18 Days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking

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18 Days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking

On this 18 days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking Safari you will testify why Uganda has emerged to be the only country on the African continent where one can do Gorilla Trekking while enjoying excellent birding. This itinerary offers an enriching birding experience through multiple habitats that include forests, savannahs, wetlands, mountains, and farmlands.

 

Safari Highlights:

Pickup from Entebbe International Airport

Birding in Lake Mburo National Park

Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi Forest National Park

Birding in Ruhija Sector of Bwindi Forest National Park

Buhoma Sector Birding in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Birding in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Birding in Kibale Forest National Park

Chimpanzee Tracking in Kibale Forest National Park

Birding in the Royal Mile of Budongo Forest

Birding, Game Drove and a Bot Cruise in Murchison Falls National Park

Transfer back to Entebbe International Airport for Departure

 

A Detailed Itinerary:

Day 1: Arrival and Pickup from Entebbe International Airport.

On arrival at Entebbe International Airport, you will be met by our safari guide from Arcadia Safaris, and then you will be briefed on your 18-day trip in Uganda – The Pearl of Africa. As the capital Kampala is a manic city, Entebbe some 40 km away on the shores of Lake Victoria is much more relaxed. It’s also incredibly “birdy”, with wonderful species like African Gray Parrot, Ross’s Turaco, and Woodland Kingfisher all over the landscape. If time allows, we will make an afternoon visit to the beautifully landscaped Entebbe botanical gardens right on the shores of the lake. The more usual suspects in with a bounty, and our first birds here may include Orange Weaver and Red-chested Sunbird, being a soft gentle introduction to the trip in open surroundings where birding is easy.

Destination: Entebbe International Airport
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel or Similar

Mid-Range

Horizon Hotel Entebbe or Similar

Budget

Tilapia Lodge Entebbe or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 2: Transfer to Lake Mburo National Park.

First major trip today: we will seek Uganda’s most celebrated bird – The Shoebill. After breakfast, we will transfer to Mabamba Swamp and drive to the edge of the swamp where we will board small boats permitting access to its shallow channels. We may even be lucky enough to get a glimpse of the primordial-looking brute standing about in the swamp or floating overhead. This is generally assumed to confine itself to the papyrus, but very often the bird is seen in low vegetations between the papyrus grooves.

In these open areas we hope for prize sighting of Lesser Jacana and Yellow-billed Duck. We also bird the thick papyrus stands where we look out for Blue-chested Bee-eater, Swamp Flycatcher, Papyrus Gonolek, and Greater Swamp Warblers as they cross the small channels between papyrus stands. Spend the rest of the day driving to Lake Mburo National Park, birding a few productive wetlands along the way.

Destination: Lake Mburo National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Mihingo Lodge or similar

Mid-Range

Rwakobo Rock or similar

Budget

Mpogo Safari Lodge or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 3: Transfer from Lake Mburo National Park to Ruhija Sector of Bwindi – 18 Days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking.

The morning will be devoted to the open savannah and wetland habitats of Mburo National Park, which is representative of the stereotypical Kenya’s Masai Mara savannahs, but with many more thorny acacia thickets. There are quite a few species that are very localized in Uganda, and which only occur here. The Red-faced Barbet, with its small range in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and Tanzania to the west of Lake Victoria, will be our top avian target.

Other targets will include Tabora Cisticola, Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove, Green-capped Eremomela, Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Spot-flanked Barbet. Lake Mburo is also an excellent park for mammals, including classic safari fare like Warthog, Eland, Common Zebra, and Impala. Not all the birding is from safari vehicles; we seek by boat both the African relative of the neotropical Sungrebe, the very rare and skulking African Finfoot and can sometimes find White-backed Night-Heron. This afternoon we drive up into the mist-shrouded mountains of Bwindi Forest National Park whose dense cloud forest is in complete contrast to Mburo’s open savannah.

Destination: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Agandi Lodge or Similar

Mid-Range

Bakiga Lodge or Similar

Budget

Ruhija Gorilla Friends Resort or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 4: Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.

