17 Days Uganda Birding and Wildlife Safari

Upon arrival, you will be met by Gorilla and Chimp Luxury Safaris’ guide who will transfer you to your overnight Guest house. Depending on your arrival time, you may choose to take a boat excursion to Ngamba Island (optional and not included), visit the nearby Botanical gardens or Uganda Wildlife Education center for a short excursion tour and birding.

Drive time: Approximately 15 minutes
Lodge: Gorilla African Guest House
Meal Plan: Bed and breakfast

After an early breakfast at the hotel, we will drive to Mabamba swamp, which is located on the shores of Lake Victoria, traditionally one of the few and best places to spot the rare and elusive shoebill stock in central Uganda.
The bird species that we expect to encounter here include the Goliath Herons, White faced whistling Duck, White-winged Warbler, Lesser Jacana, Blue-breasted Bee-eater, Winding Cisticola, Yellow-backed, Golden-backed, Vieillot’s Black, Weyns’s and Orange weaver and Red-headed Lovebird among others. The birding at mabamba swamp, we normally use a canoe to maneuver through the thin pass in the swamp until we find the mabamba shoebill stock as well identify other bird species, which makes the whole activity exciting. After we will latter drive back to the guest house while birding on the way, arriving the hotel in the evening.

Lodge: Gorilla African Guest House
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Packed Lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, you will check out of the guest house and we will drive to Lake Mburo national park while birdingen-route, with stopovers at the Equator for photographs and equator experience and en-route lunch. We will proceed and make another stopover at Kaku swamp where we sometimes encounter species like the Black kite, the White-faced and Fulvous, whistling ducks, Common and Purple Swamphen, Lesser Moorhen, Hottentot Teals, Spur-winged and Egyptian Geese, Grey-crowned Cranes and Saddle-billed Storks, Grey wood Pecker, Dusky Blue, African Dusky, African Paradise, Red-bellied Paradise, Brown-throated Wattle-Eye, Arrow-marked, Black-lored and Brown Babblers, Lesser and Scaly-throated Honeyguide among others. You will then proceed on to Lake Mburo national park for overnight.

Drive time: approximately 5-6 hours
Lodge: Rwakobo Rock Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

After your breakfast, with our parked lunch, we shall start our game drive/birding in Lake Mburo national park. This is one of the IBAs in Uganda, protecting more than 350 bird species, with specialties that includes; the Spot-franked, Double-toothed, Red-faced and Crested Barbets, Western-banded and Brown Snake-eagles, Trilling, Red-faced and TaboraCisticolas, Crested and Coqui Francolins, Chin-spot Batis, Broad- billed and Lilac-breasted Roller, Brown-chested Lapwing, Bare-faced Go-away Bird, Brown Parot, Bateleur, and Emerald-spotted wood dove among others. We latter drive towards Rwonyo, and the lake side for our picnic lunch and later go for the boat cruise on lake Mburo. Here we expect species like; the White-faced and Fulvous whistling ducks, White-backed and Black-crowned Night Herons, African Finfoot, African Darter, Rufous-bellied Heron, Papyrus Gonolek, Papyrus Yellow Warbler, Greater and Lesser Swamp Warbler, Common and Purple Swamphen, Lesser Moorhen, Spur-winged and Egyptian Geese, Grey-crowned Cranes, African Water Rail and Allen’s Gallinule among others. We later drive back to our lodge while birding on the way.

Lodge: Rwakobo Rock Lodge
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

After breakfast at the lodge you will drive to Bwindi Impenetrable forest national park, you will have opportunities to stop along the way the way to spot some bird species as well as sightseeing, This journey takes you through the beautiful green rolling hills of southern Uganda with banana and tea plantations and good scenic views. Lunch will be served en route and you will arrive in Bwindi in the evening.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
Lodge:Rushaga Gorilla Havens Lodge.
Drive time: 6-7 hours

After your early morning breakfast, your guide will drive you to Ruhija Park headquarters for briefing and joining others for gorilla trekking. You will start your trek which can take from 30 minutes to 7 hours depending on the location of mountain gorillas on that particular day. Once you have found them, you will be around one hour of observation and photography before returning back to the park headquarters for certificate and drive to Ruhija sector for overnight at Broad Bill Forest Camp orBakiga Lodge.

