Kongelai Escarpment

Birding in Kongelai Escarpment ordinarily takes hours, or the whole day depending on the day birding program, client bird checklist, and of course the weather. Kongelai Escarpment is past Kitale town towards Turkana; branches off in Kapenguria or Makutano Town, it falls under the Western Kenya birding circuit, which includes: Mount Elgon, Saiwa National Park, Lake Victoria, Busia Grasslands, Ruma National Park, Mount Mtelo, and  Cherangany Hills. The Kongelai Escarpment is a rocky area of cliffs and dry scrub that offers altitudinal intersects that host several special species of birds. The upland forest remnants around Kapenguria give way to trees and scrub more characteristics of the bird population. As you drive down there are farmlands on either side of the road, where a brief stop-over is allowed to look for birds, barbets, and starlings feeding in the huge fig trees on the farms. The inhabitants of Kongelai Escarpment are subsistence farmers who mainly grow maize/corn on their farms. The landscape in Kongelai changes in about four kilometers, becoming dry with scattered bush, the temperatures also rise as you drive down towards the Suam River, this makes birding interesting as you keep seeing new and different bird species. These hidden treasures of Kongelai or Kanyarkwat Escarpment have recently produced a rare and amazing White-breasted Cuckooshrike– a bird that used to be common in the area more than 30 years ago

Kongelai Escarpment Bird Highlights; Spotted Creeper, Black-billed Firefinch, West African Seedeater, Rock Pratincole, White-crested Turaco, Eastern Plantain-eater, Fan-tailed Raven, Lesser Blue-eared Glossy-Starling, Bronze-tailed Glossy-Starling, Uganda Woodpecker, Yellow-billed Shrike, Hartlaub’s Marsh Widowbird, Heuglin’s Masked Weaver, Western Citril, Chestnut-crowned Sparrow Weaver, Pale  White-eye, Stone Partridge, Boran Cisticola, Green-backed Eremomela, Foxy Cisticola, Western Black-headed Batis, Northern Grey-headed Sparrow, Mocking Cliff Chat, Gambaga Flycatcher, Jameson’s Firefinch, Fawn-breasted Waxbill, Freckled Nightjar, Siffling Cisticola, Rameron Pigeon, Black-billed Barbet, Red-throated Wryneck, Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawk, Black-bellied Seedcracker.

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