Having had the opportunity to attend the last district Rotary conference of district 9200, held at the Leisure Lodge in Diani - Mombasa, i still managed to sneak in a day for birding.
Close to Diani, South coast Mombasa, Shimba Hills Game Reserve is a small hilly plateau situated about 32 km from Diani near Kwale town. All hills have view points that offer spectacular views of this hilly and forested countryside and as far as the Indian ocean and Chale island to the east and the Tsavo plains and Taita hills to the west.
Visiting this area was a great opportunity to visit and re-discover the red-soil of inland Kenya. Equatorial forest elephants (smaller but far more aggressive than the savanna elephants), Sable antelopes (the only place to see them in Kenya) and a walk to the sheldrick falls and few of the highlights ofcourse apart from the spectacular birdlife whilst enjoying the freshness of the coastal breeze. 111 species of birds have been officially recorded, of which 22 are coastal endemic. My friend Charles - the game ranger has however recorded 143 species into his checklist.
I have captured some of these splendid moments through my Canon gear.
Akil Halai - 24th April 2013
