20 DAYS BEST OF UGANDA BIRDING SAFARI

Early in the morning, we bird Via Mabamba Swamps for the elusive Shoebill, Some papyrus endemics, the African and Lesser Jacanas, the White-faced and Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Blue-breasted Bee-eater, Carruther`s Cisticola, The Black-chested, Brown and Western Banded Snake Eagles, several Gull, and Heron Species and other water birds species than head to Lake Mburo National Park for our night. We have a short stop at the Equator for an informative talk, photography, and the equator experience.

Journey: +6hrs  

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Eagles Nest/ Midrange: Arcadia Lodge Lake Mburo/ Luxury: Mihingo Lodge 

Morning birding on foot along the park trails with an armed ranger then back to our lodge for breakfast, this we proceed for a game and birding drive which gives us higher chances of viewing mammals like the Zebras, Impalas, Elands, Topis, Buffaloes among others, as we bird we focus our attention on the search for the Red-Faced Barbet, Coqui Francolin, Brown Chested Plover, Tabora Cisticola, Lesser Blue Eared Starling, Buff Bellied Warbler, Red Headed Weaver, Black Shouldered Cuckoo Shrike, Sulpher Breasted Bush-shrike, Green Capped Eremomela, Bare-faced Go-away-bird, Red-Billed Wood Hope and more acacia associated birds, in the afternoon we go for a boat ride in search for the African Finfoot, White Backed and Black Crowned Night Herons, Giant Kingfisher, etc back to the lodge for dinner and overnight.  

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Eagles Nest/ Midrange: Arcadia Lodge Lake Mburo/ Luxury: Mihingo Lodge 

We bird Ruhija in search of the darling African Green Broadbill, Handsome Francolin, Strange Weaver, Shelley’s and Dusky Crimson-wings, Stripe-breasted Tit, Rwenzori Batis, White-browed Crombec, White-naped Raven, Purple-breasted Sunbird, Sharp’s Starling, Mountain masked and Rwenzori Apalis, and many more.

Journey: +2 hrs  

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Bakiga Lodge/ Midrange: Gorilla Mist Camp/ Luxury: Ruhija Gorilla Safari Lodge

On this day, we set off early, with packed lunch, to the park headquarters for a briefing for the Gorilla Tracking. Tracking the gorillas depends on where they spent the previous night and their interaction with other groups, so it might take 45 minutes or the whole day, come prepared.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Bakiga Lodge/ Midrange: Gorilla Mist Camp/ Luxury: Ruhija Gorilla Safari Lodge

As we bird Mubwindi Swamp we look out for the Yellow-eyed Black Flycatcher, White-tailed Blue-flycatcher, Brown-capped warbler, Black-billed Weaver, Black-necked Weaver, Red-headed Malimbe, Grey-headed Sparrow, Waller’s Starling, Stuhlmann’s Starling, Montane Oriole, many-colored Bush-Shrike, Bocage’s Bush-Shrike, Brown Crowned Tchagra, Pink Footed Puffback, Ludher’s Bush-shrike, Doherty’s Bush-shrike, Mountain Illadopsis, Rwenzori Nightjar.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Bakiga Lodge/ Midrange: Gorilla Mist Camp/ Luxury: Ruhija Gorilla Safari Lodge

As we bird to Buhoma, we lookout for species like the Black Bee-Eater, Dusky Tit, Brown-caped Weaver, the Yellow-billed and yellow-spotted Barbets, the African and Black-and-white Shrike-flycatchers, Common Stonechat, Brown-throated, and Chestnut Wattle-eyes, Apalises, just to mention but a few of the forest species.

Journey: +2 hrs  

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Bwindi Cultural Center/ Midrange: Silverback Lodge/ Luxury: Buhoma Lodge

At Buhoma, we lookout for species like the Black Bee-Eater, Dusky Tit, Brown-caped Weaver, the Yellow-billed and yellow-spotted Barbets, the African and Black-and-white Shrike Flycatchers, Common Stonechat, Brown-throated, and Chestnut Wattle-eyes, Apalises, Equatorial Akalat, Slaty Flycatcher, White-bellied Robin-Chat, Black-throated Apalis, Mountain Masked Apalis, Grey Apalis, Chestnut-throated Apalis, and so much more.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Bwindi Cultural Center/ Midrange: Silverback Lodge/ Luxury: Buhoma Lodge

Today we head to Queen Elizabeth National Park; we bird through the Ishasha sector as we look out for the African Thrush, Ruppell’s Long-tailed Sterling, Black-headed Gonolek, Slender-billed Weaver, Little Weaver, Black-headed Weaver, Grey-headed Sparrow, Red-headed Lovebird, Spur-winged Lapwing, the African, Red-eyed and African Morning Doves, the Winding, Croacking, and Zitting Cisticolas, and hundreds of other Savanna Species.