After breakfast, head to park headquarters for briefing and guidance, then enter the forest for the most fascinating lifetime safari experience: meeting endangered mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. You do not only watch these soulful animals, but they also watch you. We work it so we have our group assigned to a family of Gorilla that we spend the day with, and the wildlife authority limits the experience to one group with each gorilla family, so the experience is personal.

It is hard to stress just how good this is, so unless you are absolutely opposed to a moderate walk from ½ an hour to 4 hours, you really need to do this. They even have porters to help carry all your gear for only $20 a day, so this within the physical capabilities of the vast majority of our clients. People not going tracking gorillas will do some birding this morning. This afternoon, you will go for an easy walk along a broad path in search of Collared Apalis, Grauer’s Warbler, Gray Cuckoo shrike, Black-billed Turaco, and many other montane species.

Destination: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Agandi Lodge or Similar

Mid-Range

Bakiga Lodge or Similar

Budget

Ruhija Gorilla Friends Resort or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 5: Full-Day of Birding in Ruhija Sector of Bwindi.

Today is a full day in which to search out the avian wonders of Bwindi, often ranked as top favourite place on the whole tour. A lot is often said of Albertine Rift species without this usually being explained. This is a very interesting region with the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the geologically very recent Great East African Rift System. The Albertine Rift is fronted by the higher plateau of the Tanzanian Craton to the east with Lake Victoria, separated to the west from the vast Congo basin by a mountain chain that includes the Rwenzori Mountains, the result being that it is the site of a swath of endemic and restricted range bird, mammal, and reptile species. These mountains hold large mixed species flocks, the habitat is nothing short of stunningly beautiful, and the climate is wonderfully comfortable.

This morning we make our way down in to the swampier habitat preferred by the enigmatic African Green Broadbill. This little gem will require some luck to find. We’ll work forest roadsides and trails in hopes of tracking down endemics including Ruwenzori, or Collared Apalis, skulking Red-crested Alethe, Archer’s Robin-Chat. The spectacular but skulking Doherty’s Bushshrike may be coaxed out of a thicket, or we may encounter a flock of babbling White-headed Woodhoopoes. The comical echoes of Great Blue Turacos resound across the valleys, and honking calls may alert us to the presence of Black-and-white-casqued Hornbills nearby.

Other Common Species.

Some of the commoner species in Bwindi include Mountain Sooty Boubou, Yellow-eyed Black-Flycatcher, Ruwenzori Hill Babbler, Red-faced Woodland, Neumann’s, and Grauer’s Warblers, Black-faced Apalis, White-tailed Blue-Flycatcher, Purple-breasted, Blue-headed, and Regal Sunbirds, Stripe-breasted Tit, Dusky Crimson-wing, and Strange Weaver. Rare gems we’ll hope to see include Kivu Ground-Thrush, White-bellied Robin-Chat, and Dusky Twinspot. Many primates roam the canopy including Chimpanzee, Guerza Colobus, and Blue and L’Hoest’s Monkeys.

Destination: Ruhija Sector of Bwindi Forest National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Agandi Lodge or Similar

Mid-Range

Bakiga Lodge or Similar

Budget

Ruhija Gorilla Friends Resort or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 6: Transfer to Buhoma Sector of Bwindi.

After breakfast, we drive west to the low laying Buhoma sector of Bwindi National Park. We will go through “The Neck”, a narrow piece of forest that connects the southern and northern parts of the national park. This forest system is the eastern extension of the vast Congo forests combined with a series of restricted range species of the Albertine Rift.

This is a forest that extends into the DR Congo and is far more accessible, very safe to visit, making this the perfect area for birders to see a range of species which are otherwise logistically very difficult to see. Here we have our first opportunity to find some of the specialties of lower elevation rainforest, which include Cassin’s Flycatcher, Black Bee-eater, Western Bronze-naped Pigeon, Petit’s Cuckooshrike, Tiny Sunbird, and a bounty of difficult-to-identify greenbuls. This afternoon, we arrive in the town of Buhoma for our two night stay there.

