Uganda is home to 49% of Africa’s bird species. On this 18-day ultimate birding safari you will discover why Uganda is one of the world’s best birding destinations. Within 24-hours of touching down in Uganda, you are likely to add the iconic Shoebill to your life list. From here we visit Uganda’s five most popular National Parks, where you will be blown away by Uganda’s 1000+ birding highlights as well as a fabulous selection of primates and game. This tour takes you to Mabamba Swamp, Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, Royal Mile, Murchison Falls National Park, Fort Portal – Kibaale National Park, Semuliki National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Lake Bunyonyi.
Day 1: Arrival at Entebbe airport
Day 2: Birding at Mabamba Swamp – near Entebbe
Day 3: Transfer to Lake Mburo
Day 4: Birdwatching at Lake Mburo
One of our company representatives will pick you from the airport and transfer you to your hotel. If time allows, your first stop will be at Entebbe Botanical Gardens, where you may see Black and White-casqued Hornbill, Great Blue Turacos, numerous Weaver species and Red-tailed monkeys.
After an early breakfast, we will take the drive to the boat to Mabamba Swamp on the shores of Lake Victoria. Here we will do birding the entire day, most of the birding is done from a wooden canoe that guides you through narrow papyrus-lined water channels. This is one of the best places in Uganda to see the rare Shoebill. Also look out for Blue Breasted Bee-eater, Papyrus gonolek, white-faced whistling duck, African water rail, Goliath herons, spur winged and Pygmy Geese.
After breakfast we drive to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, the proud home reserve of Uganda’s only wild white rhinos. A guided nature walk and shoebill trekking are (Optional) activities here. Ziwa is also a good destination for bird lovers. The sanctuary has 350 species of birds recorded, the list includes African Pygmy Kingfisher, black headed Gonolek, swamp flycatcher, African Green-pigeon, blue spotted wood-dove, Abdim’s stork and African black crake, Larfe monitor lizards and butterflies. We spend a whole day exploring the sanctuary for birds.
After breakfast on the final day we shall take a guided nature walk. Look out for African Darter, African Fish Eagle, Cardinal Woodpecker, Ross’s Turaco and also wildlife like reedbuck, velvet monkeys, black and white Columbus monkeys, hartebeest and the mongoose and various reptiles . After the walk we shall check out of the hotel and have lunch en route as we proceed to Masindi Town. Check in at hotel and proceed to The Royal Mile in the outskirts of Budongo Forest and 50Kms from Masindi town is one of Uganda’s top 10 birding locations. Keen eyes may expect to see chocolate-backed kingfisher, western black-headed oriole, Rufous-crowned eremomela, Blue-throated roller. Budongo is also famous for its chimpanzee population.
After an early breakfast, we return to the Royal Mile, in search of any species we have not sighted the previous day. We shall be alert for forest birds such as Piping Hornbill, Red-billed Dwarf Hornbill, Black Dwarf Hornbill and White-crested Hornbill. After lunch in Masindi we drive to Murchison Falls National Park. Inside the park, we will visit the Top of the Falls to take in the spectacular view of the River Nile dropping 43 metres as it forces its way through a 7 metre gorge. Also look out for birds like the Rock Pratincole and the African Skimmer, white faced whistling duck and Red shouldered, Cuckoo-shrike, Bat Hawk and numerous species of Nightjar on the way to your lodge.
After an early breakfast, we depart for a morning birding along the Buligi Circuit and the Delta area. Look out for the Shoebill in quieter areas of the Delta on the river’s edge. After lunch at the lodge take the boat ride to the bottom of the Falls, looking out for Red-throated, Carmine, Little and Blue-breasted Bee eaters and Denham’s Bustard. Regular visitors to the riverbanks include elephants, giraffes and buffaloes. Hippos and Nile crocodiles some of which are four metres or more in length are easily sighted.
