The Albertine Rift region straddling along the borders of the DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania, and stretching over a north south distance of 1000 km, supports one of Africa’s unique montane forest blome with a very high degree of endemism. It is home to more than half of Africa’s bird species and nearly 40% of the mammals in Africa.

This tour targets the tourist seeing birds like the Dwarf honey guide, Archer’s Robin chat, Green breasted pitta, African green broad bill, Red billed and black billed dwarf hornbills, leave love and crowned eagle among many others.

ITINERARY

Day 1: Arrival for the tour

You will be met at the airport by a staff member of AGE safaris and transferred to Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort. You will check in and depending on your arrival time, meet with the reservations manager at our offices (based in Munyonyo) for a brief on the safari.

Overnight at Munyonyo Commonwealth resort (Bed and breakfast)

Day 2: Kibale National Park

Have an early breakfast. Meet with your professional birding guide and set off on a 6 hour drive to Kibale National Park where over 335 rainforest species have been recorded. In addition Kibale harbors a remarkable 13 species of primates including the Red Colubus, L’Hoest’s monkey and red-tailed and vervet monkey.

Kibale Forest has the highest number of recorded sightings of Green-breasted pitta. Other birds you can expect to sight include: African pitta, Grey-winged robin, Red-winged francolin, Joyful greenbul, white pigeon,Abyssinian ground thrush, Red-chested flufftail, White-bellied crested flycatcher, Leaf-love, African broad bill, Willcock’s honeyguide and Scaly- throated honeyguide.

On arrival in Kibale, you will check in at Kibale Primate Lodge, have an early lunch and then set off for the forest.

After the forest walk, return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 3: Kibale National Park (with optional chimpanzee trekking)

After an early breakfast, head to the park visitor center to assemble for a briefing before chimpanzee trekking. This morning walk combines chimp trekking with a selection of forest birds. Some of the birds you can expect to see on this trek are Black-throated Apails, African Shrike fly catcher, Brown and scaly breasted illadopses, white naped and Afep pigeons, red chested owlet and yellow-billed barbets.

After lunch, you will bird the forest along the main road.

Dinner and overnight at Primate Lodge.

 
 

Day 4: Semliki National Park

After an early breakfast, we proceed to Semliki. This park represents the only example of Congo-basin vegetation in Uganda. It is ranked number 2 in Uganda birding spots. Specialties here include: Black throated caucal, Grey throated rail, Nkulengu rail, long tailed hawk, yellow throated nicator, Northern bearded scrub robin, Red-chested owlet, Red rumped tinkerbird, Lyre-tailed honeyguide, Rufous-sided broadbill, Icterine Greenbul, Pale-fronted negrofinch, pip dwarf and black dwarf.

Spend the whole day in search of these birds with a break for lunch. Overnight at Semliki lodge.

Day 5: Whole day birding on the Kirumya trail

We start at dawn after an early breakfast and set off with our packed lunch. We spend the whole day bird watching the Kirumya Trail or any other part of the forest depending on the reliable information from or site guides. The Forest is home to some of the Congo biome species. These include Red-billed, Black-wattled, Black-billed and White-crested Hornbill, African Piculet, Zenkel Honey-guide, Black-chested Cuckoo, Red-rumped Tinkerbird, Rufous-sided Broadbill, Nkurengu Rail, White-bellied, Dwarf, and Pygmy Kingfishers, Piping, White-thighed,

   

Black and White-casqued, and African Pied Hornbills, Fire-crested Alethe, Red-bellied and Blue-billed Malimbe, Swamp Palm Bulbul, Forest Scrub Robin, Green-tailed Bristlebill, Leaf Love, Red-breasted Sparrowhawk, Long-tailed Hawk, Pale-fronted and Chestnut-breasted Negrofinches, Black-winged Oriole, and others.

Day 6: Morning birding tour, transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

On this day, we have a morning birding session in Semliki forest, thereafter we transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Check in at Mweya Safari lodge

Day 7: Birding Queen Elizabeth National Park.


We'll do a morning game drive/birding after breakfast, returning to the lodge for lunch. In the afternoon we take a a two-hour boat trip on the Kazinga Channel. Mammals prominent here include Lion, Leopard, Spotted Hyena, African Elephant, African Buffalo, Giraffe, Uganda Kob, Common Bushbuck, Hippopotamus, Common Warthog and the spectacular Giant Forest-Hog, the largest and undeniably least attractive pig on earth.

There are many key bird species in the area: White-faced Whistling & Knob-billed Ducks, African Spoonbill, Open-billed & Saddle-billed Storks, Collared Pratincole, Water Thick-knee, Spur-winged & African Wattled Plovers, African Skimmer, Martial Eagle, Gabon & Slender-tailed Nightjars, Black-rumped Buttonquail, Common Quail, Malachite Kingfisher, Verreaux's Eagle-Owl, Black Bee-eater, White-tailed Lark, Fan-tailed Grassbird, Black-headed & Papyrus Gonoleks, Winding & Carruther's Cisticolas, Red-chested & Scarlet-chested Sunbirds, Swamp Flycatcher, Grey-capped & White-winged Warblers, Yellow backed & Slender-billed Weavers, Papyrus Canary.

Overnight at Mweya Safari lodge.

Day 8: Birding to Entebbe via Kampala.

After an early breakfast we set off for Kampala with several stops on the way in order to stretch legs and look at some interesting birds.

Stay in Imperial Resort Hotel.

Day 9: Departure.

End of Safari*

*Please contact AGE Safaris if you are interested in this itinerary or something similar. We pride ourselves in customizing all itineraries to suit the specific interests of each client.

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