Tour Leader: Quinton Paul Josop
Tour price (Per person): USD7,495 * GBP5,981 * EUR7,205 * AUD12,017
Single Supplement: USD1,180 * GBP942 * EUR1,134 * AUD1,892
Flight costs: USD140 * GBP112 * EUR135 * AUD224
Kenya is well regarded as one of the finest safari destinations on the planet, and rightly so. Our 2-week Kenya Highlights tour traverses a wide range of habitat from coastal forest and woodlands, acacia savanna and central African rainforest to papyrus swamps and rolling grassy savanna as we target a mouth-watering array of Kenya’s most special birds. The game viewing will also be a significant highlight as we explore famous Kenyan game reserves such as Tsavo West, Tsavo East and Lake Nakuru National Parks!
Our tour begins with an exploration of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Here we will endeavour to find some of the rarest birds in Africa, including the diminutive Sokoke Scops Owl, Sokoke Pipit, Fischer’s Turaco, Amani Sunbird and Clarke’s Weaver. We then travel through both Tsavo East and West Parks, offering excellent game viewing and a huge bird list. We will also take time to visit the isolated Taita Hills, with its critically endangered species. We then head across to western Kenya to the famous Kakamega Forest. Here a plethora of forest specials await, with the gorgeous Blue-headed Bee-eater, Turner’s Eremomela, Chapin’s Flycatcher, Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat and Yellow-bellied Wattle-eye being notable targets. After exploring the papyrus swamps and moist woodlands along Lake Victoria for the striking Papyrus Gonolek, Papyrus Canary and numerous other wetland specialties, we’ll make our way to the famous Lake Nakuru National Park, supporting populations of both species of African rhinoceros and several other megafauna.
Join us for what promises to be an extraordinary tour offering an incredible diversity of wildlife, superb scenery, wonderful lodges and tented camps, and super-friendly tribal people!
Blue-headed & Somali Bee-eaters; Sokoke Scops Owl; Sokoke, Golden & Malindi Pipits; Clarke's & Golden Palm Weavers; Amani, Plain-backed & Tsavo Sunbirds; Green-headed Oriole; Fischer's & Black-billed Turacos; Equatorial & East Coast Akalats; Taita & Black-headed Apalis; Taita White-eye; Taita Thrush; Golden-breasted & Magpie Starlings; Turner's Eremomela; Yellow-bellied & Jameson's Wattle-eyes; Brown-chested Alethe; Blue-shouldered & Grey-winged Robin-Chats; Grey-chested Babbler; White-headed Wood Hoopoe; Red-headed Bluebill; Papyrus Canary; Papyrus Gonolek; Red-naped Bushshrike; Three-streaked Tchagra; Pringle's Puffback; Red-throated Tit; Miombo Wren-Warbler; Pangani Longclaw; Steel-blue & Straw-tailed Whydahs; Red-throated Twinspot.
Lion; Leopard; Cheetah; African Elephant; African Buffalo; Black Rhinoceros; Lesser Kudu; Golden-rumped Sengi; Sable Antelope; Serval; Spotted & Striped Hyaena; Aardwolf; Gerenuk; Beisa Oryx; Maasai & Reticulated Giraffe.
lowland coastal forest, grasslands, estuaries, beaches, mangroves, acacia savanna, temporary and permanent wetlands, rivers, central African rainforest,
warm to hot, dry conditions mostly but humid along the coast, cooler at higher elevations and rain can be expected
8 with 1 Rockjumper Leader
Moderate. Some long travel days, forest birding can be challenging.
comfortable safari lodges and hotels
A mix of forest & savanna birding. Most savanna species provide good visuals in open conditions. Forest birding is more challenging with some low-density species.
Maasai people, African curios
Good to excellent in savanna habitat from vehicle. Typical forest orientated lighting difficulties & skulking species.
Greg de Klerk was a wonderful leader. He knew exactly how to lead this relaxed tour. He always made sure that the needs of everyone in group were being met. He also demonstrated incredible knowledge of both the birds and the animals. I would go anywhere with him on another related tour.
Heinz Ortmann was charming and funny, outstanding on the birds and other animals, and excellent in dealing with the logistics. I would be very happy to travel with Heinz again.
David Hoddinott and indeed the drivers and Alison were all amazing - making this a life-changing experience. Everything went far better than expected throughout the tour in my opinion. I do not see how it could have been improved. Well done to all!
Paul Josop is a top notch and amazing tour leader - at all times he was knowledgeable, patient, attentive and engaging. We loved the trip and feel that much of its success was because of Paul's excellent guiding skills. We feel very fortunate to have experienced all that we did.
This was one of the best five of the 53 guided birding tours I have taken! Paul Josop is not only a truly excellent local guide who knows African birds and their calls phenomenally well, but is also extremely pleasant to deal with, polite, supportive of all levels of participant birding skills and very thoughtful. Paul also has an infectious sense of humor: We all laughed a lot on this tour! He loves to teach participants the finer points of the biology of the animals and plants encountered on a tour; he also managed group dynamics very well. It is clear that Paul enjoys guiding and he is very focused on getting all of the tour participants onto every bird species we encountered: He is living proof of my dictum that ""A good local guide is a thing of joy"". Our two local guide/drivers, Roger in Tanzania and Edson in Kenya, were also excellent: They dealt very well with severely pot-holed African roads and erratic African drivers and traffic; they also pointed out very many birds and big game as we bounced through the national parks, reserves and paved roads, all filled with aggressive opposing traffic! They have my highest recommendation. However, I do urge the local tour operator, Tanzania Birding and Beyond, to have their Land Cruiser passenger seats rebuilt - they were singularly uncomfortable on our long drives. This Rockjumper tour has my highest recommendation for all levels of participants' birding skills.
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Kenya - Highlights II 2023 - November 2023
Kenya - Highlights I 2023 - October 2023
Kenya & Tanzania - Birds & Big Game IV 2023 - April 2023
Kenya & Tanzania - Birds & Big Game III 2023 - April 2023
Kenya & Tanzania - Birds & Big Game I 2023 - March 2023
Kenya - Mega Birding Tour I 2023 - March 2023
Kenya - Relaxed 2023 - March 2023
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Kenya & Tanzania - Birds & Big Game V 2022 - September 2022
Kenya & Tanzania - Birds & Big Game II 2022 - April 2022
Kenya - Mega Birding Tour 2022 - March 2022
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Kenya - Highlights III 2021 - November 2021
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