11-Day Rift Valley Lakes, Samburu & Mount Kenya Birding Safari

After breakfast, begin with a relaxed orientation of Nairobi before visiting the Nairobi National Museum.

The Museum’s permanent Bird Gallery presents the diversity of East African birds in family groupings, including birds of prey, waterbirds and sunbirds. It provides useful context before the field section of the safari begins, particularly for travellers visiting East Africa for the first time.

Your guide will use the visit to review important bird families, field-identification features and the different habitats you will encounter during the safari. A formal ornithologist lecture or specialist behind-the-scenes session can be arranged in advance but is not automatically included in the standard museum admission.

After the museum visit, continue the Nairobi orientation according to traffic and available time before returning to the hotel. Dinner and overnight in Nairobi.

After an early breakfast, depart Nairobi for the southern Rift Valley and Lake Magadi, carrying a picnic lunch for the day. The road gradually descends into hotter and drier country before reaching one of Kenya’s most unusual wetland landscapes.

Lake Magadi is a shallow alkaline soda lake surrounded by broad trona and salt flats. Nature Kenya recognises the area as a Key Biodiversity Area. Hot springs feed permanent lagoons along parts of the lake edge, creating specialised wetland habitat within an otherwise arid environment.

The principal birding targets include Lesser Flamingos and the localized Chestnut-banded Plover, sometimes known as the Magadi Plover. Depending on seasonal conditions, the springs, lagoons and surrounding flats may also hold sandpipers, greenshanks and other waterbirds and waders.

The birding pace will be determined by heat, water levels and current bird distribution. Your guide will select safe observation points rather than attempting to cross unstable salt flats or approach birds too closely. Enjoy the picnic lunch in a suitable shaded area.

Later in the afternoon, return to Nairobi for dinner and overnight. For conservation background, see Nature Kenya’s Lake Magadi KBA profile.

After breakfast, check out and drive northwest from Nairobi into the Great Rift Valley. Where traffic and visibility allow, pause at an appropriate viewpoint for broad views of the escarpment before continuing toward Lake Naivasha.

Arrive in the Naivasha area during the morning and begin birding in suitable lakeshore, acacia and wetland habitat before lunch. Lake Naivasha is a high-altitude freshwater lake and a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. Its open water, papyrus edges and surrounding woodland support a rich mixture of waterbirds and woodland species.

After lunch, take a boat excursion on the lake, subject to weather and safe boating conditions. Look for African Fish Eagle, cormorants, pelicans, herons, egrets, kingfishers, jacanas and other wetland birds. Hippos may also be encountered and must always be given a safe distance.

Return to the hotel before sunset for dinner and overnight. Official wetland information is available through the Ramsar Sites Information Service.

Depart Lake Naivasha after breakfast and continue north through the Rift Valley toward Lake Baringo. Arrive around lunchtime, depending on traffic, birding stops and road conditions.

Lake Baringo is a freshwater Rift Valley lake and Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. The lake and surrounding cliffs, dry bush, acacia woodland and shoreline habitats support an exceptional bird community, with nearly 500 species documented in the wider wetland landscape.

After lunch, begin birding around safe and productive sites selected with your guide. Depending on current local information, target birds may include Northern White-faced Owl, Bristle-crowned Starling, Goliath Heron, Mouse-coloured Penduline-tit, Black-throated Barbet, Jackson’s Hornbill and Hemprich’s Hornbill.

Cliff and owl sites should be visited carefully with local guidance; the itinerary does not require unsafe climbing or descent on unstable slopes. A Lake Baringo birding boat can be added separately if requested.

Return to the lodge or hotel for dinner and overnight. See the official Ramsar record for Lake Baringo for wetland-conservation context.

After breakfast, leave Lake Baringo and drive south toward Lake Nakuru National Park. Arrive during the morning and begin birding and wildlife viewing as you enter the park, then continue to the selected lodge or hotel for lunch.

Lake Nakuru is one of Kenya’s best-known birding parks and KWS records approximately 450 bird species. The lake, grassland, rocky escarpments and acacia woodland support pelicans, African Fish Eagle, egrets, herons, grebes, raptors and many terrestrial species.

Flamingos may be present, but the old description of Nakuru as permanently holding millions of flamingos is no longer reliable. Water levels and lake chemistry have changed, and flamingo numbers now shift considerably among Rift Valley wetlands.

The afternoon game-and-birding drive also provides opportunities to search for black and white rhinos, Rothschild’s giraffe, buffalo, waterbuck and other mammals. Scenic viewpoints and Makalia Falls can be included where road conditions and time allow.

Return to the lodge or hotel for dinner and overnight. Current official park information is available from the Kenya Wildlife Service Lake Nakuru page.

