Birding and Gorillas

Arrive at Entebbe International Airport, where you will be met and greeted by your driver/guide, and proceed to your accommodation, which is just 7 minutes away.

Dinner and overnight at Airport Link Guest house (Full Board)

Enjoy an early breakfast, then proceed to Mabamba Wetlands with a packed lunch. Get onto a motorized boat and begin birding. Look out for birds like the mighty Shoebill and other birds like Long-tailed Cormorant, Squacco Heron, Yellow-billed Duck, Malachite Kingfisher, Long-toed Plover, Blue-headed Coucal, and Blue-breasted Bee-eater.

Lunch, then continue birding around when the sun has gone down, then later drive back to Entebbe.

Dinner and Overnight at Airport Link Guest House (Full Board).

After breakfast, start your drive as you head westwards, getting to Fort Portal in time for lunch. After lunch, as it cools down, go and bird the Sebitoli area. 

Look out for birds like Red-chested Cuckoo, Great blue Turaco, Lizard Buzzard, Black-faced Rufous Warbler, Joyful Greenbul, Masked Apalis, Whinchat, Stonechat, Grey-headed Sunbird, Many coloured Bush-shrikes, among other birds. 

Getting back to accommodation in time for a warm shower and dinner

Dinner and overnight at Chimpanzee Forest Lodge (Full Board).

Early breakfast and then proceed to Kibale Forest, which is the best place in Uganda to see Chimps and other primates. 

Look out for birds like Narina Trogon, African Emerald Cuckoo, Grey Parrot, Sabine’s Spinetail, Black-billed Turaco, Yellow-billed Barbet, Red-tailed Ant Thrush, among other birds, and Primates like Blue Monkey, Black and white Colobus, Grey-cheeked Mangabey, Olive Baboon, Vervet Monkey, Red-tailed Monkey, L’Hoest’s Monkey, among others.

Note: Those who want to do the chimp walk, as others are looking for birds, will need to book in advance.

Dinner and overnight at Chimpanzee Forest Lodge  ( Full Board).

After breakfast, proceed to bird the Bigodi swamp, getting to the Primate Lodge Kibale in time for lunch. 

After lunch, head to Queen Elizabeth driving along the foothills of the mountains of the Moon (Rwenzori Mountains) by Kasese, and crossing the Equator as you get close to Lake Kikorongo, birding en route to Bush Lodge, where you will spend two nights.

Look out for birds like Helmeted Guinea Fowl, Red-necked Spurfowl, Great blue Turaco, Barbets, Tinkerbirds, Kingfishers, Bee-eaters, Cuckoos, Lesser Striped Swallows, Black-lored babbler, Grey-backed Shrike, Sunbirds, among other birds.

Dinner and overnight at Bush Lodge en suite Tent ( Full Board)

After breakfast, a morning game drive/birding. Lunch at the Lodge and in the afternoon, go looking for birds on a lunch boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel, to see a variety of wildlife like hippos, crocodiles, and bird life from a boat for two hours. 

Look out for birds like Yellow-billed Stork, Saddle-billed Stork, African Spoonbill, Raptors, Plovers, White-browed Robin-chat, Rufous-naped Lark, Red-chested Sunbird, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Shrikes, Weavers, Finches, among other birds. 

Also, look out for mammals like Uganda Kob, Bushbuck, Defassa Waterbuck, Buffaloes, Elephants, Warthog, among others.

Dinner and overnight at Bush Lodge en suite  Tent ( Full Board)

With your picnic lunch, bird your way to Bwindi. Look out for birds like Martial Eagle, Francolins, Barbets, Chats, Cuckooshrikes, Sunbirds, Fork tailed Drongo, Larks, Pipits, Weavers, Widowbirds among other birds. 

You will look out for mammals like Topi, Uganda Kob, Water Buck, Buffaloes, Elephants, Baboons, and others. Lunch, then transfer to the Buhoma sector of Bwindi.

Dinner and Overnight at Ride 4 A Woman( Full Board) 

Breakfast, then head to the gorilla trekking briefing point. We recommend that you wear good walking shoes and carry good rain gear and enough drinking water. Gorilla trekking can be tough and challenging, and so we trust you are in reasonably fit condition for the Gorilla trekking levels. 

You will carry a picnic lunch with you into the forest, but not to share with the Gorillas and you will be thrilled to have seen these Gorillas (no guarantee), and the return journey from Gorilla trekking could be easier.

Dinner and Overnight at Ride 4 A Woman ( Full Board).

Today we will be birding Bwindi Impenetrable forest looking for species like Bar-tailed Trogon, Black Bee-Eater, White-headed Wood-hoopoe, Tinkerbirds and Barbets, Woodpeckers, African Broadbill, assorted Greenbuls, White-bellied Robin-Chat, Red-throated Alethe, Chapin’s Flycatcher, Red-faced Woodland Warbler, Black-faced Rufous Warbler, Grauer’s Warbler, Mountain Masked Apalis, Bocage’s Bush-shrike, Luhder’s Bush-shrike, Pink-footed Puffback, Petit’s Cuckooshrike, Starlings, Black-billed Weaver, Brown-capped Weaver, among other birds. 

