Uganda Finale: Murchison Falls National Park

Posted on August 6, 2024September 14, 2024 by blairbirding

At just over 1500 square miles, Murchison Falls National Park is Uganda’s largest national park. It’s most famous feature is Murchison Falls itself where the entire Nile River flows through a narrow gorge measuring just over 20 feet resulting in extremely turbulent waters below. The Park is dissected by the Nile and is home to large bird and mammal populations. Our time at the Park included two boat rides and two game/bird drives including a night drive that was at or near the top of the list of highlights for the trip.

June 30

We were out early in the North side of the park in beautiful morning light.

This 4 hour trip produced a bird list of 70 species and good mammal sightings. Ten species were new for our trip but lifers were understandably much harder to come by. Still I managed two: Denham’s Bustard and Black-rumped Waxbill. We had been on the lookout for Bustards in this perfect habitat, surprised we had not seen one earlier in our trip. The first one seen was a Black-bellied Bustard that flew by us and then shortly thereafter a lifer Denham’s Bustard appeared. I also got photos of some species seen but not photographed earlier and others that were new for the trip. These included photos of the three lifer species from yesterday where “vehicle challenges” did not enable me to take photos: Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Shelley’s Rufous Sparrow and Northern Red Bishop.

**Swallow-tailed Bee-eater – Life Photo**

**Vinaceous Dove – Lifer Photo – Another One Missed Yesterday**

It was a very good morning for photos as I got photos of 31 species although I missed a few I would have liked. I also did not bother taking photos of more than 20 species that had been seen and photographed often previously.

**Senegal Thick-knee – our 3rd Thick-knee for the Tour**

**Ruppell’s Griffon and White-backed Vulture**

We returned to the lodge for lunch and a short rest and then were off on another boat ride, this time to the base of Murchison Falls – or as close as we could get to it as the force of the water rushing and then falling through the narrow opening meant rough waters way past the base of the falls. As with all of our boat trips, expert handling of the boat enabled us to get quite close to mammals and birds seen along the way. Adding to our very birdy morning, we had 48 species, only four new for the tour and only one lifer for me, but it was one that had been high on my want list. Due to the high water level, there was some doubt if it would be seen. It was the Rock Pratincole – a specialty at Murchison Falls. Dion said he often had them on rocks near the base of the falls but due to that high water he questioned whether they would be on rocks that would be under water rather than exposed with the Pratincoles sitting on top. Since the falls were at the far end of the river, I am putting the horse before the cart as we did indeed see these lovely little birds – perhaps 30 of them, both in flight and perched on branches probably better than if they had been on the rocks.

Having gotten good photos of the Collared Pratincoles earlier in the trip, I was very pleased. Now to put the cart pack in place, there were lots of good mammal intersections as well – especially with elephants and the many hippos lining the shore of the river. One of the hippos gave us an up close and personal look at its saber like front teeth/tusks – reminding us again that there are more human deaths caused by hippos in Africa than by any other animals.

Earlier on our trip we had seen elephants drawing water up into their trunks before squirting it into their mouths for the drink. We watched this one for quite a while and we wondered if he was siphoning it directly.

We also saw Uganda Kob and Buffalo along the river banks as well as a number of good sized Nile Crocodiles. One group of Buffaloes was particularly welcome because they were accompanied by the only African Spoonbill that we saw on the trip.

**African Spoonbill looking very small next to the Buffaloes**

There were of course many other waders along the shore of the river: African Woolly-Necked and Marabou Storks, a single Black Heron, an African Openbill, Great, Little, Yellow-billed and Western Cattle Egrets, Hadada and African Sacred Ibis, and Gray, Purple and Goliath Herons, the latter the star of the show as it was on its nest with young.

Another photo was a much better one of a Piapiac, a plentiful crow in the area, here a juvenile told by its red bill hitching a ride on a Warthog waiting for an insect it would dig up.

Being on the water, of course we had many kingfishers – four species: Pied, Malachite, Woodland and Giant Kingfishers. I had missed an earlier opportunity for a photo of the latter. Finally got this one, even if not the best pose/shot. And there were other birds not associated with water that we saw on their perches onshore.

**African Gray Woodpeckers – Male and Female**

Our boat captain maneuvered us as close as he could to the Falls themselves – engines fighting against the current and turbulence generated by the river crashing through the small gorge. Murchison Falls is world famous and is impressive but in a way very different from other spectacular falls I have seen. The very thing that makes them special, the great volume of water coming through that small opening, is also the limitation as that narrow open is no comparison to the scale and visual impact of Iguassu/Iguazu Falls or Niagara Falls for their breadth and Yosemite or Bridal Veil falls for their spectacular scenery. Glad I saw Murchison Falls, but to be honest – not a must see.

**We could not get close enough for a photo showing the full fury of the falls and from a distance they are just not that impressive.**

It had already been quite a day as we again totaled over 100 species with many great photos and the view of Murchison Falls itself. But there would be more as we were scheduled to go on a night drive with a wonderful local guide/ranger – Silva. Definitely the highlight of our visit to the Park and among the top two or three parts of our trip.

The Night Drive

Being very close to the equator, darkness arrives in Uganda not long after 6:00 p.m. unlike in our home in Edmonds, Washington where at this time of year, it is not dark until after 10 p.m., thus it was not long after dinner that we could load onto our Land Rover, pick up Silva and head into the dark savannah armed with Silva’s rifle for protection (not needed) and two spotlights to search for wildlife. There was some light from distant villages but otherwise the only light was from our headlights. I have been out in total darkness returning from long birding trips or looking for owls, but I had never been out in areas like this where many animals were grazing and others were hunting. Just as with owling at night, you cannot see anything unless it is directly in the headlights or light from the spotlight. In essence then, we hunt with the spotlights trying to pick up “eye shine” as the light from the spotlight or headlights is reflected from the eyes of the animals. Almost immediately we had “eye shine” which told us where to direct the spotlight: a Hyena, the first visual of one we had on the trip as opposed to many calls we had heard at night.

The early success with the Hyena in the spotlight raised our excitement level and added to what was already sensed as a “cool adventure”. Those assessments increased as we returned to the area where we had seen many mammals on our daytime game/bird drives and we were stunned by the number of eyes that were found returning the shine of the spotlights. There were hundreds of eyes – everywhere. Mostly antelopes like the Uganda Kob and Oribi and a large herd of Buffaloes as well. Most were very distant but occasionally there would be something close on the side of the road (dirt tracks) like the Bushbuck below.

Mammals on the African plains are exciting to see in the day time but especially with the big herds of antelope and even buffaloes, it becomes commonplace and the excitement at least diminishes. But it was a very different feeling at night. There was a sense of mystery and more like a hunt. What would come next? In the daytime I might see an animal hundreds of yards ahead and watch it as our vehicle got closer and closer, perhaps readying my camera for a photo. It was very different at night with far less time to process what was being seen and thus a heightened feeling of a need to “Be ready” for whatever might happen without much warning. A feeling of anticipation for … what?

Silva was awesome as he searched the landscape with his spotlight looking for the next animal, the next surprise. Perhaps an hour into our drive the headlights of the Land Rover picked up some movement on the road ahead of us and Silva quickly got his spotlight on some lion cubs – first one then another and then the mother. Not real close but the way they had appeared out of the dark magnified the excitement acknowledging that any lion cub sighting is already very exciting. The cubs also meant that there were other lions in the area. Would we find them?

Silva was always animated, his positive vibrations felt by us all and we were confident that if there was something out there he would find it. He did. “Lions – feeding lions“, he called. Somehow maybe 150 feet away and mostly hidden in the grass and brush, Silva had spotted a group of lions with one of them on a kill. The general rule is that vehicles are not allowed to leave the designated tracks and drive off into the bush. Silva said “lets go”. Davis, our driver and local guide hesitated not wanting to break the rules – not that there was anyone, other than Silva, within miles of us who would know or report the infraction. Without an instant of hesitation, boss man Dion said “go” and Silva directed us to a spot less than 15 feet from where a large male lion was gorging himself on the kill – an antelope of some sort – and where at least 6 other lions were waiting their turns. Headlights and the engine were turned off and for the next 20 minutes, we were treated to probably the best up close spectacle of life and death on the African savannah I had ever seen – beyond awesome.

I took more than a hundred photos in addition to two videos of the dominant male feasting, another male waiting for and then taking his turn after the dominant male had finished and with females and cubs standing by hoping for opportunities of their own. If the spotlight was not directly on my target, the photos were useless, but there were successes. One of the females, probably the lead lioness, was wearing a radio collar. Silva said this pride was a study group. If the spotlight moved as the photo was taken – nada, but there were good moments when the light was steady. We watched as the first male roared after he was finished and then curled back his lips and seemed to sniff the air. This is called the Flehmen response and is a way for any mammal but predominantly big cats and mostly males to detect the smell of urine from another animal in the air to see if they are ready for/interested in mating. Our interpretation was that having satisfied one of his appetites, the big male was interested in satisfying another. I could have chosen dozens of photos but have included just a small sampling to give some idea of the great show, and unfortunately I cannot imbed the videos.

**Probably the Lead Female – Note the Collar**

**Male Lion Roaring and then “Air Tasting” – the beginning of the Flehmen Response**

**The Flehmen Response – Anybody Interested?**

It was hard to leave but it was getting late – time to return to the lodge. There would be one more treat. On our return we spotted a Grayish Eagle Owl on the road. It flushed at first but returned to the road and we were able to get in the spotlight for some great photo ops. Not a lifer or even a life photo but any owl is great, and finding this one on the road in the open was a fitting close to an amazing day, one of my best ever.

July 1st

The only way we might have topped the experience of the previous day was to see a Leopard hunting or with a kill. They are in the Park but we would not see one making this my only trip to Africa where I have not seen one. We were back on the Nile River birding in the delta. There were eight new species for the tour including two new lifers for me among the 84 species seen. This was our fifth boat trip of the tour and all were great. The two lifers were Northern Carmine Bee-Eater and Black-billed Barbet. The lifer Northern Carmine Bee-eater was one I really wanted and was very happy to get, but it was the Red-throated Bee-Eaters that stole the show as we saw more than three dozen. And it was just a great day for Bee-eaters period as we also had another Swallow-tailed Bee-eater and 3 Madagascar Bee-eaters.