After breakfast, check out and travel through Kenya’s central highlands toward Ol Pejeta. Where routing and timing allow, stop at Thomson’s Falls in Nyahururu for a short scenic break before continuing through agricultural country toward Laikipia.

Arrive at Ol Pejeta Conservancy for lunch or early afternoon, depending on the day’s progress. Continue with an afternoon game-and-birding drive across the conservancy’s grassland, wetland, woodland and riverine habitats.

Ol Pejeta combines strong mammal viewing with rewarding birding. Look for grassland raptors, starlings, lapwings, larks, sunbirds and other species while also searching for black and southern white rhinos, elephant, buffalo and predators.

Visit the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary during scheduled public viewing hours when timing permits. The sanctuary cares for rescued chimpanzees, which are not native to Kenya. Ol Pejeta is also home to the last two surviving northern white rhinos; specialist close encounters are optional activities unless expressly included in the final quotation.

Continue birding and game viewing until late afternoon before proceeding to your lodge or camp for dinner and overnight. See the official Ol Pejeta Conservancy website for current conservation and visitor information.

After breakfast, depart Ol Pejeta and travel north through the Nanyuki and Isiolo region toward Samburu National Reserve. Arrive for lunch, subject to road and birding-stop conditions.

The afternoon introduces a completely different birding environment: dry acacia and Commiphora bush, open semi-arid plains and the riverine vegetation of the Ewaso Nyiro River.

Target northern dry-country birds may include vulturine guineafowl, Somali ostrich, golden-breasted starling, white-headed mousebird, black-capped social weaver and several bee-eaters, hornbills, bustards and raptors. White-throated Bee-eaters are seasonal migrants, so their presence depends on the time of year.

Game viewing remains excellent, with opportunities for elephant, lion and leopard together with the Samburu Special Five: Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Beisa oryx, gerenuk and Somali ostrich.

Continue birding and game viewing until sunset before returning to the lodge or camp for dinner and overnight.

Spend a full day birding and game viewing in Samburu with your private guide. Early morning offers cooler temperatures and strong bird activity, so the day normally begins soon after first light.

Explore dry bush, open plains and the Ewaso Nyiro river corridor for a mix of resident northern species. Depending on season and location, targets may include Somali ostrich, vulturine guineafowl, golden-breasted starling, white-headed mousebird, black-capped social weaver, rosy-patched bush-shrike, Somali Bee-eater, Von der Decken’s Hornbill and other arid-country species.

The riverine habitat also adds kingfishers, herons, raptors and woodland birds. Between bird sightings, watch for elephant herds and the reserve’s northern specialist mammals. Leopard is frequently searched for along the river corridor, although sightings can never be guaranteed.

The day may be arranged as morning and afternoon sessions with a midday break or as a longer field day depending on the group’s birding objectives, heat and lodge location.

Return to the lodge or camp after the final birding session for dinner and your second overnight in Samburu. Official reserve background is available from the County Government of Samburu.

After breakfast, leave Samburu and travel south toward Naro Moru at the western foot of Mount Kenya. The journey climbs from hot semi-arid country into cooler central highlands, providing another major change in bird habitat.

Arrive in the Naro Moru area for lunch and check-in. In the afternoon, begin birding in suitable montane forest and forest-edge habitat within the wider Mount Kenya ecosystem, using current local guidance and permitted access points.

Mount Kenya forest is recognised as both an Important Bird Area and Key Biodiversity Area. Important highland species include the threatened Abbott’s Starling, while other birds recorded in the ecosystem include African Green Pigeon, White-headed Wood Hoopoe, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Grey-backed Camaroptera, Kikuyu/Montane White-eye and Mountain Wagtail. Mountain Buzzard and other forest raptors may also be encountered.

Because highland forest birds can be vocal but difficult to see, the afternoon is planned at a slower pace with time for listening, scanning fruiting trees and working forest edges rather than covering long distances.

Return to your Naro Moru hotel or lodge for dinner and overnight. Nature Kenya documents ongoing Mount Kenya forest conservation and the work of local birding groups in the area.

Begin with a final early-morning birding session around Naro Moru or another suitable Mount Kenya forest-edge site selected by the guide. Morning is often the most productive time for vocal forest birds and gives one last opportunity to add highland species to the trip list.

Return for breakfast, check out and drive to Nairobi. Arrive around lunchtime depending on traffic and birding stops. Lunch will be arranged according to the confirmed return schedule.

If the international departure time allows, Greatlink Safaris will host a farewell dinner at Carnivore Restaurant in Nairobi. The restaurant is part of Tamarind Group and is known for its long-running charcoal-roasted dining experience; vegetarian options are also available.

After dinner, transfer privately to the airport in good time for check-in for the international departure flight. If the flight departs too early for dinner, the final meal and transfer arrangement will be adjusted in the confirmed itinerary.

The 11-day Kenya birding safari ends with the airport drop-off.