After an early tea or coffee depending on where you will be lodging, we will head out to Kaniyo Pabidi forest a natural forest inside the park and a habitant to many bird species like Blue-breasted, the white thighed hornbill, purels illadopis, the chocolate backed Kingfisher and African Dwarf Kingfisher, Puvell’s Illadopsis and Forest Robin. The forest also doubles as a habitant for primates such as the olive baboons, black and white colobus, the blue monkeys and the habituated chimp group. Chimp trekking is an (optional) activity. We will spend the day birding and enjoying a nature walk and ‘botany watch’. We will have lunch at Kaniyo Pabidi campsite. We will continue exploring the forest for birds after lunch.
After breakfast, transfer to Fort Portal, with lunch and some bird roadside exploration in some spots en route to Kibaale. Kibaale Forest National Park is home to Uganda’s biggest concentration of primates, including the endangered Chimpanzee, as well as the rare L’Hoest, Red Colobus and Black and White Colobus Monkeys. Over 325 bird species have been recorded in this park. Chimp trekking is an (optional) activity. Arrive and check in.
After an early breakfast, we shall drive to the birding site at Sebitoli, on the eastern edge of Kibaale Forest, one of the best birding spots in the National Park. (Birding on the main road can also be very rewarding).
After lunch, we shall drive to the other side of Kibaale Forest to Bigodi Wetlands Sanctuary. ‘Kibaale specials’ include Joyful and Cabanis Greenbuls, Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo, Black-faced Rufous Warbler, Red-tailed Bristlebill, Bocage’s Bush-shrike, Toro Olive and Cameroon Sombre Greenbuls, Green Twinspot, Brown and Scaly-breasted Illadopsis, Ludher’s Bush-shrike, Green-breasted Pitta, Green-throated and Blue-throated Brown Sunbird, Green-headed Sunbird, Brown-capped Weaver, Velvet-mantled Drongo, Pink-footed Puff back.
After an early morning breakfast, we report for briefing at the park headquarters and set off for chimp trekking for approximately 4 to 5 hours depending on where the chimpanzees have decided to habit. Check out more primates like the olive baboons, the rare L’Hoest’s, golden monkeys, grey cheeked mangabey, colubus red, blue, black, white monkeys and also a variety of birds. After lunch, check out of the lodge and we transfer to Semuliki National Park. This drive takes you through the crater lakes, hillsides decorated with tea plantations and down a winding escarpment road into the Rift Valley, the lowest point in Uganda at just over 600 m above sea level.
After an early breakfast drive from your lodge for a full day birdwatching on the Kirura Trail, the most popular trail at this lowland forest. On this day we will have lunch during our activity. Semuliki National Park is unique park and the only place in Uganda where you can see Congo biome species such as the Red-billed Dwarf, Black-casqued Wattled, Black Dwarf and White-crested, Piping and White-thighed Hornbills; Pygmy Kingfisher, African Piculet, Zenker’s Honeyguide, Red-rumped Tinkerbird, Fire-crested Alethe, Chestnut-flanked Sparrowhawk, Rufous-sided Broadbill, Nkulengu Rail, Red-bellied and Blue-billed Malimbes, Green-tailed Bristlebill, Long-tailed Hawk, Pale-fronted and Chestnut-breasted Negrofinches, Black-winged Oriole, and more. Game drive and Sempaya hot springs visit are (optional) activities on this day.
Enjoy a leisurely breakfast before checking out of your lodge and heading back up the escarpment, through Fort Portal, past the foothills of the Rwenzoris and south towards the Equator. Check into your lodge in time for lunch and set aside the afternoon for a boat ride on the Kazinga Channel, a birders’ paradise and a highlight of your African safari. Queen Elizabeth National Park has over 600 bird species. Birds to look out for include Great Snipe, African Fish Eagles, Pallid Harrier, Gull-billed Tern, Lesser Kestrel, Shoebill, Fawn-breasted Waxbill, Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike, dark capped yellow warbler, red headed bluebill and the Eurasian golden oriole. You can also expect to see a good number of hippos, elephants, Nile crocodiles, monitor lizards, Uganda Kob, waterbuck and warthogs. After the launch cruise, you have the option of taking an early evening game drive.
