Happy New Year Birders,

For a long time me and my friend Mark Smith (Mark
Smith Nature Tours-USA) have always wanted to go
birding round Lake Naivasha and do an extensive
birding of Lake Bogoria National Reserve. We have also
wanted to explore Bogoria route Via Subukia or Solai,
Kisanana route, which have recently been repaired.

Last weekend on 16th Jan 2004, we set off from Nairobi
after lunch and thought to spend a night at Naivasha.
In the afternoon we visited Hell�s Gate National Park
to see how it has been after a long time since we were
both there. It was drizzling and birding was not that
promising. We drove all the way to Olkaria steam jets
through the Elsa Gate and then decided to go back
again to exit from Elsa Gate for another chance. 

Halfway just after the Central Tower, we enjoyed a
wonderful view of a mixed feeding party of Black-lored
Babblers (very noisy), Willow Warblers, White-bellied
Tit and a pair of Red-throated Tit. There are many
possible locations for the Red-throated Tit, but we
thought that this is an interesting area record for
this East African Endemic! 

We spend the night at Crayfish Fish Camp, the best
camping and budget accommodation at Naivasha at the
moment. They also have wonderful grounds for birding,
which offers you a chance to even walk along the
lake�s shoreline and the nearby swamps. There were a
few African Snipes, most of the common water birds and
also swamp warblers, as we occasionally encountered
the Lesser Swamp Warblers, Eurasian Reed Warbler and a
Sedge Warbler. 

On the boat ride, we saw the Lesser Black-backed Gull,
which has been recorded here for a number of times.
There are also a reasonable high number of Purple
Herons (mainly juveniles) around the shoreline of lake
Naivasha and it shows that they are successfully
breeding here once again.     

Next day, on the morning of 19th Jan, we set off for
the morning birding around Lake Bogoria Reserve and
thought of driving to the signpost �Fig Tree Camp� and
walk from there to the Camp. This is normally a good �
km stretch and it was the last place we saw the
Western Banded Snake Eagle! After few minutes of
birding mainly with mixed feeding parties of
Blackcaps, Garden Warblers, Upcher�s Warbler and
Willow Warblers, we were amazed to see a small flock 4
Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weavers. 

Very Interesting to see the sparrow weavers here, as
it is more common at the western Kenya sloppy bush
land. Normally we see them at Kongelai Escarpment and
Kerio Valley, but the habitat is very similar here, as
they were at the base of Siracho Escarpment. Patching
at the ground and foraging for the worms on the
Buffalos dung, I manage to take good shots and will
provide the photos as a back up.

Bogoria is a very promising place with a very rich
biodiversity, only that it is hardly well visited, as
most of the people only go right to the hot springs.
On our many previous visits, we have even seen a herd
of 23 Greater Kudus and even this time we saw a few.
On the night of 17th Jan, we heard Baboons calling in
the middle of the night like a leopard has ambushed
them. 

We searched all around in most of the possible places
to see whether we could see any cat here, but we did
not see any. I have even seen a Golden Jackal here
sometimes back and that tells you how promising this
place could be with rare species of mammals. 

There is a very high possibility that there might be
other interesting and rare species here and especially
the area within Siracho Escarpment, where is not that
easily accessible. I believe that even the Abyssinian
Ground-hornbill is very possible here and searching
for it is our next project now!

Wish you all a happy new and a happy birding!

Ben Mugambi.     


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