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Kenya - Mega Birding Tour

© Cheetah by Adam Riley
Kenya - Mega Birding Tour 2026

14 Oct 2026 - 05 Nov 2026 (23 days)

USD11,595 SPACES AVAILABLE

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Tour Leader: James Wade Lee

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Tour Price (Per person): USD11,595 (GBP8,849 * EUR10,180 * AUD17,697)

Single Supplement: USD1,950 (GBP1,488 * EUR1,712 * AUD2,976)

Flight costs: USD140 (GBP107 * EUR123 * AUD214)

Kenya - Mega Birding Tour 2027

17 Oct 2027 - 08 Nov 2027 (23 days)

USD11,695 SPACES AVAILABLE

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Tour Leader: Glen Valentine

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Tour Price (Per person): USD11,695 (GBP8,925 * EUR10,267 * AUD17,849)

Single Supplement: USD1,950 (GBP1,488 * EUR1,712 * AUD2,976)

Flight costs: USD140 (GBP107 * EUR123 * AUD214)

Kenya - Mega Birding Tour 2028

01 Nov 2028 - 23 Nov 2028 (23 days)

USD12,300 SPACES AVAILABLE

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Tour Leader: Richard Stratton Hatfield

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Tour Price (Per person): USD12,300 (GBP9,387 * EUR10,799 * AUD18,773)

Pricing notes : *Prices are estimated, and dates may change*

Our Kenya Mega birding tour offers twenty-six days of non-stop birdwatching as we thoroughly explore this famous bird and wildlife country. Our 2007 tour smashed all records with an amazing 817 bird species recorded, plus an incredible diversity of large mammals and other wildlife. In fact, on our four Mega tours thus far, we have recorded an unbelievable 901 species (over 80% of Kenya's possible birds!) and 90 mammal species (an average of 77 per tour!). Not only is this safari specifically planned to obtain a huge list of mouth-watering birds and animals, but also Kenya’s most sought-after endemics and rarities.

Our tour kicks off with an exploration of the lush Shimba Hills and Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Here we will seek out some of the rarest birds in Africa, including the diminutive Sokoke Scops Owl, Sokoke Pipit and Clarke’s Weaver. Next we travel through both Tsavo West and East reserves, offering excellent game viewing and a huge bird list. A visit to the isolated Taita Hills in search of the critically endangered Taita Thrush, Taita Apalis and Taita White-eye is truly memorable. We then search Mount Kenya’s forest clad slopes for avian gems such as Jackson’s Francolin, Abbott’s Starling and Abyssinian Crimsonwing. We enter the true arid zone at Samburu-Shaba where a wealth of new dry-country specials occur; possible highlights include Somali Courser and the nomadic Williams’s and Friedmann’s Lark. Traveling next to the dry woodlands of the beautiful Lake Baringo, we will search for new birds including Jackson’s Hornbill, Red-naped Bushshrike and Somali Sparrow. The famous west Kenyan forest of Kakamega will add a West African element to our tour as we tick off such forest gems as Blue-headed Bee-eater, Turner’s Eremomela, Yellow-bellied Wattle-eye and Great Blue Turaco. After exploring the papyrus swamps and moist woodlands along Lake Victoria, we enter the plains to visit the grand Maasai Mara. Besides the incredible birds, here we will enjoy unrivalled game watching (sightings of large predators and teeming game can be expected), superb scenery, wonderful lodges and tented camps, friendly tribal people and a well-planned tour.

Top Birds

Sharpe's Longclaw, Sokoke Scops & Cape Eagle Owls, Sokoke & Malindi Pipits, Clarke's & Taveta Weavers, Hinde's & Scaly Babblers, East Coast Akalat, Green Barbet, Green Tinkerbird, Fischer's, White-crested, Ross's & Hartlaub's Turaco, Amani, Plain-backed, Tsavo, Violet-breasted & Golden-winged Sunbirds, Green-headed Oriole, Taita & Abyssinian Ground Thrushes, Taita Apalis, Taita White-eye, Jackson's Francolin, Aberdare Cisticola, Abbott's, Golden-breasted, Magpie & Fischer's Starlings, Abyssinian Crimsonwing, Somali & Three-banded Coursers, Rock Pratincole, William's & Friedmann's Lark, Jackson's Hornbill, Red-naped Bushshrike, Somali Sparrow, Donaldson-Smith's Sparrow-Weaver, Somali & Blue-headed Bee-eaters, White-headed Mousebird, Turner's & Yellow-vented Eremomelas, Yellow-bellied and Jameson's Wattle-eyes, Vulturine Guineafowl, White-spotted Flufftail, Bar-tailed Trogon, Hartlaub's Bustard, Sooty Gull, Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse, Eastern Black-headed and Forest Batis, Donaldson-Smith's Nightjar, Forbe's-Watson's Swift, White-headed Wood Hoopoe, Pallid Honeyguide, Mombasa & Speckle-breasted Woodpeckers, African Broadbill, Grey-crested Helmetshrike, Four-coloured Bushshrike, Papyrus Gonolek, Red-throated Tit, Uganda Woodland & Basra Reed Warblers, Somali Crombec, Southern & Yellow-bellied Hyliotas, Brown-chested Alethe, Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat, Equatorial Akalat, White-throated Robin, Chapin's & Gambaga Flycatchers, Fire-fronted & Zanzibar Red Bishops, Jackson's Widowbird, Red-throated & Brown Twinspots, Grey-headed Silverbill, Steel-blue Whydah, Cuckoo Finch, Papyrus Canary, Southern Grosbeak-Canary, Oriole Finch

