KENYA: Arabuko-Sokoke Forest

We spent three mornings exploring Arabuko-Sokoke Forest (below), the last remaining stand of native coastal forest in East Africa, and a critically important habitat for many wildlife species. Among many things, Sokoke is known for it’s population of Golden-rumped Elephant Shrews, and we were lucky to see one foraging out in the open.

The forest and coastal areas we visited were all extremely dry, having had no rain in 4 months. Drought aside, our first foray into Sokoke was a tremendous success. We began with a Green Barbet at daybreak at the headquarters and soon moved into the Mixed Forest, a relatively heavily vegetated area on sandy soil, where we found Little Yellow Flycatcher, Black-headed Apalis, Plain-backed Sunbird, and Dark-backed Weaver.

The Brachystegia part of the forest is, by comparison, light and airy with the open canopy dominated by its namesake tree. The lower levels are comprised of a mosaic of shrubs, grasses and bare sand, where we encountered many Speke’s Sand Lizards. We enjoyed a birdy day, finding Chestnut-fronted Helmet-shrike, Mombassa Woodpecker (above), Amani Sunbird, Red-tailed Ant-thrush, Black-backed Puffback, Blue-mantled Flycatcher, Pale Batis, and a distantly-heard Green-headed Oriole. We finally saw an African Goshawk, the first sighting of the trip, and a species usually seen well before week 3!

The Sokoke Pipit (above) eluded us for a while, giving us brief glimpses, with young begging and constantly moving, before one finally cooperated for the group. Additional species included Trumpeter Hornbill, male Sokoke Batis, Pallid Honeyguide, Ashy Flycatcher, two Common Scimitarbill, and Little Sparrowhawk.

There was an excellent showing of butterflies with Purple Tips, Diadems, African Blue Tigers, Soldier Commodores, African Jokers, Large-striped Swordtail, Natal Pansy, Mottled Greens (above), Golden-banded Forester, and a couple of charaxes species.

The next two mornings were quieter. Walking down the Nature Trail, we struggled to see an East Coast Akalat, and Fischer’s Turaco, as they called and circled around us. On the Elephant Trail, the Fischer’s Greenbul was slightly more cooperative, and we enjoyed a mixed flock of Helmet-shrikes including Retz’s.

In a wet, lowland area of open meadow (above), we found a Woolly-necked Stork, and studied a Pipit which turned out be the endemic Malindi Pipit. Our attention was diverted to an odd looking raptor that came in towards us and circled overhead. We puzzled over this I.D. for a long time, but close study of our photographs revealed it to be an immature, light morph Ayers Hawk Eagle. We barely noticed the Broad-billed Roller who swooped down for a drink in the pond as we were watching the Hawk Eagle.

We journeyed deeper into the forest, changing from sandy to red soil, in search of the rare Sokoke Scops Owl (above) in the dense Cynometra foliage. Our local guide, Willy, managed to find a pair of these adorable small owls roosting in dense thickets, barely 6 feet off the ground.

Having successfully located the Scops Owl, we had time to explore nearby Lake Jilore (above) finding Pygmy Goose (below), White-backed Duck and Malachite Kingfisher. More species showed as dusk descended including Golden Oriole, a noisy group of Scaly Babblers, and a Great Sparrowhawk heading to roost. Eastern Bearded Scrub Robin sang for us as we departed the forest in near darkness.