Day 1: Arrival.
The company guide will meet you at the airport and transfer you to the hotel.
Then dinner and overnight at the lodge;
Accommodation:
Luxury: Serena Lake Victoria Resort
Midrange: Cassia Lodge
Budget: Common Lens Inn Hotel
Day 2: Uganda birding safari to Mabamba swamp and transfer to Lake Mburo National Park.
You will transfer to mabamba swamp after having your breakfast. You will search for birds which include; Great Blue Turacco,Hadada Ibis,Red-headed Lovebird,Long-toed Lapwing, Papyrus Gonolek, Blue Swallow, Hermakop, Pigmy Goose, Yellow-billed Duck, Winding Cisticola, and Blue-breasted Kingfisher. Then later will later proceed to Lake Mburo national park; where you will bird in the evening. Some of the bird species you will view include; Bare-faced Go away Bird,Taboracisticola,Red-faced Barbet,Green-backed woodpecker,Lilac-breasted Roller,White-backed Scrub Robin,Ruppel’s Long-tailed Starling,Black-headed Oriole, Bateleur,Common Bulbul, Brown Parrot,Grey Hornbill,Coqui Francolin,White-backed and Ruppel’s Griffon Vultures,Black-lored,White-headed,Spot-flanked Barbets,Tropical Boubou,Fork-tailed Drongo.
More of the birds include; the Greater Blue-eared Starling,White-browed Coucal,Emerald-spotted Wood Dove,African Moustached,Arrow-marked Babblers,Mariqua Sunbird,Common Scimitar bill,and Sulphur-breasted Bush Shrike, Black-headed Gonolek, Northern Brubru, Trilling and TaboraCisticolas, White-winged Tit, Golden-breasted Bunting, ChinspotBatis, Red-headed Weaver, Double-toothed Barbet, Green-capped Eremomela, and Buff-bellied Warbler.
Then dinner and overnight at the lodge.
Accommodation:
Luxury: Mihingo Lodge
Mid range: Arcadia Cottages, Lake Mburo
Budget: Eagle’s Nest
Day 3: Morning birding excursion and transfer from Lake Mburo national park to Kisoro
You will have a full day transfer to Kisoro passing through the undulating of Kigezi region.
Then dinner and overnight at your preferred choice of accommodation.
Accommodation:
Luxury: Mount Gahinga Lodge
Mid range: Travellers Rest Hotel
Budget: Amajambere Iwacu camp
Day 4: Birding Safari in Mgahinga gorilla national park.
This national park is the smallest in Uganda. It has got many species of birds and some of them include; the Cape Robin-chat, Dusky Turtle Dove, Bronze Sun bird, Black-headed Wax bill, Brown-crowned Tchagra, and Streaky Seed eater. As you encounter the bamboo belt, you will view birds which include; Cinnamon Bracken Warbler,White Starred Robin,Handsome Francolin, Kivu Ground Thrush and Greater Double collard Sunbird, Rwenzori Batis, Rwenzori Turcaco,Archer’s Robin Chat, Shelly’s Dusky Crimson wing, Olive Pigeon, Black headed waxbill, Western Green Tinker bird,Cape Robin,Malachite Sunbird, and many more birds. Then from there, you will cross to the moorland where you will view more species of birds including; red pokers and the scarlet tufted sun birds.
Finally have dinner and overnight at the same accommodation.
Accommodation:
Luxury: Mount Gahinga Lodge
Mid range: Travellers Rest Hotel
Budget: Amajambere Iwacu camp
Day 5-6: Have a birding safari in Ruhija, Bwindi.
Bwindi impenetrable national park has got many bird species which include; Mountain Wagtails,African Black Duck,Mountain and Augur buzzards, Ayres’s Hawk-Eagle,Brown-necked Parrot, Rufous-chested Sparrow hawk,Black-billed Turacco,Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo,White-headed Wood-hoopoe,Western Tinker bird,Olive Woodpecker, Thick-billed, Least, Dwarf honey-guides,Black Saw-wing, Gray Cuckoo-shrike, Eastern mountain Honey guide, Red-tailed, Shelley’s and Yellow-streaked Greenbuls.
