There is so little lowland forest left on this planet that any time I enter lowland tropical forest, it feels different. Special in a way that I’m not sure I can adequately describe. I remember the feeling of fondness I had when we first arrived. Arabuko-Sokoke is a rare look into what so much of our planet’s coastal areas once were. It is the largest and most intact piece of coastal forest in all of East Africa. It’s gentle walking over leaves and white sand. The forest has an open feel, yet somehow is thick with trees at the same time. And then suddenly the forest changes. The soil is different, the plant life is different, and there’s a different feel to it altogether. But if you aren’t in tune to the subtle differences, you might not even realize that you left Brachystegia-dominated woodlands and entered a mixed forest. The fact that this lowland habitat hasn’t been cleared and cultivated is impressive. It’s rare and that distinction alone makes it special.
It’s mandatory to take a guide in Arabuko-Sokoke, which we tried to dispute because Ross prefers not to have to babysit any local guides and especially because there was a sign hanging stating that a full day of guiding was the equalivent of 60USD (!!!). But due to there being elephants in the forest they adamantly refused our entrance if we didn’t bring someone with us so we agreed. David is a spry 69 year old with ears as sharp as ever and he only charges 25USD for a full day of birding. He’s also been in the business of saving forests and has done great work in this area before we were even born.
The downside to having a local guide, even one as experienced as David, can be difference in strategy. We had three big targets: Sokoke Scops-owl, Sokoke Pipit, and Clarke’s Weaver. David was adamant we should start with the scops-owl, despite Ross’s six attempts to say we should start in the forest because the owl will be sitting on its roost all day long. He tried, but lost and we spent the best portion of the morning trying to find a roosting scops owl.
Brachystagia-dominated Woodlands 
Birding with David 
Sokoke Scops-Owls 
Sokoke Pipit 
I remember how optimistic I was on our first day after we had two of our top three targets, Sokoke Scops-owl and Sokoke Pipit, along with a slew of other good birds accounted for before noon. Despite the heat, we stayed in the forest all day long, even going so far as to skip breakfast and lunch, and not eat dinner until after 9PM. Thankfully David didn’t mind. We asked him if we should leave to go eat lunch and he told us we could leave if we wanted to but he would stay behind to continue the search. Lord knows Ross wasn’t going to leave with a target still on the table. This is exactly the kind of guy Ross wants to bird with!
Despite miles of walking, scanning multiple flocks, and bushwhacking through so much good forest all day long, Clarke’s Weaver still eluded us. It’s a really, really hard bird, best seen in the early morning as they fly over the forest. Rarely do they sit still long enough for a photo.
The original itinerary had us spending 2.5 days in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, but we were hoping to clean up in one so we could get on the road and hopefully make up one of the days we lost in going to Garissa. Clearly that was not going to be the case. The following morning we tried again. And failed. The optimism was fading. Every time we scanned through a promising flock only to find that no Clarke’s Weaver was associating with it, David would say “this flock is alone.” By the end, surely we were the ones who were alone!
Instead of staying another full afternoon we opted to drive a few hours up the coast and take a boat to a nearby island to tick a newly discovered bou-bou, Black (Manda) Bou-bou, and in doing so hopefully give the weaver some time to relocate. We would have to come back for this weaver on the back end.
Lamu and Manda islands are picturesque little places so long as you look in the right spots. When I saw the Italian-style waterfront hotels on Lamu island it was hard to remember I was still in Africa. This area is popular amoung tourists flocking to the white, sandy beaches and a quaint beach town has risen up as a result. We were obviously coming for another reason but opted to spend one night on Lamu island in the town of Shela in the cheapest hotel we could find. On Manda island the bird is easy and we quickly had nice views of a pair of Manda Bou-bous. We birded the scrub near the airstrip when we ran into Michael Mills, one of the leading experts on African ornithology and best bird guides in the region. We were invited to join him and his tour participants for dinner. It was a short, 12 hour jaunt where our weaver woes could be forgotten and beers among like-minded people could be enjoyed. (Although getting beer proved to be difficult as it was the peak of Ramadan.)
Ross and I left early to catch a public boat back to our truck and opted to make a quick detour for Violet-breasted Sunbird, whose range is primarily in Somalia but dips down into far northeastern Kenya. Thankfully the sunbirds were obliging and we had no less than 12 individuals on our stop. Then we drove a bit more and stopped around noon at the Sabaki river where dozens of Sooty Gulls and various other waterbirds were seen feeding along the shores.
We accomplished a lot in our brief time away from Sokoke but that afternoon we found ourselves wandering the habitat wondering if we could finally find a Clarke’s Weaver.
So the following day we tried again. Ross simply refused to dip an endemic. Besides, these birds are best seen at dawn and before 8am, so spending another morning would be our best chance. I felt an odd sense of nervousness as we watched the skies between 0600-0800. And then a bit of anger as 8AM came and went and we still hadn’t the slightest view of our target bird.
The unique sense of specialness that Sokoke gave me when I first arrived was beginning to turn to dread. I no longer enjoyed watching the Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrike flocks hoping that with enough time we might finally find something else besides the same 10 species of birds. It was another long day in Sokoke staying until after dusk to make sure we didn’t miss a flyover weaver.
How many more mornings could we dedicate to one species? Well, we decided at least one more. Ross was hell-bent on not dipping an endemic and our itinerary for Kenya was being stretched as a result. We spent the following morning scanning for flyover birds and then trailing feeding flocks and we still missed it. This one was officially a dip and it wasn’t for a lack of trying. It is worth mentioning that on our drive in on this final morning we had an African Pitta alongside the road! The last sighting for African Pitta in Sokoke in eBird is from 2002 and the only ones before that are in the 1980’s! African Pitta is easily 10 times as rare of a bird in this forest as Clarke’s Weaver yet both of us would have traded this sighting in for a weaver.
