10-Day Uganda Birding Safari

Upon arrival at Entebbe international airport, you will be received by our company representative who will be your driver guide on this trip who will brief you about your birding safari and then go birding at Mabamba swamp and this will depend on your time of arrival at the airport. The birds to look out for in this area include Grey Parrots, Great-white and Pink-backed Pelicans, Grey-crowned Cranes, African and Lesser Jacana, White-backed Duck, Black-necked, Baglafecht, Orange, Northern Brown-throated & Weyns’s Weaver.

Here we also expect the Shoebill Stork, African Fish Eagle, African Goshawk, Swamp Flycatcher, Yellow-billed Duck and African Pygmy Goose. We have a lunch break and continue birding to see the Yellow-throated Greenbul, Great-blue and Ross’s Turaco, Black and White-casqued and Pied Hornbill, Yellow-backed, Brown-throated and Orange Weaver among others. We will later proceed to our booked hotel in Entebbe and check-in for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, checkout of our hotel and start birding towards Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, passing through the famous Luwero Triangle, with chances of seeing Hooded Vulture, Black Kite, Marabou Stork, Greater and Lesser Blue-eared Starling, White-crested Helmet-Shrike, Northern Puffback, Piapiac, African Hoopoe & White-crested Turaco. Also expect the Crowned Hornbill, Meyer’s Parrot, Red-billed, Bar-breasted and African Firefinch, Broad-billed and Abyssinian Roller, Shoebill Stork, Diederic and Claas’s Cuckoo among others. We later drive to Masindi arrive in the evening and checkin to our hotel for dinner and overnight.

After an early breakfast with our packed lunch, drive to one of “Uganda’s birding hot spots” the Royal Mile. This is historically known to have been a leisure hunting spot for the traditional King of Bunyoro and that’s where the name Royal Mile came from. It’s a very rewarding birding area as the forest has been cut back a few meters along the sides of the main trail, inside this tropical rain forest. Here we expect to encounter specialties that include; the Yellow and Grey Longbill, Chestnut-capped, Yellow-footed and Forest Flycatcher, Yellow-crested and Brown-eared Woodpecker, Rufous-crowned Eramomela, Forest Robin, Pale-breasted, Brown and Puvel’s Illadopsis, Blue-breasted, African Dwarf, African Pygmy and Chocolate-backed Kingfisher. Also the Yellow-browed Camaroptera, Lemon-bellied and Green Crombec, Western Black-headed Oriel, African Crowned Eagle, Hairy-breasted, Yellow-spotted and Yellow-billed Barbet, White-thighed and Black & White-Casqued Hornbill, Jameson’s and Chestnut Wattle-Eye, Sabine’s and Cassin’s Spaintail among others. We later go back to our Hotel in the evening for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast at our hotel, with our packed lunch, we will check out and start birding towards Murchison falls national park. This is Uganda’s largest conservation area, covering about 3893 square kilometers, protecting about 78 mammal species and about 450 bird species, within it’s wide variety of habitats like wetlands, open Savannah grasslands, Savannah woodland, marsh, Aquatic and forest habitats. Here we are likely to encounter specialties that include; the Bat Hawk, Little Sparrow-Hawk, Bruce’s Green Pigeon, Heuglin’s Francolin, Black-bellied and Denham’s Bustard, White-crested Turaco, Black-billed and Blue-spotted Wood-dove, Swallow-tailed, Red-throated and Madagascar Bee-eater, Red-winged Grey Warbler, Fire-crested and Brown-chested Alethe, Rock Pratincole, Pel’s Fishing Owl, Black-crowned and Marsh Tchagra among others. We later check in to our accommodation for dinner and overnight.

After an early breakfast, with our packed lunch, we start our birding activity towards the Delta area, here the big game includes; the Elephant, Cape Buffaloes, Kob, Giraffes, Ruth-Child’s Jackson’s Hartbeast, Oribi, Jackals, Common Duikers, Patus Monkeys, Lions and Leopards among others. We also expect to encounter bird specialties that include; the Black-bellied and Denham’s Bustard, White-browed and Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver. There are also chances for the Black-headed Lapwing, White-faced and Fulvous Whistling Duck, Broad-billed and Abyssinian Roller, Whistling, Singing, Black-backed, Croacking and Foxy Cisticola, Black-Lored and Brown Babbler, Double-toothed and Black-billed Barbet, Northern Carmine, Red-throated and Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Red-necked Falcon, Martial Eagle, White-headed Black Chat, African Quail-Finch and Shoebill among others. We have lunch and go for the afternoon boat cruise on the Nile, towards the bottom of the falls. This provides us with yet another but different wildlife viewing from a close range , as they come to cool off on the showers of this mighty river. The cruise normally takes about 2 hours, then come back to the lodge in the evening for dinner and overnight.

