Day 13, Wednesday July 18 – Eldoret – Kakamega Forest
From Eldoret, it was only about 100 km to Kakamega Forest. We left early from Eldoret and reached Kakamega before lunch. As soon as we were inside the forest, we started birding. At the first stop we saw Uganda Woodland Warbler, Black-collared Apalis and Black-faced Rufous Warbler. We drove on to where a little stream crossed the road. Here it was a footpath up to the left. The place was teaming with birds: Red-headed Bluebill, Red-headed Malimbe, a pair of Pink-footed Puffbacks, Olive-green Camaroptera, Equatorial Akalat, Yellow-billed Barbet, Purple-throated Cuckooshrike, Lühder´s Bush-Shrike, Grey-throated Barbet, Great Blue Turaco, Joyful Greenbul, Kakamega Greenbul, Green-headed Sunbird, Speckle-breasted Woodpecker, Yellow-spotted Barbet, Brown-chested Alethe, Jameson´s Wattle-eye and Dusky Tit. So many birds and lifers that it was very hard to concentrate. 15 lifers during 2 hours of birding! We drove on to the Rondo retreat for some lunch. They had a Crowned Eagle nest in the garden. While waiting for lunch, we birded a little and added Northern Double-collared Sunbird, Vieillot´s Black Weaver, Mackinnon´s Fiscal, Stuhlmann´s Starling and African Blue Flycatcher to the list. After lunch, we went on a little path next to Rondo. The first bird was a White-spotted Flufftail and then a Chubb´s Cisticola. We enquired about lodging at Rondo Retreat, but they charged a rather steep price, so we agreed to check out the campsite. We were warned that the road was pretty bad going there, but we managed. However; the Isecheno camp site by the Forest headquarter was badly run down. The toilets were not working and no water at all. We decided to go back to Rondo retreat and spend the night there. However on the way out I got terrible stuck. The mud had hidden a rock and our car was parked on top of the rock with both rear tires spinning freely. We started digging like crazy to get the car out. Used the high lift jack for leverage. Very soon, a SA registered car showed up. It was Dave and Bugs from Zimbabwe that showed up. They were on a crazy one year safari across Africa. Dave helped out and in the end, he managed to pull my Landy out with his Toyota :-(. We lost 2 hours on this stupid stop and I was covered in mud from top to bottom, so we decided to go back to the Rondo Retreat to freshen up. Dave and Bugs talked to another guy that had another camp very close by and they decided to stay there. As a thank you for their effort getting us free of the mud, we agreed for them to come birding with us the day after. We soon reached the Rondo Retreat Lodge and had someone wash my clothes and sandals. We had a nice dinner and then retired early for the night. What a start to the birding in Kakamega Forest. On the first partial day, I managed to get 20 lifers. My target list for Kakamega was above 50, so we knew we still had a long way to go, plus we needed better pictures of most of the birds. This is forest birding and not easy for a photographer.
Here are some birds we photographed on day 13: