Uganda Tour Report 2016

8th July - 16th July 2016

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:
Either for rarity value, excellent views or simply a group favourite.  

 

Shoebill African Green Broadbill Green-breasted Pitta Brown-chested Lapwing Red-faced Barbet Chimpanzee Mountain Gorilla African Grey Parrot Ross’s Turaco Black-billed Turaco Black Bee-eater Madagascar Bee-eater Black and White Casqued Hornbill African Finfoot Handsome Francolin Grauer’s Rush Warbler Red-faced Woodland Warbler Grauer’s Warbler Rwenzori Apalis Mountain Masked Apalis Yellow-eyed Black Flycatcher Cassin’s Grey Flycatcher Rufous-bellied Heron Rwenzori Batis Mountain Black Boubou White-tailed Blue Flycatcher

Oriole Finch Rwenzori Hill Babbler Stripe-breasted Tit Rwenzori Nightjar Pennant-winged Nightjar Regal Sunbird Rwenzori Double-collared Sunbird Luhder’s Bush-shrike Papyrus Gonolek Orange Weaver Strange Weaver Blue-breasted Bee-eater Dusky Crimsonwing African Crowned Eagle Grey Crowned Crane Great Blue Turaco Long-toed Lapwing African Pygmy Kingfisher Elliot’s Woodpecker Ugandan Kob African Elephant Hippopotamus Black-fronted Duiker Red-tailed Monkey Grey-cheeked Mangabey Eland

SUMMARY

This may only be a short trip to Uganda but we certainly packed a lot in with a superb set of birds and some incredible mammal encounters. The varied habitat visited, from swamps to lowland forest, and from savanna to montane forest, increased the chances of seeing a good selection of species and we were not to be disappointed. Our local guide for the trip, Paul Tamwenya, was excellent and his knowledge of Uganda and its birds and animals is second to none. We started the tour with a visit to Kibale National Park and, after a bit of searching, had excellent views of Green-breasted Pitta feeding on the ground. We followed this with a very successful Chimpanzee trek. Taking the scenic route to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park we drove though Queen Elizabeth National Park which gave us the chance to enjoy a mini-safari and add a number of good birds and mammals to our ever expanding list. Bwindi, as ever, did not disappoint. The Gorilla trekking was just fantastic and the group managed an incredible 17 of the 25 Albertine Rift endemic birds, which occur in Uganda, during our stay in this wonderful area. The highlight had to be African Green Broadbill at the nest, feeding young, along the Mubwindi Swamp trail. Next up was Lake Mburo National Park where African Finfoot, Rufous-bellied Heron, Red-faced Barbet and 3 species of nightjar were all seen well. On our last morning we took a boat trip in to Mabamba Swamp where we had a fantastic encounter with a couple of Shoebill, surely the most sought after bird in Uganda and a great finale to our trip.

 

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