Nairobi National Park and Departure from Kenya

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After going around the Safari Walk, the taxi then picked us up at the time we had already arranged, and took us back to the hotel where we had a late lunch and picked up our bags. We had arranged for a safari minibus to pick us up at 3:30 to take us on a final few hours of safari in Nairobi National Park. It came nice and promptly, so we headed off slightly early. As we were driving down the driveway of the hotel, the guide suddenly pointed out a small snake in the bush by the side of the road which was a baby Green Mamba (probably Eastern based on distribution). It soon disappeared out of sight into the bush, however it was a very cool thing to see, and I’m pleased we saw it as we were leaving the hotel on the last day and not when we were arriving on the first day, because if my mum knew there were Mambas about then I wouldn’t have been allowed to wander around freely looking for birds.

The entrance to the national park was in the same place as the Safari Walk so we were there in a few minutes, and while the guide went to pay the entrance fees, I noticed dozens of Wahlberg’s Epauletted Fruit Batsroosting under the roof of the entrance building. They were very nice looking bats, and it was nice to see a bat that is easy enough to identify without a bat box (which I don’t have).

Upon entering the national park, there were many baboons sitting in the trees along the sides of the roads where were, surprisingly, paved. There were quite a few birds around too including White-eyed Slaty-flycatchers, and Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaters. We then came up to a large pond/small lake that had hundreds of Sacred Ibis around it. There was also a single African Spoonbill, as well as a Long-tailed Cormorant, some Cattle Egrets, and Egyptian Geese. There were also several Giraffes around the lake. While we were watching, and African Fish-eagle swooped down and startled quite a few ibis. It did this a few times and flushed out some small waders too, before perching on a branch above a tree where hundreds of Ibis were roosting.

We soon came out into open grasslands that were fairly similar to those in the Maasai Mara. There were quite a few ungulates around which were Impala, Thomson’s Gazelles, Coke’s Hartebeest, Eland, Zebra, and Cape Buffalo, though seemingly no Topi or Wildebeest. There were also quite a few Maasai Ostrich around, and I saw a very impressive looking Martial Eagle on a tree. There were also quite a few small brown birds around which included several Cisticola species, Pipits, Chats, Wheatears, Sparrows, and Seedeaters. There were also large numbers of Long-tailed Fiscals including one that happily posed for me, and a few more small, colourful birds as well such as Red-billed Firefinches, Common Waxbills, and quite large numbers of Red-cheeked Cordon-bleus. There were also views across the plains to the city of Nairobi itself with many tall skyscrapers, and we were also under the flight path to Nairobi International Airport which is directly next to the national park, and I thought it was really cool to have such a large area of wilderness with many bird species right next to the city.

As well as all of the regular hoofstock, we saw a small group of White Rhinos which included what seemed to be a younger one. It was a fairly distant view, however not too far, and it would have been nice to see some Black Rhinos, which are also present in the park, however White Rhinos are better than no rhinos. Not too far along, I saw another very interesting mammal which was a Striped Ground Squirrel that sat by the side of the road and then ran across.

There were a few more interesting bird sightings which included a Speckled Pigeon flying overhead, a Variable Sunbird out in the bright sunlight, as well as a Yellow-throated Longclaw and a Black-winged Kiteperched in two nearby bushes. I then spotted a Secretarybird that wasn’t too far away from the car, and it was nice to see one close up after the distant view from the Maasai Mara. The Secretarybird also seemed to be disturbing a pair of Crowned Lapwings that were flying up and down and around that area and trying to get the Secretarybird to go away.
There was also a European Roller nearby which was nice to see since the majority of rollers that we had seen on the trip were Lilac-breasted. We then came to a fresh Lion kill which was a large Eland.
It had loads of flies on it, but no lion, and it turned out that the lion had left about five minutes ago. We would have seen the lion if we hadn’t kept stopping to look at birds, but I don’t regret missing it since we saw lots of lions inthe Maasai Mara.

By this point we had been driving around for a few hours and we would have less than two further hours until sunset, so we headed to the Ivory Burning Site. On the way though, we passed a pair of Grey-crowned Craneswhich had chicks and despite having seen a pair on the Maasai Mara were still really cool to watch.
The Ivory Burning Site is a picnic area, so when we got there, we were able to get out of the vehicle and have a look around on foot. There were signs explaining about the site, and that 1 million dollars’ worth of confiscated Ivory was burned rather than sold. There were two huge piles of ivory ash, as well as various commemorative plaques and displays, and it was nice to be able to visit this place which did give a very powerful message. As far as wild birds around there, there were just a few Rufous Sparrows and Red-winged Starlings, so we headed out for a bit more driving as we headed towards the exit.

There were quite a few further particularly interesting sightings, these included a large group of Helmeted Guineafowl crossing the road, an area of trees with several White-backed Vultures perched on top of them, and a White-bellied Go-away Bird hidden deep within a bush that my guide somehow managed to spot. I was particularly excited about this one, as I had wanted to see some Turacos so it was nice to see a second species on the trip. A little further along, I saw a tree with several fairly large interesting looking birds. I didn’t really know what they were at first, however after a flick through my field guide, I found that they were Northern Pied Babblers, and also the final family level lifer for the trip.



After leaving the national park, we headed straight to the airport. There was a fair amount of traffic so the sun set before we reached the airport, and we had to pass through a weird security checkpoint along the road in which the passengers of the cars had to get out and walk through a separate area, though no one seemed to be checking much. We had plenty of time though, because our flight wasn’t due to take off until just before 11 so we had dinner in the airport before we boarded our flight. We flew Emirates via Dubai as we had on the way there, however the transit was only a few hours rather than 12 hours as it was on the way there, and it was a night flight, so we got back to Warsaw the next day – Sunday – in the early afternoon.

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