Top Mammals

Lion, Leopard, Black & White Rhinoceros, Cheetah, Striped & Spotted Hyenas, Reticulated, Maasai & Rothschild's Giraffes, Angola Pied Colobus, Grevy’s Zebra, Gerenuk, Serval, Golden-rumped Elephant-Shrew, Crested Porcupine, Small-spotted & Blotched Genets, African Civet, African Buffalo, African Elephant, Southern Tree Hyrax, Giant Forest Hog, Lesser & Greater Kudu, Harvey's Duiker, Suni, Sable Antelope

Habitats Covered

lowland & montane forests, Acacia savanna, papyrus swamps, rivers and wetlands, rocky gorges, grassland, semi-desert, coastal estuaries

Expected Climate

warm to hot, dry conditions, but cool at higher elevations and occasional rain can be expected

Max Group Size

6 with 1 Rockjumer leader

Tour Pace & Walking

Our Mega tours are very fast-paced birding adventures designed for the dedicated lister and serious birder. The focus of the tour is to see as many of the endemics and area specials as possible in our given time. In order to cover the necessary route to maximise the species list we tend to spend a single night at most sites and travel large distances. There is very little down time aside from that spent driving from one site to the next. These tours are not suitable for dedicated or avid photographers; inexperienced or new birders; as well as anyone with serious mobility or health challenges.

Accommodation

comfortable to luxurious lodges, a few more basic hotels & tented camps

Ease of Birding

mostly easy birds with some difficult species

Number of Species Expected

760 - 800+

Other Attractions

Olorgasailie Prehistoric sites, Mt Kenya, Aberdare Mountains, Shimba Hills, Maasai Mara, Lakes Nkuru, Naivasha and Baringo, Masaai Tribe and other local tribes, African curios

Photographic Opportunities

Excellent

What our clients say about us

Gregory de Klerk
SK - Kenya 2024

Greg de Klerk was a wonderful leader. He knew exactly how to lead this relaxed tour. He always made sure that the needs of everyone in group were being met. He also demonstrated incredible knowledge of both the birds and the animals. I would go anywhere with him on another related tour.

Stuart Elsom
IS, Kenya 2022

Stuart took my "hit list" and ensured that I saw as many as possible. Driver/guide Jack and local guides also helpful. Accommodation and food generally good. One negative was that Landcruiser was cramped and difficult to enter and exit, but apparently a 4X4 is necessary for this tour. Overall very happy with the tour and total list. Other participants also enjoyed it.

Glen Valentine
ID, Kenya 2021

Great trip – close encounters with a lot of target birds and mammals, exciting habitats, comfortable accommodations and an outstanding guide. Glen must be one of the foremost authorities on African birds and I learned a great deal from him regarding ecology, behaviour, systematics and conservation.

Stephan Lorenz
HS, Kenya - Mega Birding Tour 2025

The Kenya Mega was a very pleasant experience. We had an especially congenial group with some very good observers. Stephan did a very good job of running the trip, and it ended up exceeding my expectations (I am picky. I have seen over 8M birds, and have done a lot of traveling). Most of the lodges were wonderful, and the Kenyan people we met were very friendly.

Quinton Paul Josop
CH - Kenya & Tanzania 2024

This was one of the best five of the 53 guided birding tours I have taken! Paul Josop is not only a truly excellent local guide who knows African birds and their calls phenomenally well, but is also extremely pleasant to deal with, polite, supportive of all levels of participant birding skills and very thoughtful. Paul also has an infectious sense of humor: We all laughed a lot on this tour! He loves to teach participants the finer points of the biology of the animals and plants encountered on a tour; he also managed group dynamics very well. It is clear that Paul enjoys guiding and he is very focused on getting all of the tour participants onto every bird species we encountered: He is living proof of my dictum that ""A good local guide is a thing of joy"". Our two local guide/drivers, Roger in Tanzania and Edson in Kenya, were also excellent: They dealt very well with severely pot-holed African roads and erratic African drivers and traffic; they also pointed out very many birds and big game as we bounced through the national parks, reserves and paved roads, all filled with aggressive opposing traffic! They have my highest recommendation. However, I do urge the local tour operator, Tanzania Birding and Beyond, to have their Land Cruiser passenger seats rebuilt - they were singularly uncomfortable on our long drives. This Rockjumper tour has my highest recommendation for all levels of participants' birding skills.

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