Bird outing and picnic

Sue has her sister, Ruth from South Africa, visiting this week. On  Thursday, they collected me at home and we went to the river for a spot of birding and a picnic.

One of the areas where we found many different birds

When we'd all three taken photos of many birds in the thorn scrub: Barbets, Go-away birds, Turacos, Robin-chats, Flycatchers, a pair of Black-headed Gonoleks and an assortment of weavers and doves, we took a bush track along the river.

Driving along a bush track with the river below

At the weir, I photographed our "waterfall" for Betsy and George!

From here, the track is too marshy and in some places, very narrow, for a vehicle. We took our cameras, binoculars and cool box with the picnic food, and walked further up-river.

I loved this gnarled old tree with its slanting trunk

Sue brought us to the spot where the river had divided itself around an island. To me it was like being in an enchanted forest!  

Our picnic was very healthy (and here I was thinking banana bread, chocolates, salty crackers and blue cheese...*sigh*) Sue had packed whole-wheat crackers, cottage cheese, fresh slices of paw-paw and watermelon. I brought apples and bananas and we washed it all down with bottled water.  Standing is Sue's sister, Ruth and Sue, seated on the kikoi/shuk, is "smelling the roses" Sue is the kindest, most considerate person, with a great sense of humour and caring for all around her 

Three school age boys climbed out the steep mountainside behind us

On the way back to the car, Sue took along the scenic route...

 ... and through a quagmire!

 As we entered the mine admin area, we spotted this White-fronted Bee-eater on the post. Sue stopped the vehicle in the gateway for Ruth to get  up close and personal with birds in Kenya!

I'm not adding other birds in this post. As you read this, we're on our way to Island Camp in the middle of Lake Baringo for the weekend. I know I will return with many, many bird and scenery photos of this beautiful  place. You can read here about the time we visited Island Camp in April.

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.