Kenya Birding Tours and Widlife Safaris
Cisticola Tours is a dedicated birding tours and wildlife safaris company based in Nairobi, Kenya. We offer a wide range of tours and safaris across entire Kenya. We operate both scheduled and private tours or safaris across entire Kenya; visiting all habitats and locations. Our team has a great array of sites to choose from when you are planning your Kenyan Birding Tour or Wildlife Safari. This includes some exciting remote and little-known regions.
All our birding tours and safaris are led by Top Guides drawn from Kenya and who have received many years of training, acquiring both academic and field experiences. Our tours and safaris also incorporate a great network of Local Guides from across entire Kenya, and this has helped us gain a good rapport with all communities, who happily welcome us to their land as we enjoy our adventures. With the help of the Local Guides, we also organise pre-visits to sites where special birds or other animals occur. This ensures that when our guests arrive, they save on crucial time, by finding species easier and acquiring amazing views.
All our tours are flexible and can be customized to allow you to enjoy your preferred locations and species at your own pace. We can tailor-make all our tours to enable you to achieve your travel goals easily and we also ensure to give you enough details to help you plan well. We cater for all group needs, whether your group wants to see the local endemics, make a big tour list or search for a specific species.
We also offer a good choice of accommodations and vehicles to help you travel within your budget; from luxury tours, mid-range to budget tours. You can also hire one of our vehicles with a skilled Driver-Guide and get to travel across Kenya at your own pace; while making all your accommodation and site plans.
By traveling with us, you contribute directly to our conservation and sustainability projects.
Our company is fully registered under the Tourism Regulatory Authority and we file aur annual tax returns under the Kenya Revenue Authority. Company registration number: PVT-XYU8MBA
Our Guides:
Washington Wachira was born and raised in Kenya. His education background is in Environmental Science (BSc.) and Animal Ecology (MSc.). He is an experienced Safari Guide and is a member of the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association (KPSGA). Washington leads tours across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda – where he is renowned for his jovial mood. He co-authored the Guidebook to the Birds of Dakatcha Woodland IBA. He is a member of the Bird Committee of Nature Kenya, and chairs the National Bird of Kenya Sub-committee. He is a member of the East African Rarities Committee. He is a National Geographic Explorer, on his work with African Crowned Eagles. He is a dedicated film maker, and nature photographer. He is also a TED Speaker, and gave a TED Talk titled “For the love of birds” in 2017. Washington has also discovered a lizard species new to Science (year 2021), which was named after his second name (Agama wachirai).
Diana Jerop was born and raised in the Southern Rift Valley region of Kenya. She is currently one of the few Women Birding Guides in Kenya. Over the years, she has managed to explore many parts of Kenya and leads tours across the country. She holds a Bachelor of Science – Hospitality and Tourism Management, from Pwani University. Diana is also very passionate about nurturing upcoming Women Guides and is the current Chairperson of the Kenya Women Birders Club. Diana is an active Citizen Scientist, contributing data for the Kenya Bird Map. She regularly takes part in the annual waterfowl census hosted by the National Museums of Kenya and Nature Kenya. Diana is a very jovial person to be with and every day spent with her is a memory.
Alex Mwangi was born and raised at the foothills of Mt. Kenya. He later joined Dedan Kimathi University of Technology for a Tourism Management degree. Alex is also a certified guide and member of the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association (KPSGA). While in campus, he conducted a research project on the population of Hinde’s Babblers in the Mukurwe-ini region, Kenya. He has also completed a certificate course in Fundamentals of Ornithology at Elsamere Field Study Centre. Alex leads tours across the entire Kenya and Northern Tanzania. His passion and humble personality in the field makes him one of the most exciting people to enjoy a safari with.
Cisticola Tours founded the Kenya Women Birders Club, a young club aimed at nurturing female Birding Guides and Research Assistants. We support the club with an array of activities, from free training programs, internships, employment of Guides and sponsoring birding gear or books. The goal is to equip the ladies with enough skills and experience, to become Tour Guides or Research Assistants across Kenya.
Additionally, during all our tours, we support local communities by working with local guides in every community site we visit. This has helped local communities, and especially farmers, to appreciate nature and view birds as a source of income. They therefore protect habitat for the birds so that their children can become local guides and earn a living from tourism. We also fund local community projects like bee keeping, water harvesting and afforestation.
We also contribute greatly to Citizen-Science projects in Africa, with a major focus on eBird and Kenya Bird Map. These are two bird mapping projects where we share all our tour records and bird sightings. To enable conservation of species, data on distribution is very important, and our company is committed to bridge the gaps.
We also run an Environmental Education Program in Kenya, where we target mainly schools. We help them establish Wildlife and Environment Clubs and educate the students on conservation projects within their schools. This has helped greatly in nurturing conservation passion among the youth.
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