After an early breakfast, with our packed lunch, we will transfer to Kibale national park. This drive takes us through Bulisa escarpment, along the Albertine Rift Valley, with good views of lake Albert, it also takes us through Hoima, rolling hills of Kagadi and beautiful tea plantations of Kabarole (Fort-Portal). Today we have some bit of driving with less birding along the way. Some of the species we are likely to encounter here include the Vinaceous Dove, Morking Chat, Rufous Sparrow, Cut-throat Finch, Beautiful Sunbird, White-browed and Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver, Foxy Cisticola, Black-billed Barbet, Lesser and Greater Blue-eared Starling, White-winged Warbler and Papyrus Gonolek among others. We arrive at Kibale national park in the early evening and check in to our lodge for dinner and overnight.

After an early breakfast, we will make an early start into the forest that has about 335 recorded bird species. This park is also home to a community of more than 1000 Chimpanzees and about 12 other primate species. So here we look for specialties that include the Green-breasted Pitta, Olive and Afep Pigeon, Black Bee-eater, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Red-capped and Grey-winged Robinchat. Plus the African Crowned Eagle, Fairy-breasted, Yellow-spotted and Yellow-billed Barbet, African Broadbill, Willcock’s and Thick-Billed Horneyguide, Horneyguide Greenbul, Purple-headed and Chestnut-winged Starling, Dark-backed and Black-necked Weaver, Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo, Red-chested Owlet, Red-headed Bluebill, Brown and Scaly Illadopsis among others. We later go back to the lodge, have lunch and later in the afternoon, go for a nature walk/ birding in the Bigodi wetland sanctuary, for another birding experience. Here we may have chances for the Buff-spotted and Brown-eared Woodpecker, Shining-Blue Kingfisher, White-collard Oliveback, Joyful Greenbul, Dark-capped and Papyrus Yellow Warbler, Papyrus Gonolek, White-tailed Ant-thrush, Green-backed Twinspot and White-spotted Flufftail among others. We later go back to the lodge in the evening for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, with our packed lunch, we start birding towards Semliki national park, which is also in the Albertine Rift Valley and it’s an Eastern extension of the great Ituri forest from Eastern Congo. Here we expect to encounter large numbers of the Guinea-Congo biome species as they reach their eastern limits. This therefore makes it the best place in Uganda with high chances of seeing some of the West African species that can hardly be accessed from other places in East Africa. The specialties here include; the Western Bronze-napped Pigeon, Spot-breasted Ibis, Northern Bearded Scrub-Robin, Nkulengu Rail, Orange-Cheeked Waxbill, Grant’s Bluebill, Black-bellied Seedcracker, White-crested, Red-billed Dwarf, Black-Dwarf, Black-casqued Wattled, White-thighed and Piping Hornbill, Shining-Blue, Chocolate-backed and White-bellied Kingfisher, Barred Long-tailed, Olive Long-tailed and Yellow-throated Cuckoo, Long-tailed Hawk and Red-thighed Sparrowhawk among others. We later check in to our accommodation for dinner and overnight.

After an early breakfast, with our packed lunch, we start a whole day birding activity along the Kirumya trail of Semliki national park. The park poses among Uganda’s birding hot spots and we expect to encounter some of the specialties that include; the African Piculet, Fire-crested Aleth, Lyre-tailed, Spotted and Zenker’s Horneyguide, Yellow-throated Cuckoo, Lemon-bellied Crombec, Yellow-throated Nicator, Long-tailed Hawk, Capuchin Babbler, Swamp Palm Bulbul & Leaf-love. And the Xavier’s, Icterine, Sassi’s, Olive and Simple Greenbul, Orange-tufted Sunbird, Red-billed Helmet-Shrike, Rufous-sided Broadbill, Chestnut-breasted and Pale-fronted Negrofinch, Forest Scrub-robin, Nkulengu Rail, Green-tailed and Red-tailed Bristlebill, Black-collard Lovebird, Ituri Batis, White-throated Blue Swallow, Red-rumped Tinkerbird and Red-thighed Sparrowhawk among others. We later return to our accommodation in the evening for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, we will start birding as we transfer to Entebbe, passing through Mubende and Mityana towns. We arrive at Entebbe in the afternoon and drive straight to the Airport for your flight back home.