**One of Our 40 Red Throated Bee-eaters**

It was also an excellent day for Kingfishers, as we had Gray-headed, African Pygmy, Malachite, Woodland and Giant Kingfishers – all seen and photographed before but always a treat whether in the forest on on the water. I was particularly glad to get another Giant Kingfisher photo.

It was also a good day for Barbets with the Lifer Black-billed plus Double-toothed and Spot-Flanked.

We had two gull species on the river. There were many nesting Gray-Hooded Gulls, seen earlier on the tour but these were in full breeding plumage with their gray hoods very apparent. The other gull seen was a Black-Headed Gull, very common in Europe and Asia and in parts of Africa but it was the first time Dion or Davis had seen one at this location. It is a rare vagrant in the U.S. and I have seen it both in my home state Washington and also in British Columbia.

**Black-headed Gull – My First in Afric**a

Not the greatest photo but my first for the species was of a Greater Swamp Warbler and the same as to quality and being a first photo applies to my photo of a White-crested Turaco. Much better photos were of three raptors seen and photographed earlier in the trip: Long-crested Eagle, African Harrier-hawk and a Black Kite. The Black Kite was different than ones seen earlier as it was “black-billed”.

**Greater Swamp Warbler – Poor Lifer Photo**

**White-crested Turaco – Life Photo (again poor)**

Another bird of note – new for the trip and apparently very rare for the location was a Red-billed Oxpecker, seen with several Yellow-billed Oxpeckers on the backs of some of the Hippos we saw.

As had been the case with most of our other boat trips, we also had great looks at some mammals and this time particularly a group of elephants that were bathing and also tussling. In one case I was able to get a sequence of one elephant completely submerging with only the tip of its trunk above water – quite a snorkel. I also photographed two elephants pushing each other around as we wondered if a full fledge fight might follow.

There would be one last treat on the water. It seemed ages ago that we had seen the Shoebill at the Mabamba Swamp and Wetlands. In the promotional material for the tour, this boat trip on the Nile was noted as a good possibility for Shoebill in case we had missed it earlier. And so it was as we located another Shoebill, this time having it all to ourselves. A fitting bookend to the tour to have this marvelous bird on both the second and second to last days.

Had it not been for the exceptional preceding day with the night drive and all the other sightings earlier in the tour, this may have ranked at or near the top with elephants, hippos, barbets, waders, bee-eaters, kingfishers, raptors and of course the Shoebill. It is testimony to the many great days on the tour, that it was “just another day” – well, without forests, chimps, gorillas, lions, owls or sunbirds.

July 2nd

This was our last tour day, starting with a visit to the top of Murchison Falls and followed by a very long drive back to Entebbe and the Boma Hotel where it had all started for us 19 days ago. There would be no new lifers this day but I added a life photo, I think. It is of what I believe is a Northern Yellow White-eye. We had Green White-eyes often earlier on the trip but Ebird says it is not found in this location – only the Northern Yellow White-eye. I cannot tell them apart so will go with the Ebird ID. I did not make it to the actual top of Murchison Falls. The rocky trail was extremely slippery from the spray and I was getting soaked even just at the bottom third. I decided to remain dry and forego the view of the Falls themselves settling for the raging river as it narrowed through the gorge to go over the Falls.

The 200 mile trip back to Entebbe would take more than 6 hours traveling through very congested towns, dealing with very slow trucks and the heavy traffic through and around Kampala. As with our other traveling days, we had a good chance to observe the non-safari, non-birding, non-National Park life in Uganda. I hope to write another blog post focusing only on that part of our visit, but will again omit it here.

Our last Ebird list for the tour was from our lunch at the Kabalega Diner. It was pretty birdy with 16 species including a lifer photo of a Yellow-throated Greenbul as well as nice shot of a Green-winged Pytilia feeding on the ground next to us.

**Yellow-throated Greenbul – Life Photo**

Back at the Boma Hotel, we had a last dinner – sadly strained by our interpersonal discomforts with our traveling companions. It was then off for a short rest before leaving very early in the morning for our return flight home. The short drive to the airport, our checking in and flights back home all went well even if very long. Due to the 10 hour time difference and our early departure from Entebbe, we left Uganda on July 3rd and were back in Seattle very late also on the 3rd – 18+ hours on the clock but actually closer to thirty hours of actual time. We were very tired and glad to be home.

Conclusion

Repeating what I think I recall from my first blog – which was written weeks ago – Cindy and I had been spoiled by our awesome trip to Tanzania last year where the birding was easier, there were many more mammals, our travel companions very enjoyable and the lodges were top notch. There were definitely parts of this trip that were “not great” – BUT there were also many highlights, great birds, the amazing gorillas and chimpanzees – even if maybe less incredible experiences than we may have expected/hoped for, the unforgettable night drive and especially some wonderful intersections with local Ugandans particularly our porters in Ruhija and the Ride 4 a Woman Collective in Buhoma. The forest birding was really tough and disappointing but that is what it is and is just a mismatch for what I/we most enjoy. Lots of new birds, but too many heard only or not seen well – lessons learned. All told we are very glad we went, have lots of stories to tell and have already been back in touch with Hilda, Cindy’s Ruhija porter and with Evelyn the founder of Ride for A Woman. Our first local guide, Veronica, has been wonderful in facilitating getting some funds to Hilda. Veronica was an awesome guide and driver – just an awesome person. Our second Ugandan driver and guide, Davis was also a great guide and driver (with a heavier foot – appreciated when passing those trucks) and always had a great smile and personality.

As was the case when he was the lead guide for my trip to India in 2011, Dion Hobcroft was an unbelievable resource for all things natural: birds of course, mammals, plants, reptiles bugs etc. He kept us all on schedule and on task and every detail of the trip went off as planned. Had I been a better listener I also would have learned a lot more about cricket, rugby and Australian rules football in addition to some very odd Aussie sayings.

Some numbers:

My Uganda list for the trip was 444 species.

I added 132 lifers to my World List and now sit at 3507 species – this is just about what I projected as reasonable to expect.

I got photos (some definitely pretty poor) of 306 Ugandan species. My goal is to get photos of 75% to 80% of the birds seen on a tour so being at just under 70% fell a little short. I am sure that if all of the forest species seen and all of the forest species photographed were removed from the equation, the percentage would be well over 80% – another lesson learned.

A disappointment – again connected to the forest birding was that I only added 140 photos to my life photo list. Given 132 lifers, this at first seems really good, but the reality is that only 78 of the new photos were out of those 132 lifers, a pretty poor 59%. I had expected at least 150 photos and had hoped for many more than that. My World Photo list is now 2500 species with photos – a nice round number but only 71% of the World species list. It was nice to get 62 photos of species previously seen in Africa on previous trips but not photographed. I hope someday to get to 3000 species photographed.

Someday I may get a chance to get photos of species seen in countries early on in my birding life when I was not taking photos – birding in Costa Rica, Trinidad, Jamaica, Japan, Hong Kong, Hungary, Christmas Island, Australia and on a fishing trip to Argentina. Altogether I saw 663 species on those early trips and have only 8 photos to show for it. There has been some overlap from later birding trips so a best guess might be that those trips represent maybe 500 species not seen elsewhere. Since my average of photos per species seen excluding those countries is over 80%, there are probably 400 missed photo ops that would be available with return visits. We have a trip to Japan scheduled for next year and are considering Costa Rica and Australia. Those three trips could add at least 250 photos. A trip to Ecuador in September/October that will include the never visited Galapagos and some lodges not visited before will hopefully add another 100 photos. That still leaves 150 or so photos to go. Guess I will have to keep on travelling.

And hopefully someday I can get to 4000 species on that World list. Especially since I am now probably not looking to do much forest birding, that will be a challenge. Those trips mentioned above at best would likely add no more than 150 to 200 life species. More South American trips seem in order.

I need a break from blog writing but do hope to get one out about our non-wildlife observations of Uganda. The country has many challenges ahead but has come an incredible distance in the last 30 years. We will share our impressions and photo in that yet to be written blog post.

Masindi: Next to the Congo, the Royal Mile, Budonga Forest and More

Posted on August 2, 2024 by blairbirding

June 28

The good news was that we were in a new bird-rich habitat. The bad news (for me) was that again a lot of the birding would be in dense forest with challenges for both good views and photography. But there was no doubt that we would have new birds as we would add another 40 species to our Uganda list in the area before our final major stop on our itinerary at Murchison Falls National Park. Further evidence of just how different this area, tied in to the great forests of the Congo, would be was that in just over an hour at our first stop at the Nyabyeya Agricultural fields not far from our hotel, we had 34 species and 7 of them were lifers for me.

It is not just the forest, however, that provides challenges for birders hoping for good looks at special birds. Grasslands and open areas pose their own problems. Two quick ground birds were a case in point. Out of nowhere a small bird flushed from a field, flew by us and disappeared never to be seen again. It was pretty easy to identify it as a Common Quail, a species I had seen in almost identical circumstances last year in an open area in Tanzania. No photos either time. Next we heard the call of a lifer Heuglin’s Spurfowl. We called back and it ignored us – repeatedly. Fortunately photos would come later. More cooperative were lifers Compact Weaver and Brown Twinspot (although neither photo is top notch) and my lifer Fawn-breasted Waxbill, a photo that took a while to identify. A welcomed life photo was a Brown Babbler, seen but without a photo the day before.

**Heuglin’s Spurfowl** – **Lifer (photo from next day)**

What makes seeing or photographing a particular species important to a birder? The rarity of the bird matters. If it is a lifer or a life photo or a wanted/needed year bird or one wanted for a state or county or country list, that might matter. One bird at the agricultural fields had a special meaning or importance for me. One of the first birds I saw in Africa was an African Yellow Warbler at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi in October 2007 – hard to believe but almost 17 years ago. No photo. And then I saw one again in Tanzania last year again with no photo. Not the best photo and it took a while before I could put a name on it, but my photo of an African Yellow Warbler was special because of that history. The last photo I include from that very productive spot is of a Gray-headed Oliveback. Of course it is important because it is a lifer, but the special meaning to me is that despite it being a decent photo (although highly enlarged), none of my photo ID programs could identify it and I kept missing it on the Ebird list for that spot. Then bingo, I noted it on yet another review of my lists and the gray head on the photo jumped out at me and the rest was easy.

In an earlier post I included with some uncertainty a photo of what I believed was a Brown-backed Scrub-robin. The picture from this morning left no doubt.

