Aberdare National Park And Kinangop Plateau Grasslands Birding Day Tour
ABERDARE NATIONAL PARK AND KINANGOP PLATEAU GRASSLANDS BIRDING DAY TOUR
Trip duration
1 day
DAY 1: ABERDARE NATIONAL PARK AND KINANGOP PLATEAU GRASSLANDS
We shall start the Aberdare National Park And Kinangop Plateau Grasslands Birding Day Tour from your hotel or house. Our guide shall pick you up and drive to the park’s entrance gate. You may spot some few roadside birds during the drive to the park. Enjoy the culture and rhythm of Nairobi City, as you drive along.
Our main birdwatching adventure will then commence as we sample the various habitats within and around the Aberdare National Park. Most of the birding will be done from the car, but there are designated areas where birdwatching is possible on foot.
During our birdwatching tour, we shall sample different habitats in and around the national park. These include rivers, natural tropical forest, bamboo forest, plantation forest, heath, moorland, swamps, bogs, ponds, farmlands and grasslands. We may also stop at the famous Chania Waterfall or Karuru Waterfall, two spots that are quite popular on our Aberdare National Park And Kinangop Plateau Grasslands Birding Day Tours.
Aberdare National Park hosts one of the largest forests Kenya. It is located North of Nairobi, overlooking the famous Mt. Kenya. This makes it a pristine highland moist forest, with many species linked to the Central Highlands of Kenya. As we drive higher up the mountain, we shall enjoy the Bamboo Zone and then get into the Heath-Moorland Zone. The Aberdare Ranges form the Eastern boundary/ wall of the Great Rift Valley; another world-famous landform.
In the afternoon, we shall bird the famous Kinangop Plateau Grasslands. Here we shall enjoy birding on foot. We shall bird the grassland habitats and also sample some local wetlands. On the plateau, many productive farms provide extra habitat – potatoes, vegetables and maize.
We shall then drop you off back to your hotel or other desired spot within the city. This marks the end to our exciting Aberdare National Park And Kinangop Plateau Grasslands Birding Day Tour.
Highlight birds
Hartlaub’s Turaco, Mountain Oriole/ Black-tailed Oriole, Abyssinian Crimsonwing, Kikuyu White-eye, African Goshawk, Crowned Eagle, Cassin’s Hawk-Eagle, Mountain Buzzard, Yellow-billed Duck, African Black Duck, Grey Crowned Crane, Lesser Jacana, African Jacana, Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Red-throated Wryneck, African Hill Babbler, Mountain Yellow Warbler, Cinnamon Bracken Warbler, Brown Woodland Warbler, Levaillant’s Cisticola, Stout Cisticola, Aberdare Cisticola, Wing-snapping Cisticola, Hunter’s Cisticola, Chestnut-throated Apalis, Grey Apalis, Tacazze Sunbird, Eastern Double-collared Sunbird, Golden-winged Sunbird, Malachite Sunbird, Brown-capped Weaver, Tropical Boubou, Doherty’s Bush-shrike, Black-fronted Bush-shrike, Grey Cuckoo-shrike, Jackson’s Widowbird, Long-tailed Widowbird, Red-cowled Widowbird, Yellow Bishop, Hamerkop, African Emerald Cuckoo, Red-chested Cuckoo, White-bellied Tit, Thick-billed Seedeater, Streaky Seedeater, Yellow-crowned Canary, Kenya Rufous Sparrow, Kikuyu Mountain Greenbul/ Olive-breasted Greenbul, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Cabanis’s Greenbul/ Placid Greenbul, Slender-billed Greenbul, Crowned Hornbill, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, African Stonechat, Ruppell’s Robin-Chat, Northern Anteater-chat, Moorland Chat/ Alpine Chat, White-starred Robin, Abyssinian Ground Thrush, Mountain Wagtail, Cape Wagtail, Black Saw-wing, Red-fronted Parrot, African Olive Pigeon/ Rameron Pigeon, Dusky Turtle Dove, Kandt’s Waxbill, Yellow-bellied Waxbill, Sharpe’s Starling, Slender-billed Starling, Scaly Spurfowl/ Scaly Francolin, Jackson’s Spurfowl/ Jackson’s Francolin, White-headed Wood-Hoopoe, Alpine Swift, Scarce Swift, Sharpe’s Longclaw, Black-winged Lapwing, Cape Rook, African Snipe
Highlight mammals
Bushbuck, Defassa Waterbuck, African Buffalo, Harvey’s Red Duiker, Black-fronted Duiker, Grey Duiker/ Common Duiker, Bush Duiker, Suni, African Elephant, Spotted Hyena, Olive Baboon, Mt. Kenya Guereza Colobus Monkey, Mt. Kenya Kolb’s Monkey/ Sykes’s Monkey, Southern Tree Hyrax, Ochre Bush Squirrel, Slender Mongoose, Serval
Highlight reptiles and amphibians
Kilimanjaro Forest Lizard, Common Striped Skink, Von Hohnnel’s Chameleon, Battersby’s Green Snake, Nile Rocket Frog, Mahnert’s Rocket Frog, Kerinyaga Toad, Senegal Kassina, Northern Clawed Frog, Kinangop Puddle Frog, Kinangop Caco, Peter’s Reed Frog, Montane Reed Frog, De Witte’s River Frog, Nutt’s River Frog
Habitats covered
Highland Forest, Alpine Heath and Moorland, Bamboo Forest, Grasslands, Wetlands
Photographic opportunities
Excellent
Special moments
Kenya’s endemic birds, Aberdare Ranges, Kinangop Plateau, forest mammals
