THE ISLANDS

Large areas of Suba District are still rich in natural vegetation, with a spectacular variety of birdlife. A visit to Mfangano and Rusinga can be combined with fascinating bird-watching.

The path to Kwitone on the northern side of Mfangano passes through homesteads and Wakula Primary School, climbing among leafy thickets and past a deep, hidden rock pool. As it climbs, the path becomes a track over rock faces, through an unusual landscape. Pockets of soil in the rock faces create patches of seasonally flooded grass, clumps of succulent aloes, euphorbia, morning glory and ground orchids, as well as small groves of thicket or forest. The trees here include Candelabra euphorbia and brown olive. There are a riotous variety of shrubs, climbers and scramblers, including sweet-scented jasmine – a rich diversity of plants in a stark but beautiful setting.

The islands of Mfangano and Rusinga are very different, as if they were unrelated. Mfangano, out in the lake, is rocky and steep, the farms are small, and the hilltops still thick with trees and bushes. Rusinga, now connected to the mainland by a causeway, is more densely populated. The shoreline is wide with many farms, sandy soil and layers of sedimentary rocks. The hills that rise from the centre are largely denuded, but feature sites sacred to the local people, important palaeontological sites, and unusual habitats such as gravel slopes.

The busy fishing beaches and open spaces of Rusinga are full of birds, many of them easy to see. Large pink-backed pelicans swim by majestically. Cormorants, Kingfishers and little Egrets crowd the shore. Noisy Black-headed Weavers nest in colonies in tall trees. In this drier habitat, the common dove is the African Mourning Dove, with a rolling descending call.

The smaller islands between Rusinga and Mfangano are also different. Some are rock outcrops with fig trees, where hundreds of Egrets, Cormorants and Ibises roost and nest. Takawiri Island, just east of Mfangano, is low-lying, with planted coconut trees and beaches of golden sand. Two small rocky islands, called the Mbasa islands (or Birds Island), are a bird sanctuary.

THE BIRDS

One of the most spectacular places to see birds in this area is indeed Birds Island: in reality two rocky and uninhabited islands close to each other. Both islands are covered in fig trees, festooned with birds, especially Cormorants, Egrets, Kingfishers and Fish Eagles which nest here. Among the rocks and below the trees are huge pre-historic looking Monitor lizards, who live off the birds eggs that fall to the ground. Adult nile monitors can reach seven feet in length.

People and water birds co-exist on Mfangano Island, as on most of the Kenyan shoreline of Lake Victoria. Little Egrets, pure white with golden feet, perch on boats, walk among the fishermen, and roost in large numbers on rocks and overhanging trees. Great and Long-tailed Cormorants, black with varying white below, fish in the lake and perch on the dark rocks.

The wild, melodious calls of African Fish Eagles ring from the tops of lakeside fig trees. Hamerkops, brown birds with a low crest, feed at the water’s edge and build enormous nests in the fig trees. The black-and-white Sacred Ibis and dark Hadada Ibis with a loud harsh call can both be recognised by their long, curved beaks.

Small birds of the shore are just as friendly. Tiny, brilliantly coloured Malachite Kingfishers and slim, black and white African Pied Wagtail may perch right on the boats. Pied Kingfishers hover in the air and plunge into the water after prey. Weaverbirds build their nests in homesteads, or next to fishing beaches. There are many kinds of weaverbirds on Mfangano; two likely to be seen near the shore are the Northern Brown-throated Weaver with a brown face and white eye, and the Slender-billed Weaver with a black face, black eye and slim black beak.

Inland, birds are a bit more difficult to see, except for the large Black Kites that continuously patrol the skies, looking for easy prey such as little chicks or dead fish. Swallows skim through the air; along the shore there are Angola Swallows and Plain Martins, and on the rocky ridges, Rock Martins and others. From September to April, during the northern winter, large flocks of Barn Swallows migrate to Africa; at that time they may outnumber other swallows.

The cooing of doves fills the air, especially the loud six-note call of the Red-eyed Dove and the long, mournful dirge of the Emerald-spotted Wood Dove. Among the birds a visitor is likely to see inland include the Common Bulbul, grey-brown above and pale below with yellow under the tail, found in most habitats, and the black and white Common Fiscal Shrike, perching on bushes and trees in the open to look for insect prey. Red-chested Sunbirds, with shiny blue-green heads and backs, long tails, and red bands across the chest, live near the shore. Pairs of large Eastern Gey Plantain-eaters call raucously from the treetops, and spectacular Black-headed Gonoleks, vivid red below, call to each other in the thickets.


THE FISH AND OTHER WATER LIFE

Half a century ago, the Nile perch was introduced into Lake Victoria, on the premise that this was a large, tasty and ‘sporting’ fish, and that it occurs in the Nile Basin. The Nile perch, which can grow bigger than a person, however promptly set about eating all the other fish. Today some 300 different kinds of endemic fish are no longer found in the main lake, and fish such as tilapia, once common here, have become scarce.

Fishermen catch Nile perch for the local and export markets. At night, they fish for the sardine-like Omena (or Dagaa), attracted to the lanterns on the boats. The beaches reveal traces of other water life: shells of freshwater clams and snails of different sizes and shapes. In many parts of Kenya, fresh water crabs have been displaced by the introduced Louisiana crayfish, but on the rocky shores of Suba District they seem to be surviving. Crabs and crayfish are important foods for the two species of otters that live in Lake Victoria. Hippos and crocodiles also live in the lake, but here they are shy and wary and seldom seen. The Nile monitor, Africa’s biggest lizard, can sometimes be spotted along the shores of Mfangano Island.


HUMAN LIFE BY THE LAKE

Suba District is held together by water, not roads, and this gives the area a special flavour that can be shared by visitors. Transport between the islands is by motor boat and brightly-coloured water taxis (canoes with outboard motors) are a constant feature of any vista. Boat races (which usually take place in December, but can also be specially organised for an event) are an exciting spectacle.

By night, hundreds of sailing canoes string out thousands of lanterns, silently fishing for Omena (the sound of a boat’s engine is thought to scare them), lighting up the lake in an extraordinary floating display. The Omena can be seen drying on the beaches of the fishing towns in the morning.

Sport fishing for Nile perch is available to visitors and is one of the major attractions at the two luxury camps.

FORESTS 

The Gwassi Hills – now a gazetted national forest – and Gembe Hills can be visited from either Ruma National Park, by road from Mbita, or from the lake shore – however prior arrangements should be made with the Forestry Officer at Mbita.