Destination: Buhoma Sector of Bwindi Forest National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Buhoma Lodge or Similar

Mid-Range

Engagi Lodge or Similar

Budget

Bwindi Guest House or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 7: Full-Day of Birding in Buhoma Sector of Bwindi.

This mid-elevation sector of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park has a very different flavour from the higher Ruhija section. Amongst the many possibilities during our full day of birding the park’s trail system are Bar-tailed Trogon, White-bellied Crested Flycatcher, Winlock’s Honeyguide, Black-billed Weaver, Sooty Flycatcher and many species of starlings, sunbirds and Greenbul. It is also one of the best sites for the recently described Willard’s Sooty Boubou which has pale blue eyes in contrast with the more common and more widely distributed Mountain Sooty Boubou.

Destination: Buhoma Sector of Bwindi Forest National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Buhoma Lodge or Similar

Mid-Range

Engagi Lodge or Similar

Budget

Bwindi Guest House or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 8: Transfer to Queen Elizabeth National Park – 18 Days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking.

As we head north, the habitat rapidly changes from montane forest to more open savannah, but of a different kind than of Mburo National Park, bearing an uncanny resemblance to flat-topped tree savannas, familiar from Kenya and Tanzania, as well as being dominated by Candaleras, euphorbias that have the appearance of cacti. A strange sight of seeing cactus-looking trees surrounding the lush grasslands. Day 18 Birding tour with tracking of the gorilla, We pass through Ishasha section of Queen Elizabeth, a section known for tree-climbing lions.

It’s also rich in birds, including Blue-throated Roller, Sooty Chat, Red-necked Francolin, Black-and-white Shrike Flycatcher, among others. Later in the late afternoon, we shall have arrived at our luxurious lodge on a peninsula between Lake Edward and the Kazinga Channel. Lodge gardens filled with birds, including Northern Black Flycatcher, Black-headed Gonolek, Red-chested Sunbird, Slender-billed Weaver, among others.

Destination: Queen Elizabeth National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Mweya Safari Lodge or Similar

Mid-Range

Twin Lake Safari Lodge  or Similar

Budget

Pumba Safari Cottages or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 9:  Full Day Birding in Queen Elizabeth National Park – 18 Days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking.

Queen Elizabeth National Park is both a mammal and a bird haven. As much as the place allows viewing of typical African megafauna like Hippos and Elephants, it is also home to Buffalo, Kopi replacing Impala, and many Waterbuck and Bushbuck. It is also a magnet for water birds, with great diversity to be seen in a very short time. We shall spend most of our morning doing a protracted “game drive” though the euphorbia-studded savannah of the park in search for such species as African Wattled Lapwing, Temminck’s Courser, Martial Eagle, African Crake, Flappet Lark, and Moustached Grass Warbler.

Afternoon: A boat tour at Kazinga Channel ranks amongst the most astounding birding and photographic experiences to be had in Africa. Usually, masses of big mammals and waterbirds can be present in close proximity. Normally we view the regal Gray Crowned-Crane, the strange Hamerkop and dainty African Jacanas trotting over the lily pads beside the boat. There could sometimes be great flocks of birds including the African Skimmer, Gull-billed Tern, Gray-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Destination: Queen Elizabeth National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Mweya Safari Lodge or Similar

Mid-Range

Twin Lake Safari Lodge  or Similar

Budget

Pumba Safari Cottages or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 10: Transfer to Kibale Forest National Park.

We shall take an early morning breakfast before we begin yet another journey via transferring to Kibale where we are meant to overnight. The open country and water birding is great along the route way. This afternoon, time permitting, we will turn up at Bigodi Swamp, which is a community-run site and an excellent location to look for the Gray-cheeked Mangabey and Central African Red Colobus, Speckled Tinkerbird, Speckle-breasted Woodpecker, White-spotted Flufftail, Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat, Bocage’s Bushshrike, and Western Nicator. Patches of papyrus support the incredibly shy White-winged Swamp Warbler.

Destination: Kibale Forest National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Kyaninga Lodge or Similar

Mid-Range

Turaco Tree Tops or Similar

Budget

Chimpanzee Forest Lodge  or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 11: Chimpanzee Tracking and Birding in Kibale Forest.

