AWRS 15. 14 DAYS SAFARI - BIRDWATCHING

Day 1: Arrive and transfer to your hotel in Entebbe. After check in and if you are not exhausted depending on your flight you go birding at The Uganda Wildlife Education center (UWEC) home to captive animals this has attracted over 170 species of wild birds 10 species of Weavers such as the rare Northern Masked Weaver, Northern Brown Throated, Golden Backed, Grosbeak, Black Necked, Baglafect etc 5 species of flycatchers, Crested shrike flycatcher, Lead colored, Swamp flycatcher, African paradise, Red bellied etc, raptors such as the Gabber Goshawk, small banded snake Eagle, African Goshawk, African Fish Eagle, African Hobby etc and many more species including captive animals. Proceed to Botanical gardens for another birding experience. Have lunch at Botanical beach hotel in Entebbe. Return for dinner and overnight.


Day 2: Early breakfast and transfer to the Heritage trail, a 10 minutes drive from the Airport. Species that may be seen include Mustached Warbler, Brown Crowned Tchargra, Brown Twin spot, Violet backed Starlings, Black Cuckoo Shrike, Red Shouldered Cuckoo Shrike, and Yellow bill, Great sparrow hawk, Short Toed Snake Eagle, Southern Banded Snake Eagle and many more. Proceed to Lutembe Beach for lunch. After lunch, take on a boat in such for the papyrus Canary, Papyrus Gonolek, the thousands of Grey Headed Gulls, White Winged black Terns and continue birding the evening. Return to Dinner and Overnight at your hotel.


Day 3 : Have an early breakfast and proceed to Mabamba swamps another Important Bird Area (IBA) with a population of about 5 Shoebills. Here most of the birding is done canoeing and other species to be seen may include African water Rail, long Toed Plover, Squacco Heron, Goliath, Purple, Grey and Black Headed Herons, Pygmy Goose, Yellow Billed Duck, White Faced Whistling Duck, Swamp Moorhen, Allen’s Gallinule, Black Crake, African Jacana etc Sitatunga Antelope (swamp Antelope) and many more. Enroute to Kampala stop by another swamp this may reveal Papyrus Gonolek, White winged Warbler, Yellow Crowned Bishop, Weyns Weaver, and many more. Have a packed lunch and continue birding the evening through. Dinner and Overnight in Kampala.


Day 4: Early breakfast and transfer to Mabira forest for mostly forest birding about an hour drive from Kampala. Species of birdlife such as Toro Greenbul, Yellow whiskered Greenbul, Leaf love, Forest Robin, Buff spotted Woodpecker, Grey spotted Woodpecker, White spotted Fluff tail, Red headed Blue Bill, Yellow spotted Barbet, Grey throated Barbet, Yellow Rumped Tinker bird, Yellow Throated Tinker bird, Blue Breasted Kingfisher, African Pygmy, Shining blue, Woodland Kingfishers, Red tailed Ant Thrush, Chin spot Batis, Banded Wattle Eye, Chestnut Wattle Eye, Brown capped, Yellow mantled, Black Billed, Weyn’s Weavers, Red headed Malimbe, Purple headed Starling, Violet backed Starling and many more fascinating species. Have a picnic lunch and continue birding the evening.
Return to Kampala for Dinner and Overnight.


Day 5: An early breakfast and transfer to Murchison Falls National Park that boost over 450 species. It is a four –five hour drive from Kampala we stop on the way for a ‘leg stretch’ which may reveal Compact Weaver, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Olive bellied, Bronze and Copper Sunbirds, Saddle billed Stork etc. Have a stop-over in Masindi for lunch thereafter continue birding up to the Top of the mighty falls where we see the falls drop 45 meters and forces its way through a 7 meter gorge. Rock Particles, a mixed flock of swifts, Africa Pied Wagtail, reptiles such as Red headed Agama continue birding to your accommodation. Settle in for Dinner and Overnight at the Paraa Safari Lodge. Full board.