**Brown-backed Scrub-robin – Lifer Photo (if the earlier one is not**)

It was 9:30 in the morning, and we had a great start to our birding. We would spend the next 7 hours birding what is known as the “Royal Mile” in the thick Budongo Forest. Grading according to the number of lifers, it was a great place. Grading on photo ops and great looks – well that’s another story altogether. More than a sixth of the species were heard only and for another third, there were minimal views at best as the birds were distant, buried in foliage or just downright uncooperative. Now I must again acknowledge that this not my kind of birding and I am not at all good at finding birds in these conditions – especially predominantly green or brown ones in green and brown surroundings in low light. BUT there were some great birds and even a few, but only a few, that I photographed.

Let’s start with a list of the species that were “heard only” with the 3 lifers in italics: Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo, Red-chested Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Barbet, Yellow Longbill, Gray Longbill, Uganda Woodland-Warbler, and Pale-breasted Illadopsis. This was the second time the very striking Yellow-billed Barbet was a heard-only species on a Uganda list, one I regret not having seen and photographed. On the other end of the happiness spectrum were lifers that were seen well and photographed: White-thighed Hornbill, Chocolate-backed Kingfisher, Blue-throated Roller, and Chestnut-capped Flycatcher, with the photo of the flycatcher being barely ID quality. The last photo in the group is a life photo of a Speckled Tinkerbird, photos of which were missed earlier in the trip.

**Very Enlarged Chestnut-capped Flycatcher – Lifer**

Last list for this fruitful and frustrating birding experience – lifers seen poorly and not photographed: Little Green Sunbird, Yellow-breasted Forest-robin, Fire-crested Alethe, African Forest-flycatcher, Spotted Greenbul, Rufous-crowned Eremomela, Lemon-bellied Crombec, and Western Nicator. With the exception of the Yellow-breasted Forest-robin and maybe the Rufous-crowned Eremomela, these are all pretty drab birds, many quite small, and all favoring the higher spots on very tall trees. Nonetheless, especially when added to the species that were heard only, it was tough and again, at least for me, some disappointing birding. Since it would probably have been more of the same for the quality of looks and photo ops, I had mixed feelings when our guides said that despite the number of new species, the “Royal Mile” was usually better and a number of species often seen (or heard) were missed.

June 29

Today was another moving day, starting with some more birding in the Budongo Forest and then birding our way to Murchison Falls National Park where we would be for the last 3 nights of the tour. Murchison was actually only a little over an hour from the Budongo Forest but with our stops for birding, it was not until 4:30 pm that we did our first birding in the park. Except for the birding there this afternoon, our visit to Murchison Falls NP will be covered in the next blog post. The rest of this one covers our birding before getting there and the time at Murchison that afternoon.

The morning started with the brief stop in the Budongo Forest Reserve again. The Ebird report lists 11 species, mostly repeats from the previous day at the Royal Mile, nothing new for the trip and no photos. I frankly do not remember the birding at all. Next was an hour plus birding at the Butiaba Escarpment on the shores of Lake Albert. Of the 13 species seen, 4 were lifers for me and 6 were new for our trip bringing it to over 400 species. The lifers were Red-winged Gray-warbler, Foxy Cisticola, Lesser Blue-eared Starling and White-fronted Black-chat. I had many photos of the species from last year in Tanzania, but I was happy to add a Uganda Beautiful Sunbird to my photo list.

You may note that there is no photo of a Lesser Blue-eared Starling. Shame on me. I watched several of them at the location, in the clear, decent light and not too far away. Somehow I simply failed to take a photo, probably processing them as something else. They are very striking, so I am including a photo from someone else on Ebird.

**Lesser Blue-eared Starling – Photo by Anton Lieberman**

Our next “stop” was literally 15 seconds for me to get a photo of the first Chanting-Goshawk (Dark) of the trip. I first saw one in Kenya in 2007 and had many of them in Tanzania last year and was surprised we did not have one earlier.

A short while later we had my first lifer for the day and a major frustration as a lifer Shelley’s Rufous Sparrow was spotted on the road in front of our vehicle, together with a couple Northern Gray-headed Sparrows. My request for a stop so I could get a photo was either unheard or unheeded – aargh! Fortunately there was another opportunity later in the trip and I did get that photo. And not too long later another frustration as a lifer Northern Red Bishop was seen and again, by the time we stopped, the photo op was gone. Again I would get a photo later. And, yes you guessed it, there would be another lifer without a photo as a much hoped for Swallow-tailed Bee-eater was seen, and again it disappeared before I got get a photo. These things happen, although three in a row was a new one for me.

I bring this up as a segue to a topic that has grown to have much more meaning for me after so many related challenges/frustrations/disappointments on this trip both with seeing birds and with getting photos. If it wasn’t before, it became very apparent to me on this trip that while I very much do want to add species to my various life lists, it is not very satisfying to do so with either poor looks or no looks at all for heard-only species and also that I do put a high priority on getting a photo, and hopefully a decent photo, of the birds I see. There are tours that are described as “photographic tours”. Others promote “great photo opportunities” and others barely mention photography at all. I may not need/want a photographic tour that spends hours trying for the perfect shot of all the birds, but I do appreciate it when there is at least a recognition of what is needed for photos and that I am interested in that. So for example, there are ways to approach a bird either in a vehicle or on foot that maximizes the opportunity for a good photo and might also consider for example the angle that best allows that to happen. That did not happen on this tour naturally – just not a part of the mind set. And repeating comments from earlier, maybe especially for me, it just is not a good match to have a lot of forest birding. That acknowledgement will be part of all future planning.

We checked in to Paraa Safari Lodge at Murchison Falls National Park and then returned to our vehicle for two hours of birding and hopefully some mammal watching. It was nice to be back in a place where we had both mammals and birds again and we quickly got reacquainted with elephants, giraffes, warthogs, buffaloes and antelope adding Red Hartebeest, also called Kongoni, and Oribi to that latter group. We also saw our first jackal – a Side-striped Jackal. And yes there were birds – 29 species – 9 new for Uganda and 5 new lifers for me including a Red-necked Falcon that was lifer number 3500.

Elephants Again

**Abyssinian Hornbills – Lifer – Better Photos to Come**

**Red-necked Falcon – Lifer – World List 3500!!**

Paraa Safari Lodge is adjacent to the Nile River in the heart of Murchison Falls National Park. It was one of the larger lodges on our trip, comfortable and as always with wonderful staff. We would be here for 3 nights and then return to Entebbe for our long flights home.

Start with a Pitta and End with Bogart, Hepburn and Hemingway – Two Days in Uganda

Posted on August 1, 2024November 27, 2024 by blairbirding

June 26

How would you ~~feel~~ about a morning where you had 17 species but 10 of them were heard only,?six of the 17 were lifers but you saw only three of them, but you did get -?look at that species, but that 9 was a very rare and hard @’ find Green-breasted Pitta? And oh yeah you also got to see Chimpanzees. I have asked myself that question and my answer is that the disappointments somewhat outweighed the good moments and that maybe I need to recalibrate my expectations and reactions.

The morning in question was our trek in the very dense Kibaale National Park Forest accompanied by a local bird guide and a park ranger. Great weather but very dark and reminiscent of too many of my forest birding experiences, challenging to see anything and even more challenging for photos. I had either not realized or forgotten that while our main reason for being there was to find Chimpanzees, this was also the only likely place to find a Green-breasted Pitta, an uncommon charismatic species that had breeding territories and leks in Kibaale Forest NP. Thus when very early in our trek through the forest I heard what I was almost certain were Chimps, I did not understand why we continued on in a different direction. My thought had been: “Hurray this will not be a repeat of our endless slog through the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest before we found our Mountain Gorillas.” I heard Dion say “Pitta” and while my choice would have been to get the Chimpanzees quickly while we could, that was of course not what happened.

So we trudged on for at least another 30 minutes, memories of Bwindi hard to ignore. Finally our, guide indicated he had located a Pitta – by its call. Pittas are very colorful and sought after species anywhere they can be found. The Kibaale Pittas were high on the target lists of most birders visiting the Park, so I should have been excited. I was, sort of, not so much because it was a Pitta, but because it would of course be a lifer, and when I learned that it had been missed the last two days by others, maybe some competitive juice began to flow. I do not recall if it was Dion or our guide, but a Green-breasted Pitta was located calling on a horizontal branch. It was 70+ feet away and barely visible in the very dark forest and at least from the only angle I had through many layers of foliage. Even then I could see only part of the bird itself. So not exactly a great look and a very poor photo trying to use manual focus on the small target barely visible in the dark. The first photo is directly from the camera unedited and the second is the best I could do. In retrospect I might have had a better result if I had pushed the ISO setting to the upper limit – maybe.

**Green-breasted Pitta – Highly Edited** – **Lifer**

After the “Positive Pitta Pursuit”, it was time to look for our Chimpanzees. We did not find them immediately but fortunately at least time and effort wise it was nothing like our Gorilla trek. For Cindy and me at least, the expectation/hope for the Gorillas had been to find a group at leisure. If you read my blog post on that experience, you know this was far from the case as our Gorillas had rarely stopped moving – generally away from us. Our expectation for the Chimpanzees was different, as we understood they were a much more arboreal species, so any Chimps we would see would almost certainly be in the trees. The questions thus were whether the trees would be closer or further away from us and how much foliage would block our views. The answers were “not too close but not so far” and “yes lots of foliage, but with enough openings for photos and good observations”. Better yet, the Chimps were not constantly in movement and we had many more frontal views. At times it seemed like we were surrounded by Chimpanzees and maybe we got looks at a half dozen or more. Like with the Gorillas, it was impossible to look at them, each with a very distinctive face, and not see our own evolutionary connection or relationship. We did not see much behavioral interaction but their strength and agility was striking as was the breadth of their emotional expression.

**This Chimp Was Excited about Something**

**Chimpanzee Watching Us Watching Him** **– Missing an Ear?**

The edited and enlarged photos make it seem otherwise but we were never really close to the Chimpanzees and never felt any danger although they are know to be less docile than the Mountain Gorillas. The light a challenge with varying amounts of sun breaking through the dense forest but fortunately much better than it had been with the Pitta and we were very pleased with the experience and felt privileged to be in their world.