Main Destination: Bwindi Impenetrable National Forest
Accommodation: Broad Bill Forest Camp or Bakiga Lodge
Meals: All Meals Included
Drinks: Drinking Water

After breakfast at the Lodge we will go for birding at Mubwindi swamp, we will spend the entire day birding at this area. The 4km trail to Mubwindi Swamp is the best place for some of the most difficult to find of all rift endemics including Grauer’s (African Green) Broadbill, the beautiful Regal Sunbird, and Archer’s Robin-Chat. Mubwindi Swamp is also home to Dwarf Honeyguide, Stripe-breasted Tit, Ruwenzori Apalis, African Hill Babbler (sometimes treated as a separate species from Ruwenzori Hill Babbler), the rare and localized Grauer’s Scrub-Warbler. Some of the many species we have a chance of seeing here include Black Goshawk, Augur Buzzard, Crowned Hawk-Eagle, Handsome Francolin, Olive (Rameron) Pigeon, Bronze-winged Pigeon, Black-billed, Ruwenzori, and Ross’s Turacco, African, Barred Long-tailed, and African Emerald Cuckoos, Red-chested Owlet, Narina and Bar-tailed Trogons, Black and Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaters, Blue-throated Roller, White-headed Woodhoopoe, Gray-throated, Double-toothed, and Yellow-spotted Barbets, Western and Yellow-rumpedTinkerbird, Thick-billed and Dwarf Honeyguides, Rufous-necked Wryneck, Tullberg’s, Speckle-breasted, Elliot’s, and Olive Woodpeckers, African Broadbill, Rock Martin, Black Saw-wing, Gray and Petit’s Cuckoo-Shrike, Ansorge’s, Kakamega and Cabanis’ Greenbuls, White-tailed Ant-Thrush, Kivu Ground-Thrush, Olive and Mountain Thrushes, Red-throated Alethe, Chubb’s Cisticola, Banded Prinia, Ruwenzori, Black-throated, and Black-faced Apalis, Olive-green Camaroptera, Grauer’s Warbler, Cinnamon and Black-faced Bracken-Warblers, Mountain Yellow Warbler, White-browed Crombec, Short-tailed Warbler, Red-faced Woodland-Warbler, White-eyed Slaty- Flycatcher, Yellow-eyed Black-Flycatcher, Sooty Flycatcher, Chapin’s Flycatcher, White-starred Robin, White-bellied and Archer’s Robin-Chats, Ruwenzori Batis, White-tailed, and African Blue-Flycatchers, Pale-breasted, Mountain, and Gray-chested Illadopses, Ruwenzori Hill Babbler, Gray-headed, Western Violet-backed, Green, Green-headed, Blue-headed, Green-throated, Stuhlmann’s, Northern Double-collared, and Regal Sunbirds, Mackinnon’s Shrike, Ludher’s, Gray-green, Many-colored, and Lagden’s Bush-shrikes, Velvet-mantled Drongo, Slender-billed, Waller’s, Narrow-tailed, Stuhlmann’s, and Sharpe’s Starlings, Black-billed, Strange, and Brown-capped Weavers, Jameson’s and Woodhouse’s Ant-peckers, and Red-faced and Dusky Crimson-wings.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner.
Lodge: Broadbill Tented Forest Camp or Bakiga Lodge.

Today we will go for birding to Buhoma section through “The Neck”. The Neck (where the forest narrows) offers excellent forest birding. Key species that we will look for there include many of the Albertine Rift Endemics that we may not have seen earlier. These include Handsome Francolin, Rwenzori Nightjar, Dwarf Honeyguide, African Green Broadbill, Archer’s Robin-Chat, Red-throated Alethe, Yellow-eyed Black-Flycatcher, Red-faced Woodland Warbler, Short-tailed Warbler, Grauer’s Warbler, Mountain Masked Apalis, Collared Apalis, Stripe-breasted Tit, Rwenzori Batis, Blue-headed Sunbird, Regal Sunbird, Strange Weaver, DuskyCrimsonwing. A few other species we may encounter as well include Ayres’s Hawk-Eagle, Fine-banded and Cardinal Woodpeckers, Willcocks’s Honeyguide, KakamegaGreenbul, Red-tailed Greenbul, Red-tailed Bristlebill, Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat, Mountain Wagtail, Cassin’s Flycatcher, Equatorial Akalat, Black-faced Rufous Warbler, Dusky Tit, Chestnut Wattle-eye, Red-headed Malimbe, Dusky Twinspot, Cape Wagtail, Brown-backed Scrub Robin, Mackinnon’s Fiscal, and Western Citril.

Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
Lodge: Buhoma Community Rest Camp.

This morning you will depart for Queen Elizabeth National Park, be prepared for some incredible scenery along the way as well as spotting some birds. You will arrive in time for Lunch at the lodge and game drive in the plains of Kasenyi in search for savannah wildlife including spotting bird different birds like the Red Chested, Diederik, and Klaas’s Cuckoo, Short-toed, Black-chested and Brown Snake-eagles, African white-backed, among others and savannah animals that may include herds of buffaloes, antelopes, elephants and if lucky, some wild cats such as lions and leopard.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
Lodge: Elephant Hab\Buffalo Resort.
Drive time: 4-5 hours.

The day begins early with an early morning breakfast, then with our parked lunch, we start our birding/game drive through the kasenyi plains. The park has more than 612 bird species recorded and this is said to be the highest concentration of bird life as compared to any nature reserve in the World. Here we expect sightings of bird species like; the Red Chested, Diederik, and Klaas’s Cuckoo, Short-toed, Black-chested and Brown Snake-eagles, African white-backed, Ruppel’s Griffon, Lappet-faced and Hooded Vultures, African Marsh, Eurasian Marsh, Pallid and Montagu’s Harrier, Wahlberg’s, Tawny, Long-crested and Martial Eagles, African Crake, Harlequin and Blue Quail, Common Button-quail, European Roller, Rufous-naped, White-tailed and Flappet Lark, Winding, Wing-snapping, Croaking, Trilling and Stout Cisticola,Temminck’s Courser, Vereaux’s Eagle-owl, Black-crowned Tchagra and Collared Pratincole among others. We drive towards Mweya peninsular, have our picnic lunch and then go for a boat cruise on Kazinga channel for yet another but deferent view of wildlife and birds. We then drive back to our lodge in the evening for dinner and overnight.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
Lodge: Elephant Hab\Buffalo Resort.

After breakfast, with our packed lunch, we check out of the lodge and drive to Maramagambo Forest for birding/nature walk in the forest. During the walk, we expect to encounter different bird species that includes; the Blue-breasted Kingfisher, Chestnut Wattle Eye, African Dusky, African Paradise, Red-bellied Paradise and Bedford’s Flycatchers, African Golden oriole, Red headed blue bill, Bat hawks, Sulphur-breasted bush shrike, Brown-eared woodpecker, Fawn breasted Waxbill, Yellow-rumped, Yellow-fronted and Speckled Tinkerbirds, African Moustached, Garden,Willow and Dark-caped Yellow Warbler among others. We also expect to encounter different primate species like the Black and white Colobus monkey. Later in the afternoon we drive to Kibale Forest National Park, arriving in the evening and check in to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
Lodge: Chimpanzee Forest Guest House.

After an early breakfast, we start our day birding in Kibale forest. The forest protects more than 300 bird species, so we will expect to encounter specialties that includes; Green-breasted Pitta, Red-chested Owlet, Scally-breasted, Pale-breasted and Brown Illadopsis, Red-caped and Blue-shouldered Robin-chat, Fire-crested and Brown-chested Alethe, Forest Robin, Buff-spotted, Brown-eared and Yellow-crested Woodpecker, Red-winged Francolin, Black-billed Turaco, White-naped and Afep Pigeon, Red-tailed Ant-thrush, Rufous Flycatcher-Thrush, Yellow-whiskered, Cabanis’s, Yellow-throated, Red-tailed and Little Greenbul, Red-tailed Bristlebill, Yellow-spotted, Hairy-breasted and Yellow-billed Barbet among others. We come back to the lodge, have lunch and latter go to Bigodi swamp for a nature walk/birding. This is located some 4kms from Kibale national park visitors’ centre. Here we expect to see species like; the Buff-spotted Woodpecker, Great-blue Turaco, White-naped pigeon, White-tail Ant-Thrush, White spotted Flufftail, Slender-billed, Cameroon Sombre, Joyful and Toro olive Greenbul among others. We go back to the Lodge in the evening for dinner and overnight.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
Lodge: Chimpanzee Forest Guest House.