We wake up well before sunrise on a quest for one of Africa’s ultimate avian prizes, Green-breasted Pitta. This “mega” has recently become available, though finding it still takes a good measure of luck. Kibale is also famous for its Chimpanzees, and those who opt for this activity will join an official park chimpanzee tracking session a bit later in the morning. The chimp tracking is on flatter ground than the Gorilla tracking, though we go off trail following the chimps as they move along much more gracefully than we will be, trying to swerve around vines and over logs. It is fun though, and when we finally find the chimp group resting or feeding in the trees, we will get a sense of accomplishment.

Even those who do not monitor the chimps are sure to hear their haunting wails and screams in the forest. The flocks of birds hold the dainty Forest Robin among scores of Illadopses, and alettes. Black-bellied Safecracker inhabits the forest edge, while the canopy holds various vermilion and black malimbes as well as the crisp Black-collared Apalis.18 days Birding tour with Gorilla Trekking, Gray-throated, Yellow-spotted and Yellow-billed Barbets build nests in dead snags, while fruiting figs attract the massive Great Blue Turaco, a cartoon-like bird.

Destination: Kibale Forest National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Kyaninga Lodge or Similar

Mid-Range

Turaco Tree Tops or Similar

Budget

Chimpanzee Forest Lodge  or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 12: Transfer From Kibale Forest National Park to Masindi – 18 Days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking.

Masindi is the gateway to Budongo and we will be birding along the way at multiple locations, and many clients really enjoy this drive as it is not along main roads, and passes through rural Uganda, where you get a real sense of what life is like here. If we arrive in time, we may have time to explore the woodlands south of town for White-crested Turaco and Gray-headed Oliveback.

Destination: Masindi-Budongo Forest Reserve
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Hoima Cultural Lodge  or Similar

Mid-Range

New Court Hotel Masindi  or Similar

Budget

Masindi Hotel or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 13: Full Day of Birding Budongo Forest – 18 Days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking.

We have a full day to explore the delights of the impressive Budongo Forest, a massive block of lowland rainforest and the most readily accessible Congo rainforest anywhere in the world. We spend time at the amazing Royal Mile, which is a public, but very lightly used road, where the forest authorities have cleared the shrub growth for 20 feet either side of the road, leading to superb views of both undergrowth bird species as well as making canopy views better than most lowland rainforests; canopy species that are normally obscured by undergrowth and mid-canopy trees are visible and scopeable.

This forest is the best place in Uganda for Nahan’s Francolin, Cassin’s Spinetail, and Chestnut-capped Flycatcher. We’ll also search for the stunning Chocolate-backed and African Dwarf Kingfishers. The forest is full of Illadopsis and Alethe’s, and the diversity of greenbuls here is simply amazing. But for those who don’t fancy cryptic birds, there are plenty of more colorful species like White-thighed Hornbill and Black Bee-eater.

Destination: Budongo Forest Reserve
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Hoima Cultural Lodge  or Similar

Mid-Range

New Court Hotel Masindi  or Similar

Budget

Masindi Hotel or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 14: Transfer to Murchison Falls National Park – 18 Days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking.

Enroute to Murchison Falls National Park, we stop at the Butiaba escarpment. Although it’s not far from the Budongo rainforest, it holds completely different arid savannah landscapes, and species like Mocking Cliff-Chat, Foxy Cisticola, and Brown Babbler. We will pass through lots of wild country with an open palm savannah, unlike any other in East Africa, and along the way we may find birds like Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Senegal Lapwing, White-rumped Seedeater, and the weird Piapiac.

We reach the edge of the Nile in the late afternoon. 18 days Birding tour with Gorilla tracking, The lodge is on the White (or Albert) Nile, which goes from Lake Albert to Khartoum where it joins the Blue Nile and flows to the Mediterranean. The other stretch of the Nile in the park is the Victoria Nile which joins Lake Victoria, plunges spectacularly over Murchison Falls and flows into the northern edge of Lake Albert. We spend two nights in Murchison Falls National Park.

