I have just read Brian's account of his trip to Baringo with clients and
seen Peter Usher's brillant photos taken there. I thought I would record
a trip that our 'world bird watch ' canaries team took last weekend .

This was in celebration of the only old guy on the team attaining 'old
age pensioner' status , ie 65th birthday  and as he had enjoyed the
company of these four youngsters , Joseph, Shailesh, Bhavesha and Neema
, on several other trips in the last 20 months , he arranged a very good
deal with the owners of Island camp , Perrie and Rick

There was a quid pro quo of course , and Joseph and Shailesh , with the
help of the excellent young Francis whom Brian mentions, had to find my
remaining lifers there . Not a difficult task for these guys and I was
able to tick off another 5 lifers !!

We left Nairobi on the Saturday afternoon 5th July after the aforesaid
old fella had played bad golf and made it to Baringo around 6 . On the
way and just before Marigat we got the first lifer  a Silverbird  , a
very good spot by Joseph .

We made the island before dark and were well entertained by Perrie ,
Rick and Sharon.

the only debate on the first evening was which owl Neema  saw , and she
proved correct in seeing the Spotted Eagle-Owl , which was very visible
the next evening .

We were up early and entertained at breakfast by an array of weavers
keen to sample our toast . Little,Lesser Masked,Northern
Masked,Black-headed,and Red-headed all put in an appearance

We got the boat back to the mainland where Francis was waiting for us .

We spent most of the morning by the cliffs and adjoining areas , before
taking a boat ride around the edge of the lake .

We recorded 93 species in about 7 hours with the pick of them being

1  2  Lanner Falcons in a tree on the cliffs

2   Heuglin's Courser on a nest

3     White-faced Scops Owls  [3]    a lifer for me

4     Spotted Eagle -Owl  again in the cliffs

5    Slender-tailed Nightjar, exactly where Francis expected them to be
.

6    Madagascar Bee-eaters all around the lake .

7  Hemprich's Hornbill , which we glimpsed from afar on the cliffs ,
only to find 2 residents at the camp , of which we got good photos .
another lifer

8  Three -streaked  Tchagra

9 Brown-tailed Rock Chat

10  Brown Babbler  near Roberts camp.

On the way back to the island we detoured around Teddy Bear  Island and
saw only one Senegal  Thicknee , another lifer for me .


Back at the camp  Spotted Morning Thrushes  were very vocal and easily
seen. The Northern Brownbul that Brian mentioned was still around the
camp .

Its over ten years since I visited Island Camp and its undergone a huge
improvement both with the accomodation and catering . Congrats to both
Perrie and Rick , who are now planning some very exclusive upmarket
accommodation on the site .

A great trip for me , and we were back in Nairobi by lunchtime Monday .


Mike D