All told, we spent less than an hour with the Chimpanzees and over 4.5 hours in the Forest. As stated earlier, many, too many, of the birds were heard only including two species from a group with one of the strangest names – Brown and Scaly-breasted Illadopsis. What’s the plural? Illadopsises? I just had to know the derivation of this word and found that it comes from the Greek “illas” for “thrush” and “opsis” for “appearing”. Since we never saw them, I would not have known if they appeared like thrushes. We had two more birds, both lifers, that were also heard only and not seen that fit the same thrush bill – Rufous Flycatcher-thrush and Red-tailed Ant-thrush. So it was a good morning for thrushes – as long as visuals were not required.

There was a hoped for bird that did require a visual for me to be happy. In fact I was thinking about it as we were coming to the end of our trek. I knew that this was a good place for Narina Trogon and literally within a minute of this bird coming to mind we found one. It was high up in a tree almost directly over us. I was able to get a good view of this lifer and some photos but it just would not turn its head for the shot I really wanted. Somewhat like the also always appealing Barbets, Trogons are found in both the Eastern (Asia and Africa) and Western (North and South America) Hemispheres and are always top targets for birders. The Narina Trogon was my second Trogon in Africa and my 20th worldwide – definitely a worthy target.

The other seen lifer for the morning was a Narrow-tailed Starling a slender black bird with a golden eye and that narrow tail. In the U.S. our only starling is the European Starling, introduced from Europe and often, perhaps unfairly, considered a trash bird. Including a number of mynas which are classified together with the starlings, this was my 40th starling species, a total that greatly surprised me. Of those 40, 22 are from Africa, one from Europe and one from Australia with all the others from Asia. The only other photos from the morning were a Black-headed Paradise Flycatcher and a pair of Black Bee-eaters.

One of the heard-only species (another lifer) was a species I very much wish I had seen and especially photographed – Blue-breasted Kingfisher. It called over and over for several moments in the dense forest but just would not make an appearance. The photo below is from Ebird taken by David Beadle. I doubt there will be another opportunity, what a beauty.

**Blue-breasted Kingfisher – Photo by David Beadle**

The nine new Uganda species in the morning brought me to 350. In the afternoon, we birded the Bigodi Swamp and added another 6 new for Uganda and 3 more lifers for me. I got a photo of the Magpie Mannikin and missed one of a Black-and-White Shrike-flycatcher. I was certain I had a photo of the Senegal Coucal, but I cannot find it among the thousands of photos taken on the trip. Other photos of note were three life photos: Violet-backed Starling (sadly female only), Purple-headed Starling, and African Harrier-hawk together with non-lifer photos of Black-and White Casqued Hornbills.

**Violet-backed Starling Female – Life Photo**

**Purple-headed Starlings – Life Photo**

It was then back to the Chimpanzee Guest House for our last night there. In the morning we would head off on a long travel day to Masindi and the Budongo Forest – part of the neighboring Congo forest and thus promising many new species.

June 27

It was a long travel day but there were birding stops along the way. In just a few moments at the Fort Portal Wetlands we had 12 species including our first Northern Masked Weaver of the trip and my life photo of that species. A few moments later we did our last birding in the Kibaale Forest. In thirty minutes I added a lifer Masked Apalis and life photos of Scarce Swift, Gray-throated Barbet and Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, the latter two species which I had been seen but only poorly in forest birding earlier in the trip. We also got good looks at another Golden-crowned Woodpecker.

Our next stop was at the Nguse River Camp Restaurant. I cannot recall if we actually had lunch there or just used their bathroom facilities, but there was good birding as I added a lifer Whistling Cisticola and finally got a photo of an African Pygmy Kingfisher in addition to seeing three species of Sunbird.

**African Pygmy Kingfisher – Life Photo**

Later in the afternoon we hit an excellent group of birds along Hoima Road in Masindi with mixed species in the grasses. The group included waxbills, mannikins, whydahs, canaries, weavers, and widowbirds. The Red-Collared and Yellow-mantled Widowbirds were lifers. I also had a lifer Copper Sunbird. Birds were pretty active and at one point I saw a bird that had I had been home in Washington State, I would have quickly noted as a Red-winged Blackbird. Of course they are not in Africa, but this was a black bird with a red wing patch – and a hint of color at the base of the bill. It was a lifer Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike. I only saw it once in flight before it disappeared in the tall grass – unfortunately no photo, but an easy ID. I did get a photo of a Brimstone Canary – my first for that species.

Neither was new for the trip or on any life list, but at this spot, I got good photos of a Broad-billed Roller and two male Pin-tailed Whydahs with their very long tails.

Then there was the Moustached Grass-Warbler. I had seen one last year in Tanzania without a photo. One was feeding in the grasses at this stop as well, generally out of sight with only brief appearances with some of the other species. I kept trying for a photo, and it kept hiding. There are two birds in the photo below, I think the one in the back, even without a distinct moustache, may be the warbler as it is the only species we saw there that has that yellow eye and that bill. I am also including photos of two of the weavers, Vieillot’s Black Weaver and Grosbeak Weaver. It was a very birdy spot as we had 27 species altogether in just under an hour covering less than 200 yards.

We continued on to our next lodging – the famous Masindi Hotel. It is the oldest hotel in Uganda and is famous mostly because Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn had stayed there during the filming of The African Queen in 1952, and it was also a favorite of Ernest Hemingway. The hotel was perfectly adequate but let’s just leave it that it was “a bit dated”.

**Masindi Hotel Reception – “Just a bit dated”**

Queen Elizabeth II National Park – Birds and Mammals

Posted on July 31, 2024August 15, 2025 by blairbirding

June 23rd – Afternoon

My last blog post ended with our arrival at Queen Elizabeth II National Park around noon on June 23rd marking the halfway point for our scheduled tour. My Uganda bird list stood at 294 species and we had had a taste of the big mammals of Africa. Both lists would grow starting with our first afternoon in the park which had 68 bird species. We were now mostly in habitat that we had birded before but the 6 new species brought our tour list to 300 and one of these was a much desired new lifer for me – Madagascar Bee-eater. Even better, both individuals we saw provided great photo ops. Two birds were also new life photos – Alpine Swift and Golden-crowned Woodpecker.

**Golden Crowned Woodpecker** **– Life Photo**

There were also several mammals of note although with one exception, our intersections with them would improve later in the park. It was here that we had our first Lions, our first Elephants, our first Uganda Kob and our first Giant Forest Hogs. The latter two were “life mammals”. We would see hundreds of Kob over the next week but the one small group of the Giant Hogs would be our only ones. The lions were surrounded by and immediately next to several vehicles – definitely not the natural setting you would want for any lion encounter. Fortunately we would have others including another on our last day in the Park and others much later at Murchison Falls on a night game drive.

**First (and fortunately not our last) Lion**

June 24

We stayed that night (and the next) at the Mweya Safari Lodge in the Park – comfortable with a great location overlooking the Kazinga Channel connecting Lake George and Lake Edward. As always service was great and every Ugandan we met was super. After an early breakfast, we were out in the Northern sector of the Park looking for new birds and for animals. In 4 hours we found 75 species, 15 new for the tour, two lifers for me and some life photos including two lark species – Flappet and Rufous-naped. It was a real challenge finding let alone photograhing the lifer Small Buttonquail in the grass. Unfortunately I was not up to the challenge of grabbing a photo of the lifer Banded Martin that flew quickly by us.

**Small Buttonquail – Lifer and Very Challenging Photo**

Although I had seen and photographed these species before, either earlier on this tour or during earlier tours elsewhere in Africa, some really fun photos were of a Village Weaver at our lunch stop, a nesting Kittzlitz’s Plover on an egg it its nest, a Saddle-billed Stork surrounded by Cattle Egrets, a Woodland Kingfisher with its wings spread and a Wattled Starling – just an odd looking bird.

**Saddle-billed Stork and Cattle Egrets**

The morning had been great but our afternoon boat trip on the Kazinga Channel surpassed it and was definitely among the best parts of our entire tour. Combining bird lists from the morning and the afternoon, we had 107 species for the day with especially great looks at both mammals and birds on the boat trip that lasted 4 hours. As tours progress, it becomes harder to add new species, yet in addition to the 15 new Uganda species in the morning, we managed to add another 10 on the boat ride. Like in the morning, only two were lifers (both photographed) and another two were life photos, but there were unlimited photo ops for familiar species and our interactions with elephants and hippos were wonderful and photo-rich. The two lifers were African Skimmer and Red-throated Bee-eater and the additional new photos were Angola Swallow and Northern Black Flycatcher. Pure luck that I got the Bee-eater just as it was about to grab a dragonfly.

As we approached the dock to load onto our boat, we had a good if distant look at a large group of elephants directly across from us – with more than a hundred African Skimmers flying near and around them. It looked like they would stay as we made our way across the channel and they did, providing the photo above – and many more of the Skimmers – but more impressively some great views of the elephants as they devoured a floating island of vegetation. We watched them for 15 minutes with a number of them in various interactions – mostly friendly but in a couple of instances jostling for better access to the food.

**Young Elephant in Deep Water (for him)**

As we were watching the elephants maybe 60 feet away from the boat to our left, we were being watched by several hippos about the same distance way to our right.

The Channel was great for close-up looks at many water related birds – waders, shorebirds, Egyptian Geese and three species of kingfishers including at least 200 Pied Kingfishers which nest in the dirt banks, and we often could see a dozen or more at one time. One stood out from the others, an almost pure white Pied Kingfisher – not albino but highly leucistic. The other kingfishers were numerous Malachite Kingfishers.

**Pied Kingfisher at Nest Burrow in Bank**

As we continued our boat trip in the channel, there were almost always birds in view. In no particular order I am including photos of most of these species.

Midway through our boat trip we came across another group of elephants. This time they were not so engaged with a meal, and after we had observed them for awhile, continuing to get closer and closer, it became clear that we were near that boundary where a further approach could be dangerous. Maybe it was because there were some babies, and when one of the larger elephants flared its ears and stared right at us, it was time to back off and move on.

We saw more hippos and a few antelope on the shores of the Channel together with numerous Buffalo. There had been a couple of smaller ones earlier, but finally we found a pretty large Nile Crocodile with a mouthful of very serious teeth.

The boat ride was a wonderful experience with good weather and calm water. Great birds and great animals. Our intersection at the beginning with the African Skimmers and the feasting elephants could not have been a better start. As we returned to the dock, another boat was heading out and we noted that the African Skimmers had moved on and so had the elephants. They had completely consumed the floating vegetation. Our timing had been perfect. We returned to the lodge for a rest and a relatively early dinner. We would be out at a reasonable time the next morning continuing our journey through the Park and moving on to the Chimpanzee Forest Lodge.