Journey: +2 hrs  

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Bush Lodge/ Midrange: Baboon Safari Resort/ Luxury: Mweya Safari Lodge

Early in the Morning, we leave for a game drive for more Savanna Species and in the afternoon we take a boat ride on the Kazinga Channel for water birds like the Great White and Pink-backed Pelicans, African Skimmer, Yellow-billed, and the Saddle-billed storks, African Wattled Lapwing, Long-toed Lapwing, Black-winged Stilt, Water Thick-knee, Collared Pratincole, the Grey-headed, Black-headed and Slender-billed Gulls, Grebes, Ducks and many more.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Bush Lodge/ Midrange: Baboon Safari Resort/ Luxury: Mweya Safari Lodge

We start with a morning drive through Queen Elizabeth looking out for what we might have missed the previous days of birding before we transfer to Kibale Forest. Along the way expect to see; the Fan-tailed Widowbird, Yellow-mantled Widowbird, the Black and Black-winged Red Bishops, the African Palm and Little Swifts, Common Bulbul, Doves, Pigeons, the Lesser-stripped, and Angola Swallows among others. After lunch, we’ll head to the Bigodi Wetland, a papyrus, and swamp forest. We hope to find such papyrus endemics as White-winged Warbler, White-collared, Olive back, and Papyrus Gonolek

Journey: +4 hrs  

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Kibale Forest Camp/ Midrange: Primate Lodge Kibale/ Luxury: Turaco Treetops Kibale

We start very early in the morning in search of the Green Breasted Pitta, White- and Red-tailed Ant-Thrushes, Purple-headed, Glossy-Starling, Brown, Pale, and Scaly Breasted Illadopsis, White-naped and Olive Pigeon, Masked Apalis, Toro Olive-Greenbul, Black-billed Turaco, Buff-spotted Woodpecker, and Green Crombec. Then later in the afternoon, you can opt for chimp tracking. ($200 per person) The movement of the chimps depends upon the availability of food and hopefully, they won’t be too far away! Of all the parks in Uganda, this is referred to as the primate forest as it hosts about 13 species of primates three of which are nocturnal.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Kibale Forest Camp/ Midrange: Primate Lodge Kibale/ Luxury: Turaco Treetops Kibale

Our birding safari today takes us to Bihingamy wetland near the Sebitoli section of Kibale National Park. The habitat here consists of a swamp surrounded by low, scrubby secondary forest and cultivation of tea plantations. As we do birding here, expect to see the White Collard Olive Back, Red Headed Blue Bill, Green-backed Twinspot, Scaly Illadopsis, Uganda Spotted Woodpecker, African Emerald Cuckoo, Petit’s Cuckooshrike, Red-capped Robin-Chat, and Rufous Flycatcher-Thrush, Equatorial Akalat, Luhdher’s Bush-Shrike. Cabanis’s and Joyful Greenbul as well as White-spotted Flufftail, Dusky and, Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo, Lesser Honeyguide, Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat, Olive-green Camaroptera, and many more bird species then we proceed to Fort Portal for lunch then transfer to Semuliki National Park.

Journey: +2 hrs  

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Semliki UWA Bandas/ Midrange: Kirumia Guesthouse/ Luxury: Semliki Safari Lodge

Early in the morning, we take on the Kirumia trail for our whole day birding experience. We look out for several predominantly Central African species which cannot be found anywhere else in East Africa yet are some of the continent’s most spectacular and sought-after birds such as; Long-tailed Hawk, Congo Serpent Eagle, Lyre-tailed Honeyguide, Black-casqued Wattled Hornbill, the Nkulengu Rail, and other species; Blue Swallow, White-throated Swallow, Swamp Palm Bulbul, Spotted Greenbul, White-starred Robin, Lowland Akalat, Red-throated Alethe, Fire-crested Alethe, Snowy-headed Robin-Chat, Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat, Red-eyed Puffback, White-tailed Robin-Chat, Northern Bearded Scrub-Robin, Capped Wheatear, Common Stonechat, Abyssinian Ground-Thrush, Oberlaender’s Ground-Thrush, Grey Ground-Thrush, Little Grey Greenbul, Toro Olive Greenbul, Mountain Greenbul, Yellow-throated Nicator, Western Nicator, just to mention but a few.

Journey: +2 hrs  

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Semuliki UWA Bandas/ Midrange: Kirumia Guesthouse/ Luxury: Semuliki Safari Lodge

Today, we do the longest drive of the trip; Masindi is seven birding-drive hours away from Fort Portal. Depending on what will be missing our list, we may decide to spend a few minutes birding the wetlands around Fort Portal town for Northern Masked Weaver, White-collared Olive back, Highland Rush Warbler, and White-collared Olive back.

The few stops we should do along the way, are for a lunch stop and adding some very likely birds like Yellow-shouldered and Red-collared Widowbird, Brown Twinspot, Red-backed and Brown-backed Scrub-Robin.

Journey: +5 hrs  

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget:  Midrange: Kabalega Resort

Today, we bird Budongo Forest which has a prolific birdlife with two species of birds not found elsewhere in East Africa: 10 of the 22 species of Sudan–Guinea Savanna biome and 93 of the 144 species Guinea-Congo Forests biome that occurs in Uganda. We bird thmarvelousus Royal mile and several other trails for the whole day. We look for the Puvel’s Illadopsis and Nahan’s Francolin other special birds include; the Yellow-billed Barbet, Grey-throated Barbet, Honeyguide Greenbul, Chocolate-backed Kingfisher, White-headed Saw-wing and lots more. 

