28 Days Wildlife and Birding Safari
Day 1. Arrival and transfer to your hotel
On arrival at Entebbe International airport, you will be met by our representative who will transfer you to Protea Hotel Entebbe or J. Residence motel in Entebbe for relaxation, dinner and overnight.
Day 2. Mabamba swamp transfer to Lake Mburo National Park
After early-morning breakfast, you will leave for Mabamba swamp, birding en route where you’re likely to encounter a number of bird species that include: purple Swamp hen, the Red-headed Lovebird, Black-headed Oriole, Tawny franked Prinia, African marsh Harrier, Black Bishop, Lizard Buzzard, Ruppel’s long-tailed Starling, and the Broad-billed Roller among others. You reach the swamp and take a canoe to the swamp in search of the rear Shoe billed stork. Along with the Shoebill, you are likely to encounter the orange weavers, Malachite King Fisher, African and Lesser Jacana, Purple Heron, Black Crake, Weyns’s and Orange weavers among others. We later transfer to Lake Mburo National Park arriving in the late afternoon and enter the Park with a short game drive and later check in to the service of Mantana Tented Camp for dinner and overnight.
Day 3. Game drive and boat cruise in Lake Mburo NP
After early morning breakfast, we go for the game drive in search of wildlife that includes the Zebras, Buffaloes, Impalas, Elands, Klipspringers, Topies, Warthogs, Waterbucks, Bush Bucks, Dwarf Mangoose and Leopards among others. We also look for birdlife that includes the Emerald-spotted Wood-dove, Short-toed Snake-Eagle, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Double-toothed, Red-faced, Spot-flanked and Crested barbets, African Snipe, Water Thick-knee, White-winged Tit, Brown-backed Scrub-robin, Broad-tailed Whydah, Brown Parrot and Coqui Francolin among others. We go back to the Camp and have lunch, relax around and later in the afternoon go for a boat cruise on the lake in search of other wildlife that includes the Crocodile, Hippos and the Black-headed, Lesser-masked, Golden-backed, Red-headed and Little Weavers, African Finfoot among others. Dinner and overnight at Mantana Tented Camp.
Day 4. Lake Mburo – Bwindi.
You will transfer to the Ruhija sector of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park while birding en route in search of the Handsome Francolin.
Day 5. Birding the Mubwindi swamp, Ruhija
After an early breakfast, you will trek down the Mubwindi swamp in search of some of the Albertine Rift endemics and specialities including the Green broadbill, the Grauer’s Rush Warbler, Archer’s Robbin Chat, Strange Weaver, Grey Cuckoo-shrike, Chestnut-throated, and Mountain-masked Apalis, Yellow-streaked, Shelley’s, Red-tailed, Yellow-throated, Mountain and Honeyguide Greenbuls, Rwenzori Batis, Mountain Yellow Warbler, Great Blue, Black-billed and Rwenzori Turaco, Mountain Illadopsis, African Hill-Babbler, Purple-breasted, Regal, Rwenzori Double Collared and Blue-headed Sunbirds among others. Overnight in Trekker’s Tavern Cottages.
Day 6. Gorilla trekking, Bwindi
After breakfast, you will go to the park offices for registration and briefing before going for the memorable experience: the Gorilla trekking. The activity can last between 2-8 hours, so you need to prepare yourself both physically and mentally. This may be a bit hectic walking in muddy and steep conditions and sometimes with rain overhead, so it’s advisable to carry with you good walking boots and rain jackets. For conservation purposes, the time spent with these massive apes is limited to one hour.
Afterwards, return to Trekker’s Tavern Cottages.
Day 7. Birding the Ruhija area
After breakfast, you will go birding along the main trail, in search of the species that we might have missed the previous day. You will stay in Trekker’s Tavern cottages overnight.
Day 8. Transfer to Buhoma, Bwindi NP
After breakfast, you will transfer to Buhoma en route birding at the neck of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, in search of the Dusky and Cassin’s Grey Flycatcher, Stripe Breasted Tit, Cinnamon-chested, White-throated and Black bee-eater, many coloured Bush-shrike, Cassin’s Hawk Eagle Olive and Western Bronze Naped Pigeon among others. Arriving in the afternoon and check in to the service of Buhoma Community Rest Camp for dinner and overnight.
Day 9. Birding in the Buhoma main trail
After breakfast, you will go birding on the main trail to the waterfall, in search of the specialities that include the White-bellied, Red-caped and Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat, Bar-tailed Trogon, Red Chested Owlet, Neumann’s and Black-faced Rufous Warbler, White Tailed Flycatcher, Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo, Pale breasted Illadopsis, Red-throated and Fire-crested Alethea, Collared, Yellow-breasted and Black-throated Apalis, Baglafecht, Yellow-mantled, Black-billed and Brown-caped Weavers, Narrow-tailed and Stuhlmann’s Starlings among others. You come back to the Camp, have lunch and later in the afternoon go for a farm walk in search of the Rufous-chested Fluff tail, and the Bat Hawk among others. You come back to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 10. Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park
After breakfast, you will transfer to the southern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park (Ishasha), famous for the tree climbing Lions, birding en route for the specialities that include the Brown Chested Lapwing, Violet-backed and Wattled Starling, Garden, Broad-tailed, Brown and Western Banded Snake-Eagles.