In the morning we will drive towards Lake Kikorongo and the grass plains of Kasenyi for more birding in the park. Watch out for birds like Common Squacco Heron, Glossy and Sacred Ibise in the Kikorongo area. Kasenyi has much to offer serious birders. The plains support large numbers of (seasonal) storks, common squaco heron, glossy and sacred ibises as well as raptors such as brown snake eagle and martial eagle. In the afternoon after lunch, we go to the Mweya peninsula to look for the migrant harriers, Marsh tchagra and more.
Early in the morning after breakfast, we transfer to the southern sector of the park and check in at the lodge. After an early lunch we then go for birding, look out for, African wood owl, African Emerald, black-necked weaver, collared sunbirds, yellow-throated leaf love and crepuscular African hobby. Later in the evening, we take a game drive with an opportunity to see the unique tree climbing lions, kobs, leopards, antelopes and elephants.
After breakfast check out and drive south to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Arrive, check in and have lunch at the lodge. After lunch, we go for birding on the Buhoma forest trail both in the secondary and primary forest, look out for grey-winged robin-chat, grey-headed and white-breasted nigritas, grey and buff-throated Apalis, white-tailed Anti-thrush, red-tailed greenbul and Equatorial Akalat.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is home to the largest number of habituated mountain gorilla families. If you are tracking, you will have an early start at Uganda Wildlife Authority headquarters. It can take between one and three hours to track to find the gorillas. You then have an hour with these gentle, great apes. For many visitors to Uganda, this is the wildlife highlight of their trip (optional).
After an early breakfast accompanied by our expert bird guide. We head out to the famous “neck” trail which begins at the northern gate of Buhoma. Hot food will be delivered to us on our birding trail. We will look out for birds like Grauer’s Rush Warbler, Western Green Tinkerbird, African Wood Owl, Archer’s Robin-Chat, Red-throated Alethe, Fine-banded Woodpecker, , Handsome Francolin, Chestnut-throated Apalis, Regal Sunbird, Collared Apalis, Montane Oriole, Short-tailed Warbler, Kivu Ground-Thrush, Chapin’s Flycatcher and African Green Broadbill.
Forest birding in Bwindi ranks as the best in Uganda and is highly rated in Africa. Bwindi is home to over 23 highly localized Albertine Rift endemic bird species.
Today you will breakfast before sunrise and enjoy a birding exploration on the guided Munyanga Trail. Hot food will be delivered to us on our birding trail. Special birds to look out for include Black-faced Rufous Warbler, Handsome Francolin Red-throated Alethe, Black-faced and Black-throated Apalis, Rwenzori Batis, Mountain Masked Apalis, Grauer’s Warbler, Dusky-blue Flycatcher, Yellow-eyed Black-Flycatcher, Chapin’s Flycatcher, Ashy Flycatcher, Chin-spot Batis, Blue-headed Sunbird, Northern Double-collared Sunbird, Stuhlmann’s Starling, Olive Thrush, Grauer’s Rush-warbler, Neumann’s Warbler and Red faced Woodland-Warbler. Mid-afternoon, transfer to your next destination – Lake Bunyonyi.
After breakfast, explore the breathtaking scenery of Lake Bunyonyi “place of little birds”, the second deepest lake in East and Central Africa. The Grey crowned crane (Uganda’s emblem) is a popular sighting here White tailed blue monard, African Harrier Hawk, grey crowned cranes, Herons, egrets, the cardinal woodpecker, the levillant cuckoo, slender-billed baglafetch, weavers, levillant cuckoo . Each of the 29 scenic islands has a different mythical tale and these can be explored by canoe and on foot. After lunch go for boating to a swampy area at the end of the lake. You can also take part in any (optional) activity of your choice like nature walks and hiking, cultural/village visits and Island exploration
Depart for Kampala lunch en-route arriving in the evening. The tour will end when our driver returns you to your drop-off point.
