Saturday, 14 December 2019

Kenya birding safari,part 5, Masai Mara National Reserve, Lake Naivasha 20th to 24nd November

We spent one night on the park boundary at Mara west, then traveled in to Matira bush camp. We arrived in a downpour having forded a strongly flowing river that would have defeated most other vehicles. The camps was tented and had no boundary fence. A guard is necessary to travel from the dining hall to our tent at night. We explored the park between 6:30 am and 6:30 pm every day.

A view across the Mara with hot air balloons.

Trilling Cisticola

Marsh Mongoose

Defassa Waterbuck

Heavy rain, but the Waterbuck seem preoccupied with something in the long grass

Southern Ground Hornbill

A rather bedraggled lion in the rain

Hippos in the Mara river

Schalow's Turaco

Quail Finch

Plain-backed Pipit

Serengeti White-bearded Wildebeast

Rosy-breasted Longclaw

Yellow-billed Oxpeckers

Common Warthogs

Little Bee-eater

Coqui Francolin

Spotted Hyena

Kory's Bustard

Five brothers resting in the shade



Yellow-throated Sandgrouse

Capped Wheatear

Cape Bushbuck, seen from Matira bush camp

African Fish Eagle

Juvenile Spotted Hyena

White-headed Mousebird

Topi


Bat-eared Fox

Lioness and cub 

An electrical storm developed after dark. Lots of lightning, not so much thunder and no rain.

Silhouettes at sunset

Leaving Mara, we headed towards Lake Naivasha staying at Elsamere. Next morning we took a walk around the grounds in the rain. There we manged to find Spotted Eagle Owl. We had tried for these on the access track to Hellsgate - but newly fitted razor wire along the fence seemed to have put them off their usual area.

Yellow-billed Storks

African Jacana

Giant Kingfisher

Red-knobbed Coot

Great Cormorant

Goliath Heron

African Spoonbill

Pink-bakced Pelican

Reed Cormorant

We searched for a Red-necked Phalarope that had been reported by the boatmen over the last week o so, but there was no sign of it.

Hottentot Teal

African Paradise Flycatcher

Arrow-marked Babbler

Variable Sunbird

Rufous Sparrows are attracted to the wing mirror.

We then returned to Nairobi for one night before moving on to phase two, Ngulia Lodge, of our time in Kenya via Aberdare National Park (on a very wet morning) stopping on the way for more species. By now the tally exceeded 600.

Stripped Grass Mouse

Alpine Chat

Syke's Monkey

Abyssinian Ground Thrush