At the Kinangop Highland Grassland Important Bird Area we met a local conservationist with Friends of Kinangop Plateau who is trying to provide economic benefits for farmers who protect and manage tussock grasslands for the endemic and endangered Sharpe’s Longclaw, a type of pipit. He helped us get great looks at this rare bird. We were duly impressed by the exceptionally long tails of the blackbird-sized male Long-tailed and Jackson’s Widowbirds; the latter is an East Africa endemic. From a vantage point in these highlands we admired the expanse of the Rift Valley before descending into it.