June 25

I saw my first Verreaux’s Eagle Owl at Lake Nakuru in Kenya in November 2007 and my second in South Africa in October 2014. Last year Cindy and I saw one at Lake Manyara in Tanzania in February. This morning I would keep the streak alive with one seen on an abandoned Hamerkop nest almost as soon as we left the lodge. All owls are great. What makes this one special is it’s decidedly pink eyelids. A great way to start the morning.

Shortly after the Eagle-Owl I added a lifer – a Brown-backed Scrub-robin. Although I am sure this photo is of the bird we saw, it looks to me more like a Red-Backed Scrub-robin. I will let the Ebird reviewers let me know. We had another Brown-backed Scrub-robin later, so I won’t lose a lifer in any event. I had Red-backed in Kenya, so nothing to gain either way.

Shortly after the Scrub-robin we added three birds to our Uganda trip list: Red-faced Cisticola, Green-winged Pytilia and Crimson-rumped Waxbill, all of which I had seen and photographed before during earlier Africa trips.

We had one more birding drive through Queen Elizabeth II Park and then headed to Chimpanzee Forest Lodge. An apparently pretty unusual find was a Beaudouin’s Snake-Eagle distinguished by the very fine complete barring across its chest and belly. We first saw it in flight and I got a quick photo, improved when it landed on an Euphorbia and perched for a few seconds. A second lifer was an African Crake – a fleeting view that did not include a photo.

Although not a lifer or even a life photo, for me by far the best birds of the morning were a flock of Collared Pratincoles that landed on the road ahead of our vehicle, would allow us to get a little closer and then move on a bit, repeating this every time we followed but eventually resulting in some nice photos – definite improvements over the ones from distant Collared Pratincoles last year in Tanzania. They look like a mix between shorebirds and swallows with striking markings.

Probably the most notable birds of the morning were the Senegal Lapwings which seemed to be everywhere, more than 100 of them, sometimes joined by a few Crowned Lapwings. We also had a couple of Wattled Lapwing’s and a Kittzlitz’s Plover – so a four plover morning.

It was also a good morning for cisticolas as we had Zitting Cisticolas singing everywhere and a couple of Croaking Cisticolas as well. We had seen a number of Pin-tailed Whydahs earlier, but they were plentiful here with a number of long tailed males.

There were two non-bird highlights of the morning. The first was watching a male Uganda Kob try to have hhis way with a female. It did not work but believing in “if at first you don’t succeed, try try again”, he did and it still did not work – rejection. The second was seeing our first “real Lion“. Sure the two Lions seen two days earlier surrounded by safari vehicles, indeed almost touching them, were real, but this one – a male sitting in the grass just off the road in front of us with nobody else around was many times better even more so as were we were in the Lion Savannah area of the Park. A fitting farewell to Queen Elizabeth II National Park.

We arrived at the Chimpanzee Forest Lodge in the early afternoon and checked in. The lodge was comfortable with each of us having our own cottage. These pictures from the website give an idea of the accommodations.

We birded at the lodge and surrounding area for an hour and then birded for another hour in Kibaale National Park where we would do our Chimpanzee trek the next morning. We added another half dozen species for our Uganda list (mine was then at 341) and four were also lifers for me: Afep Pigeon (fast flyover without time to get a photo and then never seen again), Speckle Breasted Woodpecker (seen only by me with a poor photo), Black Crowned Waxbill – photographed, and Sabine’s Spinetail – also photographed.

**Out of Focus Speckle-breasted Woodpecker – Lifer**

I also got lifer photos of two sunbirds, Olive-bellied and Green-throated or was it Blue-throated Brown-Sunbird – or did I get photos of both? After much debate I am close to sure that the for sure photo is of the latter and just not sure about the other.

**Blue-throated Brown Sunbird (I think)**

A last photo for the day and a lifer photo for me was of a Hairy-breasted Barbet – an odd name for a bird as clearly no birds have hair, but I guess I can see how the plumage could lead to the name.

Somehow we had added 15 species to our Uganda trip list – or at least to mine as there were species seen by others that I had missed either because I sat out a couple of walks or just could not find or hear birds seen by others – especially Dion our guide. So as I said my Uganda list was at 341 species and the tour list was probably approaching 350 species. There would be birds the next day, too, but our main quest really did have hair as we would be looking for Chimpanzees.

Uganda Day 8: Birds in the Morning – Ride 4 A Woman in the Afternoon; Uganda Day 9: On to Queen Elizabeth II National Park

Posted on July 28, 2024August 15, 2025 by blairbirding

June 22

After a good night’s sleep followed by a good breakfast (custom omelets really help) at Mahogany Springs, our favorite lodge on the trip, our morning would be a long birding session along the Buhoma Tract still in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a very bird rich area. We would be rewarded with lots of new species but once again much frustration for me as this was deep forest/jungle birding with many birds high up in the big trees, buried in dense foliage – or both. Honestly, I had barely ID quality looks at many of the birds and photos were very hard to come by. Of the 56 species on our list for the 4 hours of birding, I was only able to get photos of 9 and some of those were not very good. At least 6 species were heard only (but distinctly) and another dozen were seen poorly at best. Again, very frustrating.

But there were birds. Twenty-three were new for our trip and 14 were lifers for me including 2 new sunbirds, a new woodpecker and a new bee-eater. Another lifer, found by Veronica and in the open briefly, was the Red-headed Malimbe, a kind of weaver. It is was the first time I have seen a bird with that very African sounding name although there are three other Malimbes in East Africa.

**African Emerald Cuckoo** **– Life Photo**

Those were the best of the photos. There were many others that had unidentifiable parts of birds buried in the foliage – probably greenbuls (we had 7 species) but not really enough to even go with an ID suggestion. We had already gone over 2 miles and the question was what would be next. Dion really wanted to carry-on farther in search of a new Uganda bird for him (and of course for all of us as well) but that would involve at least another mile out and back and maybe more.

I probably could/should have included these photos above or even in the previous post as along with the many birds, we also had lots of monkeys – often just a movement high in the trees but sometimes at least relatively in the open for photo ops. The most common monkeys were Red Tailed Monkeys with incredibly long tails (yes red) and L’Hoest’s Monkeys which were somewhat more common and more in the open.

**Red-Tailed Monkeys which Might Have Been Named Blue-Masked Monkey Just as Easily**

We had been given the option to continue on with Dion or to walk back to the vehicle with Veronica who would return us to Mahogany Springs. One of the party chose to continue with Dion and the rest of us went back. Veronica dropped the other tour member back at the lodge but Cindy and I very much wanted to visit a women’s cooperative that Cindy had learned about at dinner the previous night. It was called “ride 4 a Woman” and was not far from the Lodge. Veronica drove us there. It turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip.

Ride 4 a Woman

Cindy and I spent several hours at this inspirational place. Its website http://www.ride4awoman.org introduces the organization perfectly: “Ride 4 a Woman was set up in 2009 by Evelyn Habasa and her husband Denis Rubalema. The organization exists to support local women struggling at home with issues associated with HIV, domestic violence and poverty….More than 300 women from 11 villages now use or work at the Ride 4 a Woman community center, where they can learn to pedal sew, weave baskets, dance, sing and drum; learning new skills, making a living and making it possible for their children to gain an education…The organization also offers microfinance, helping women to help themselves and support their families. To date over 100 women are actively engaged in the Ride 4 a Woman Microfinance Program…This retreat in the local community offers local women a place to stay, something to eat and a wage while they learn new skills. Every day we welcome visitors to Stay With Us, Learn From Us, Shop or simply drop by to see what is going on.“

When Veronica dropped us off, we met by a young woman, Shallon, who became our guide as we toured the impressive retreat/community center interacting with many of the 30 or more women who were all busy weaving, sewing, serving food or attending to other matters for the organization. Shallon gave us the background and history of the place and told us a lot about Ugandan culture which is slowly changing especially related to the place of women in society and in the villages. Ride 4 a Woman started with She also introduced us to the founders Evelyn Habasa and Denis Rubalema and took us through the different buildings including some lovely rooms which provide a respite for women who have experienced domestic violence. Every woman we met was busy, completely engaged in their work and certainly outwardly and in interactions with us, smiling and happy.

**Shallon Showing Us one of the Pedal Sewing Machines in Action**

Evelyn and Denis started out renting bicycles to tourists who visited the area primarily for gorilla trekking. With those funds and hard work and some donations, they have expanded the operations to reach many women in the nearby small villages. There is a small gift shop where items made by the women can be purchased – at very reasonable (actually very low) prices. We had seen some particularly appealing fabric as we had toured and asked if it was possible to have a tablecloth made with it. Several women immediately went to work calculating how much fabric would be needed, laying out the design and then beginning to cut and sew it. We found some complementary cloth for a set of napkins and added that and a couple of weavings to our purchase. It was getting late and we had to return to our lodge. We were told that the finished goods would be delivered to us there. Right after dinner we found them in a beautiful colorful bag waiting for us in the lobby.

**Gift Shop – Photo from Ann Lauer who visited with NatHab**

Most of the people in these villages live at not much above subsistence level with no electricity or running water in their simple homes. Getting clean water generally involves long walks returning with heavy jugs. Goats are an incredibly important and valuable addition to any family. Ride 4 A Woman has made it an aim to be able to provide a goat for all of the families they serve. It is also undertaking a program to provide solar panels to bring electric power to the communities. All of this of course costs money and opportunities to bring in significant revenue at such a remote area are limited. When Covid seriously cut into the tourism in the area, Ride 4 A Woman was seriously hurt. Private donations helped them weather the storm. Cindy and I have committed to try to aid this worthy organization both with some of our own personal funds and also through some fund raising activities tarting to develop that we are starting to develop. Stay tuned. Interpret this comment as you wish: it was disappointing to us that the tour and all of the other tour members showed no interest in this remarkable place. There was no interest in visiting it or frankly in hearing about it. OK, it’s a birding tour, but Cindy and I felt much enriched from our visit.

**Women of** **Ride 4 A Woman** – **Photo – Ann Lauer**

June 23

After breakfast we packed up to sadly leave Mahogany Springs but with excitement as we were heading to Queen Elizabeth II NP with the promise of big mammals, another boat trip and of course more birds. To start we again birded the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Entrance Road with 21 species – six new for the tour, 2 lifers for me and a couple of new life photos. Again the birding and especially the photography was tough with birds high in dense foliage. A particularly sad miss for a photo was a Yellow-billed Barbet. I had seen one in Kenya 17 years ago and we would have them later on this trip, but I love barbets and this is a very striking one. I have a photo that is possibly of this bird but it is truly awful and does not do even a bit of justice to the real deal and I am not counting it.

