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GORILLAS & BIRDING AFRICAN SAFARI -
UGANDA (11 DAYS)
This Safari is designed to fit birders who are
interested in exploring the Albertine rift and Highland endemics. In all
the places that we shall go to, the weather is cold because of high
altitude. The terrain is rugged and sometimes walkways are very
slippery. We advise our clients to carry rain gears and hiking shoes
(jungle boots) to negotiate the slippery surfaces. This Gorilla
trekking and biding tour of Uganda is designed for you to explore
Uganda's endemic treasures.
Day 1-Arrival.
You will be received by a safari guide from Trinita
safaris and transferred to the hotel for the overnight stay. Choices of
Accommodation include Entebbe Resort Beach Hotel and Lindsay Cottages.
Day 2: Birding Mabamba and Lake Mburo National Park,
Uganda
Start early after breakfast and proceed to Mabamba
Wetland to search for the Shoebill stork. Other birds include the Papyrus
gonolek, Great blue turaco, Hadada Ibis, Red headed love birds, blue
swallow, hermakop, Long toed lapwing, pigmy goose, Yellow billed
ducks,winding cisticola, blue breasted kingfisher. Proceed to Lake
Mburo National Park . Evening birding in the park is very productive.
Special Birds include Red faced barbet, Tabora cisticola, Green backed
woodpecker. Overnight at either Muhingo lodge (up market/luxurious
accommodation), Mantanna camp (Medium accommodation) or Acadia cottages
(budget accommodation)
Day 3: Travel to Kisoro, Uganda
On this day of birding safari, you will transfer to
Kisoro via Kabale for a lunch break. This will take us a whole day
birding on the highway. Overnight in Tourist Hotel Kisoro- Uganda.
Day 4: Birding tour to Mgahinga, Uganda
This is Uganda's smallest and probably most scenic
national park situated in the extreme southwestern corner of the
country. With a record of more than 115 bird species in the park, of
which some are Albertine rift endemics, we shall embark on our safari
by exploring the treasures of this park along the excellent Gorge
trail, which loops half way up Mt. Sabinyo, traversing a variety of
montane habitats. From Ntebeko Camp, the trail winds up through former
farmland where regenerating vegetation has a semi natural health character.
Dusky Turtle Dove, Cape Robinchart, Brown-Crowned Tchagra, Bronze
sunbird, Black Headed Waxbill and Streaky Seedeater favour the scrubby
vegetation in this area. As we enter the bamboo belt at about 2500m, we
may encounter the Handsome Francolin, Kivu Ground thrush and Cinnamon
Bracken wabler. Between the bamboo zone and the edge of the forest, we
shall cross several hundred metres of open heath with the appearance of
alpine moorland. The flowering Red-hot Pokers attract both Malachite
and Scarlet-tufted sunbirds. Stay at the same accommodation facility.
Day 5-6: Birding tour to Bwindi Ruhiija, Uganda
At the highest elevation bamboo forests, keep an eye
out for African Black Duck and Mountain Wagtails in the small
fast-flowing streams. Mountain and Augur buzzards; Ayres's Hawk-Eagle,
Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk; Rameron Pigeon; Brown-necked Parrot;
Black-billed Turaco; Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo; White-headed
Woodhoopoe; Western Tinkerbird; Olive Woodpecker; Thick-billed, Least,
and the elusive Dwarf honeyguides; Black Sawwing; Gray Cuckoo-shrike;
Eastern Mountain, Honeyguide, Red-tailed, Shelley's and Yellow-streaked
greenbuls; Olive Thrush; White-starred Robin; Stripe-breasted Tit;
Mountain and the beautiful Gray-chested illadopses; African Hill
Babbler (the local form often treated as a full species, Ruwenzori Hill
Babbler); Black-faced, Ruwenzori, and Chestnut-throated apalises;
Red-faced Woodland-Warbler; White-tailed Blue-Flycatcher; Yellow-eyed
Black-Flycatcher; Ruwenzori Batis; Mountain Sooty Boubou; the rare
Lagden's Bushshrike; Sharpe's Starling; Black-tailed Oriole; Strange
Weaver, and Oriole Finch. Flowering trees attract the incredible
Purple-breasted Sunbird as well as Blue-headed and Regal sunbirds, all
three being extremely beautiful Albertine Rift Endemics. Dusky,
Red-faced and the elusive Shelley's crimsonwings, amongst the most
beautiful and sought-after of African seedeaters, are possible at
Ruhizha.
