By KARI MUTU

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Rich birdlife has long been associated with the Great Rift Valley lakes. An oft-overlooked bird haven is Lake Elmenteita.

The lake is in the Soysambu Conservancy, a 45,000-acre private wildlife and cattle ranch surrounding the shallow, salty lake that has become a favourite habitat for flamingos.

Just two and a half hours drive west of Nairobi, Lake Elmenteita is an attractive destination for keen and casual birdwatchers. There are just two lodges in the conservancy allowing for birding away from the crowds.

As soon as I arrived, I spotted several flocks of pink lesser flamingos and white greater flamingos near the shores. Babbling constantly all day long, the flamingos feed on aquatic invertebrates and blue-green algae that gives the feathers their pink colour.

Led by Richard Kipngeno, the resident naturalist of Lake Elmenteita Serena Camp, we walked along the lake accompanied by armed rangers in case we came across buffaloes that roam the area. Waterbuck and eland observed us with curiosity.

The mudflats are filled with wetland birds such as great white pelicans, three-banded plovers, grey-headed gulls, Egyptian geese, white storks, egrets and spoonbills.

Some Blacksmith lapwings had laid eggs on the beach, and screeched loudly when they saw us. Their speckled brown eggs blend into the dark sand, but are vulnerable to raids by raptors and pied crows.

A fishy smell greeted our approach to the pelican flocks that were bathing and preening at the mouth of the Mbaruk River that flows into the lake. Every day the adult pelicans, which can weigh up to 15kg, fly south to Lake Naivasha to feed in groups, dipping their heads into the water in unison. They return in the late afternoon and regurgitate fish from their throat pouches for their young.

Flamingos sleep in the water, but the pelicans roost on small islands by the western shores. Kipngeno said that this was the first time since 2013 that the pelicans had started breeding after rising lake waters had flooded the islands.

During the day, pied kingfishers and hamerkop birds like to fish in the waterhole outside Serena Camp. Sunbirds flit around the flower beds looking for nectar, while a fork-tailed drongo bird could be heard mimicking other bird calls.

A leisurely ride on horseback is another way to view birds and wildlife. Passing through a forest of yellow-barked acacia, we spotted a brown snake eagle, an uncommon species that excited the birders in our group. Near a buffalo herd, an ox pecker called out.

Moving into open woodlands, black-headed orioles flitted through the trees and blue-eared starlings with iridescent feathers dove into the grass to catch insects.

Near a herd of impala, ground-feeding Hadada ibis were search for worms in the ground. A red-headed weaver bird was making a nest — lovebirds, a type of small green parrots, raid old weaverbird nests for nesting materials.

Lovebirds at Lake Elementeita. PHOTO | KARI MUTU | NMG

The water is clear as a mirror when we have a champagne breakfast by the lakeside, facing the clear outline of Sleeping Warrior Hill. Afterwards, we drive to the pelican islands, spotting more birds along the way including a grey hornbill, a long-crested eagle and an African fish eagle. A pleasant surprise is finding grey-headed gulls sitting on straw-lined nests on a rocky island.

After a picnic lunch in the bush, we head to the southwestern end of the conservancy, passing an augur buzzard on a candelabra tree and marabou storks standing in reverse-kneeling position.

In an open forest area, the driver spots a tail inside an acacia tree. It’s a young leopard that quickly scrambles down and disappears into thick bush.

The grasslands have a lot of zebra and savannah birds such as black-winged lapwing, grassland pipits and red-capped larks. One of our best sightings was a flock of almost 20 grey crowned cranes, the national bird of Uganda. Their numbers have declined over the years and they are now classified as vulnerable.