**Petit’s Cuckooshrike Female – Life Photo**

**Yellow-Billed Barbet – Photo Frederic Pelsy**

We had a few incidental species as we continued on towards the Park. At one spot we had a field full of Red-billed Quelea, one of the most numerous birds in Africa. I had seen them before but somehow never got a photo. Today would be the day.

A little further along, we had our first Village Indigobird. The previous day I got a fairly poor photo of a perched Wire-tailed Swallow showing the wire tail. Now I added one of another perched Wire-tailed Swallow better showing its face etc.

We had another box lunch (always way too much food) and then spent the next 5 hours mammal and bird watching in Queen Elizabeth II National Park. It was founded in 1952 by combining the Lake George and Lake Edwards Games preserves, first named at Rwenzori National Park and then changed to its current name. The 764 square mile park, like many parks in Africa, has a somewhat tainted history due to the forced relocation/removal of many tribal people. With a large mammal and bird population, it is a very popular safari location. There are no Zebra, Giraffes or Impala as we had seen previously, but it was here that we had our first lions and elephants. We would also add 31 species to our growing Uganda bird list. Our boat trip on the Kazinga Channel connecting the two lakes was once again a trip highlight. Our time at the park will be covered in the next blog post.

Please visit the Ride 4 A Woman website. ride4awoman.org

Penetrating the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest – Gorilla Trekking and then off to Mahogany Springs

Posted on July 26, 2024August 15, 2025 by blairbirding

June 20 – Bwindi Impenetrable Forest – Our Mountain Gorilla Trek

Probably the single most important factor in our choosing Uganda as our next Africa destination was the possibility of seeing Mountain Gorillas. According to the latest released data, there are only 1063 of these large and powerful primates remaining in the world, with two separate population groups, one in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and one in Virunga Volcanoes – a region spanning three national parks in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are found in high-elevation montane and bamboo forests adjoining agricultural areas. A little less than half of the Mountain Gorillas are in Bwindi. The other gorilla species, Lowland Gorillas, has a much larger population.

As humans we share more than 98 percent of our DNA with gorillas, only slightly less than the amount we share with Chimpanzees and Bonobos. Mature males are known as Silverbacks and can weigh over 400 pounds, measuring over 5 feet on all fours and over 6 feet tall when erect with a wingspan of 8.5 feet. They are incredibly strong being able to lift over 4000 lbs. and yet are able to effortlessly climb trees if branches will support their weight. Gorillas can live to 40 years of age. They do not eat meat, favoring plants, fruits and nuts. They can run at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. Gorillas live in family groups with a dominant male and change their sleeping areas nightly.

There is an elaborate system for gorilla trekking at Bwindi – strictly regulated and allowed only with park rangers and with a permit issued by the Bwindi National Park – limited each day and costing $700 each – funds that support the park and its administrative and ranger details and the community. There is no guarantee that gorillas will be seen but the Park makes great efforts to make it “highly likely”.

Here is the gorilla trekking process: Meet at the Park Headquarters where a head ranger gives background on gorillas and explains how it works. Local villagers from Ruhija – mostly women but some men then do several dances for the assembled “trekkers” (maybe 30). The dances are very energetic and sometimes the dancers pull people out of the audience to join them (usually embarrassing themselves in the process). Both Cindy and I were invited (coerced) to join in – separately. Viewers are encouraged to leave a gratuity in a can in front of the dancers. Cindy did great; fortunately there are no photos of me dancing.

After the dance, viewers are assigned to groups of no more than 10 who will then trek previously identified gorilla groups. Ours was the Bituicura Group. There are three such groups in the Bwindi Forest that are acculturated to and thus comfortable with humans in their midst. Trackers have staked out the general locations of the individual gorilla groups based on where they slept the night before. The trekkers are driven to trail entries into the jungle which will take them to the gorillas – hopefully. In our case the entry point was a mile or two from the headquarters. Any trekker that so chooses can hire a porter to carry their gear and help them with the ascent and/or descent and trek through the jungle. The porters are from the village – both men and women – and only get to do this maybe once a month. The charge for the porter is $20 – a significant amount to them. Cindy and I both elected to engage a porter – hers was named Hilda and mine was named Michael. (Just a note, most of the Ugandans we met who interacted with tourists had “English names” as well as their Ugandan names in their tribal language.”) The porters also provide walking sticks for the trekkers – generally bamboo rods – which proved essential. We would not have made it without the porters or the sticks.

Each group is accompanied by a tracker – with machete in hand and used continuously as there are narrow trails that quickly end and it is necessary to bushwhack through the brush to make any progress. Each group is accompanied also by a ranger with a rifle. The gun is not to shoot a dangerous gorilla if trouble arises but to make scary noises in case any forest elephants show up. The elephants are very dangerous and need to be scared off. Fortunately this did not happen for us. Our group of 5 was joined by a young couple from Spain.

**Our Protection – In Touch with Other Rangers by Cellphone**

There is no way of knowing in advance how far one must go to reach the gorillas (hopefully). It can be as little as a quarter of a mile or several miles. When/if the gorillas are reached, you are allotted one hour with them. The porters stay away leaving the group and tracker and ranger to enjoy the gorillas, take photos etc. There are rules of conduct to be sure the behavior of the guests does not provoke the gorillas – passive, quiet, non-threatening, slow movements, avoiding eye-contact etc. In the event of a medical problem or if someone just cannot make it, you can call in a “helicopter” to rescue you. Not the flying mechanical kind, but a group of 4 to 6 villagers with a stretcher/litter who will carry it out with you on it. The cost is $300. One of the people in our party was very overweight and did consider calling for one. He persevered and made it without the helicopter.

So much for the general background – what about our trek? Bottom line – we did find a group of at least 8 gorillas – eventually. It was after an hour and a half of very difficult steep slow-go downhill “trekking” for significantly over a mile – all through very thick jungle with very little of it on any kind of trail – stepping over or through logs, roots, ferns, nettles, rocks, vines etc. For at much of this journey we were physically aided by and indeed relied upon our porters who were very strong and in great shape. And when we finally found the gorillas, they never kept still for more than a few moments. The hoped for situation is that you find them after they had eaten and are passively resting – and mostly still. Not our group – they were almost constantly on the move through heavy foliage looking for more food and barely interacting as we had seen on many reels on Facebook and You Tube. Most of our looks were of gorilla’s backs as they continued their foraging going downhill away from us. This continued for an hour and we kept going further and further downhill away from the vehicles up on the road where they had left us. Our porters continued on with us – again a necessity as the tracker continued to cut the way with his machete. Fortunately it did not rain and due to the elevation and being in thick jungle and thus out of the sun, it was neither hot nor humid – a blessing for sure. However the darkness in the jungle also made photography challenging even when there were possible shots of the animals.

At one point I was leaning up against a tree concentrating trying to get a better angle for a photo of a Silverback that was maybe 40 feet away. I felt something graze my shoulder from above and heard a shriek from behind me which was followed by a shriek from me. It was a fairly young gorilla coming down from the tree where apparently it had been eating some fruits high up and out of our sight. My shriek was not from pain or fear, just absolute shock. Even though the gorilla barely touched me, I could feel how solid it was, all muscle – not an encounter to be encouraged. Despite the difficulties and challenges, we certainly saw the gorillas and were able to get some decent photos, regretting mostly that the gorillas we had very few straight on looks to see the faces – each unique just as with us humans.

**Almost the Picture We Wanted but Neither Mother or Baby Turned Around**

**This Old Silverback Had Relinquished His Dominant Place**

**This Picture Shows our Typical Situation with the Gorilla Moving Away from Us – Downhill and Through the Jungle – Usually Even More Dense**

After maybe 70 or 80 minutes overall where we had been in contact with the gorillas, the ranger signaled that it was time to let them go and start our return. We had been given some extra time because it was realized that we had had to keep moving to have them in sight at all. By this time, we had come a long way down the steep slope and the thought of climbing back up was daunting and quickly dismissed. Instead we would continue further down until we hit an agricultural area and then a road. This sounded better than a climb back up especially with us thinking that our vehicles would be waiting for us. No not the case, the continued descent was longer than expected and when we got to the road, we learned we would have to hike up it for a mile or two to get to a place accessible by the vehicles. And now we would be in the open in the heat and the road was a very steep climb. After more than another hour, we finally got to the vehicles – ending what Cindy and I both agreed was the hardest thing we had ever done. Our porters had accompanied us the entire way, thankfully continuing to carry our packs and water. They rode back to Ruhija with us, and we gratefully acknowledged their efforts with a second $20 payment. This was a big deal for them as even a single $20 payment is highly sought after and recall they only get to do it once a month.

Given the great difficulty getting to the gorillas, the limited intersection and observation of them and the difficult hike down after the gorillas and then the challenge to get back up to get to the vehicles, despite the amazing experience of seeing them at all, Cindy and I both agreed that if we had known that our trek and interactoin would be what it was, we would not have gone – just not enough reward for the effort and cost. Of course we did not know this at the start and it could have been very different and better. There will not be another opportunity so this will be our only gorilla experience of our lives. Without the present agony of the trek, we can say we are glad we did it and we have certificates to prove that we completely the trek and some photos to memorialize the day.

There were birds along the way as we were trekking but our concentration was elsewhere and we were mostly looking down making sure we did trip on the roots or rocks or avoiding thorns and nettles. Our only visuals were after we parted from the gorillas. Before that the species were essentially heard only including two lifers Rwenzori Apalis and Doherty’s Bushshrike. I am particularly sad that we never saw the latter – a very striking bird. The only bird photo I got was of a Mountain Wagtail, a species I had photographed last year in Tanzania.

**Doherty’s Bushshrike – Internet Photo**

Finally we were done trekking. Two vehicles met us at the top of the road – one for our group and the other for the two Spaniards. All porters, trackers and guards loaded into the two vehicles for the return to Ruhija. We dropped Michael off at the Headquarters building and Hilda off at her handicraft shop in Ruhija and our very tired lot made it back to Gorilla Mist Camp. It had been a long day and it was now late afternoon. Time for a little rest and then dinner.

