14 Day Birding in Uganda

Day 1: Arrival at Entebbe International Airport. Meet your local smiling guide and transfer to Imperial Botanical Hotel. If you arrive early enough, you will have a welcome birding afternoon around Entebbe Botanical Gardens. Watch out for the Brown throated waver, golden backed weaver, yellow backed weaver, grey headed gull, long tailed cormorant, common squacco heron, yellow billed duck, pied kingfisher, giant kingfisher, swamp flycatcher, broad billed roller, black and white casqued hornbill, splendid glossy starling, black headed gonolek, orange weaver, red chested sunbird, slender billed weaver, Ross’s turaco, pied hornbill, crowned hornbill, open billed stork, great red warbler, sedge warbler, grey caped warbler and many other species.
Dinner and overnight at Imperial Botanical Hotel.

Day 2: Early morning birding Lincoln trail. This has over 170 species that have so far been recorded. Interested birders may record over 110 species in a day. So far the local bird guides have recommended this trail as the best spot nearest to Kampala. On this specific Uganda Safari, Watch out for white-headed barbet, red headed lovebird, double toothed barbet, brown twin spot, tambourine dove, black-headed bush shrike, scaly francolin, tropical boubou, and other various species. Dinner and overnight at Imperial Botanical Hotel.

Day 3: After an early breakfast drive to Mabamba Important Bird Area the closest and best spot to watch a shoebill in the wild. Stop over in Mpigi Swamp for papyrus rarities. Watch out for the usual papyrus gonolek, white winged warbler, yellow backed weaver, northern brown-throated weaver and blue-headed coucal. Proceed to Mabamba wetland. Most of the birding is done on the canoe. Look out for the majestic shy shoebill stork both in the sky exploring the heights and down in the marshy swamp, Watch out closely for the swamp flycatcher, purple swamp hen, African water rail, common moorhen, lesser jacana, African jacana, African pygmy goose, white faced whistling duck, squacco heron, blue breasted bee-eater, winding cistcola, goliath heron, black crake and many more. Return to Imperial Botanical Hotel for Dinner and overnight stay.

Day 4: After an early breakfast depart Queen Elizabeth National Park as you bird enroute. Stop over in Mbarara for lunch. Over 640 bird species have been recorded in QNP. Keen birders may be interested to know that a single day’s record can yield to 300 species out of 604 in the Park, one of the highest in the whole world. Key species seen here include, pelicans, skimmers, kingfishers, thick-knees, storks, martins, swallows, weavers, raptors, canaries, kites and grassland specialties. Dinner and overnight at Mweya Safari Lodge.

Day 5: Early morning birding on the open savanna. Return to the hotel for lunch, relax and chart the break away or if you wish you may have a short dip in the luxurious swimming pool. Afternoon enjoy birding along Kazinga channel on boat. Kazinga channel joins Lake Edward and Lake George, which gives it a wonderful site in a lovely environment with its various beautiful water birds along the channel.
Dinner and overnight at Mweya Safari Lodge.

Day 6: After an early breakfast, birding around the hotel is productive. Check out at 10:00am for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Enjoy your picnic as you bird enroute. Enjoy the typical African welcome from the locals and park wardens. Dinner and night sleep at Buhoma community camps in the rather quite jungle close to the home of the forest giant mountain gorillas. You will be woken up by the early sweet melodies of the snow capped robin chat and the grey capped warbler. Listen to the luehder’s bush shrike as you enjoy your breakfast. On the lucky day, you will have uninvited guests like the grey green bush shrike, black bee-eater, Narina’s trogon during breakfast.
Dinner and overnight at Buhoma community camp.

Day 7: Early morning birding with the early risers at the luxury bush camp. After breakfast carry picnic lunch for the whole day birding in the only natural tropical forest in the area. This forest has over 345 bird species recorded. These include red throated alethe, equatorial akalat, Forest robin, montane oriole, grey throated barbet, hairy breasted barbet, African broad bill, black bee eater, pale breasted illadopsis, Narinas trogon, Pettit’s cuckoo shrike, black faced rufous warbler, Kivu ground thrush, short tailed warbler, Red fronted antpecker, Oriole finch and other forest “residents”. This forest receives rainfall almost throughout the year.
Dinner and overnight at Buhoma community camp.

Day 8: Many birders who have been to this forest have shown interest in tracking these cousins of human beings in their jungle homes. Have this optional day for gorilla tracking. Carry your picnic lunch and enjoy the forest giants.
Dinner and overnight at Buhoma community camp.

Day 9 &10: Depart at the crack of dawn for a 50km drive to the highest peak of the forest- Ruhija. Several checks at the rare bird spots may produce rare species such as white starred robin, grey cuckoo shrike, strange weaver, banded prinia, brown chested alethe, slender billed greenbull, yellow streaked greenbull, white browned crombec, mountain illadopsis, Luehder’s bush shrike, grey bush shrike, grey green bush shrike; all these and many others are among the 345 species recorded in this park. Birding to the Mubwindi swamp is very rewarding. One has to be prepared to walk on steep mountains. You drop from 2400m to 2050m above sea level. Birding in the bamboo zone is good for handsome francolin, archers robin chat, stripe breasted tit, purple breasted sunbird, mountain greenbull, duikers, wallers, chestnut winged starling, dusky crimsonwing, mountain illadopsis, mountain yellow warbler to mention a few. Birders who come with camping equipment can camp at Ruhija campground.

Day 11: After breakfast travel eastwards through the terraced mountains of Kabale otherwise know as the “little Switzerland of Africa” to the open plains and rocky hillsides of Ankole. Your drive is punctuated with several stopovers to catch up with the barefaced go away bird, wattled lapwing, southern red bishop, varied sunbird, African harrier hawk, larks and many more species. Enjoy the graceful long horned Ankole cattle as you bird and the spectacular scenery of Lake Mburo National Park.
Dinner and overnight at Mantana Luxury tented camp.

Day 12: Wake up to the sweet songs of the morning dove, deidrick cuckoo, grey-capped warbler, black-headed weaver and ring necked dove. Leave at dawn to get the African fin foot at Lake Mburo before it disappears into the papyrus beds floating on the Lake. Look out for the brown chested lapwing, lilac breasted roller, black bellied bustard, helmet guinea fowl, coqui francolin, rufous napped lark, vultures, eagles, kites and many more. Remember this is the only park with elands, zebras and impalas in the whole region. Return to the camp for lunch, relax and chat the evening away. (Evening birding can be arranged for the nightjars) Dinner and overnight r at Mantana luxury tented camp.

Day 13: After morning game drive, proceed to Kampala. Stopover for lunch in Masaka. After lunch proceed to Kampala, stopover at the Equator for a photography of a life time, have a chance of being in two different hemispheres at the same time, next stopover at the Mpambire drum makers. Arrive early enough for shopping in Kampala.
Dinner and overnight at Imperial Botanical Hotel.

Day 14: Departure