Gatamaiyu Forest Birding Day Tour
GATAMAIYU FOREST BIRDING DAY TOUR
Trip duration
1 day
DAY 1: GATAMAIYU FOREST
We shall start the Gatamaiyu Forest Birding Day Tour from your hotel or house. Our guide shall pick you up and drive to the forest entrance gate. You may spot some few roadside birds during the drive to the forest. Enjoy the culture and rhythm of Nairobi City, as you drive along.
Our main birding adventure will then commence as we sample the various habitats within and around the forest. Most of the birding will be done on foot, which allows for a great birdwatching experience.
During our birdwatching tour, we shall sample different habitats in and around the forest. These include rivers, natural forest, plantation forest, bushland, swamps, ponds, farmlands and grasslands. We shall visit the famous Gatamaiyu River Waterfall, a spot that is quite popular on our Gatamaiyu Forest Birding Day Tours.
Gatamaiyu Forest is one of the best birdwatching spots in Nairobi, Kenya. It is located at the edge of the formerly-continuous Aberdare Ranges Forest. This makes it a pristine highland moist forest, with many species linked to the Central Highlands of Kenya. On the forest edges, many productive farms provide extra habitat – tea plantations, potatoes, vegetables and maize.
In the afternoon, we shall make a roadside stop at the famous Manguo Pond or Manguo Swamp. Here we shall enjoy some great waterbirds and more highland species.
We shall then drop you off back to your hotel or other desired spot within the city. This marks the end to our exciting Gatamaiyu Forest Birding Day Tour.
Highlight birds
Bar-tailed Trogon, Hartlaub’s Turaco, Mountain Oriole/ Black-tailed Oriole, Black-and-white Mannikin, Kikuyu White-eye, African Goshawk, Crowned Eagle, Long-crested Eagle, Mountain Buzzard, Fine-banded Woodpecker, White-backed Duck, Maccoa Duck, Southern Pochard, Fulvous Whistling Duck, Blue-billed Teal, Red-knobbed Coot, African Swamphen, Grey Crowned Crane, Lesser Jacana, African Jacana, Malachite Kingfisher, White-tailed Crested Flycatcher, Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Moustached Green Tinkerbird, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, White-browed Crombec, African Hill Babbler, Evergreen-Forest Warbler, Cinnamon Bracken Warbler, Highland Rush Warbler, Lesser Swamp Warbler, Grey-capped Warbler, Brown Woodland Warbler, Hunter’s Cisticola, Chestnut-throated Apalis, Grey Apalis, Black-collared Apalis, Green-headed Sunbird, Malachite Sunbird, Golden-winged Sunbird, Northern Double-collared Sunbird, Holub’s Golden Weaver, Brown-capped Weaver, Tropical Boubou, Black-fronted Bush-shrike, Golden-breasted Bunting, White-winged Widowbird, Red-cowled Widowbird, Yellow Bishop, Hamerkop, African Emerald Cuckoo, Red-chested Cuckoo, Klaas’s Cuckoo, Green-backed Honeybird, White-bellied Tit, 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, Brown-chested Alethe, African Stonechat, Ruppell’s Robin-Chat, White-starred Robin, Mountain Wagtail, Cape Wagtail, Black Saw-wing, African Olive Pigeon/ Rameron Pigeon
Highlight mammals
Mt. Kenya Guereza Colobus Monkey, Mt. Kenya Kolb’s Monkey/ Sykes’s Monkey, Southern Tree Hyrax, Ochre Bush Squirrel, Slender Mongoose
Highlight reptiles and amphibians
Kilimanjaro Forest Lizard, Common Striped Skink, Variable Skink, Von Hohnnel’s Chameleon, Jackson’s Chameleon, Battersby’s Green Snake, Nile Rocket Frog, Anchieta’s Rocket Frog, Guttural Toad, Senegal Kassina, Northern Clawed Frog, Plimpton’s Caco, Scheffler’s Puddle Frog, Athi Reed Frog, Nutt’s River Frog
Habitats covered
Highland Forest, Grasslands, Wetlands
Photographic opportunities
Excellent
Special moments
Kenya’s endemic birds, Gatamaiyu Waterfall, Manguo Swamp/ Manguo Pond, forest mammals
