7 Days Birding in Murchison Falls Park
7 Days Birding Murchison Falls Park: The tour will introduce you to distinct and fascinating birdwatching habitats during our 7 days Birding Murchison Falls Park, including Mabamba Wetland, Mabira Forest Reserve, and Ziwa Rhino Santuary. The tour will introduce you to a wide range of activities in addition to birdwatching, such as wildlife, scenery viewing, Rhino tracking and nature walks. This park emerges as one of the best birding spots in Uganda and Africa at large. We shall have a boat cruise on the Nile and an optional night game drive. With more than 451 bird species, the park is Uganda’s largest protected area. Several bird species can be found in these habitats, including the highly sought-after Shoebill Stork, African Fish Eagle, Martial Eagle, Red-necked Falcon, Black-headed Lapwing, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Black-billed Barbet, Senegal Thick-knee, Red-throated Roller, and others.
Day 1: Arrival in Entebbe and Birding Entebbe Botanical Gardens
On arrival at Entebbe International Airport, on our 7 Days Birding in Murchison Falls Park, you will be transferred to your Entebbe hotel for check-in. Later on, you will visit the Entebbe Botanical Gardens for a birdwatching expedition. Situated in close proximity to our lodging. The gardens are famous for birdwatchers since they present a combination of natural woodlands, artificial landscapes, and horticultural treasures. Our main goal here is to see the unique and spectacular bird species such as the Grey-headed Gull, Black-headed and Vieillot’s Black Weavers, and Orange Weaver, which is usually found in small, loose breeding colonies in the trees along Lake Victoria. Other noteworthy species in the botanical gardens are the Scarce Orange-tufted Sunbird, Grey Parrot, Black and White Casqued Hornbill, Bat Hawk, and Woodland Kingfisher. Above us, we will be watching for Pied Crows, Hooded Vultures, and Yellow-billed Kites. Undoubtedly, we will spot the hideous-looking Marabou Stork. Guereza, a unique black-and-white primate with a long, bushy tail, Striated and Black-headed Herons on the lake and along its shore. Have dinner and stay overnight at Papyrus Guest House.
Day 2: Birding Mabamba Swamp and transfer to Mabira Forest
Upon our 7 Days Birding in Murchison Falls Park, on this day, we shall have early morning breakfast and head to Mabamba Wetland along Lake Victoria to look out for the special Shoebill Stork. We shall travel through the homesteads and communities around Mabamba wetland. Our main cause for the day was the threatened Shoebills, Uganda’s famous bird residents and the main draw for most bird lovers. Other bird species to look out for include the Yellow-billed Duck, Marachite Kingfisher, Papyrus Gonolek, Egyptian Goose, White Shouldered Tit, Allen’s and Purple Gallinule, Grey herons, Pallid Harrier and Blue Swallow, Red Cap, Western Banded Snake Eagle, African Pygmy Goose, Common Sandpiper, White Winged Warbler, Weyns Weaver, African Jacana, Lesser Jacana, Rufous Bellied Heron, Long-toed Lapwing and Crowned Hornbill, among others. This fascinating species is without a doubt one of the most sought-after birds in the world because it is the only member of its family. We will hire a boat from the nearby fishing hamlet and search the system of channels in order to identify this unusual species.
After our lunch, we will then head out into the neighbouring grasslands, papyrus marshes, and agricultural wilderness to go birdwatching. Expect to see bird species like the Eastern Plantain-eater, Pin-tailed Whydah, Great Blue Turaco, Angola and the endangered Blue Swallows, Superb and Red-chested Sunbirds, Long-crested Eagle, Broad-billed Roller, Wahlberg’s Eagle, Palm-nut Vulture, Blue Woodland Kingfisher, Scarlet-chested, hovering Black-winged Kite, Brown-throated Whitley-eye, African Harrier-Hawk, Grey-backed Fiscal, African Thrush, Lizard Buzzard, Sooty Chat, Eastern Plantain-eater, the seemingly awkward Black-and-white Casqued Hornbill and floppy-flighted Cropped and African Pied Hornbills. Later in the evening, you will transfer to Mabira Forest Reserve After dinner, you will have an overnight stay at Rain Forest Lodge.
Day 3: Full-day birding Mabira Forest on our 7-Day Birding in Murchison Falls National Park
After an early morning breakfast, on our 4 days birding Muchison Falls Park, we shall enter Mabira Forest Reserve, Uganda’s evergreen tropical rain forest, which is close to Kampala. It is one of the best sites to go birdwatching because it serves as a habitat for various bird species that are rare in the densely populated and industrialised areas of Jinja and Kampala. On our birding trip today, keep an eye out for the Nahan’s Francolin, Yellow Mantled Weaver, Great Blue Turaco, Yellow-throated, and Speckled Tinkerbirds, Brown-eared, Buff-spotted, and Yellow Crested Woodpeckers, Blue Kingfisher, Olive-green Cameroptera, Red-capped, Blue Shouldered, and Snowy-crowned woodpeckers.
