The area just outside the main building and the stone was quite difficult and slippery to walk on with the overnight dew.
But the view from the pool was outstanding, not that I was actually in it - the water was far too cold.
Looking the other way over the national park.
After a delicious breakfast of perfectly fried egg yolks we set off around 0700 and drove into the nearby national park. The area is open wooded grassland and there
was a lot of ongoing management work to remove some invasive plant species as
well as controlling the encroachment of scrub. Consequently there were very few animals
around and the whole area smelt of bonfire.
Bushbuck f.
Nubian Woodpecker
You can see the hanging smoke in this picture of Ankole cattle.
A pair of Speckled Mousebirds
We mostly see Hamerkop on the ground so it was nice to have this one posing so well. Its name comes from the Afrikaan's word for hammerhead as the shape of the head and long bill are said to be reminiscent of a hammer.
I mentioned in the botanical gardens post that Hamerkop build huge nests and here's one. Several such nests are built during the breeding season and unusually for a wading bird the nest has an internal nesting chamber where the eggs are laid. Both parents incubate the eggs and raise the chicks.
A very messy background but this gorgeous little bird is a Red-cheeked cordon-blue.
And one of my favourite birds - a Ruppell's Starling catching the light beautifully.
Proving to myself I can take birds in flight, it's just a shame it didn't fly towards me.
Village Weavers are prolific around here.
They are also extremely good acrobats when it comes to nest building.
And very handsome too.
This little beauty is an African Pygmy Kingfisher which at first glance looks very similar to a Malachite Kingfisher but when you look closely they are very different.
Slender Mongoose (we also saw a group of Banded Mongoose today but the photo was rubbish)
African Grey Hornbill. What I didn't realise when I was taking the shot was that it was tossing a seed up to swallow it.
The first LBR (Lilac Breasted Roller) we've seen so I couldn't ignore it, despite the dreadful background.
Striped Kingfisher
I think these are the remains of a warthog.
Another “lifer” - a Broad-billed Roller and I'd like to have seen it front on, although I believe it's not as colourful as its L-B relative.
African Wattled Lapwing.
And finally a few mammals - it's been a very quite morning mammal wise but then again maybe we've just been spoilt by the prolific wildlife in Kenya.
We were all setting ourselves up for this, waiting for the zebra to reach the middle of the track for the perfect Zebra Crossing photo.
But a defassa waterbuck (toilet paper not toilet seat which is the Common Waterbuck) suddenly crossed from the other side and saw the zebra off in no certain terms.
