Day 6 and 7 - To Lake Baringo

Goliath Heron - world's largest heron spp

Brown Rock Chat

At the cliffs near Baringo

One of the locals with one of her many goats

Baringo Lake view from our hotel window

Most of the crew at Baringo cliffs

A Beautiful Sunbird male

Black Crake

Local Fisherman and fish in balsa wood boat

Baringo Boat trip

Slender-tailed Nightjar

Pygmy Kingfisher

Jackson's Hornbill

Birdwatching East Africa - bringing the birds to you....

Megan in front of our lodge on the shores of Lake Baringo

Megs [again] Lake Baringo in distance with [clealry] semi arid country in the middle distance

Pink-breasted Lark

Leopard Tortoise

African Mourning Dove

Speckled Pigeon

Rufous-crowned Roller

African Paradise Flycatcher

northern Spotted Eagle-Owl

The crew at the Eagle Owl twitch

Three-banded Courser

Day 5 - Nakuru National Park

Lesser Flamingo

View from our breakfast table looking down over Lake Nakuru

Young Male Lion around the corner from our impromptu picnic lunch stop

Northern Anteater Chat

Plain backed Pipit

Red-rumped Swallow

Olive Baboon Family

A Boy Baboon

Black Rhino

A Praying Wharthog

Wooly-necked Stork

Rotschild Giraffes - in Kenya seen only at Nakuru

Day 4 - To Nakuru

Today we departed Nairobi for the National Park that is Lake Nakuru. And departing Nairobi was a pleasure. While the hotel where we stayed was good with an excellent garden, the traffic and pollution of a big city like Nairobi was less endearing.

So our safari started and the first iconic new birds to fly past were a pair of Crowned Cranes. Soon we were at our first scheduled birding stop; Manguo Ponds. Here there were two main targets; White backed and Maccoa Ducks - which we quickly ticked off. New also were African Spoonbill and Jacana, Red-billed and Yellow-billed Teal and Duck respectively plus many others.

Birders at Gaitamayu forest plus Paul's bum

The next stop overlooked the Great Rift Valley to the west and here, with the view, we got aour first taste of the heavy sell as well as a few birds; including African Stonechat plus Sunbirds such as Golden winged and Eastern double- collared.

Rift Valley View

The Gaitamayo Forest was another site that we visited which was excellent for birds and, to set a pattern which would be re-visited many times, bad for roads. Jolting, thumping and banging along the road we actually got a few good species. The scenery alternated between forest, farms and tea plantations. A small pond enroute gave us our first African Dusky flycatchers, Black Saw wings and Cape Robin Chat.And the forest, when we finally arrived, was wonderful.

Golden winged Sunbird

Many species of Apalis, Weavers, Brown-chested Alethe, African Hill Babblers, Cabani's Greenbul, Five Star Robin, Grey Cuckoo Shrike and Black-fronted Bush Shrike were all new for our lists. Here, too, we got our first Black and White Colobus.

Streaky Seedeater

After another huge picnic lunch we were on to Nakuru Lodge, with Impala, Zebra, Giraffe and Buffalo on the way in. The hotel was excellent and all were immediately sorry that there would be only one night stay.

Male Jackson's Chameleon

Day 3 Olorgesaillie

Today we went for a little jaunt down the Lake Magadi Road. Thankfully it was lighter traffic than the day before and we were soon back at Nairobi NP where we had to re-check our safari card. [We were so late the night before that we did not check out of teh park properly and so had to return to ensure that we were not charged an extra day.]

Olorgesaillie

It had rained overnight and the weather was cooler however the sides of the road were muddy and Gary had decided to wear his white shoes.

Our first major stop - still quite high above the valley -was for a cisticola - which we quite quickly got.

Down the valley the vegetation changed to a small leaved acacia woodland. And further still, with the climate drying - the vegetation changed further. A steady drip of new birds accompanied the chnage in habitat. Kori Bustard, Beautiful, Marico and Eastern Violet backed sunbirds plus teh striking Norther White-crowned Shrike were seen.

Blue-naped Mousebirds

Pale Chanting Goshawk, Grey capped Social Weavers and our first Sparrow Lark - Fishers were recorded in the semi arid country as we approached Olorgesaillie.

From Wikipedia; Olorgesailie is a geological formation in East Africa containing a group of Lower Paleolithic archaeological sites.^[1] It is on the floor of theEastern Rift Valley in southern Kenya, 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Nairobi along the road to Lake Magadi. Olorgesailie is noted for the large number of Acheulean hand axes, associated with animal butchering, discovered there.^[1] According to the National Museums of Kenya, the finds are internationally significant for archaeology, palaeontology, and geology.^[2]

History

Hand axes

The artefacts were first discovered by the British geologist John Walter Gregory in 1919,^[3][4] but it was not until 1943 that excavation began in earnest under the direction of Mary and Louis Leakey, with the assistance of paroled Italian prisoners of war.^[5] Work continued there until 1947.Glynn Isaac took up the excavation in the 1960s^[6] for his dissertation. In the 1980s, research was continued by Richard Potts of the Smithsonian Institution in conjunction with the National Museums of Kenya.

Finds

Animal fossils from Olorgesailie

Human tools are the most prominent of all historic items in the area. The abundant hand axes are characteristic of the Acheulean period, made by hominids between about 600,000 and 900,000 years ago^[7]along what was then the shore of a now dried-up lake. Fossils of various animals have also been found, including those of extinct species of hippo, elephant, zebra, giraffe, and baboon, likely to have been butchered with the aid of the hand axes.^[1][3]

In June 2003, a team led by Potts discovered a frontal bone in situ.^[8] Other parts of the small skull (designated KNM-OL 45500) were found in following months. The frontal bone is 900,000 to 970,000 years old and probably belonged to Homo erectus, thereby making it the first human fossil found on the site.^[9] The fossil remains were in the same stratigraphic level as two hand axes and several flakes, near dense deposits of hand axes.^[1]

White throated Bee-eater

Geology

Preservation of the Aechulean hand axe culture was made possible by heavy falls of alkaline ash from volcanoes near the site; volcanoes that were active at the time. Mounts Suswa and Longonot are volcanoes and their vents are likely to have contributed to the ash that accumulated in the Olorgesailie basin. Subsequent sedimentation covering the site has preserved the fossils and created a stratigraphy allowing for age determination.^[2] Existing temporary lakes and swamps give evidence of a humid climate during the middle Pleistocene. Sediments left by the lake cover an area of 50 square miles (about 130 square km).^[2] Of the artefacts, 99% were made from locally derived lavas, particularly trachyte, although small amounts of quartziteand obsidian have been found, indicating a transport over 16 to 40 km.^[10]

As we were lunching at this site Two banded Coursers, Red-fronted Warblers, D'Arnauds and Red and Yellow Barbets plus Yellow-vented Eromomelas, Slaty-coloured Boubous, White Browed Robin-chats and Grey Wren Warblers.

Slate coloured Boubou

Somali Golden chested Bunting

White-browed Scrub Robin

Capped Wheatear

Soon we were back at the hotel where we dined.