June 21 – Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Part 2 – Birding as We Left the Park

Today we would have a reasonably late breakfast (even later for Cindy who slept in), bird for a couple of hours in Bwindi near Ruhija, return to get our bags from Gorilla Mist Camp/Lodge and then bird for awhile further along in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest NP as we worked our way to our next accommodations at Mahogany Springs on the other side of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest NP where we would spend the next two nights.

We had 38 species in our 2 hours of birding in the morning. Fourteen species were new for the tour and 4 were lifers and 8 were life photos – an excellent morning.

**Green White-eye – Life Photo (finally)**

**Strange Weaver – Distant Poor Photo – Lifer**

**Black-billed Turaco – Really Tough Shot**

**Northern Double-collared Sunbird** (My best photo of this species)

I was sadly unable to get photos of a couple of the lifers, little birds that I could not pull out of the foliage. Not a lifer but a would have been life photo was a Blue Malkoha. I have a photo that is probably it with a blurry yellow bill, but I just cannot stretch standards enough to include it. The photo below is from Ebird.

**Blue Malkoha – Ebird Photo (Jan Harm Wiers)**

It was then back to Gorilla Mist Camp to load up and grab box lunches for the road. There was one important stop on our way out of Ruhija – the crafts shop of Cindy’s porter, Hilda. We had seen some masks earlier at hotel/lodge gift shops and were interested. When we saw that Hilda had masks in her shop it was easy – well except for choosing which one. They were all very reasonably priced. There was some extra room in our luggage for a smaller one as we had brought an extra bag so we made the purchased and bid goodbye to Hilda – more on that later.

**Cindy with our Mask and Hilda at Her Shop**

Our main stop would be to a hotspot in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest NP called “The Neck” where we birded along the road for something over an hour after our box lunches. There were 17 species of which all but 2 were new for the trip and 3 were lifers (one heard only) and with 4 life photos.

We reached Mahogany Springs mid-afternoon and checked in to our lovely rooms. Cindy stayed behind and had what she said was the best facial she has ever had and the rest of us birded for an hour on the Park Entrance Road adding another 10 species to the trip list (now at 261 species) including 4 more lifers for me but photos were hard to come by with mostly small and distant birds in thick foliage. I managed poor photos of two of the lifers – White Breasted Nigrita and Toro Olive Greenbul and a lifer photo of a Rock Martin.

We were glad to check-in to the Mahogany Springs Lodge which was at least one and maybe two or three steps above the accommodations the previous 4 nights. Those places were fine but only fine with electrical switches and outlets either absent or in odd places, with generally poor lighting and challenges with water temperatures and Wi-Fi. Remember we had been spoiled in Tanzania where those had not been issues at all. Cindy was particularly pleased to have access to a hair dryer again. Definitely 1st world criticisms – and again, not in any way unsafe and sleep challenging, but still we really enjoyed Mahogany Springs. The photos tell at least part of the story.

**The Setting at the Edge of the Forest**

**Our Always Smiling, Always Attentive, Always Gracious Host**

Uganda – On to Lake Mburo

Posted on July 24, 2024August 15, 2025 by blairbirding

June 17 – Day 2 (or 4)

It seems like all the tour companies now add days in transit to the advertised length of their tours. So even though this was really only the second full day of the tour, it is reflected as Day 4 since the travel day to get to Uganda and the day of the meeting dinner were included. Since it was our 4th day in country and we had birded on all the days, it did not matter to me. BUT another timing issue did matter. I forgot to reset the time on my camera so it was actually still recording photos on Pacific Daylight time. Thus a photo date stamped as 10 pm on June 15th was actually taken on the morning of June 16th. I did not catch this error until late in the tour and then reset the time but by then I had a lot of photos that were out of place. Theoretically easy to fix, but since I had processed and/or downloaded some photos as we progressed, it was more of a challenge than it should be. I promise I will never do that again…but that only matters if my memory recalls the promise.

We had breakfast at the Boma and said goodbye, loading our goods onto the Land Cruiser. One nice thing about this tour was that we stayed at least two nights at every stop, so the packing and unpacking was not too bad. Of course, this also meant that there were some places where a single night might have been preferred had stays of two or more. From the Boma Guesthouse we set out for our first stop at the Mpanga Central Forestry Reserve traveling through Kampala, the Ugandan capital. Kampala is a large metropolitan area with a population approaching 4.0 million with the population of the whole country being around 48 million. The traffic is pretty staggering with the mix of buses, jitneys, motorbikes, trucks, and perhaps even thousands of pedestrians feeling pretty chaotic to my western eyes – not dissimilar though to other large cities in un- or under- developed countries. Veronica masterfully handled the traffic and although it looked like accidents should happen every moment, we saw none. We got out of the urban density and arrived at the Mpanga Forest Reserve. Unfortunately so did a lot of clouds.

**Our Trusty Land Cruiser – two seats up front and six in the back – with a pop top**

With the threat of rain seeming certain, we began birding and cautiously added only a few species to our trip list. But apparently the birds knew that rain was coming and it very quiet and birds, if active at all, were seeking shelter. Photo ops were non-existent in the wind, under gray skies and with birds hiding in the brush. I got glimpses only of two species that would have been nice to photograph: Brown-throated and Green-throated Sunbirds, the former a lifer. Then the threat of rain became actual rain, starting slow and picking up to a pretty hard downpour. We tried to wait it out for 30 minutes, but no go – so we left. This would be our only rain of the tour so hardly a reason for complaint, but still a disappointment as in addition to the two sunbirds, it was supposed to be a good place for Green-backed Twinspot and Fire-crested Alethe – two would-be lifers.

We continued on with a few brief birding stops or observations along Masaka Road with the best being a field with 100+ Gray Crowned Cranes – the National bird of Uganda. We also had what would turn out to be our only look at a Lilac-breasted Roller, one of the most beautiful birds anywhere and maybe the most frequently photographed bird in Africa. No photos this time, but I had many from previous African trips. We finally arrived at Lake Mburu National Park, birding first along the entrance road and then in the park itself – now under clear skies. We added lots of new Uganda birds at both places but no new lifers and in part because of the camera time error and maybe some other mishap on my part, I have not been able to find/retrieve many photos from this day – noting however, that I have photos from later for all of the species we saw then. One of the photos I did find was of an African Penduline-tit – a life photo but not a lifer. Two other photos are from a little pond outside the park where several birds were seen together. Good photo ops for African Woolly-necked Stork and one of my favorites, Saddle Billed Stork.

**Gray-crowned Crane – National Bird of Uganda**

This was the first day when we would see some large mammals which are what most people associate with Africa – albeit just a small taste of what would come later. We saw our first Zebra, Warthogs, and a variety of species of antelope: Topi, Impala, Bushbuck and Defassa Waterbuck, the latter would be the antelope seen most often throughout the trip.

We moved to the Mantana Tented Camp for the night. Very much like the Kubu Kubu Tented Camp in Tanzania, this was not my idea of a tent. It was a significant if somewhat soft walled structure on a wood platform with nettings and zip up doors and a zip up wall dividing the sleeping area from the self contained bathroom with shower and flush toilet. As would turn out to be the case in some other accommodations, the only internet service (wi-fi) was at the main hall/reception/dining room and there was limited if any ability to charge electronic devices except there as well. These were NOT major issues but were another example of a difference between our lodgings in Tanzania and in Uganda. We were the only people at the camp and were treated very well by friendly, competent and gracious staff. Showers were by hot water that was delivered at whatever time was requested. It took a little tinkering to get the mix between hot and cold water right but the water pressure and availability was great. As with everywhere else in Uganda (and in Tanzania as well), bottled water was provided for drinking and tooth brushing etc.

June 18

Today would feature another boat ride – this time motorized as we would explore part of Lake Mburo NP, starting at the Nyarutegura River mouth. There were many of what I would call water-oriented birds, but the majority of of the birds seen were on the land adjacent to the lake. Over 4+ hours we had 66 species with photos of almost half. Ten were lifers and 14 were life photos. Without question, the most special of the birds seen, and one on my ten most wanted list for the trip, was the African Finfoot. It took some doing and lots of luck, but I was able to get a decent photo of the Finfoot running on a log showing its huge finned feet.

Many of the views were distant and of small birds in foliage, so not as many great photos as I would like, but as has been the case with all of my birding boat rides, being able to see the birds from the water was great. Not going to include all the photos – just a sampling.

I am including these Barbet pictures not because they are great photos, but because Barbets are one of my favorite groups of birds – found in South America, Africa and Asia – all with something special.

That afternoon birding continued in the National Park and Cindy was finally feeling a bit of jet lag so she sat this trip out. This would hopefully not turn out to be a big mistake as we saw more mammals and had really great close encounters with some giraffes – one of her favorite animals. At first we saw only a couple off in the distance and I was not worried about what she had missed. Later we had giraffes very close and I debated whether I should tell her. Fortunately it was a moot point as we would have excellent intersections with these amazing animals again.

We had good birds as well including lifer Sooty Chat and Tabora Cisticola. Altogether we had 50 species, of which only 8 were new for the trip including Bare-faced Go-Away Bird, African Scops Owl, Common Scimitarbill and Gray-headed Kingfisher, but together with the morning birding in the park our day list was 92 species. We spent another night in our “tents” and then the next morning we would head off to the Gorilla Mist Camp in Ruhija and the promise of Mountain Gorillas.

June 19

Our bags were packed and we ready to go with a relatively late (7:30 a.m.) start for more birding in Lake Mburo NP and then our trip to Ruhija and Gorilla-land. In 2 1/2 hours we had 42 species including 8 new species for our tour list, no lifers but one life photo – White-chinned Prinia. My photo of a Red-faced Crombec was not new but any photo of the tiny little tail-less crombecs is appreciated.

An Aside: As all birders know, there are rarely guarantees that a species will be seen at a given time or place. Weather, time of day, luck and other factors may produce very different bird lists for the same place comparing one year to another. In their descriptions of their tours, the tour companies generally provide a list in one form or another of birds that might be seen at various stops on the tour. We had seen a lot of birds, good birds at Lake Mburo NP including the prized African Finfoot. It was interesting, however, in retrospect to compare our Lake Mburo list with the birds named in the list of species “recorded in the park” included in VENT”S promotional materials. Not included were any of the three nightjars that we observed, but 17 of the species that were listed (more than 1/3) were not observed – 3 of which would have been lifers. The list of birds from the park had NO impact on my decision to take this trip and the same result would be found from any promotional material for any bird tour. By our nature, we want to see all the birds that are possible, but we know that is rarely if ever the case. If we had spent another day or two or three at the park, I bet we would have seen some if not many of the “missed” birds. The only reason I included this “aside” is because I am planning some future trips and I was thinking about my priorities and expectations. Bottom line here is that as long as we found that Finfoot, I was going to be happy – even a crappy view would have sufficed. We did much better than that with great views of more than one Finfoot and a total of 120 species in the Park – even without those from the “recorded in the park” list that were not found.

