Published Saturday magazine an insert in Nation newspaper 25 May 2024
Above: Petra Allmendinger birding at breakfast on Global Big Day at Sandai House in Mweiga. Courtesy Petra Allmendinger
Worldwide, the birding community is abuzz on Saturday 11 May to log in as many species of birds as they can to participate in Global Big Day, marking its 10th anniversary. A tech-savvy Kenyan birder has tagged all the spots in the country that birders will be at. Nobody’s birding in Mweiga and so we head that way to check in at Sandai, one of the most scenic houses in the world twixt the two big massifs of Mount Kenya and the Aberdares. It’s a dream farm house with cottages dotted around the expensive grass plains with surreal views of the great massifs on the equator.
Driving in late afternoon, the sky is hung heavy with clouds threatening to burst with the ongoing heavy rains. It’s going to make bird watching a challenge but when a big raptor soars above to land on the tall acacia in the neighbouring Solio Ranch, more famous for its rhinos where you can see up to a mind-boggling 40 in a day, things begin to look up.
The great day arrives and the sky pushes aside the clouds giving a fantastic view of god’s mountain with the grass shimmering with the morning dew. The latest addition in the garden is the elephant browsing by the acacia – it’s a life-size tin model of the real thing just as is the giraffe’s neck popping through the long strands.
There are enough species of birds to log into the eBird app while savouring a home-cooked breakfast on the veranda facing Kenya’s jagged volcanic peak with a wisp of snow on its withered granite façade that is the tallest point in the country. The montane forest spread below the peak is home of the endemic Abbott’s starling and the very rare Cassin’s hawk eagle amongst others. If we log them on, we’d be the envy of many birders but by the end of the day, the Cassin’s hawk eagle goes to someone else while the Abbott’s starling remains elusive.
Signed in on the e-Bird app, Team Sandai logs in the beautiful Bronze sunbird, the finches, starlings and some 20+ common garden birds. Meantime chef Njoki’s got us feasting on freshly baked brown bread with pumpkin seeds (how healthy can you get?), Spanish omelette that wake the senses and the cheese spread. Birding at breakfast has never been this enjoyable.
There’s art everywhere in the house with the birds perching on the bird-feeders fashioned out of glass bottles, sculpted lizards and woodpeckers on the wooden columns, the wind chimes and Petra Allmendinger’s paintings of the local wildlife north of the Equator like the Reticulated giraffe. She’s the brains behind Sandai the beautiful place.
We stroll through the garden, me hoping to see the African grass owl snoozing somewhere in the long grass. “We haven’t seen them in a while,” tells Petra. It’s a concern as so much of the grasslands are being converted into farms or buildings.
It’s an energizing stroll savouring the fresh morning breeze. The horses are in the meadow, resting until the next batch of guests arrives for a safari on horseback. Dolly the new-born donkey follows her mother, the cows and sheep graze and more birds are logged on the eBird app.
“Wow, look the Red-collared widowbird,” exclaims Petra pointing to the male in breeding plumage with its long tail and red patches on the neck. It’s a highland grass bird and fun to watch the male flitting around to impress the female.
“Mweiga is a great birding place and we have recorded 250 species of birds on Sandai,” tells Petra.
Her favourite bird though is the Carmine bee-eater in a spectrum of vivid crimson, blue-green and copper, a bird of the arid north and not seen at Sandai. “I love watching them from the boat when sailing on Lake Baringo.”
“My favourite is the Hamerkop (or hammerhead),” adds Ndungu the guide at Sandai. “It builds the biggest nest.”
That’s impressive for the world’s smallest stork to build a nest that can support the weight of an adult person.
Forty species at twilight with the rain coming down softly, we submit the list on eBird. The final count on the Global Big Day closes at 709 species in Kenya placing it in the number one position in Africa and 11th globally.
Be prepared for the October 2024 Global Big Day. Join a team and choose a spot somewhere to get Kenya in the top ten bird-rich countries in the world.
Stay at Sandai
https://www.africanfootprints.de/en/sandai-farm/
The country homestay is great for a break and a comfortable 3-hour, 150 km drive from Nairobi mostly on tarmac road with the last mile on murram. There’s a ton to do from attending jewellery, painting, and yoga classes to hiking to Satima in the Aberdares or game drives in the mountain range or safari to Lake Baringo and beyond. You can also indulge in well-being classes, massages and home-cooked healthy meals – great for the body and soul
Read more on Global Big Day and be part of it with the free eBird Mobile app. It’s a citizen science project to map the world’s feathered kind to help in their conservation.
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