22 Days Uganda Bird Watching Safari
22 Days Uganda Bird Watching Safari
Safari Overview:
Our birding safari will take us to the best birding spots in Uganda and here we shall take our time with our birding specialists to keenly spot the most sought-after birds.
The birding hotspots on this tour include: Mabamba wetland, Lake Mburo National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kibale Forest National Park, Budongo forest and Murchison Falls National Park.
Tour Highlights
- Bird watching
- Boat Cruise
- Chimpanzee tracking
- Guided Nature walk
- Gorilla trekking
- Community village walk
- Wildlife game drives
Destinations
- Mabamba Swamp
- Entebbe Botanical Gardens
- Lake Mburo National Park
- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
- Queen Elizabeth National Park
- Kibale Forest National Park
- Budongo Forest
- Murchison Falls National Park
Detailed Itinerary:
Day 1: Kampala – Mabamba Swamp – Entebbe
Pick you up from the airport to your accommodation in Entebbe, where you’ll take a full day preparing for your fully-packed 21 days of an amazing birding experience in Uganda.
Dinner and over night stay:
- Selected hotel in Entebbe
- Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Day 2: Birding at Mabamba and Entebbe Botanical Gardens
Enjoy your breakfast before we head out for a very good introduction to the birds of Uganda. We shall start in the morning with a visit to the Mabamba Bay, an important birding area. Our main search today will be focusing on the Shoebill Stork, one of the threatened species in Africa.
Other birds to watch out for while in the swamp include the Rufous Bellied Heron, Purple Swamphen, Reed Warbler(s), Pygmy and Spur Winged Goose, Lesser Jacana, African Marsh Harrier and the Eurasian bird species among others, depending on the month you visit.
Later in the afternoon we shall visit the Botanical Gardens in Entebbe, an excellent birding site on the shores of Lake Victoria endowed with natural water, forest and savannah grasslands habitat.
While here, we shall look out for birds like the African Grey Parrots, Broad Billed Roller, Grey Woodpecker, Klaas’s, Diederick and Red Chested Cuckoo, Superb, Red Chested, Scarlet Chested, Collard, Green Throated and Copper Sunbird, Orange, Spotted Backed, Black Headed, Slender Billed and Golden Backed Weaver.
Finding the Great Blue and Ross’s Turaco, and the Giant Kingfisher is one of the biggest sightings we look forward to here. We shall later drive back to the hotel for dinner and overnight stay.
Dinner and overnight at:
- Selected hotel in Entebbe
- Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Day 3: Birding to Murchison Falls
After the early morning breakfast starting our day, we shall then drive northwards to Murchison Falls National Park where the ecosystem completely changes. We shall then get exposed to different bird species such as the Bronze Tailed, Lesser and Greater Blue-eared Starlings which are very difficult to sight, but their distinctive calls help us catch sight of them.
Still on our sightings are the Black Winged-bishop, Fantailed Widowbird, White Crested Turaco, Black Billed and Blue Spotted Wood-dove, Yellow Bellied Hyliota, African Moustached Warbler, Brown Twinspot, the seasonal Lesser Grey Shrike, Brown Parrot, African Thrush, Little Sparrow – Hawk, African Harrier Hawk, Grey and Nubian Woodpecker, and Green Backed Eremomela.
Don’t miss out the Grey Headed Olive Back, White Chinned Prinia, Black and White Mannikin, Eastern Grey Plantain Eater, Red Eyed, African Morning, Ring Necked and Laughing Dove plus many other species of birds. We shall later reach Murchison with a visit to the top of the falls and check into our lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Day 4: Birding in Northern Murchison Falls and a Boat Ride to the bottom of the Falls
After breakfast, we shall do birding on the northern bank of Murchison Falls looking out for both wildlife and birdlife. Among the bird species, expect to see the Grey Headed, Striped and Woodland Kingfisher, Red Shouldered Cuckoos-Shrike, Beautiful Sunbirds, Foxy, Whistling, Croaking, Singing, and Rattling, Zitting and Siffling Cisiticola.
Don’t miss out on the Abyssanian Ground Hornbill, Black Bellied and Stanley’s Bustard, White Fronted Black Chat, Sooty Chat, Yellow Billed, Wood Chat and Grey Backed Shrike, Abyssinian and Rufous Crowned Roller, Spotted Morning Thrush, African Quail Finch, Vitteline Masked Weaver, Black Billed Baerbet, Swallow Tailed, Northern Carmine, Little and the seasonal Eurosian species.
