Overview
This trip will take you to the best of Uganda specifically put together for any one fascinated with bird-watching.
PLEASE NOTE:
The optional Chimpanzee activity has a visitor minimum age of 12 years.
The optional Gorilla activity has a visitor minimum age of 15 years.
Itinerary
On arrival at Entebbe airport, you will be warmly welcomed by your guide who will transfer you to your hotel for dinner and overnight stay.
Early breakfast and transfer to Mabamba Swamp 50kms west of Kampala. En-route to the swamps look out for papyrus specialties such as the papyrus gonolek, white winged warbler, northern brown throated weaver, Weyn's weaver, golden backed weaver, orange weaver to mention but a few. Most of the birding in Mabamba swamps is done canoeing as we look out for the rare shoebill stork. African water rail, Allen’s and purple gallinule, squacco, goliath, purple and grey herons, a variety of egrets and ducks.
Drive to Lake Mburo National Park crossing the equator along the way.
This park is a mosaic habitat of rocky outcrops, dry hillside, open and wooded savanna, forests and swamps. A variety of habitats have contributed to the avifauna diversity and 313 bird species have been recorded in the park including red faced barbet, long tailed cisticola (Tabora), papyrus yellow warbler, African fin foot, northern brubru, Rufus bellied heron, black collared barbet, brown chested plover, white winged tit, northern brown throated weaver, white winged warbler.
On this day you shall have more time to bird watch in this park, in search of more species. You shall have a boat ride on this day in search of water species.
You shall drive to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. Bwindi is the bird watchers heaven! It holds 348 species of birds among which 90% of the Albertine rift Endemic are here such as the short-tailed, rusty-faced woodland and Grauer’s Rush warblers. Bar-tailed trogon, Wilcock’s honey-guide, yellow-eyed black fly-catcher, Kivu ground thrush, dusky crimson wing, white-tailed blue monarch among others that are difficult or impossible to see in any other part of East Africa. An experienced bird watcher can identify up to 100 species in a day.
If you have opted for gorilla trekking then you will report at the park office at 7:30 am, where you shall have a briefing as you get ready for the gorilla trekking, There are now only slightly over 1000 mountain gorillas left in the world. The tracking may take between 2 and 6 hours with a park ranger guide interpreting the flora and fauna and the lifestyle of the gorillas. In the afternoon you may relax at the camp or (Optional) take a forest nature walk that will lead you to the Munyaga waterfall and a chance to see primates such as the grey cheeked mangabey, blue monkeys and others species.
After breakfast, you will drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park with several bird watching stops and arrive in time for lunch. Later you will embark on an evening bird watching expedition and return for dinner at the respective lodge.
Queen Elizabeth National Park lies on the floor of the eastern arm of the Great African Rift Valley. Today you can either bird along the Mweya peninsular for the grey-headed kingfisher, swamp flycatcher, black-headed gonolek, grey-capped warbler, slender-billed weaver and brimstone canary or take an early morning game drive towards the famous Kasenyi track, winding through grassland dotted with trees and nearby crater lakes. Our main aim is to locate lions and other mammals including buffalo, uganda Kob, oribi, waterbuck, bushbuck and family groups of African elephants. Along the road you may find ccaly francolin, red-necked spurfowl, several plovers, harlequin quail and common button-quail. Larks are numerous and include rufous-naped, flappet and the local white-tailed. Raptors include martial eagle, banded snake eagles and bateleur.
In the afternoon proceed on a boat trip down the Kazinga Channel. This area offers stunning views of pink-backed pelican, saddle-billed stork, hammerkop, African spoonbill, yellow-billed stork, water thick-knee, African skimmer and over-summering pale arctic shorebirds. Choose to have a game drive on the peninsular searching for gabon and slender-tailed nightjars, as well as owls especially if you are staying at the Institute, or Mweya Lodge.
After breakfast you will drive to either Kibale Forest National Park or Semliki National Park. You shall have an opportunity to bird-watch along the way as well as in the afternoon in the forest.
If you opt for chimpanzee Trekking you shall have a briefing at the starting point then start chimp trekking which may take 2- 3 hours. Lunch will be organized according to the trend of the day’s activities, either picnic lunch or a hot menu lunch.
Later in the afternoon, you will have the opportunity of a guided walk through Bigodi Swamp. You may see red colobus monkeys, grey-cheeked mangabeys, red-tailed monkeys and galagos. The forest is also home to the scaly francolin, marsh tchagra, black-bellied seedcracker, green-backed twinspot, bi-coloured mannikin, white-naped pigeon, afep pigeon, narina’s trogon, joyful greenbul, olive long-tailed cuckoo, black bee-eater, blue-headed coucal, blue-breasted kingfisher, scaly-throated honeyguide, roufous flycatcher thrush and black-faced rufous warbler.
We will leave early and take a packed lunch for the road as this is a long drive and few birding opportunities along the way.
Today you shall spend the whole day bird watching in this serene park. After breakfast you shall cross the river for a game and bird watching drive on the northern side of the River Nile.
Key species of this park include the shoebill stork, secretary bird, bat hawk, red-necked falcon, white-crested turaco, Egyptian plover, Bruce’s pigeon and pel’s fish-owl. Standard-winged, pennant-winged and long-tailed nightjar. carmine bee-eater, brown-backed woodpecker, African black scimitarbill, spotted morning thrush, silver bird, swallow-tailed bee-eater, bronze-tailed starling, northern red bishop, rock pratincole, four-banded sandgrouse, white-rumped seedeater, black-billed barbet, green-headed olive back, white-fronted black chat, cabanis’s and brown-rumped bunting, black-rumped waxbill and bar-breasted firefinch among others.
After lunch, you shall have a boat cruise to the bottom of the falls.
Drive to Entebbe with an opportunity to bird along the way. You may visit the Ziwa Rhino sanctuary (Optional), where the white rhinos which were previously extinct from Uganda, following the years of civil unrest, are being re-introduced, with an objective of transferring them back to the national parks where they originally were. You may be within a distance of 30 meters from these fierce animals which have been semi-habituated.
Later catch a flight back home.
Included
- Park fees(For non-residents)
- Gorilla permits(One per person, non-resident)
- Chimp permits(One per person, non-resident)
- All activities(Unless labeled as optional)
- All accommodation(Unless listed as upgrade)
- A professional driver/guide
- All transportation(Unless labeled as optional)
- All Taxes/VAT
- Roundtrip airport transfer
- Meals(As specified in the day-by-day section)
- Drinks(As specified in the day-by-day section)