Dinner and Overnight at Ride 4 A Woman ( Full Board)

After breakfast, bird as you transfer to Ruhija via the neck, looking out for birds like:

1. Cassin’s Hawk Eagle
2. Black-billed Turaco
3. Eastern Plantain Eater
4. Blue Malkoha
5. Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo
6. Blue-throated roller
7. Black Bee-Eater
8. Speckled Tinkerbird
9. Yellow-throated Tinkerbird
10. Least Honeyguide,
11. Tullberg’s Woodpecker
12. Buff-spotted Woodpecker
13. Speckle-breasted Woodpecker
14. Elliot’s Woodpecker
15. Brown-backed Scrub Robin
16. Banded Prinia
17. African Shrike Flycatcher
18. Black-and-white Shrike Flycatcher
19. Dusky Blue Flycatcher
20. Cassin’s Flycatcher
21. Sooty flycatcher
22. Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher
23. White-tailed Blue Flycatcher
24. Chestnut Wattle-eye
25. Western Nicator, Mountain Greenbul
26. Plain Greenbul, Honeyguide Greenbul
27. Yellow-throated Leaflove
28. White-throated Greenbul
29. Red-tailed Greenbul
30. Willcocks’s Honeyguide
31. Green Crombec
32. Green Hylia
33. Scaly-breasted Illadopsis
34. Brown Illadopsis
35. Fraser’s Rufous Thrush
36. Grey-throated Tit Flycatcher
37. Red-faced Woodland Warbler
38. Mountain Masked Apalis
39. Doherty’s Bushshrike
40. Velvet-mantled Drongo
41. Purple-headed Starling
42. Splendid Starling
43. Slender-billed Starling
44. Waller’s Starling
45. Narrow-tailed Starling
46. Grey-headed Sunbirds
47. Little Green Sunbird
48. Grey-chinned Sunbird
49. Blue-throated Brown Sunbird
50. Purple-breasted Sunbird
51. Black Bishop
52. White-breasted Nigrita
53. Western Citri, among others.

Dinner and overnight at Trekkers Tavern (Full board). 

After breakfast, walk down to the Mubwindi Swamp looking out for species like the Rwenzori Nightjar, Bar-tailed Trogon, Grauer’s Broadbill, Speckled Tinkerbird, Yellow-throated Tinkerbird, Western Green Tinkerbird, Black-billed Turaco, Least Honeyguide, Dwarf Honeyguide, Willcocks’s Honeyguide, Tullberg’s Woodpecker, Blue Malkoha, Buff-spotted Woodpecker, Speckle-breasted Woodpecker, Elliot’s Woodpecker, Archer’s Robin Chat, Rwenzori Hill Babbler, Banded Prinia, Dusky Blue Flycatcher, Sooty flycatcher, Yellow-eyed Black Flycatcher, African Shrike Flycatcher, White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, Rwenzori Batis, Chestnut Wattle-eye, Mountain Greenbul, Green Crombec, Green Hylia, Strip-breasted Tit, Scaly-breasted Illadopsis, Brown Illadopsis, Fraser’s Rufous Thrush, Grey-throated Tit Flycatcher, Mountain Yellow Warbler, Grauer’s Rush Warbler, Red-faced Woodland Warbler, Grauer’s Warbler, Mountain Masked Apalis, Rwenzori Apalis, Doherty’s Bushshrike, Purple-headed Starling, Slender-billed Starling, Waller’s Starling, Narrow-tailed Starling, Regal Sunbird, Blue-headed Sunbird, Little Green Sunbird, Strange Weaver, White-breasted Nigrita, Dusky Crimsonwing, Kandt’s Waxbill, 

Certainly one of the highlights of any birding trip in Uganda, this walk is physically challenging, but taken slowly, it is quite manageable.

Dinner and overnight at Trekkers Tavern (Full board)

This morning, we’ll bird eastwards through the terraced mountains of Kigezi to the open plains and rocky hillsides of Ankole. We’ll have a few stops along the way to enjoy the scenery and birds. We’ll be able to get closer views of the fabulous Ankole long-horned cattle as we drive to Mbarara and onto Lake Mburo, where we’ll stay at Mihingo Lodge for the next three nights.

Birding here is a delightful experience, and often one of the highlights of a birding trip to Uganda. Look out for birds like Augur Buzzard, Crested Francolin, Emerald Spotted Wood Dove, Spot-flanked Barbet, Bare-faced Go-away-bird, Lailac-breasted Roller, Black-headed Gonolek, Starlings, among other birds.

Dinner and Overnight at Rwakobo Rock Lodge ( Full Board)

Whole day birding Lake Mburo National Park looking for birds like the Bateleur, Crested Francolin, Black-bellied Bustard, Emerald-spotted Wood Dove, Brown Parrot, Bare-faced Go-away-bird, Blue-napped Mousebird, African Grey Hornbill, Red-faced Barbet, Spot-flanked Barbet,  Larks, Pipits, Long-tailed Cisticola, Yellow-breasted Apalis, among other birds.

In the afternoon, take a boat cruise to look for the African Finfoot and other birds. Before dinner, try the African Scops Owl, Swamp, Black-shouldered, and Freckled Nightjars, among other birds.

Look out for animals like the gorgeous Eland, Zebra, Impala, Buffalo, Topi, Reedbuck, Waterbuck, Bushbuck, Hippos, Oribi, and Bush duiker as you look for birds.

Dinner and Overnight at Rwakobo Rock Lodge  (Full Board).

Today, we head to Entebbe International Airport in time for your departure flight.