Beach to Bush

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 

Millions of shades of green!

A visit to the vast beautiful lands of Tarangire & the wonders of the Ngorongoro crater is always a treat for a birder. Who ever told you there is not much happening this time of the year. In-fact there is so much more happening between the millions of shades of green. Trees, grass and miles and miles of land is now all covered in vibrant green camouflages. Many many species of birds breeding. Some common, some rear but overall just incredible. Again, I have tried to capture these timeless and spectacular moments through my Canon lens. I hope they live to your expectations. They surely did to mine.

all photographs copyright - Akil Halai @ Concepts & Designs

Bearded Wood-pecker

Augur Buzzard

African Hoopoe

European Bee-eater

Black-faced Sandgrouse

Eastern Chanting Goshawk

Gabar Goshawk - Melanistic

Golden-winged Sunbird

European Roller

Malachite Sunbird

Pygmy Falcon

Martial Eagle

Red & Yellow Barbet

Red-billed Hornbill

Rosy-patched Bush-shrike - male

Rosy-patched Bush-shrike - female

Scarlet-chested Sunbird - female

Two-banded Courser

Spotted Thick-knee

Christmas Birdies...

The Northern & Southern circuits are frequently visited by a lot of our guests. This doesn’t state that, the Eastern & Western circuits of Tanzania don’t stand a chance when compared to its diversity of wildlife and magnanimous landscapes. During our recent visit to Amani Natural Reserve (pangani), Saadani & Mkomazi national parks we proved this correct.

The birdlife we can across was just spectacular. We even came across a lion sighting in Saadani and a cheetah sighting in Mkomazi both on our first game drive & a snake killing a Green winged Pytilia on our last day at the beautiful Mkomazi national park.

Although it was not the best season to visit the park, we definitely enjoyed every bit of it. Be it rain or the picturesque sunshine. From the 120 species of birds spotted during this 7 days trip, many were in our must see list. We also did manage to get good pictures of these birds whenever light allowed.
Below are some pictures of what I personally consider as breath-taking moments. Amongst the numerous species sighted the best (in our opinion) were the Cabanis’s Bunting, Ayres Hawk Eagle, Purple crested Turaco, Sulphur brested Bush-shrike, Grey headed bush-shrike, Straw-tailed Whydah, Golden-brested Starling , Caramine Bee-eater and the African paradise flycatcher (White – Morph).

Many thanks to Chettan Bhatt, Karachi (Greg Duwe) & Nahumu for their good company and friendship!

Next blog scheduled 2013…….. Lets hope the next year beholds fabulous moments as this year did.