Destination: Murchison Falls National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Paraa Safari Lodge or Similar

Mid-Range

Pakuba Safari  Lodge  or Similar

Budget

Hornbill Bush Lodge or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Days 15-16: Full Day of Birding in Murchison Falls National Park – 18 Days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking.

We spend a full day exploring Murchison Falls National Park, where we search for Silver bird, Buff-bellied Warbler, Black-headed Batis, Black-headed Gonolek, and the very local White-rumped Seedeater. The riverine thickets hold White-crested Turaco, Double-toothed Barbet, Heuglin’s Francolin, and many others.18 days Birding tour with Gorilla tracking, In the afternoon we take a boat to the base of the Murchison Falls where the Victoria Nile narrows and plunges spectacularly over the escarpment with unfathomable might.

As well as being visually spectacular, it is also really good for birding, and we expect to get close to the normally very difficult Rock Pratincole. 18 days Birding tour with Gorilla Trekking, The next day we do a separate boat trip downstream to where the Victoria Nile enters Lake Albert and actually makes a delta with tributaries and papyrus marshes. This array of habitats is great for Shoebill in case we missed it earlier, as well as many other waterbirds and arboreal species like Red-throated and Northern Carmine Bee-eaters.

Destination: Murchison Falls National Park
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Paraa Safari Lodge or Similar

Mid-Range

Pakuba Safari  Lodge  or Similar

Budget

Hornbill Bush Lodge or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 17: Transfer to Kampala – 18 Days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking.

This morning we may make an early stop at Kaniyo Pabidi, where we can track Chimpanzee if we failed to find them elsewhere on our trip. This is also the best place in East Africa to look for the local Puvel’sIlladopsis. After lunch in Masindi, we return to Kampala where we spend the final night.

Destination: Kampala City
Accommodation Options:

Luxury

Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel or Similar

Mid-Range

Horizon Hotel Entebbe or Similar

Budget

Tilapia Lodge or Similar

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

Day 18: Birding in Entebbe Botanical Gardens and Departure – 18 Days Birding Tour with Gorilla Trekking.

Depending on departure flight schedules, we may try to squeeze in some final birding in Entebbe Botanical Gardens. It is unlikely that we will add many more species this day, but it will be a great opportunity to get better looks at some of the sulkers that may have been trouble earlier in the trip. The tour concludes with international departures in the late afternoon or evening from Entebbe International Airport.

Destination: Entebbe International Airport
Accommodation Option: No (Unless on request)

  • Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Drinking Water, Fruits and Wi-Fi throughout the journey

 

PRICE INCLUDES

  • Round Trip Airport Transfers (pick-up and drop-off)
  • Private Transportation in 4×4 Safari Cars
  • Meals Specified on a Full Board basis
  • Accommodation with Ensuite Facilities
  • Applicable Park Entrance and Activities Fees
  • English Speaking Professional Driver-Guide
  • Chimpanzee Tracking Permit Fees
  • Gorilla Trekking Permit Fees
  • All Hotel and Lodge Pickups and Drop-off
  • All Taxes
  • Bottled drinking water and Fruits while on safari
  • Activities as stipulated in the Itinerary (except those stated as “optional”)

 

PRICE EXCLUDES

  • Activities not mentioned in the Itinerary
  • International Flight Fares (unless requested)
  • Country Entry Visa
  • Personal Travel Insurance
  • Telephone Charges
  • Laundry
  • Bar bills and all other kinds of drinks except water
  • Government Imposed increase of taxes or park fees
  • Souvenirs, Gifts and Tips
  • Additional accommodation before and at the end of the tour
  • Covid-19 and other related tests and vaccinations

 

RATES PER PERSON: (Tour Rates are Per Person and exclude International Flight from or to your home Country).

RATE PER PERSON Solo
1 Room
2 People
1 Room
4 People
2 Rooms
6 People
3 Rooms
7 People +
Luxury $15,512 $10,108 $8,188 $7,548 GET A QUOTE
Mid-Range $13,956 $8,764 $6,844 $6,204 GET A QUOTE
Budget $11,826 $7,560 $5,640 $5,000 GET A QUOTE

 

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