Day 11. Game drive/birding in Ishasha area and transfer to Mweya
After breakfast, with your packed lunch, you will do a game drive searching for the famous tree-climbing Lions and other wildlife as well as birding. You later transfer to the northern sector of the park, arriving in the evening and checking in to the service of Mweya Safari Lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 12. Game drive/birding in the Kasenyi plains
The day begins early with breakfast and then you go for the game drive towards the Kasenyi plains in search of wildlife that includes the Buffaloes, Water Buck, Kobs, Hyenas, Warthogs, Lions, and Leopards among others. And here you will like it because this Park is said to have the highest concentration of birdlife as compared to any Park in the World. Among the birds we expect here are the Black and Black-Shouldered Kite, Black-chested Snake-Eagle, African Marsh, Montagu's and Pallid Harriers, Black-Belied Bustard, Temminck’s Courser, Levaillant’s, Black-chested, Diederik and Klaas’s Cuckoo, Black and White-browed Coucal, Blue-naped and Speckled Mousebird, Rufous-naped and Flappet Lark, Plain-backed and Grassland Pipit, Buff-belied, Wing-snapping and Croaking Cisticola, Fork-tailed Drongo, Grey-caped Warbler, African White-backed, Ruppell’s Griffon and Lappet-faced Vultures, Grey-backed and Common Fiscal, Black-headed and Papyrus Gonolek among others.
We come back to the Lodge, relax around, have lunch and later in the afternoon at about 3:00 pm, we go for the boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel for yet another but different view of the wildlife at close quarters as they come to cool off at the shores of the channel. Here we expect to see a lot that includes the Giant, Malachite, Woodland and Pied Kingfisher, Pink-back and Great White Pelican, Yellow-billed, African Open-billed, Saddle-billed Stork, African Spoonbill, Lesser Flamingo, Curlew Sandpiper, and African Skimmer among others.
We come back later in the evening, have dinner and overnight at Mweya Safari Lodge.
Day 13. QENP, Maramagambo
After breakfast, we drive to Maramagambo Forest for a Nature walk/birding in search of wildlife that includes the Black & White Colobus, Red-tailed and Velvet Monkeys, Splendid Starling, Red-headed Bluebill, Benald’s Flycatcher, Red-caped Robin-Chat, and Red-tailed Bristalbill among others. During the walk, we also visit the bat cave that houses millions of Egyptian Fruit Bats. We later transfer to Mweya Safari Lodge for lunch, have a free afternoon, dinner and overnight.
Day 14. QENP – Kibale National Park
After breakfast, we transfer to Kibale National Park driving through the Crater Lakes region and driving northwards along the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountain Ranges. These constitute the Western Rift Valley and form the boundary between Uganda and Congo. With en route lunch at Kasese, arriving in the afternoon and checking in to the service of Primate Lodge Kibale, have a free afternoon, dinner and overnight.
Day 15. Birding Kibale National Park
After breakfast, we slope down to the park offices for registration and briefing before we start trekking in one of East Africa’s oldest Forest with trees as high as 50 meters. The Trekking may take about three hours in search of Habituated Chimpanzees. The forest also harbours about five primate species that include the Black and White Colobus, Red Colobus, Red-tailed, Lhotse’s Monkeys and Grey-cheeked Monkeys. It is also home to a variety of bird species including the rare Green-breasted Pita. We come back to the lodge, relax around, have lunch and later go for a nature walk in the Bigodi wetland which is also very rewarding. We come back to the Lodge for dinner and overnight. Specialities that include the Green-breasted Pitta, Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher, Yellow-spotted and Yellow-billed Barbet, Willow and Black-capped Yellow Warbler, Olive-bellied, Red-Chested, Collared, Superb Sunbird among others.
Day 16. Birding Kibale Forest National Park
After breakfast, you will go birding along the main road in the morning and the Kanyancu area in the afternoon. Some of the species expected here are the Green-breasted Pitta, Grey-headed, Red-chested, Collared, and Olive Sunbird.
Dinner and overnight at Primate Lodge Kibale.