You may also have sighting of the Blue Cheeked and Olive bee-eater.White-browed and Chestnut Crowned Sparrow-weavers, White Headed Buffalo Weaver, Speckle Fronted Weaver, Rufous Sparrow, Superb Starling and many more bird species.
This morning some of the mammals to be seen alongside the birding will be the Giraffe, Cape Buffalo, African Elephant, Jackson’s Hartebeest, Oribi, Bohor Reedbuck, Bush and Water Buck, Jackal, Lion, Hyena and with big luck the leopard.
In the afternoon, you’ll take a boat cruise to the bottom of the falls and we get to see lots of water birds like the Saddle Billed, Yellow Billed and African Open Billed Stork, lots of different Kingfishers and large schools of Hippos and Nile Crocs.
We later get back to the lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Day 5: Birding to Masindi
After breakfast, you’ll head to Masindi via Kaniyo-Pabid which is part of the Budongo Forest Reserve, an area with mammoth diversity of flora and fauna. The forest is mingled with a well-maintained network of forest trails making it possible to explore the dense forest. We shall have good sightings of the Puvel’s illadopsis, a shy and secretive dull brown bird, the Grey and Yellow Longbill, Chocolate Backed, Blue Breasted and Pygmy Kingfisher.
We also have good views of the shaggy-crested Guineafowl, Fire Crested Alethe, Narina Tragon Yellow Billed, Grey Throated and Yellow Spotted Barbet among other species.
After this, we shall continue to our lodge for two overnight stays.
African Big Five Safaris is a specialist East African Safari Company registered in Uganda and a member of the Association of Uganda Tour Operators with our offices in the heart of Kampala City.
We have more than ten years’ experience in the tourism industry. Both our office and field staff have a broad knowledge of the history, people, culture, geography, birds and plants of East Africa.
Our exciting safaris include; encountering the big five, the Great Migration, birding, camping, student tours, mountain climbing, gorilla trekking, and volunteer safaris.
We offer a range of adventure tours to Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania.
Day 6: We Bird to the Royal Mile and Busingiro Forest
Today, our birding excursion will be in two unique sites; the Royal Mile and Busingiro, within the Murchison Falls Conservation Area. The Royal Mile is a historically important site where many ceremonies of the Bunyoro kingdom took place before this was made a conservation area.
Enroute, we shall have some birding stopovers to look out for bird species like the Singing Cisticola, Cabanis’s Bunting, Dark Capped Yellow Warbler, Grey Headed Olive Back, Brown Twinspot, Black Bellied Fire Finch and more then carry on to the Mile.
Birding here is excellent with an open interior and gives us unique bird species like the Ituri Batis. Lemon Bellied Crombec, Firest Warbler, Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo, Dwarf, Blue Breasted, Pygmy and Chocolate Backed Kingfisher, Western Black Headed Oriole, Red Headed Malimbe, Blue Throated Roller, White Spotted Greenbul, Rufous Crowned Eremomela, Chectnut Capped and Forest Flycatcher, Yellow Crested Woodpecker and many more.
We’ll then drive to Busingiro looking out for bird species which might have been missed at the mile, and then come back later to Masindi for dinner and overnight stay.
Day 7: Transfer as we Bird en-route to Kibale Forest
With an early start today, we shall be leaving Masindi with a picnic lunch as we enjoy minimized birding en-route. So, expect to see the Brown and Western Banded Snake Eagle, Little Sparrow Hawk, Wahlberg’s Eagle, Joyful Greenbul, Grey Throated Barbet, Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo, White Breasted Nigro-finch, African Emerald Spotted Cuckoo and many more.
We shall later continue for check-in at the lodge.
Day 8: Birding and optional Chimp Tracking in Kibale Forest
Today we shall go for chimp tracking, an activity that is worth not missing. We’ll then mainly look out for the Green Breasted Pitta a very uncommon bird and restricted within the forest. We shall as well look out for the African Broadbill, Rufous Flycatcher Thrush, and Red-Tailed Ant-Thrush among others.