This is Mabira Forest, home to the spineless Cassine’s Spinetail, the quiet, ground-dwelling dark brown robin-chat Chestnut and Jameson’s Alethe, the gorgeous greenish yellow banded Weyns’s Weaver, Narina Trogon, Blue-throated Roller, Brown-chested Alethe, Sabine’s and Mottled Spinel, Grey and Yellow Longbills, and Purple-throated Cuckoo-shrike, the white-less winged Forest Wood-hoopoe, Chestnut and Jameson’s Wattle-eye, Black Bellied Seed-cracker and the Blue-headed Blue-bill, Green-throated, Green, Orange Tufted and Superb Sunbird, Fire-Crested Alethe, Little-green Sunbird, Dwarf, Blue-breasted, and Striking. Have dinner and stay overnight at Sunset Hotel or Rain Forest Lodge.
Day 4: Birding Mabira and Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park
On our 7 Days Birding in Murchison Falls Park, after the early morning breakfast, we will embark on additional birding within the forest’s boundaries in an attempt to find the species that were overlooked, such as the Yellow-lored Bristlebill, Nahan’s Patridge, Purple-crested Alethe, Purple-throated Cukoo-shrike, Blue-shouldered Robin-chat, Forest Woodhoope, Yellow-throated, and speckled Tinkerbirds. We plan to grab lunch at Kabalega Diner while travelling. We will continue our journey to Masindi town after making a few more stops for birdwatching. Along the way, look for a variety of bird species, including the African Black Crake, Blue Spotted Dove, Giant Kingfisher, Black-headed Weaver, Great Blue Turaco, Little Green Sunbird, Great Reed Warbler, and many more. Have dinner and stay overnight at the Masindi Hotel.
Day 5: Birding Budongo Forest- Royal Mile and Transfer to Northern Murchison
We will travel to Budongo Forest’s Royal Mile, which is part of Murchison Falls National Park. This will offer high chances and increase the likelihood of sighting Skulking birds as well as other birds such as the Dusky Long-tailed Cukoo, White-spotted Flufftail, Black-capped Apalis, Chestnut-capped Flycatcher, Red-headed Bluebill, Olive-bellied Crombec, Little Green Sunbird, Red-tailed Ant-thrush, Narina Trogon, Cassin’s Hawk Eagle, Toro Olive Greenbul, Nahan’s Francolin, White-thighed Hornbill, Ituri Batis, Lemon Bellied Crombec, Tit Hylia, Forest Robin, Yellow Billed, Grey Throated, and Yellow Spotted Barbet, Great Blue and Black Billed Turaco, Hairy Breasted, Little Grey and Little Greeenbul, Yellow-browed Camaroptera, Forest Flycatcher, graceful Cassin’s and Sabine’s Spinetail, Blue-throated Roller, Slender Billed, White Throated, Spotted, Plain, Red Tailed Bristlebill and. Have dinner and overnight at Hornbill Safari Lodge or Pakuba Safari Lodge.
Day 6: Birding the Northern Murchison Falls National Park
On our 7 Days Birding in Murchison Falls Park, we shall do a morning game drive while looking out for other wildlife like Lions, Giraffes, elephants, and leopards. We shall do an afternoon boat cruise on the Nile Delta while birding and this day is most likely to produce birds like the Red-throated and Northern Carmine Bee-eater, African Skimmer, African Darter, Goliath Heron, Giant King Fisher, Saddle-billed Stork, Black-headed Lapwing and mammals such as the Cape Buffalo, Rothschild’s Giraffe, Elephant, Waterbuck and many others. Yellow-billed and African Open-billed Stork, Northern Crombec, Namaqua, Heuglin’s Francolins, Swallow-tailed, Little Bee-eaters, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Red-necked Falcon, Sooty Flycatcher, and Rock Pratincole. We shall have an optional game drive in search for nocturnal birds and other wildlife such as Leopards, lions, Jackals, Hippos, Giraffes, waterbucks, Warthogs and others. Return to Hornbill Safari Lodge or Pakuba Safari Lodge for dinner and over night.
Day 7: Birding Ziwa Rhino and Transfer to Kampala-Entebbe International Airport.
This day marks the end of our 7 days of birding at Muchison Falls Park. As we checkout of Murchison Falls National Park, we shall visit the top of the falls to explore the source of the spectacular magical water falls as it plunges through a narrow 7 metre gorge to form the two falls. En route, we shall do birdwatching in search of birds like the Martial Eagle, White-crested Turaco, and Palm-nut Vulture, and then we have the option of visiting the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary to track the endangered White Rhinos before dropping off at either Kampala or Entebbe to end your 7 days of birdwatching in Murchison Falls National Park with lots of memories.
The sanctuary is home to several bird species, including the sought-after Shoebill Stork, African Black Crake, Golden-breasted Bulbul, Cattle Egrets, Giant Kingfisher, Barred Warbler, Black-headed Gonolek, Bateleur, Black-bellied Bustard, Crowned Hornbill, and Laughing Dove, among others. After Continue with your journey towards Entebbe as you keep an eye out for birds like the Palm-nut Vulture, Martial Eagle, Giant Kingfisher, Great Blue Turaco, Black and White Casqued Hornbill, and African Fish Eagle, among others.