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Speke's Weaver, widespread in East Africa, keeps its handsome plumage year-round. Photo by participant Jody Gillespie.

Our January-February 2016 East Africa Highlights tour benefitted from exceptional rains across most of the region from early December onwards. This unexpected, prolonged period of rain meant that many birds were still breeding, and one of the tour highlights was seeing a displaying African Broadbill at Kakamega. Additionally, a good variety of sunbirds, weavers, widowbirds, and bishops were in full breeding plumage -- with Northern Red Bishop at Bogoria being simply stunning!

After a slight itinerary change in 2015, this was the second tour where we flew between Nairobi and Kilimanjaro airports -- a move that saved us about 5 hours of driving in each direction. It was a decision appreciated by all, and we'll continue to take these flights on future tours. As none of this group had ever been on a tour to East Africa before, all were eager to see every bird and mammal, so we allowed plenty time to enjoy the wildlife we saw, and often spent time getting second and better looks.

As usual, we began in Nairobi National Park, where one of our many highlights was stopping by a pool with several exceptionally extroverted Black Crakes which walked along the road right beside our vehicle. We also saw the recently split African Swamphen, African Darter, Saddle-billed Stork, Hamerkop, Sacred and Hadada ibises, African Fish-Eagle and African Jacana. On the more open plains, Helmeted Guineafowl, White-browed Coucal, Northern Pied-Babbler (an East African endemic), Rosy-throated Longclaw, and Pin-tailed Whydah were the birds we most enjoyed. But Common Giraffe, African Buffalo, Warthog, Hartebeest, Impala, and Grant's Gazelle were major features of this, our very first game drive.

We then flew to Kilimanjaro Airport and began the Tanzania part of our tour with a night at Gibb's Farm and a walk in the nearby forest the following morning. Speckled Mousebirds, African Paradise-Flycatchers, and Arrow-marked Babblers were three of the most active birds in the garden, while the forest walk provided very close views of Long-crested Eagle, some attractive Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaters, duetting Tropical Boubous, White-tailed Blue-Flycatcher, Gray-capped Warbler, and singing Eastern Double-collared Sunbirds.

Continuing on to Ngorongoro, we then spent two nights at our lodge on the rim, with spectacular views across the crater right before us. Our day in the crater was one of the most memorable of the tour, with not just the pleasure of driving across this fabulous landscape, but our first Lions (at least 20 of them, including three huge males), Spotted Hyaena, Common Jackal, African Elephants, Burchell's Zebra, African Buffalo, and thousands of Blue Wildebeest and Thomson's Gazelles. Birds on the plains varied from 'large' (Common Ostrich, Abdim's Stork, Kori Bustard, and Gray Crowned-Crane) to 'small' (Rufous-naped and Red-capped larks, Capped Wheatear, and African Pipit). The endemic Rufous-tailed Weaver favored the more bushy areas, while a variety of herons, ibis, ducks, and shorebirds dotted the lake and its edges, and Bateleur as well as Tawny and Steppe eagles crossed the skies.

From the Crater Highlands, we dropped to the west, where almost 20 species were seen in what became known as "the magic tree". We then made visits to a Maasai manyatta (homestead) and Oldupai (formerly Olduvai) Gorge before moving on to spend three nights in the Serengeti itself. Here, on the open plains and amongst the more wooded areas, we added many species to our list. Perhaps most memorable were several hundred thousand wildebeest on the eastern plains, a Cheetah (right next to our vehicle), a Leopard resting in a tree, our first Black-backed Jackals, and (of course) the many thousands of zebra, antelopes and gazelle that the Serengeti is justly famous for. New birds included the endemic Gray-breasted Francolin, Secretary-bird, Lappet-faced Vulture, Martial Eagle, Spotted Thick-knee, Chestnut-bellied and Yellow-throated sandgrouse, Bare-faced Go-away-bird, Von der Decken's and Tanzanian Red-billed hornbills, Lilac-breasted Roller, Red-fronted Barbet, Pygmy Falcon, Fischer's Lovebird, Magpie Shrike, Red-throated Tit, Black-lored Babbler, Hildebrandt's Starling, Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Golden-breasted Bunting, Blue-capped Cordonbleu and Green-winged Pytilia.

