.It is a great location for relaxing & there are some birds around the hotel too.
Having a non birding girlfriend I would be grateful for any suggestions for future "beach & birding" holidays.
Were looking for coastal hotels that have lots of wildlife in the grounds or that are near to nature reserves or parks where I could have a day or two's birding.
A lot of trip reports are full on, mad dashes to see as many species as possible. Whilst these are great I also like the less hectic, relax & enjoy it approach.
We have previously been to the Senegambia Hotel in the Gambia & Baga in Goa and would recommend these to others and are looking for something along the same line.
Anyway, here's a list of birds seen in the hotel and the bay during a 2 week stay.
Dimorphic Egret - small flock inc 2 dark morph birds on 1 day
Little Egret - 1 regularly in the bay
Grey Heron - seen most days
Black headed Heron - small numbers in the bay or roosting in trees
African Fish Eagle - 1 most days perched on a small island (pic 4)
Black Kite - single birds seen inland
Crab Plover - 2 sightings of 2/3 birds
Ringed Plover - small numbers
Greater Sandplover - 3/4. All sandplovers positively id'd were greater
Grey Plover - 3/4 most days
Common Sandpiper - small numbers
Terek Sandpiper - 1 seen
Greenshank - 1 or 2 present
Curlew Sandpiper - 2/3 birds
Little Stint - 1 seen
Turnstone - small numbers
Whimbrel - small flocks seen flying past, 3/4 in the bay
Lesser black backed Gull - 2 flew past
Sooty Gull - small group resident in the bay
Caspian Tern - 2 flew past on 1 day
Crested Tern - 1 seen in the bay
Gull billed Tern - 1 flew past
Saunder's Tern - 1 fishing in the bay
Red eyed Dove - seen daily
Ring necked Dove - seen daily
House Crow - seen daily
Pied Crow -seen daily
White browed Coucal - 1/2 birds resident, but shy
Palm Swift - always overhead
Mottled Spinetail - seen on a few days
Speckled Mousebird - a small party seen on a few dates
Pied Kingfisher - always present (pic 3)
White-throated Bee-eater - small flock 10 to 15 birds, seen daily
Lilac-breasted Roller - 3/4 birds present inc 2 young birds
Lesser striped Swallow - 3/4, normally on wires just outside the entrance
Ethiopian Swallow - 3/4 usually feeding over the coastal rocks.
Barn Swallow - 3/4 seen
African Pied Wagtail - family seen usually around the tennis court (pic 2).
Common Bulbul - seen daily
Spotted Flycatcher - 1/2 in the hotel
Fork-tailed Drongo - seen most days
Black bellied Starling - seen once
House Sparrow - always around the entrance
African Golden Weaver - seen a few times, especially near "Casa Mare"
African Palm Weaver - breeding in the hotel
Bronze Manninkin - 1 pair on 1 day
Yellow fronted Canary - 4 seen on 2 days
Mammals
Dolphins - 40+ seen offshore twice
Four-toed hedgehog - seen twice
Bat sp
Other wildlife, inc Ghecko's, Lizards, Crabs, sea urchins + many other sea creatures in the rock pools.
For more serious birding, Mida creek and Arabuko Sokoke forest are about 5km away & trips can be arranged to these sites quite easily.
A variety of safari's are also available to suit all budgets.