KENYA: Taita Hills

From the plains we climbed up the Taita Hills to the Ngangao Forest (above) at a height of 6400 ft (1950m). As our vehicle lugged up the steep incline we spotted three White-naped Ravens flying over the villages around the mountain. We spotted our first target endemic before reaching the forest – a feeding flock of five Taita White-eyes beside the road. Near the summit we picked up our local guide, Jonam, then alighted at the top, spotting two Lanners soaring high overhead. We spent a moment surveying the picturesque, terraced farms below, before walking the road before us, in search of our target, high-elevation endemics. Our morning brought lots more, including Eastern Olive Sunbird, Blackcap, Hartlaub’s Turaco, Tambourine Dove (heard) and Syke’s Monkey. We were thrilled to find Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler, Cabanis Greenbul, White-starred Robin, Emerald Cuckoo and a pair of Black-fronted Bush-Shrike – all new for the trip.

Jonam’s sharp eyes soon guided us to our other two target endemics, Taita Apalis (above), and the hard-to-find Taita Thrush, scratching deep within the shadowed underbrush. A few of us were lucky to see the Striped-faced Greenbul, a resident of high-elevation forest.

Having spent the morning in the mountains, we had a considerable distance to go to get to where we were staying on the coast. The journey was broken up with a hour’s stop along the Mombassa road where we walked the dry thorn scrub in the heat of the afternoon. A number of arid species were seen well, including Dodson’s Bulbul, Village Indigobird, Zanzibar Sombre Greenbul, Namaqua Dove and Red-fronted Warbler. But the Bare-eyed Thrush, Golden Pipit (above) and Tsavo Sunbird stole the show, providing great looks.