12 DAYS UGANDA SAVANNAH BIRDING TOUR

After breakfast, your birding experience to the Mabamba Swamps will start. Birding here is done canoeing on a big scale. A variety of species to be seen may include; The rare Shoebill, White-faced Whistling-duck, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Goliath Heron, Purple Heron, Common Squacco Heron, Long-toed Plover, African water Rail, Grey and Black Headed Herons, Striated Heron, Pygmy Goose, Yellow Billed Duck, Black Crake, Swamp Moorhen, Allen’s Gallinule, African Jacana, and many more. You could also see the Sitatunga, a swamp antelope.  

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Airport Guesthouse /Midrange: The Boma Hotel /Luxury: Hotel No.5 Boutique Hotel

Departing to Murchison Falls National Park with a lunch stop at Masindi. After lunch, bird as you continue to Paraa via the top of Murchison Falls. Stretch your legs with a short walk around the top of the falls before it plunges over 40 meters in a majestic cascade. Look out for birds like raptors, Rock Pratincole, Crested Francolin, White crested Turaco, White-headed Barbet, Narina Trogon, Red-throated Bee-eater, Rufous-sided Broadbill, Silverbird, Red-cheeked Cordon blue, waxbills, finches, sunbirds and canaries, among others. Dinner and overnight at one of the lodges.

Journey Time: +5 hrs 

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & dinner 

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

We have an early morning breakfast then go birding on a game drive, we take the best trucks and to the delta, we bird. We carry packed lunch with us so we will waste no moment if we are to see a bigger number of savanna birds along with other wildlife. Among the many species you should expect include; The Secretary Bird, The Giant, Pied, Malachite, Stripped, Chestnut-bellied, Blue-breasted, Woodland and the African Pygmy Kingfishers, House Martin, African Rock Martin, Lesser Striped Swallow, Ethiopian Swallow, Angola Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Rufous-chested Swallow, Nightingale, Rock Thrush, Pied Wheatear, Whinchat, Common Redstart, White-fronted Black Chat, Sooty Chat, Isabelline Wheatear, Common Bulbul, Cameroon Sombre Greenbul, Yellow-throated Greenbul, the Black, White-breasted, and Red-shouldered Cuckoo Shrikes, the Black and Penduline Tits, the Arrow-marked, Black-lored and Brown Babblers, Nubian Woodpecker, Cardinal Woodpecker, Brown-backed Woodpecker, Lesser Honeyguide, Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Black Scimitarbill, Green Wood Hoopoe, a number of Buzzards, Barbets, Rollers, Harriers, Vultures, Eagles, Bee-eaters, Warblers, and so forth.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & dinner 

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

Wake up early, bird on foot with a game ranger for the early and late morning active birds. We get back to the hotel for lunch then take a launch cruise to the bottom of the falls. Here, your list should include; The Shoebill Stork, Little Grebe, Great White and the Pink-backed Pelicans, Red-knobbed Coot, African Water Rail, Allen’s Gallinule, Black Crake, African Crake, Black-crowned Crane, Southern Pochard, The Egyptian, African Pygmy, and the Spur-winged Gooses, Storks like; the Saddle-billed, Open-billed, Abdim’s, White, Yellow-billed, Marabou, and the Woolly-necked, the Little and Dwarf Bitterns, Night Heron, Black Heron, Goliath Heron, Purple Heron, Green Backed Heron, Common Squacco Heron, Great White Egret, Cormorants, the African and Eurasian Spoonbills, the Lesser Flamingo, Lesser Jacana, African Finfoot, Painted Snipe, Wattled Plover the list is very long. We then hike to the top of the falls and drive back to previous lodge.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & dinner 

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

After breakfast, we embark on a long journey to Queen Elizabeth National Park. This is understandably Uganda’s most popular tourist destination. The park’s diverse ecosystems, which include sprawling savanna, shady humid forests, sparkling lakes and fertile wetlands, make it the ideal habitat for classic big game, ten primate species and over 600 species of birds. (East and Central African Bird species)