Day 7: Birding tour in Buhoma, Uganda
Drive to Buhoma through the Neck. Evening birding
around the margins of the forest is productive. The park lies in the
rugged Kigezi Highlands of south western Uganda, protecting a continuum
of forest that ranges from montane to lowland areas. It is this altitudinal
variation, combined with its location within the Albertine Rift, that
results in Bwindi Impenetrable being the richest forest in East Africa
in terms of its trees, butterflies and birds. Bwindi is a home to over
360 Mountain Gorillas - half of the world's population. The bird list
for the park currently totals 347 species. The forest has 10 of the 26
globally threatened species in Uganda, five of which are vulnerable. It
boasts of 24 of the 25 Albertine Rift endemic species in the country
and some, such as African Green Broadbill, Chapin's Flycatcher and
Shelley's Crimson-wing have limited distributions elsewhere in their
range. Stay at Community Bandas or Bwindi View Guest House.
Day 8: Gorilla Tracking tour of Uganda
Today, after breakfast, we shall assemble for
briefing before we head for the most exhilarating wildlife experience
on this planet, the Gorilla trek. Although Gorilla tracking can be
strenuous, gazing into the eyes of a Mountain Gorilla from a few feet
away is nothing short of a life-changing experience. A single Mountain
Gorilla survives per 10 million people,on earth and to have the
opportunity to meet these gentle giants and be part of their family
group for an hour is a rare privilege indeed. In all our Gorilla tours
in both Rwanda and Uganda we put an emphasis on the community benefits
to enhance the community collaborative conservation of Gorillas.
The next day, we have a full day birding on the Royal Mile, a dazzling
forestry track rated as one of the premier forest birding sites in
Africa; we will make an acquaintance with the first of many central
African forest birds. Skulking Alethes and Illadopses sing from the
undergrowth and we will work through mixed-species flocks of Greenbuls,
Eremomelas, Crombecs, and Longbills, certainly first rate forest
birding.
Day 9: Birding Main trail
Today start after a breakfast and carry packed lunch
for forest birding. Special birds here include; Waller's, Stuhlmann's
and Narrow-tailed. One of Bwindi's star avian attractions is the diminutive,
pitta-like Neumann's Warbler, a vocal yet very secretive bird! Other
under-storey birds we hope to see include displaying African Broadbill;
Pale-breasted and Mountain Illadopsis, African Hill-Babbler,
Red-throated Alethe, Black-faced, Black-throated and Mountain Masked
Apalises, Banded Prinia and the handsome Black-faced Rufous-Warbler.
The mid-storey and canopy supports Elliot's and Tullberg's woodpeckers;
Cabanis', Toro Olive, Shelley's and Ansorge's greenbuls; the strange
Grauer's Warbler and White-browed Crombec, Yellow-eyed Black, Ashy,
Dusky-blue, Chapin's and Cassin's Grey Flycatchers, Chin-spot and
Rwenzori Batis, Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher, White-bellied
Crested-flycatcher, Dusky Tit, Blue-throated Brown, Blue-headed,
Northern Double-collared and Grey-headed Sunbirds, Mackinnon's Fiscal,
Sooty Boubou, Pink-footed Puffback, Doherty's Bush-shrike. The rare
Jameson's Antpecker may also been seen probing under moss on dead
branches or gleaning warbler-like in the canopy along with Strange,
Brown-capped and Black-billed Weavers. Overhead, Scarce Swifts forage
over the forest. Birding at Buhoma is a truly magical experience. Other
wildlife that we may be fortunate enough to find here include the huge
Yellow-backed Duiker, Guereza Colobus; L'Hoest's; Blue and Red-tailed
monkeys; Chimpanzee and several species of squirrels including
Fire-footed Rope, Carruthers' Mountain, Ruwenzori Sun and Red-legged
Sun Squirrel.
Day 10: Travel to Kampala / Entebbe
Day 11: Birding in the Botanical Gardens Entebbe and
Departure..
MAKE ENQUIRY
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