It was a long and somewhat torturous drive from Mburo to Ruhija – about 4 hours much of which was on two lane roads, mostly dirt and winding through a number of small villages/towns, some very rough and with many slow going trucks slowing things down. Thus as was as stated in an earlier post, this was a very different experience than Tanzania where we had much less intersection with the towns. Rather than go into details here, there will be a separate post about day to day life in Uganda, at least as seen by us in our transit through these towns. This was definitely not 1st world travel as the towns were very busy, crowded with small shops, markets, and people, lots of people – carrying goods, on motorbikes and bicycles, mostly on foot, basic housing, and then more of the same. Between the towns, there were still many people on foot and often children on the way to or from school or just together with their mothers or each other – almost always waving and smiling as they noted our presence. As I said much more on this later in a blog illustrated mostly with Cindy’s pictures. There were intermittent stops along the way as we saw a bird here or there, on wires, in the brush or trees, on the road, in the papyrus and then on the Bwindi Forest Road approaching our lodging for the nights ahead at the Gorilla Mist Camp. In Bwindi, I added 5 lifers, not especially well seen or heard only – too often the case over the next days as well, but there were some photo ops as well. There were 36 new species for the trip – evidence of how speciation is so related to habitat change.

We were only a third of the way through the tour itinerary and we had 215 species. I had added 34 lifers and at least as many life photos. As I planned for the trip, my hopes were for at least 100 lifers and maybe as many as 150 as a long shot. I also hoped for at least that many life photos with most being of those life birds and then others species I had seen previously in Africa without a photo. At this point, it wasn’t clear if those goals would be met. The next day we would find out if another goal would be met. Would we see a Mountain Gorilla?

Africa: Where Next? Uganda

Posted on July 22, 2024 by blairbirding

When we returned from our trip to Tanzania last year (see my earlier blog posts), Cindy said she wanted to do another Africa trip. I had been to Kenya and South Africa and loved those visits and although I would have enjoyed a reprise, I was more keen on a new country. Accordingly our thoughts turned to Botswana, Namibia etc. and to Uganda. Both options seemed to provide opportunities to see some African bird species that would be new to me in addition to the mammals that had beguiled Cindy in Tanzania. The great appeal of the first option was visiting the Okavango which received universal rave reviews. The special appeal of the second was the unique chance to see Mountain Gorillas and Chimpanzees and also to see a Shoebill, one of the most extraordinary birds anywhere. Based primarily on matters of cost and timing, our focus turned to Uganda, west of Kenya and north of Tanzania and smaller than both.

I am going to start with a retrospective post tour and will return to some challenges, complications and details following the choice later, and then per my usual approach in these blogs will detail the actual tour with stories and photos. The bottom line in retrospect was that there were some fantastic moments on the Uganda tour and we did return sound and safe with new birds, new mammals and yes the Shoebill, those gorillas and chimpanzees; BUT if we had known beforehand how the trip would go, we probably would not have gone on this trip. The positives outweighed the negatives but it was closer than it should have been and far closer than on any other trip we or I have taken.

**Shoebill** – **Up to 5 feet tall with a 7.5 foot wingspan**

Back to the beginning. Our original plan was to go on a private tour with Greg Homel who had been such a super guide on my visit to Puerto Vallarta and San Blas Mexico in late 2023. Greg had led Uganda tours many times and had what at least had been a great working relationship with a top rate local company and guide in Uganda. Cindy and I talked about the possible trip with two friends (unnamed for now) who we had not traveled with before but were eager to go somewhere with them. Somewhat surprisingly, they were interested and we found a workable time with Greg and started putting together details for a trip for 4 of us. I am not going to belabor the story, but due to some management changes at Greg’s Ugandan partner, their responses and proposals were a combination of slow and far too expensive – even with our expectations that a private small group tour would be more pricey than with a larger group. Greg was as frustrated as we were and as we watched this approach fall apart we looked for alternatives.

To our astonishment we found that there were openings on a Uganda tour offered by Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT) that was scheduled for close to the same time that we were considering and with essentially the same itinerary. VENT was our tour company in Tanzania and we knew the quality would be excellent. Even though there were only two people signed up for the trip, VENT said it would be a go with two more commitments. The price was less than Greg had been able to provide based on the pricing from his Uganda partners. We shared this information with our friends and Greg who shared it with his Uganda partners, who in turn said they just could not meet the price. Our friends were unhappy with the process from Greg’s group – which dragged out over some weeks, and this carried over to a general unease on this trip – which would have been a big first step for them in any event.

To end the story, Cindy and I committed to the VENT tour – at which point Greg’s partners came back and said they would match the price. We had had enough and despite a strong desire to go with Greg, we sent funds to VENT and that was that. Our friends decided to wait for another travel opportunity, in part influenced by some changes that had happened to their schedule. Not the best foundation for starting a trip, but the itinerary looked good and there was appeal in having a small group with a reliable company. Stay tuned…

More complications ahead. Not unexpectedly a visa was needed to visit Uganda. Visas have always been easy to get for other trips if needed – easy application, pay the price and done. The online process was extremely frustrating and one requirement was particularly challenging. For some reason a Yellow Fever vaccination was required to enter the country. Given that the exposure to Yellow Fever would be while in the country and thus the traveler’s problem, this requirement seemed to protect the traveler and not Uganda. Why? It turned out that Yellow Fever vaccinations are not easy to come by and are very expensive in addition. We found that Costco had the vaccinations available – after a process of consultation online with a Travel Health Advisor. Ok, we did that only to find that they recommended against yellow fever vaccinations for anyone over 65 as the risk of complications from the vaccine was greater than the risk of the disease itself. So Costco would not provide the vaccination, instead offering an official waiver form. Now another complication. The visa application was very problematic with among other things the need to attach very small sized copies of various photos and documents. Cindy went through the process first with many starts and stops as the online process rejected documents or just gave up. She indicated no vaccination, just a waiver. Finally she got it done and received a confirmation that the application was accepted and being processed. A few days later, she got notice that it was approved.

Now it was my turn and I had similar problems attaching documents and a faltering online process. Finally all the attachments were accepted and it came time to pay. I entered the correct information for the credit card (the same one accepted for Cindy’s application). The system crashed without acknowledging receipt or non-receipt. Worse, now there was an official application, which I could not reopen to modify and/or try again to pay. What next? I tried repeatedly to reopen the process and got the same message that there already was an application filed for that passport, and another could not be filed. After several stressful days including unanswered calls to the number provided for the Ugandan embassy, I found an email address for the director of immigration and explained the problem. I finally got a response with a way to make payment and I did. Another two days later the notice came that it was approved. Would that end the matter? Well maybe. It was not at all clear that when we showed up in Uganda, that our yellow fever vaccination waiver would actually be accepted. And later it came up as we checked in for our flight. We were allowed to board, but there was some skepticism as to whether we would be allowed to enter.

So after the stress of getting the tour commitment, there was the added and really quite great stress with the visas. Not holding you in suspense, when we arrived at the airport in Entebbe, Uganda – at around 4:00 a.m., our documents were approved almost perfunctorily and no attention was paid at all to the waiver. The notice of acceptance from the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration was all that was needed and our passports were stamped and we were good to go. But there would be more stress ahead – some self inflicted. The tour materials provided by VENT indicated that credit cards were commonly accepted and that there would be opportunities to use ATM’s in the country. Even so, as we had done for our Tanzania trip, we should have gotten some foreign exchange to take with us. We did not, and we made matters worse since we arrived at the airport so early, we did not get Ugandan shillings there either. Our lack of this currency would rear an ugly head throughout the trip. Nothing was uglier than when we finally got to an ATM midway through the tour as they were most definitely NOT commonly available, the ATM not only did not provide funds, but confiscated the card. AAARGH!!! AND many/most places did not accept credit cards and if any American currency was accepted, it had to be crisp and recently printed.

After all the preliminary stress, the trip to Uganda was actually quite good. We gave ourselves a gift by flying business class starting with a long 11 hour non-stop flight from Seattle to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. The lay-flat seats were great, the ride was comfortable and the service excellent even if offerings of water were rare. The Istanbul Airport is pretty new and very impressive. Finding and getting to our connecting flight to Entebbe (with a short stop in Kigali Rwanda) was easy and quick with a relatively quick layover. If anything, we would have enjoyed a longer layover as we hear that the Turkish Airlines lounge in Istanbul is superb. Our flight to Kigali left on schedule. The seats were not as luxurious as on the first flight, but very comfortable and the entertainment system was good. Six plus hours hardly seemed that long. Then a short stop in Rwanda and then on to Entebbe. There is always that moment of dread as you leave the airport counting on someone with your name on a sign who will get you to your hotel – especially when you arrive so early. He was there and not more than 20 minutes later we were at the Boma Hotel – our tour semi-officially on its way – the formal tour to actually start at dinner the next day.

Although at the end we are glad that our friends did not come on this tour due to some of the challenges, it sure would have been nice to have had them with us. From the start when we met the two other members of the group, there were concerns. No reason to go into details as we will never see them again. I will just leave it that we were not fans and there were issues that arose far too frequently. I cannot think of many if any people that Cindy, the always good hearted and good natured person that she is, cannot get along with. But it happened here – not horribly obnoxious as some people I have seen are – but enough chafing to actually make much of the trip unpleasant. Unlike other trips where for example meals with the group are fun with shared stories etc., these were silent – eat and be gone. That’s enough on that – no war stories. Just sad. Blogs to follow will talk about places and animals – birds and mammals and some people – the Ugandans that we met along the way. Mostly positive to great with a couple of not so great. Especially, wonderful Ugandan people who were in many ways the best part of the trip. We thoroughly enjoyed our first accommodation at the Boma Hotel in Entebbe. Our trip would end there as well. Let’s go.

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	avosetta on Birding in Japan Part 3…

blairbirding

Sharing pictures, stories, reflections of my birding adventures – past and present: great places, great people and great birds…

Tag: uganda