Journey: +7 hrs   

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

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

After breakfast, we bird the Mweya Peninsular in search of the swamp flycatcher, slender-billed weaver, yellow-backed weaver, black-headed gonolek, black bee-eater, malachite kingfisher, Verreaux`s eagle owl. In the afternoon we take a boat to Kazinga channel. You will have the exposure to the, African Skimmer,White-winged Terns, Grey-capped Warbler, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Collard Pratincole, African Jacana, Pin-tailed Whydah, Martial Eagle, Gabon and Slender-tailed Nightjars, Great and Long-tailed Cormorants, Common Squacco Heron, African Skimmer, African Fish Eagle, Sedge Warbler, White-winged Warbler, Papyrus Gonolek, Papyrus Canary, Great White and Pink-backed Pelicans, African Mourning Dove, African Open-billed Stork, Black-rumped Buttonquail, Yellow-billed and Marabou Stork, Egyptian Goose, a number of Gull species, just to mention but a few.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & dinner  

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

Today, bird the Kasenyi trail and the craters for hundreds of Savannah species, we search for the Common Rock Thrush, Pied Wheatear, Whinchat, Common Redstart, White-fronted Black Chat, Sooty Chat, Isabelline Wheatear, Common Bulbul, Cameroon Sombre Greenbul, Green Wood Hoopoe, a number of Buzzards, Barbets, Rollers, Harriers, Vultures, Eagles, Bee-eaters, Warblers, and so forth. Proceed to the Katwe area, looking out for birds like little Grebe; African Finfoot; Greater and Lesser Flamingos; Augur Buzzard; Crested Guineafowl; Pied Avocet; Black-winged Stilt; Diederick Cuckoo; Yellowbill; Narina Trogon; Shining-blue Kingfisher; Grey-capped Warbler; Grey and Buff-throated Apalis; Brown-thoated Wattle-eye; African Paradise Flycatcher; Olive-bellied, Green, Olive, Variable and Collared Sunbirds; Starlings; Weavers; Widowbirds; Bishops; Finches; and Waxbills among others.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & dinner  

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

We bird these beautiful sections of the park for hundreds of species, among which will include; 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, Cattle egret, Hamerkop, Storks, Shoebill, Ibises, Raptors, Red-necked Spurfowl, Black-bellied Bustard, Cisticolas, Northern Black Flycatcher, Babblers, Sunbirds, Shrikes, Black-headed Gonolek, Black-crowned Tchagra, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Fork-tailed Drongo, Starlings, Weavers, Widowbirds, Finches and Waxbills among others. Look out for mammals like Uganda kobs, bushbucks, defassa waterbucks, buffaloes, elephants, warthogs… and if lucky a tree climbing lion or a leopard!

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & dinner  

Accommodation: Budget: Enjonjo Lodge /Midrange: Ishasha Jungle Lodge /Luxury: Ishasha Wilderness Camp

After breakfast, with packed lunch, we bird to the best choice place to find the African Finfoot: Lake Mburo National Park. On checking in, we will go for an evening game drive for some bird species and a variety of mammals, for example, Warthogs, Zebras, Elephants and many others.

Journey Time: +4 hrs 

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Rwonyo Rest Camp /Midrange: Arcadia Lake Mburo Lodge /Luxury: Mihingo Lodge

On this morning game drive, look out for Buffaloes, Eland, impala, warthog, waterbucks, girrafes among other animals.  After lunch, we proceed for an afternoon boat ride. Look out for hippos and crocodiles found in the lake. You will also see the malachite kingfishers, African Fish eagles, blue headed weavers, Rufuos, long tailed starlings, the pied kingfishers, hamerkops, Herons, pelicans, the rare shoebill among others. 

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 

Accommodation: Budget: Rwonyo Rest Camp /Midrange: Arcadia Lake Mburo Lodge /Luxury: Mihingo Lodge

Have an early breakfast, go for a game drive for more species possibly missed out the previous days then bird to Masaka for our lunc. Have a short stop at the Equator for an informative talk and a photographic opportunity. During the journey, we will have several stop-overs to catch some species in the bushes and papyrus swamps aside the road for papyrus endemics. Continue to Kampala or Entebbe. End of tour

Journey: +5 hrs   

Meal Plan: Breakfast & Lunch

Accommodation: Not Included