Sukhy Soin & Bee Soin, Wendy Ayres, Peter & Anne Usher, Alan King, Catherine Ngarachu, Peter Steward and I went on a 3 day trip to Bogoria and Baringo lakes.Wilson
Tiren was our guide and hats off to him he showed many of us lifers
galore. The highlights were the owls (Eurasian Scops, White-faced Scops,
Greyish Eagle Owl, Spotted Eagle Owl, Pearl Spotted Owlet and
Verreaux's Eagle Owl), a spectacular heronry amongst the flooded trees
of what was once the shoreline (black-headed herons, squacco herons,
black egrets, great-white egrets, little egrets, yellow-billed egrets,
reed cormorants, great cormorants, black-crowned night heron,
darters...wonderful!) and for us the red-fronter warbler, pale prinia,
bristle-crowned starling, Hemprich's Hornbill, Brown-tailed Rock Chat,
Great Spotted Cuckoo, Rufous Crowned Roller, Yellow-vented Eremomela,
Rufous Chatterer and Northern Puffback. The Fish Eagles and Goliath
Herons were glorius and a magnificent pair of Verreaux's Eagles hunted
over the cliffs in search of unwary Rock Hyrax. The full list is attached.
We stayed at Soi Safari Lodge, which was fine for food and
service with a good pool to cool off in, however it does not offer the
natural surrounds and lake-front access you will find at the other
Lodges. They also have a caged collection of birds and primates which is
awful due to the tiny cages the animals are kept in. They have even a
fish eagle in a cage, which is just stupid, you can see them very easily
in the Lake anyway. Our whole group felt that these animals should be
relocated or the facility seriously upgraded.