Furthermore they include; Olive Thrush, White-starred Robin, Stripe-breasted Tit, Mountain and the beautiful Gray-chested Illadopsis, African Hill Babbler, Ruwenzori Black-faced Turaco, Chestnut throated Apalises, Red-faced woodland-Warbler, White-tailed Blue-Flycatcher, Yellow-eyed Black-Flycatcher, Mountain Sooty Boubou, the rare Lagden’s Bushshrike, Black-tailed Oriole,Sharpe’s Starling, Ruwenzori Batis, Strange Weaver, and Oriole Finch. Other bird species which are located in the park include; the purple breasted sun bird, blue headed and the regal sun birds, Dusky, red faced and the Shelley’s crimson wings. Then finally dinner and overnight;
Accommodation:
Luxury: Gorilla Safari Lodge
Midrange: Bakiga Lodge
Budget: Broadbill Forest Camp
Day 7: Travel to Buhoma and do birding.
You will drive to Buhoma through the Neck; birding around its margins. The bird list here has over 347 species and some of them include; the African green broadbill, the chapin’s flycatcher and the Shelly’s crimson wing among others. They are all distributed within the forest.
Then finally dinner and overnight at lodge;
Accommodation:
Luxury: Buhoma Lodge
Midrange: Engagi Lodge
Budget: Buhoma Community Campsite
Day 8: Uganda Gorilla tracking safari.
You will have breakfast at the Lodge, then assemble for briefing at the head quarters. After, proceed to the park to enjoy your experience. Spending time with these primates is so amazing and rewarding at the same time. This activity takes 1 to 8 hours and you will have an opportunity to meet these gentle giants and be part of their families and group members. You will also see some bird species as you track the mountain gorillas.
And finally dine and overnight a lodge;
Accommodation:
Luxury: Buhoma Lodge
Midrange: Engagi Lodge
Budget: Buhoma Community Campsite
Day 9: Birding tour – along the main trail
You will have breakfast at the Lodge and with your packed lunch, you will enter the forest. Once there, you will see many species of birds which include;Pale-breasted,African Hill-Babbler,Black-faced,Red-throated Ale the, African Broadbill, and Mountain Illadopsis, , Black-throated and Mountain Masked Apalises, Banded Prinia and the handsome Black-faced Rufous-Warbler. The other species of birds also include;Cabanis’, Elliot’s and Tullberg’s Woodpeckers, Dusky-blue, Toro Olive, Shelley’s and the strange Grauer’s Warbler and White-browed Crombec, Ansorge’s Greenbuls, Yellow-eyed Black, Ashy Cassin’s Grey Flycatchers.
In addition to the above you will see; the Chapin’s and Chin-spot and Rwenzori Batis, Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher, Dusky Tit, Blue-throated Brown, Blue-headed, Northern Double-collared White-bellied Crested-flycatcher,Sooty Boubou, and Grey-headed Sunbirds, Pink-footed Puff back, Mackinnon’s Fiscal, Doherty’s Bush-shrike. The rare Jameson’s Ant-pecker 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 and several species of squirrels including Carruthers’ Mountain, Ruwenzori Sun Fire-footed Rope, and Red-legged Sun Squirrel.
Accommodation:
Luxury: Buhoma Lodge
Midrange: Engagi Lodge
Budget: Buhoma Community Campsite
Day 10: Transfer back to Kampala / Entebbe.
You will have breakfast, then after you will bird in the forest and later travel back to Kampala / Entebbe.
And finally, dinner and overnight;
Accommodation:
Luxury: Serena Lake Victoria Resort
Midrange: Cassia Lodge
Budget: Common Lens Inn Hotel
Day 11: Birding in Entebbe Botanical Gardens / Departure.
After breakfast at the lodge, head out to Entebbe Botanical gardens for last birding opportunity; these gardens are famed for being the most popular birding destination in Entebbe and Kampala. Retire from this birding expereince and prepare for departure flight in the evening.
End of tour with Love Uganda Safaris