KENYA: Kisumu south to the Mara

Kisumu, the countries third largest city, lies on the eastern side of Lake Victoria. We made two stops that took the better part of 3 hours and were very successful. At Dunga Swamp a Papyrus Gonolek was tantalizing close but never showed. The equally stunning Black-headed Gonolek on the other hand showed well. Along the edge of the papyrus we saw Northern Brown-throated Weaver, Slender-billed Weaver, Swamp Flycatcher, Lesser Swamp Warbler and Water Thick-knee.

As the fisherman were returning from Lake Victoria with the mornings catch (above), women were eagerly waiting to purchase and clean the fish, as Hamerkops and Little Egrets waited patiently on the boulders at the waters edge for any discarded offerings.

A Red-chested Sunbird perched on Leonotis and Village Indigos fed on the short grass as a Shikra circled not too far away. A Hamerkop was standing on top of its dome nest (above) having returned with  what looked like cloth to add to this enormous structure that takes about a year to build. The entrance is a hole just left of center and just above the angled trunk.

In a wet field adjacent to the road Openbills were feeding amongst Jacana’s, Intermediate Egrets, Hadada and Sacred Ibis. At Hippo Point, two pairs of Black-billed Barbets rested in the shade of a fig tree. We managed to coax out Carruther’s Cisticola and Blue-headed Coucal (above) from the dense papyrus, and watched Slender-billed and Western Black-headed Weavers bringing back long stripes of reeds to weave into their nests.

The drive from Kisumu through the busy market town of Kisii gave us an overview of the bustling street life. Vendors selling everything from modern black shoes to plastic containers. There was even a glimpse of a bygone era – at a cattle auction, one bartered with goods for cattle. The landscape consisted of lush green rolling hills with a mix of vegetable, wheat, corn and tea fields. The rains that most of eastern Kenya so desperately needs, have be very kind to this tropical part of the country.

Once off the main road the last 60 kms to the Mara are on a dirt road of various degrees of comfort – these being bad and worse! Dozens of times we came across herds of cattle blocking the road and watched the Maasai herdsmen get the cattle far enough to one side so at least our vehicle could slip past. They were bringing them back to their bomas for the night. This is a daily ritual and a small slice of life in rural southwestern Kenya.