Kenya is not really a place to visit just for one day, but that’s all I had last week , and I’m glad to say I made the most of it. I managed to get some really interesting photos as well - including the ones below…

I was guided in Nairobi by Shailesh Patel and George Kamau of ‘Spanafricasafaris’ (both did a great job, incidentally, more of which in another post), who suggested - on the way back from birding in montane forest in the Aberdare Mountains - that we stop at a small wetland about an hour from Nairobi. Surrounded by herdsman, cattle, school-kids, and traffic the wetland is currently unprotected, but still holds good numbers of eg Red-knobbed Coots, ducks (including Hottenot Teal, Maccoa, Red-billed,and White-backed Ducks, Sacred and Glossy Ibises, and herons and egrets.

Within about a minute of us pulling up (and still in the vehicle) a pair of Grey Crowned Cranes Balearica regulorum suddenly dropped out of the sky, landed in front if us, and began displaying! The cranes stayed no more than a couple of minutes, and I’m not sure whether the female was particularly impressed with the male’s jumping about, but I certainly was: what a fantastic sight to have handed to you on a plate towards the end of a long day…

(For more information on these spectacular and declining birds have a look at www.savingcranes.org)