After breakfast, with our packed lunch, we start birding as we transfer towards Murchison falls National Park, through the tea plantations for sightseeing of Fort portal and home steads of Kagadi and Hoima. We will make stopovers at some spots birding as we drive on, arriving the park in the evening for overnight.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
Lodge: Pakuba safari Lodge or Kabalega wilderness Camp
Drive time: 6-7 hours

After an early morning breakfast, with our packed lunch, we will cross the Nile by the ferry to the northern sector of the park and start our game drive/ birding towards the Delta, in search for the specialties that include; Swallow-tailed, Madagascar, Northern Carmine, Blue-breasted and Red-throated Bee-eaters, Sooty and White-fronted black Chat, Crested and Heuglin’s Francolin, Silverbird, Rufous Sparrow, White-browed and Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-weaver, Vitelline Masked, and Speckle-fronted Weaver, Red-winged Pytilia, Zitting, Black-backed, Croaking, Siffling, Whistling, Rattling and Foxy Cisticola, Double-toothed, White-headed and Black-billed Barbets, Northern, Black-winged and Black Bishop, Nubian, Cadinal and Grey Woodpecker, Black-bellied and Denham’s Bustard, Black-billed and Blue-spotted Wood-dove, Tambourine and Namaqua Dove, Yellow-billed Oxpecker and African Golden Oriole, Long-toed lapwing, Goliath Heron, Water thick-knee, Abyssinian Ground-hornbill, and the rare Shoebill among others. We go back to our camp/lodge in the evening for dinner and overnight.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
Lodge: Pakuba safari Lodge or Kabalega wilderness Lodge

After breakfast, we shall take a boat trip, birding towards the Delta and the specialities here include the Papyrus Gonolek, White-winged Warbler, White rumped canary, Carmine Bee eater, Sacred Ibis, Pied Kingfisher, Red throated Bee eaters, Saddle billed stock, Red necked Falcon, Osprey, Bruce’s Green pigeon, Vinaceous dove, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Shoebill, Fulvous whistling Duck, White crested Turaco, Silver bird, Grosbeak Weaver, Goliath and Purple Heron among others. We also expect to encounter a variety of mammals including the Elephants, Buffaloes, Hartbeasts, Giraffe, Cobs, Oribis, Hyenas,Lions and Leopards among others. We go back to the camp, have lunch and later in the afternoon we go for a boat cruise upstream to the bottom of Murchison falls. We come back to the lodge in the evening for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, with our packed lunch, we check out of the lodge and proceed on to Budongo forest for a half day Nature walk at Kaniyo-Pabidi. During the walk you will also be able to see different bird species like the Puvel’sIlladopsis, Sooty, Forest, African-shrike and Yellow footed flycatcher, White crested Turaco, African-crowned Eagle, Blue-breasted, African-dwarf and Chocolate-backed Kingfisher among others.

Meal plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
Lodge: Budongo Eco-Lodge

Drive back to Entebbe international Airport and depending on your flight time, via Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for Rhino tracking as well during the walk you may also be able to see some other bird species including shoebill stork, Abdim’s Stork, Blue spotted dove, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Booted eagle, African Black Crake, Broad billed Roller, African Black-headed Oriole, Bronze Manikini. After you will proceed to Entebbe, you may decide to have dinner and relax at the Lodge in Entebbe depending on your flight departure time, marking the end of your 17 days Uganda Birding Safari.

Drive time: 5-6 hours

End of Tour
• Additional accommodation can be arranged for extra cost
• You’ll be dropped off at the airport (or hotel)