To Moyale and back

We started bird spotting at Archer's Post and the trip can be easily divided into three parts, the road between Archer's Post and Marsabit, Marsabit National Park itself, and the road between Marsabit and Moyale. Ben assiduously reported all the birds we saw to the Kenya Bird Map Project, immediately after their sighting, often missing other sightings as he did so!

On our way up, we spent a couple of nights in the overlander's hangout Henry's Camp, which has hot showers and Somali sparrows. On the way back, we had two nights in the Marsabit Lodge on the edge of Gof Sokorta Diko crater; the lodge is very basic, water hot, and with notice the kitchen can produce a decent meal.

The road was almost empty, its edges spotlessly clean all the way to Marsabit, and pretty filthy with plastic bottles thereafter. It is hard to know quite what sort of traffic is envisaged will use it. One of the features of both stretches of road, on our journeys both north and south, was large expanses of water in areas which would normally not see a drop of rain from one year to the next, and which had attracted an amazing variety of water birds.

Vultures seem to be doing better up in the north of Kenya than elsewhere. Between A Post and Marsabit we found some old camel carcasses that had attracted a single Lappet-faced, four Egyptian, a Ruppell's griffon and masses of Hooded vultures, which were particularly common around Marsabit town. There may have been more vultures round the carcasses but rather aggressive herdsmen discouraged our looking for very long. Elsewhere on our journey we also saw White-backed.

Once into Marsabit Park, the birdlife is essentially E African montane forest, and all of the birds we saw one might find in the Mount Kenya forest, with the notable exception of the array of water birds on the crater lakes. Amongst the more interesting forest birds were Grey-headed Bush-shrike, Grey Cuckoo-shrike, Waller's Starling, Tambourine and Lemon Doves, Crimson-rumped Waxbill, Black and White Mannikin, Brown-capped Weaver and Grey Apalis.

There was less water in Lake Paradise at the summit of the park, and the most interesting birds were the Hamerkops which fished by flapping over the the water and occasionally dipping down to pick up something in their beaks from just below the surface - very energy-ineffecient. A couple of Fish-eagles were also in residence - how far were they from their nearest fellows? and a few Black storks and a single Saddle-bill had stopped by, as did a huge flock of Eurasian Swifts, dutifully preceding a front of bad weather. Down on the lake outside the lodge there was much more life, both animal - lots of buffalo, and a few hyena, waterbuck and busbuck - and bird. Here the Hamerkops fished by perching on the backs of semi-submerged buffalo! Grey, Black-headed and Squacco Herons pecked around the edges, but much the most interesting arrivals were half a dozen Pied Avocets on our last evening at the lodge. The Park was invaded by one herd of livestock after another, and most depressing was the way their herdsmen cut down saplings to provide the animals with fodder. There was scarcely any sign of elephants although a few Grevy Zebra were a pleasant surprise.

The array of water birds on the puddles between Marsabit and Moyale was extraordinary including African Spoonbills, Spurwing Plover, Great White Egret, Marabou storks, Wood and Green Sandpipers, Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers a pair of Knob-billed Geese, Black-headed, Grey and Green-backed Herons.

The dry-country northern birds on the way to Moyale included a splendid pair of Thekla Larks, easily contrasted with the softer plumaged Crested Larks a bit further down the road. Only a single party of Chestnut-headed Sparrow Larks and a single Rosy-patched Shrike, but Somali Bee-eaters and Somali Fiscals were not uncommon and a fine male Somali Ostrich with two females had escaped the hunger of the road-building gangs, and, having been alerted to look our for White-crowned Starlings in Turbi, half way between Marsabit and Moyale, we found a tree opposite the mosque, outside the soda store in which a few of these were chattering on both the way up and back. It was also a perfect time for migrants, and we had a fine view of a Grasshopper Buzzard, and a number of Greater Kestrels each resting in a windswept little bush in the middle of nowhere. Quite often we found birds like African Grey Hornbills which seemed far outside their recorded range (unlike the Yellow-billed, Red-billed and Von der Deckens, which were common on a lot of the way up as the maps say they should be). The Spotted Thicknee record we submitted was as a result of finding a dead bird on the road, Bristle-crowned Starlings were widespread, but we only saw a single Magpie starling and Shelleys Starlings on two occasions in among roadside parties of Superbs; we also logged a couple of parties of Wattled Starlings and closer to Moyale, quite a few pairs and singles of Golden-breasted.

In Moyale we camped in the delightful campsite in the KWS compound - thanks to reading Darcy Ogada had camped there too. Facilities are basic but it has lovely bush all round in which were some Orange-bellied Parrots, Sprossers and a small party of Black-billed Wood Hoopoes. We took a wrong turn in town on our way out and as we reversed from a cul-de-sac found a noisy party of Chestnut Weavers in the tree above, which again seemed far out of their recorded range. On the way out of town we pulled in at some big riverside fig trees but there was very little going on other than the call of a distant Black Cuckoo.

Nothing of particular interest stopped us on the road from Marsabit to Archer's Post, but there was always something to look at and the distant mountains were spectacular. White-headed Mousebirds, Vulturine Guineafowl, Pygmy Falcons, Steel Blue Whydah were in evidence and a lot of other birds were starting to get into breeding mode, although there was not much evidence of weaver breeding yet, although Donaldson-Smith Sparrow Weavers, and Red-billed and White Headed Buffalo-weavers were beginning to look very active.