Cisticola Tours

Cisticola Tours is a Nairobi-based birding and nature tour operator founded in 2017 that runs trips across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda. The company is led by Washington Wachira, a Kenyan ornithologist trained at Kenyatta University and a National Geographic Explorer who set an East African birding year record in 2022 with more than 1,000 species recorded. As the name suggests, the team has a particular fondness for cryptic species — the cisticolas, larks, and other LBJs that most safari guides skip past. Their core itineraries target Kenya's endemic and near-endemic specialities, including Hinde's Babbler on the southern slopes of Mt. Kenya, Sokoke Pipit and Sokoke Scops Owl in the Arabuko-Sokoke coastal forest, Taita Apalis in the Taita Hills, and Aberdare Cisticola and Sharpe's Longclaw on the Kinangop grasslands. They also handle the regional megaticks across the border — Shoebill in Uganda's Mabamba Swamp and Green-breasted Pitta in the Albertine Rift forests. Beyond commercial tours, Cisticola is unusual in the East African market for its scientific footprint. Wachira has co-authored a guidebook to the birds of Dakatcha Woodland IBA, founded the Kenyatta University Birding Club, served as manager of the Kenya Bird Map Project, and currently chairs the East Africa Rarities Committee. Tours tend to be small-group with one vehicle, which keeps the focus on hard-to-find specialities rather than mass species lists.