We later get back to our lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Day 9: Birding to Semuliki National Park
We then transfer to Semliki National Park. The brightly coloured waxbills enroute and at the park edges are a great introduction to this area. We look out for the Golden-Backed Pytilia, Melba Finch, Orange Cheeked Waxbill, Marsh Tchagra, Brown Backed Scrub Robin. At the park edges, birds like the Red Billed Dwarf, Black Dwarf, Pipping and Black Wattled Casqued Hornbill are easily sighted.
Dinner and overnight stay at the lodge/camp.
Day 10: Birdwatching Semuliki
Have an early start after our breakfast with a visit to the Kirumia Trail, where a good weather may reward us with great sightings of the Guinea – Congolian biome species.
We’ll also look out for the African Piculet, Grants Bluebill, Crested and Blue Billed Malimbe, Green Throated Cuckoo, White Crested, Pipping, Black Billed Dwarf, Black Casqued Wattled-Hornbill, Maxwell’s Weaver, Rufous Sided and African Broadbill, Eastern Bearded Greenbul, Black Billed Turaco, African Pitta, Blue Throated Roller, Yellow Throated Nicator, Chestnut Bellied Nigro-finch, Western Bronze Naped Pigion, Orange Cheeked Waxbill and many more.
Early Birding as we transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
After breakfast, we shall visit the female and male hot springs in the Sempaya area of Semuliki. As we lookout for birds and the unique Debrazza monkey which inhabits this low land tropical rainforest. Higher chances of sighting include Guinea – Congolian biome bird species we might have missed on the Kirumia Trail.
You’ll then continue and check-in at the lodge of your choice in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Day 12: Early Birding drive and afternoon launch cruise along the Kazinga Channel
We shall start early and bird through the vast grassland looking out for the rare bird species like the African Mustached Warbler, Black and White Browed Coucal, Golden Weaver, Grey Kestral, Southern Red Bishop, Flappet, Red Capped and Rufous Napped Lark.
Don’t miss the Grassland, Plain Backed and Thick Billed Pipit, Black-Chinned Quail Finch, Crimson Rumped Waxbill, White Browed Robinchat, Black Headed Gonolek, Common and Blue Quail, African Crake, Temminck’s Couser and many more other grassland birds. A good day may give us over 150 species.
In the afternoon, we have a boat ride along the Kazinga channel a natural water channel between Lake George and Lake Edward. This will bring us close to lots of water birds including the Goliath Heron, Black Crake, African Spoonbill, African Jacana, Collard Pratincole, Great White and Yellow Billed Egret, Squacco Heren and many more.
Drive back to the lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Day 13: Birding to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Lovely breakfast starts our day and we drive off to the gorilla sanctuary – Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. This is home to half of the remaining population of the world’s endangered mountain gorillas.
We shall drive through the southern part of Queen Elizabeth, Ishasha, a very popular section for the tree-climbing lions. It’s an exceptional sighting to find these predators in the trees. The savannah birds here include but not limited to the African Cuckoo-hawk, African Cuckoo, Common Scimitar-bill, Black Bellied Bustard, Red Faced Crombec, Bateleur, Hooded, Rupell’s Griffon, Lappet Faced and White Backed Vulture.
Enjoy your picnic lunch at the Ishasha River where we may be visited by the Black Bee-eater, and then drive on to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest for your dinner and overnight stay.
Day 14: Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
A nice breakfast gives us an energetic start for the day, as we track the endangered mountain gorillas. Tracking them always starts where they were left the previous day and may take about an hour before reaching them or much longer. This is conducted by patient, qualified and knowledgeable ranger guides with wide experience in natural history with particular attention to gorilla behavior.
Finding mountain gorillas and watching them play is quiet amazing, so that 1 hour spent while watching them is a memory to last on your mind forever.
We shall have packed lunch and eat it while on a short break in the forest.
Dinner and overnight stay at the lodge/camp.
Day 15: Birding in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
We shall start the day with the merry-making Greenbuls, the Red-Tailed Cabanis’s Shelley’s, Yellow Whiskered, Slender Billed, Little Grey, Plain, Toro Olive. Others seen are, Yellow-Spotted, Yellow-Billed and Grey-Throated Barbets, Red Faced Woodland Warbler – one of the Albertine Rift endemics that are easily seen here.