Day 6: Early morning breakfast and embark on a game drive species such as Silver bird, Chestnut capped Weaver, Spotted morning Thrush, Common Drongo, White Fronted Black Chat, Bruce’s Green Pigeon, Black billed Dove, Vinaceous Dove, Namaqua Dove, Carmine Bee-Eater, Red Throated, Swallow Tailed Bee-Eater, Isabel line and Northern Wheatears, Shoebills, Saddle bill, Grey crowned Cranes at the Delta and other game like Cape Buffalo, Roth child’s Giraffe, Jackson’s Hartebeest, Elephant, Silver Backed Jackals, Lions, Kobs, Oribi and many more. Return to lunch relax and take on a boat launch to the bottom of the falls encountering Hippos, huge Nile Crocodiles and game drinking, water birds such as Lesser Jacana, White necked stork, Fulvous whistling Ducks, a variety of Herons, Egyptian Plover, Spur Winged Plover, Water Thick-Knee, Rock Pranticoles etc.
Return to Paraa Safari Lodge for Dinner and Overnight. Full board.


Day 7: Have an early morning breakfast and transfer to Kibale stopping briefly to bird along the turn to Sambiya River Lodge Species such as Martial Eagle, Tawny Eagle, Grey Headed Kingfisher, Grey Hornbill, Grey Kestrel, Helmeted and Crested Guinea fowl, Senegal Coucal may be seen. Embark on a primate walk in the Kanio Pabidi forest a sector of the Budongo forest. Chimps, Black and White Colobus, Red tailed and blue monkeys and lots of Olive Baboons may be seen. Birds like White thighed Hornbills, Black billed Turacco, Great blue and Ross’s Turaccos, Afep Pigeons, African Green Pigeons, Narina’s Trogon, Proceed for lunch in Masindi and continue to Fort Portal Traveller’s inn for Dinner and Overnight. Full board.


Day 8: After breakfast leave for the Park you go birding in the forest watch red-winged Francolin, Red-chested Flufftail, White-napped Pigeon, Green-brested Pita, African Pita, Joyful Greenbul, Grey-winged Robin, Abyssinian Ground Thrush, Grey-throated Flycatcher, White-bellied Crested Flycatcher, Masked and Black-capped Apalises, Uganda Woodland Warbler, Chestnut-winged Starling, Orange-tufted and Tiny Sunbirds, Grey-headed Olive-back. Other wildlife expected to be seen in the Park include primates like Guereza Colobus, Olive Baboon, Grey-cheeked Mangabey, L'Hoest Gentle ( Blue) and Red-tailed Monkeys is more likely to be found in open areas adjacent to the forest. You may find evidence of Elephant, Bush Pig and Buffalo along the trails, whilst Bushbuck, Blue, Harvey's and Peter's Duickers are other shy inhabitants of the forest interior. After lunch go for a swamp walk in the Bigodi swamp which is manned by the local people and continue to Fort Portal Traveller’s inn for Dinner and Overnight. Full board.


Day 9 -10 Drive to Queen Elizabeth N.P Birding life here includes:
African Mourning Dove, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Swamp Fly-catcher, Grey-capped Warbler, The beautiful Black-headed Gonolek, Collard Pranticles, Pin-tailed Whyda Martial Eagle, Gabon and Slender-tailed Nightjars, Great and Long-tailed Cormorants, Black-rumped Buttonquail, Common Squaco Heron, Shoebill Stork, African Open-billed Stork, African Fish Eagle, African Jacana, The Kazinga channel is a catch for water birds and while on a launch cruise reveals species such as; Great-white and Pink-backed Pelicans, Great and Long-tailed Cormorants, Common Squaco Heron, African open-billed Stork, White-faced Whistling and Knob-billed Ducks, African Fish Eagle, Black Crake, African Jacana, Water Thick-knee, Spur-winged and African Watt led Plovers, Malachite and Pied kingfishers, Swamp flycatchers and Yellow backed Weavers are all common and conspicuous.