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Midrange: Kabalega Resort

The tour continues to Uganda’s largest national park, which is also at the lowest elevation amongst all other parks. While and after leaving Masindi town, we will scan the trees for Purple Starling.  When we approach the escarpment’s thickets and wooded acacias, we will look for birds typical to this habitat. Northern Red Bishop, Beautiful Sunbird, White-fronted Black-Chat, Bronze-tailed, Violet-backed, and Lesser Blue-eared Starlings Whistling and Foxy Cisticola, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Black-faced Waxbill, Cliff Chat, Spot-flanked, Martial Eagle, Black-billed Barbet, and hopefully acceptable looks at the shy Dusky Babblers.

As we continue with our drive, we will stop and scan spots for Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver, Shelley’s Rufous Sparrow, Cut-throat, Vitelline Masked Weaver, Swallow-tailed and Red-throated Bee-eater, Northern Crombec, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Dark-chanting Goshawk, the very localized White-rumped Seed-eater,s and many more.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Red Chilli Hideaway / Midrange: Pakuba Safari Lodge/ Luxury: Paraa Safari Lodge

Today we will aim at finding some specialties of the Southern Sudan stretch and new lovely mammals that show up during an African safari. We drive into the open Savannah of Uganda’s biggest National Park, covering the section north of the f river Nile. We should find Speckle-fronted Weaver, Red-necked Falcon, Red-headed, Cardinal and Red-billed Queleas, Denham’s Bustard, Black-headed Lapwing, Spotted Thick-knee, and the critically endangered and uncommon White-headed Vulture. Swallow-tailed and Northern Carmine Bee-eaters, Banded Martin, Scarce Swift, Senegal Coucal, Tawny Eagle, Heuglin’s Francolin, Pale, and Gambaga Flycatcher, Senegal Thick-knee and seasonal migrants. Our mammal list will aim for African Lions, the graceful Rothschild Giraffe, Lelwel’s Hartebeest, Oribi, Side-striped Jackal, and the shy Bohor Reedbuck.

After lunch, by the banks of the mighty river Nile, we take a three hours boat ride to the bottom of Murchison Falandndn enjoyable on the Victoria Nile that can find Giant Kingfisher, White-crested Turaco, and Rock Pratincole at the bottom.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Red Chilli Hideaway / Midrange: Pakuba Safari Lodge/ Luxury: Paraa Safari Lodge

This morning, we take a morning boat ride to the delta; this sails downstream on the Victoria Nile into Lake Albert.  The banks, riverine forest, and thickets are right for Giant Kingfisher, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Grey-headed Bush-shrike, the spectacular looking Saddle-billed Stork, Little Bittern, and the Shoebill. With a little more effort, somedays Pel’s Fishing-owl, White-backed and Black-crowned Night-Heron show up. We will do a lunch break before heading out for the late afternoon to evening drive. This park has extensive savannah grasslands that give fantastic photography opportunities when the sun is setting. 

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Red Chilli Hideaway / Midrange: Pakuba Safari Lodge/ Luxury: Paraa Safari Lodge

Early this morning we will turn back south the short distance to the famous Budongo Forest. Our efforts will be concentrated on the Kaniyo Pabidi area in the southern sector of the Murchison Falls NP, and the only known site in East Africa for Puvel’s Illadopsis. We can expect to find this bird as well as a wide range of other forest species. We will have much of the day to try and find a good mix of widespread species and more local specialties such as Crested Guineafowl sporting their “punk hair-do’s”, White-crested Turaco, Chestnut-crowned Eremomela, Yellow & Grey Longbills, Olive-bellied Crombec, Yellow-browed Camaroptera, Little Green Sunbird, Crested Malimbe and Red-headed Bluebill among others. Here are many other special birds with a West African origin: White-thighed Hornbill, Green-breasted Pitta, Rufous-sided Broadbill, Blue-breasted, Dwarf & Chocolate-backed Kingfishers, Yellow-crested & Brown-eared Woodpeckers, Yellowbill, Western Black-headed Oriole, Yellow-spotted, Hairy-breasted & Yellow-billed Barbets, Green Hylia, Buff-throated, Black-throated & Black-capped Apalises, Black-eared Ground-Thrush, Rufous-crowned Eremomela, the elusive Lemon-bellied Crombec, Crested & Red-headed Malimbes various forest starlings among others. We will also be in the prime area for a wide range of primates such as Blue & Red-tailed Monkeys and Black and white Colobus – and if lucky Chimpanzees (this area is home to Uganda’s largest population of Chimpanzees). Head to Kampala or Entebbe after this morning tour.

Journey: 5+ hrs

Meal Plan: Breakfast & Lunch 

Accommodation: Midrange: Kabalega Resort