5 Day Birding Safari at Murchison Falls National Park and Budongo Forest in Uganda

Murchison Falls Park and Budongo Forest are a Birders delight

Day One:  Early morning start in Kampala, picking you up at your hotel after you have breakfast, have an early morning breakfast, we provide water along the journey.  We drive toward Masindi passing through interesting areas, that will grab your attention and periodically you will see our answer to Fast Food along the way from chicken or Beef on a skewer, to cassava, roasted maize and other items offered by eager vendors along the way.

We stop at Masindi at the Masindi Hotel for an early lunch break afterwards we move on toward Murchison Falls Park.  Upon entering the largest park in Uganda we go to the top of the falls, where you can enjoy the Nile going from a 50 meter wide river through a seven meter wide gorge tumbling 43 meters downward.  There is the ever present rainbow for you to view.  Keep your eyes open for Bat Hawk, Pel’s fishing Owl, Rock Prantincoles, a variety of Nightjars, Red winged Grey Warbler, and Chestnut Crowned Owls. Rock Pranticoles, a mixed flock of swifts, Africa Pied Wagtail, and many others.  There is even a path down to the bottom of the falls where you can explore for more birds and get a bottom view of the famed falls.

We check into the lodging for our stay at Murchison Falls Park and a break from the drive.  A before dinner game walk will be most rewarding along the Nile River.  You will possibly find different birds such as Blue-napped Mousebird, Spotted Mourning Thrush, Silver Bird, Bluff-bellied Warbler, Black-headed Batis, Black-headed Gonolek, Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-weaver, Vitelline Masked Weaver, And Green-winged Ptyilia, White-rumped Seed-eater.

Enjoy a delightful dinner and get a good night's rest preparing for a great day tomorrow.

Day Two:  Have a sumptuous breakfast and we embark on a boat ride down the Nile river to the Lake Albert Delta.  This is an area where you often find the elusive Shoebill Stork.  You will also encounter a lot of wildlife  coming to the river.  A most enjoyable time for you as you may see birds such as  the Shoebill, Secretary Bird, Abyssinian Roller and Ground Hornbill, Pied Kingfishers, Red-throated Bee-eaters, Goliath Heron, Saddle-billed Stork, Sacred Ibis, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Senegal and Water Thick-knees, Black-headed and Long-toed Lapwing, Little Bittern, Osprey, Red-necked Falcon, Blue-breasted Bee-eater, Vinaceous Dove and Grosbeak Weaver. Buff-bellied Warbler, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, Bar-breasted Firefinch, Red-winged Grey Warbler, Spotted Morning-Thrush, Marabou Stork, Red-throated Bee-eater, Silverbird, Beautiful Sunbird, Black-headed Gonolek, Speckle-fronted Weaver, Golden-backed Weaver and White-Rumped Seedeater, Rock Prantincoles, Darter and Giant Kingfisher and much more. 

This is about a 3 to four hour trip and we will return for lunch at your lodging and go on an afternoon boat launch up the Nile River to the famous Murchison Falls.  We will see more birds as we saw long the delta cruise and a few more, besides Crocodiles, Hippos, Buffaloes, Elephants, Monkeys.

Dinner at your lodging and another night of rest in the African Wild where you go to sleep to sounds you have never heard before.

Day Three:  Another superb breakfast and we are off on a game drive for birding and other wildlife. Keep your eyes wide open and your guide will show the best of Murchison Falls Park. We drive toward the Delta and will find such as birds as Chestnut capped Weaver, Silver bird, , Common Drongo, Spotted morning Thrush Bruce's Green Pigeon, Namaqua Dove,   White Fronted Black Chat, Black billed Dove, Vinaceous Dove, Carmine Bee-Eater, Red Throated, Swallow Tailed Bee-Eater, Isabelline and Northern Wheatears, Shoebills, Saddle bill, Grey crowned Cranes and others.  Besides you will see Rothchild Giraffes, Cape Buffaloes, Elephants, Lions, Monkeys and more.

We return to the lodging facility for rest and lunch.

In the late afternoon we embark on another game drive in a different area from the morning.  Our focus is birding but one cannot miss the wildlife that we will encounter along our drives.  Hopefully we will find birds such as Crested Guinea fowl,  Grey Hornbill, Grey Kestrel, Grey Headed Kingfisher, Helmeted and , Senegal Coucal, Tawny Eagle, Martial Eagle. 

Return to the lodging facility for dinner and rest.

Day 4:  We check out of our lodging and move from the park for our next Birding destination at Budongo Forest for all day birding, taking a packed picnic lunch with us.  Stay at Budongo Eco Lodge either in their dormitory or self contained rooms from budget to moderate

Budongo Forest is one of the best areas of Uganda where we will find a variety of birds, 366 species recorded, there are also over 250 butterfly species to be found, it has a population of 800 chimpanzees, the largest anywhere in Uganda, there are also 465 species of plants at Budongo.  The forest contains 60 meter tall Mahogany trees that are old growth, so it definitely a place for us to visit.

We will begin with the Royal Mile, the best place for Forest Birds in Uganda hopefully finding the African pied hornbill, Banded snake eagle, Brown backed scrub robin, Black Bishop, Brown Twinsport, Black Bellied Firefinch, the Chocolate Backed Kingfisher, Forest Flycatcher, Fire Crested Alethe, White Thighed Hornbill,Yellow Spotted and Yellow Billed Barbet, Spotted Greenbul, Cameroon Sombre Greenbul, Slender Billed Greenbul, Black Capped Apalis, Lemon Bellied Crombec, Green Hylia, Pale Breasted Illadopsis, Yellow Long Bill, Yellow Browed Camaroptera, Crowned Eagle, Yellow Footed Flycatcher and many others. 

We will take our lunch here that was packed for us and continue birding the afternoon until we head for Masindi to the Masindi Hotel for our overnight stay.

Day 5:  Breakfast at Masindi Hotel and we return to Budongo Forest for more birding (should you want to include  chimpanzee tracking (trekking), let us know).  Birds to be found include African Dwarf and Chocolate-backed Kingfishers, Chestnut-crowned Eremomera, White-spotted Flufftail, Yellow and Grey Longbills, Olive-bellied Crombec, Brown-eared Woodpecker, Dusky long-tailed Cuckoo, Blue-breasted Kingfisher, Crowned Eagle, Forest Flycatcher, Yellow-browed Camaroptera and Cabanis Bunting, Brown-backed Scrub- Robin, Narina Trogon, Golden-crowned Woodpecker, Rufous Flycatcher-Thrush, Chestnut-capped Flycatcher, Black-headed Paradise Flycatcher, Little Green Sunbird, Green Sunbird, both Negrofinches, Western Black-headed Oriole, Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo, African Emerald Cuckoo, Red-tailed Ant-Thrush, Yellow Longbill, Grey Longbill, Forest Robin, Scaly-breasted Illadopsis, Rufous-crowned Eremomela, the elusive Lemon-bellied Crombec, Yellow-mantled Weaver, Yellow-browed Camaroptera, Green Crombec, Crested Malimbe and Red-headed Bluebill, Cassin's Hawk Eagle, Little Greenbul, Slender-billed Greenbul, White-throated Greenbul and Plain Greenbul, Spotted and Toro Olive Greenbul and others.

We return for lunch at Masindi Hotel and then head home for the 3 hour drive to Kampala reaching your hotel in the afternoon.  If you need hotel accommodations, let us know.