Others include. The Yellow-Billed and Dusky Long-Tailed Cuckoo, Red Throated Alethe, the White Bellied and Equatorial Red Capped, Grey Winged and Blue Shoulderd Robin Chat, African Shrike and Vanga Flycatcher, Black Faced Rufous Warbler, Red-Fronted Antpecker, Pink Footed and Northern Puffbuck, Buff Throated, Grey and Black Throated Apalis, Wallers, Narrow Tailed and Stuhlumann’s Starling, Elliot’s and Buff Bellied Woodpecker, Cassin’s and Least Honeyguide just so to mention.
Dinner and overnight stay at your lodge/camp.
Day 16: Birding to Ruhija
Depending on the results of the past days while here, we might start with a morning birding walk to find what might have been missed, before being transferred to Ruhija while birding enroute. Some of the bird species we expect, include the MacKinnon’s Fiscal, Tropical Boubou, Augar Buzzard, Ayre’s Hawk Eagle, Mountain Buzzard and Wagtail, Cassin’s Grey Flycatcher.
You may also not miss the Western Bronze Naped Pigoen, Black Faced Rufous Warbler, Barred and Dusky Long-Tailed Cuckoo, White Headed Wood Hoopoe, Grey Cuckoo-Shrike, Ducky Tit, Ludhur’s and Lagden’s Bush-Shrike, Grey-Green Bush-Shrike, Chestnut Throated Apalis, White Eyed Slaty Flycatcher, Streaky Seed-Eater, Stripe Breasted Tit, White Starred Robin and many more.
You will then later be transferred to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Day 17: Birding to Mubwindi Swamp
This morning we bird to the No.1 African birding spot according to the African Bird Club. The elevation is higher than where we have done birding before, so there are exceptional bird species, most of which are of a higher altitude.
This is the birding spot where we find the African Green Broadbill and the sights to look out for include the Grauer’s and Grauer’s Rush Warbler. Most Albertine Rift Endemics here include, the Handsome Francolin, Blue-Headed, Blue-Throated, Purple-Breasted and Blue-Throated Brown Sunbird.
Don’t miss the Red-Throated Alethe, Mountain illadopsis, Collard and Mountain Masked Apalis, Yellow-Eyed Black Flycatcher plus more. Other high-altitude bird species here will be the Bar-Tailed and Narina Tragon, White-Tailed Crested Flycatcher, Abyssinian Hill Babbler, and Stripe Breasted Tit among others.
You will later get back to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Day 18 & 19: Birdwatching Tour to and in Mgahinga National Park
We start and head to the South Western corner of Uganda in Kisoro district where Uganda’s smallest park Mgahinga National Park lies. The bird species to watch out for in these two days will be the White-starred Robin, White Eyed Slaty Flycatcher, Olive Thrush, Mountain Yellow Warbler, White Tailed Blue Flycatcher, White-napped Raven, Olive Woodpecker.
Don’t miss the Dusky Crimsonwing, Lagden’s Bush-Shrike, Cape Robin, Grey Caped Warbler, Bronze Sunbird, Yellow-crowned Canary, Rwenzori Turaco, Streaky Seedeater and on lucky days, we shall try out the Threatened Shelley’s Crimson-wing finch and later take a rest at the hotel.
Day 20: Birding to Lake Mburo National Park
We shall have our breakfast as we drive from the Gorilla Highlands to the savannah grasslands, with minimal stopovers, but still on the look for what we may have missed.
You will then have lunch enroute, and unwind at the lodge /camp, for dinner and overnight stay.
Day 21: Lake Mburo to Entebbe
Start our day with a nature walk into the wilds of Lake Mburo National Park, with rewarding sightings of both wildlife and birdlife that we might have missed the day before.
You will then be driven to either Kampala or Entebbe, to your hotel, for overnight stay, as your reminiscence of the just concluded journey in the jungles of Africa.
Day 22: Departure
Depending on your flight schedule, you’ll be dropped at the airport for your departure flight.
Note: Let us know in case you will need an extra night in Kampala or a complimentary airport drop-off at your convenient time.
End of Tour.
Tour Inclusions and Exclusions:
Tour Includes:
- Ground transportation
- Guided rhino tracking experience
- Park and conservation fees
- Services of a professional guide
- Lunch at Amuka Safari Lodge
Tour Excludes:
- Drinks and personal expenses
- Tips and gratuities
IDEAL FOR
- Wildlife and conservation enthusiasts
- Educational and eco-tourism travelers
- Families and small groups
- Day trips from Kampala
- Travelers seeking ethical wildlife encounters