Day 17. Transfer to Masindi (Budongo Forest)
After breakfast, you will transfer to Masindi, birding en route with a lunch stop at Kagadi and later proceed on, arriving in Masindi in the evening and checking in to the service of Masindi Hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day 18. Birding in Budongo Forest
After an early breakfast, with your packed lunch, go for birding in the Royal Mile in the morning in search of the specialities that include the Jameson’s and Chestnut Wattle-eye, Ituri, Chin-spot, and Black-headed Batis, Scaly-breasted, Brown and Puvel’s Illadopsis, Lead-coloured, Sooty, Forest, Yellow-footed, Chestnut-capped Flycatcher, African Shrike-flycatcher, Green and Lemon-bellied Crombec, Grey-backed and Yellow-browed Camaroptera, Little Green, Olive-bellied and Collared Sunbird, Yellow-crested and Brown-eared Woodpecker, Red-tailed Bristlebill, Slender-billed, Yellow-whiskered, Yellow-throated, Little, Spotted and Honeyguide Greenbul, Western Nicator, White-headed and Black Saw-wing, Black-and-white Casqued and White-thighed Hornbill, African Emerald, Dusky Long-tailed and Klaas’s Cuckoo, Crowned Eagle, Blue-throated Roller, Narina Trogon, Blue-breasted, Chocolate-backed, African Pygmy and African Dwarf Kingfisher among others. You go back to the Hotel in the evening for dinner and overnight.
Day 19. Masindi – Murchison Falls National Park (Kanio-Pabidi)
After breakfast, we start our journey heading for Murchison Falls National Park. We enter the park through the Kichombanyobo gate and go birding at Kanio Pabidi, the eastern side of Budongo forest, for specialities that include the Puvel’s Illadopsis and fire-crested Alethe among others. We have our lunch and later visit magnificent falls where you will enjoy and marvel at the mighty River Nile being forced in a seven metres crevice to thunder 45 metres below the series of rapids that can be seen from different points up to the summit and we later go and check into the service of Nile Safari Lodge for lunch, have a free afternoon, dinner and overnight.
Day 20. Murchison Falls National Park
After early morning breakfast, we drive down to the ferry and cross the Nile to the Northern sector of the park where we shall do our game drive in search of wildlife that includes elephants, buffaloes, waterbucks, giraffes, oribis, hart beasts, kobs, warthogs, lions, jackals, leopards according to the luck of the day and a variety of savannah and woodland birds can be seen. The drive normally takes 3-4 hours according to how much you see and the interest you have in them. We drive back to the camp, relax for a while, have lunch and then at 2:00 pm, we go for the boat cruise in close quarters as the animals draw down the river bank to cool off. Here you get a chance of seeing many schools of hippos, crocodiles, buffaloes, elephants and a variety of water birds. We come back after about 3 hours to the Lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 21. Murchison Falls –Kidepo Valley National Park
After breakfast, you will do a mini game drive as you get out of the Park through the Northern gate (Wangkwa) and then transfer to Kidepo Valley National Park, through Gulu and Kitgum with birding en route. Arriving in the evening and checking in to the service of Apoka Lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 22. Birding in Narusi valley, Kidepo NP
After breakfast, you will go birding in the Narusi valley looking for some of the specialities in the Park that include the Swallow-tailed Kite, Superb, Wattled and Red-winged Starlings, Hartlubs, Black-bellied and Kori Bustard, Common Rock Thrush, Black Eagle, Red-pate Cisticola, Northern White-crowned Shrike, Common Redstart, Nightingale, Green-backed Eremomela, Red-fronted Warbler and Fan-tailed Raven among others. We come back to the Lodge for lunch, relax and later in the afternoon go for another game drive in the same valley, coming back to the Lodge in the evening for dinner and overnight.
Day 23. Birding in the Kidepo valley, Kidepo NP
After breakfast, you will go birding in the Kidepo valley looking for specialities that include the Black-breasted and d’Arnaud’s Barbet, Pale Flycatcher, Grey-headed Batis, Brown Babbler and Rufous Chatterer, White-bellied Tit, Abyssinian Roller, Eurasian Hoopoe, Abyssinian Scimitarbill, Bruce’s Green Pigeon, Common Ostrich, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Purple Grenadier, Eastern Paradise Whydah, Harlequin Quail, Quail-plover, Clapperton’s and Ring-necked Francolin, Verreaux’s Eagle, Common and Fox Kestrel, Pygmy Falcon, Stone Partridge and Karamoja Apalis among others. You later come back to the Lodge in the evening for dinner and overnight.
Day 24. Walking Safari, Kidepo NP
After breakfast, you will go for a nature walk in search of what we might have missed in the previous game drives. Dinner and overnight at Apoka Safari Lodge.
Day 25. Transfer to Soroti
After breakfast, you will transfer to Soroti passing through Kit-gum and Lira with lunch en route, arriving in the evening and checking in to the service of Soroti Hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day 26. Boat cruise on Lake Bisina
After breakfast, you will go and do a boat cruise on Lake Bisina in search of the Fox’s Weaver and the Lesser Jacana among others.
We come back to the Hotel in the afternoon for dinner and overnight.
Day 27. Transfer to Jinja
After breakfast, you will transfer to Jinja, birding en route, arriving in the evening and checking in to the service of Jinja Nile Resort for dinner and overnight.
Day 28. Activities in Jinja and transfer to Entebbe
After breakfast, you will visit the Source of the Nile and the Bujagali Falls and later transfer to Entebbe Airport for your flight home.
That will be the end of our safari.
For more information, please contact us:
Email: info@trek-uganda.com
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We are looking forward to hearing from you!