Birding Tour Through Uganda

Upon arrival at Entebbe Airport, our representative will meet you and transfer you to the boutique hotel. This day is at leisure. Depending on your time of arrival, we can add an optional guided city tour or a transfer to the local beach.

After breakfast, you will experience a boat trip to Mabamba Swamp, searching for the shoebill.

You will then continue to Kibale Primate Lodge, with birding stops along the route.

Situated in the western part of Uganda, Kibale National Park is famous for being a home to primates; in fact, it has the highest number of chimpanzees per square kilometre in Africa. However, this tropical rainforest is also an ornithologist’s dream come true. With over 370 recorded bird species, including rarities found nowhere else on earth.

Here there are six endemic Albertine Rift endemics, including dusky crimsonwing passerines with rufous crowns and white cheeks; melodic red-faced woodland warblers having black eyes pots along lower edge sides cheeks, amongst others while collared apalis have bright orange forehead patches bordered behind by blue band across nape down onto breast side neck; these two sunbirds respectively possess blue heads combined purple throats or upperparts and breast bands.

In the morning you'll go chimpanzee trekking.

This consistently popular primate walk allows you to observe chimpanzees in their natural habitat. The chimpanzee groups in Kanyanchu are well accustomed to human presence, with some having been observed for over 25 years, ensuring a sighting probability of over 90%.

Kibale has wonderful forest and papyrus birds but you'll have to rely on calls and the odd glimpse through the forest canopy. Rare species include the papyrus gonolek, white-winged warbler, white-collared olive back and papyrus canary, white-spotted flufftail, yellow-spotted barbet, hairy-breasted barbet, yellow-billed barbet, western nicator, grey-winged robin-chat, white-tailed ant-thrush, brown-backed scrub-robin, Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher, brown-throated wattle-eye, superb sunbird, Brown-crowned tchagra, Bocage’s Bush-shrike, black bishop, white-breasted negrofinch and black-crowned waxbill.

Overnight at Kibale Primate Lodge, with your meals included.

Drive through the countryside to reach Semliki Safari Lodge.

Transfer to the fishing village of Ntoroko from where you'll go on a birding boat cruise on Lake Albert. The swamp at the southern end of Lake Albert is one of the best spots in Uganda to observe the much sought-after and rare shoebill stork. You'll have a chance to observe rare species such as grey-headed gull, lesser Swamp-warbler, Spot-breasted ibis, Senegal coucal and African green ibis. Some other remarkable birds that can be seen are blue-cheeked bee-eater, blue-headed coucal, goliath heron, yellow-billed stork and grey-crowned crane.

Experience the Semliki Valley Wildlife Reserve in a private 4x4 and observe species such as sulfur-breasted bushshrike, red-shouldered cuckoo shrike, white-browed scrub-robin, blue-naped mousebird, striped kingfisher, white-breasted robin, bateleur and snake eagles, and helmeted guineafowl.

Game drive into Semliki National Park. The park, which has 430+ bird species, is the eastern extension of the vast Ituri Forest of the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Forest walks in the Semliki National Park will give you the opportunity to see white-crested hornbill, red-billed dwarf hornbill, piping hornbill, Congo serpent eagle, yellow-throated nicator, red-rumped tinker bird, black winged oriole, black collared lovebird, Zenkers honey-guide.

After breakfast, you will drive through to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

You'll cross the equator and pass through the Queen Elizabeth National Park (600+ bird species) where the Uganda kob is abundant and you may see elephant or buffalo in the distance. After lunch at the Mweya Safari Lodge, you'll go on a boat cruise on the Kazinga channel, leaving at 3pm. The 32-kilometre Kazinga channel is a dominant feature of the Queen Elizabeth National Park and links Lake George with Lake Edward. The channel attracts a varied range of animals and birds and one of the world’s largest concentrations of hippos year round. During the cruise, you may spot skimmers, striated heron, African spoonbill, African crake, three-banded plover, marsh sandpiper, green sandpiper, wood sandpiper, grey-headed gull, lesser swamp-warbler and many others.

After breakfast, you'll leave the Northern section of the Queen Elizabeth National Park via an 80-kilometre dirt road (1,5 to two hours, depending on road conditions) towards the Congolese border town of Ishasha. Although the road passes through the Queen Elizabeth National Park, this is a public road. Enjoy your packed lunch at a quiet spot at the Ishasha River before checking in to the Ishasha Wilderness Camp. In the afternoon you'll go on a wildlife and birding drive on the Ishasha Plains in a private 4x4 vehicle with your driver-guide. As the sun sets, return to the Ishasha Wilderness Camp for the night, meals included.

Spend the morning after breakfast on a last game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park before driving to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park (two to three hours away) in time for dinner. Bwindi is a bird watcher's heaven, with 350 species of birds and 90% of all Albertine rift endemics. An experienced bird watcher can identify up to 100 species in a day. Birding takes place along the Buhoma Waterfall Trail and along the bamboo zone and Mubwindi Swamp trail in Ruhija. Buhoma Lodge will be our home for the next 3 nights.

We have included 1 permit for gorilla trekking. Spend your allotted hour with these giant primates and return to the lodge for a late lunch and time to relax after the trek.

You have a day at leisure to relax, enjoy the surrounding, or book an additional gorilla trek, forest walk - let us know your preferences and we will provide you with optional tours and prices.

Early breakfast and transfer to the airstrip for the scheduled flight to Entebbe.

Transit to your flight back home, or contact us to extend your trip.