Numbers of migrants peak in February and March and are nothing short of spectacular with hundreds of thousands of White-winged Terns hovering over the water, millions of common sand Martins and Yellow -wagtails roosting in reed-beds and lesser numbers of paratactic waders such as the Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpipers, Common Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Marsh, common and Wood sandpipers, Spotted Redshank and common Greenshank feeding along the marshy fringes.


A number of national rarities have been recorded from the hippo wallows along the channel including Eurasian Widgeon, Common Teal, Northern Pochard, Mongolian Plover and Jack Snipe. Hundreds of African Skimmers may be seen roosting on sandbars near the entrance to Lake Edward but are migrants from southern tropics and usually present only from December to May. The Kazinga channel may also be viewed from the Katunguru Bridge on the main Mbarara-Kasese road where Pelicans, Terns, Greater Swamp and winged Warblers, Winding and Caruthers’s Cist colas and Papyrus Gonolek may be seen. Overnight at Mweya Safari lodge. Full Board.


Day 11-12 Gorilla tracking is a major tourist attraction in Bwindi. Four gorilla groups are currently available to be visited on daily basis six permits per day are sold for each of these groups at UWA Headquarters in Kampala. Book at least 3-6 months in advance to ensure that requested dates are available. Overnight at Buhoma Homestead
Gorilla Tracking in Bwindi can be strenuous, therefore ensure physical fitness. Bring jungle boots and rain jackets because the park is often wet. Your gorilla tracking experience starts at 8:30 am local time and occasionally lasts the whole day!

Bwindi is the Bird watchers haven ! It holds 348 species of birds and contains 90% of all Albertine rift Endemics such as; the Short-tailed Warbler, Rusty-faced woodland Warbler, Bar-tailed Trogon, Gruer's Rush Warbler, Wilcock's Honey-guide, Yellow-eyed black Fly-catcher, Kivu Ground Thrush, Dusky Crimson Wing, White-tailed Blue Monarch among others, difficult or impossible to see in any other part of East Africa. Overnight at Buhoma Homestead


Day 13 After breakfast set off for L.Mburo N.P. The park is only 260 sq. km being the smallest of the Uganda’s savanna National Parks its mosaic habitat, dry hillside, rocky outcrops, bushes thickets, open and wooded savanna forests, lakes and swamps are home to a surprising diversity of plants and animals.

The park has about 313 different bird species including the rare Shoebill stork and White-winged Warbler. other species to lookout for are; Crested Francolin, Emerald-spotted Wood Dove, Brown Parrot, Barefaced Go-away bird, Red necked Spur, common Quails, Black-billed Barbet, Greenwood Hoopoe, Blue-napped Moosebird, Lilac-breasted Roller, African-grey Hornbill, Nubian Woodpecker, Trilling Cist cola a drive towards Rwonyo camp may reveal;. Coqui Francolin, Red necked spur fowl, Black Bellied Bustard, Temminck’s Courser, and African-wattled Plover Rufus napped and Flappet larks, Rufus chested Swallow Yellow-throated Long claw and Southern Red Bishop.

Activities
Forest walk - Rubanga Forest
This forest offer a variety of conducive habitat for birds therefore a very attractive place for bird watchers with over 40 bird species recorded.
Boat trips
The Lake is rich with a diversity of animal and plant species which can only be viewed clearly if you take a boat trip the crocodiles, Hippopotamuses and birds like Pelicans, Black Crake, Heron, Cormorant, Fish Eagle. The duration of each boat cruise is negotiable with the park management. Overnight at the Park corteges.


Day 14: Drive to Kampala and Airport for your flight.

Feel free to request for our safari rates
Rates Include: Accommodation, meals, park fees, Chimp permits, gorilla permits, birding fee, Launch trips, transportation in 4x4 safari vehicle and services of driver/guide.
Rates Exclude: Personal expenses. Travel and health insurance, visa fees, airport taxes, laundry services, personal phone calls & emails, porter services and tips, beverages other than those offered with meals. etc