The last area we visited in Tanzania was the wonderful Tarangire National Park -- a beautiful area of rolling hills, woodland and a river, scattered throughout with giant baobab trees. Here, two more endemics (Yellow-collared Lovebird and Ashy Starling) were found right at the entrance gate, while other exciting birds included Red-necked Francolin, African Crake, Black-faced Sandgrouse, African Cuckoo, Mottled Spinetail, Green Woodhoopoe, Southern Ground-Hornbill, Woodland Kingfisher, and Meyer's Parrot. A total of about 400 elephant were a real treat for everyone.

After the short flight back to Kenya and a night in Nairobi, we were soon on our way to Lake Nakuru, but first, we made a stop at a pond near Limuru, picking up Southern Pochard, and White-backed and Moccoa ducks. Nakuru itself was great for yet more waterfowl and shorebirds, plus Greater Flamingo, both Great White and Pink-backed pelicans, the African form of Eurasian Hoopoe, White-fronted Bee-eater, Mocking Cliff-Chat, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, and yet another endemic -- Jackson's Widowbird.

Heading west, a short stop at Kisumu provided us with looks at Black-billed Barbet, Northern Puffback and Black-headed Gonolek, and then it was on to Kakamega Forest and a three night stay. In habitat so totally different from anywhere else we'd been so far, our walks along the trails produced many wonderful new birds, including Crowned Hawk-Eagle (nesting right in the grounds of our guesthouse), White-spotted Flufftail (both male and female -- probably our best tour views ever), the massive Black-and-white Casqued-Hornbill, Blue-headed Bee-eater, Yellow-billed Barbet, Golden-crowned Woodpecker, African Broadbill, Jameson's Wattle-eye, African Shrike-Flycatcher, Luehder's Bushshrike, Western Black-headed Oriole, 8 species of greenbul, Uganda Woodland-Warbler, Black-faced Rufous-Warbler, Gray-winged and Snowy-crowned robin-chats, Equatorial Akalat, White-tailed Ant-Thrush, Vieillot's Weaver, and Red-headed Bluebill.

Leaving Kakamega behind, we then drove east to the area around Lake Baringo and Bogoria, finding the gorgeous White-crested Turaco along the way. And then, right in one of the most picturesque areas of the Great Rift Valley, we worked with our expert local guide to find Goliath Heron, Verreaux's Eagle, Three-banded Courser, African Scops-Owl, Northern White-faced Owl, Grayish and Verreaux's eagle-owls, Jackson's Hornbill, Northern Carmine Bee-eater, Pygmy Batis, Mouse-colored Penduline-Tit, Brown-tailed Chat, Kenya Violet-backed Sunbird, White-billed Buffalo-Weaver, Northern Masked and Golden-backed weavers, and Northern Red Bishop.

We finished our tour to the east of the Rift Valley, on the southwestern flank of Mount Kenya. Although we were only there for one night, we added some marvelous birds and mammals; Sykes's Monkey was the first to be seen, and then two Large-spotted Genets came to a feeder that night. Bushbuck, Waterbuck, and African Buffalo were not new, but it was great to watch them again as they moved back and forth from the waterhole to the salt lick. The pigeons were particularly impressive, with Rameron and Delegorgue's being joined on the ground by Tambourine Dove, Dusky Turtle-Dove, and African Green-Pigeon. Other new birds here included African Cuckoo-Hawk, Hartlaub's Turaco, African Emerald Cuckoo, Red-fronted Parrot, Mountain Yellow-Warbler, Gray Apalis, Hunter's Cisticola, and Yellow-crowned Canary. Perhaps most surprising though, was what we spotted on the road below the lodge as we headed back to Nairobi. In full sun -- and seemingly without a care in the world as it ambled along, sat, and turned to watch us -- was a gorgeous adult female Leopard.

Thanks for joining me for this East African adventure!

-- Terry

KEYS FOR THIS LIST
One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Totals for the tour: 430 bird taxa and 44 mammal taxa