

Poor light, great bird - Brown-headed Parrot!

We drove the the Clarke's Weaver spot but they were long gone, roving the miombo somewhere until the next breeding season. Back in Malindi, we did hasty job of sweeping dirt out of the van at the airport before handing back the keys. We were requested to pay a 500 cleaning fee, which we thought quite reasonable. We got our flight comfortably, as it dawned on me an annoying reality - that we were flying to Wilson Airport, and as the reader might recall, my car was still parked at JKIA! We had to get a taxi all the way back there and bite a $50 parking fee.