UGANDA

The country's location at the crossroads of East African savanna, West African rainforest, and Albertine Rift mountains creates a dazzling array of habitats, from lush forests and papyrus swamps to grasslands and lakeshores. It's the best place in the world to see the wonderfully strange Shoebill, a huge stork found in the Mabamba Swamp.

The Bwindi-Impenetrable Forest area is home to many endemics and rare species, with a long list of great birds from Black Goshawk, Black-billed and Ross's turacos, Red-chested Owlet, and Narina and Bar-tailed trogons to African Broadbill, White-tailed Ant-Thrush, Grauer's Warbler, White-browed Crombec, Red-faced Woodland-Warbler, a variety of sunbirds, and Luehder's Bush-Shrike. It is also our destination for a wildlife highlight: the option to trek for Eastern Mountain Gorillas in the wild.

Queen Elizabeth National Park, another birding and wildlife hotspot on our route, is a slice of classic East Africa, with open-country birds from Black-chested Snake-Eagle and Wahlberg's Eagle to Red-necked Francolin, Harlequin Quail, and Small Buttonquail, as well as iconic mammals such as African Elephant, Topi, and Kob.

Kibale Forest is home to more than 325 birds itself, with species such as Speckle-breasted Woodpecker, White-spotted Flufftail, Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat, Gray Parrot, Fire-crested Alethe, and White-breasted Nigrita. If we're extremely lucky, we may also see African and Green-breasted pittas and several other more difficult targets. And the mammal highlight here? A chance to track wild Chimpanzees as well as encounter a variety of other highly sought primates, from Mantled Guereza to Uganda Red Colobus.

Lake Mburo National Park features rolling hills, open areas, pockets of woodland, marshland, and open water. Burchell’s Zebra, Impala, and Oribi are mammal highlights here, while birds we hope to find include African Finfoot, Lizard Buzzard, Red-headed Lovebird, Green-backed Woodpecker, the restricted-range Red-faced Barbet, Chin-spot Batis, Fan-tailed Widowbird, and, outside at dusk, Pennant-winged Nightjar.

The bird-rich Budongo Forest and its famous "Royal Mile" feature a rich trove of species to see, from Crowned Hawk-Eagle, Nahan's Francolin, and Blue-throated Roller to White-thighed and Black-and-white-casqued hornbills, Yellow-spotted and Hairy-breasted barbets, the rare Ituri Batis, Jameson's and Chestnut wattle-eyes, Chestnut-capped Flycatcher, Western Black-headed Oriole, Purple-headed Glossy-Starling, Yellow-mantled Weaver, and Red-headed Malimbe.

Murchison Falls is another bird-rich destination, particularly for waterbirds, and as an additional site for Shoebill. But afternoon game drives on the savanna are rich in wildlife, too, while forest patches teem with a plethora of birds.

We have longer and shorter Uganda tour options to accommodate your schedule.

Our 14-day Uganda Short itinerary visits Mabamba Swamp, Kibale Forest, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Bwindi-Impenetrable Forest, and Lake Mburo National Park.

Our longer 22-day Uganda: Shoebill, Rift Endemics & Gorillas tour covers the same sites as the Uganda Short tour but adds yet more birding and wildlife riches at Budongo Forest and Murchison Falls National Park.

Whether we're gliding through papyrus swamps in search of the Shoebill, trekking forest trails for rare endemics or gorillas, or scanning savannas for raptors, birding in Uganda is a wonderful adventure.

Photo credit: Our thanks to participant Paul Koker for the image of a Shoebill at the top of this page.

We offer many other AFRICA birding tours, too!