6 Days Mabamba Wetland and Lake Mburo Birding safari

The luxury/ mid-range birding trip takes you Uganda’s smallest Savanna national park located in western part of the country, Lutembe wetland and Entebbe Botanical gardens.

Safari Highlights
Game drives-2, Boat cruises-2

Equipment to bring
Pair of Binoculars, Telescope, Camera, 300+ mm lens, Tripod/Monopod, water proof protection for your equipment, spare batteries and a charger.

Snap Uganda gives one set of complimentary photographic accessories that include a trip/monopod, gimbal, cotton carrier and beanbag for each trip.

Overview
Despite being a land locked country, Uganda hosts about 50% of Africa’s bird species and about 11% of the global bird population with about 1080 bird species recorded. This earns the country a reputation as a “Birders paradise”.

The 6 days birding and bird photography tour explores some of the central region’s birding areas like Lutembe wetland on the shores of Lake Victoria and is an Important Birding Area as well as a Ramsar site. It also takes you to Lake Mburo National park in the western part of the country and ends at Entebbe with birding at Entebbe Botanical gardens.

Safari Summary
Day 1 Arrival and Pick up
Day 2 Birding at Mabamba wetland
Day 3 Transfer to Lake Mburo
Day 4 Birding in Lake Mburo
Day 5 Transfer to Kampala from Lake Mburo
Day 6 Birding at Botanical gardens and Departure.

Detailed Programme

Day 1 Arrival and Pick up
You arrive at Entebbe International Airport and a representative from Snap Uganda Tours will meet you and drive you to Sheraton Kampala Hotel (luxury) {1hr} or to Kaazi Beach Resort (mid-range). Please feel free to ask questions about Uganda along the way.

Meal Plan. D, B
Dinner and overnight at Sheraton Kampala Hotel- Luxury
Dinner and overnight at Kaazi Beach Resort – Mid-range

Day 2 Birding at Mabamba wetland
Wake Up in the morning at 6am have a quick cup of tea, pack breakfast and lunch then drive to Mabamba swamp. Mabamba Bay is a unique extensive marsh stretching along a narrow bay, fringed with papyrus towards the main body of Lake Victoria. It lies between Busi Island and Buwaya/Zziba village on the mainland. The marshland forms part of Buwaya Bay, South-west of Nakiwogo Bay both of which are located west of Entebbe International Airport.

The swamp is about 50 Km from Kampala on the north edge of Lake Victoria. The swamp is one of Uganda’s 33 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and a Ramsar-listed wetland of international importance. It hosts key protected bird species. Of the 200 species in the area, the Shoebill is the most popular attraction. Other birds are: the Blue Swallow, Papyrus Gonolek, Malachite Kingfisher, Swamp Flycatcher, Common Moorhen, Lesser Jacana, African Jacana, African Pygmy Goose, White- faced whistling Duck, Common Squacco Heron, Blue- breasted Bee-eater, Saddle billed Stork, and Grey-headed Gulls and more.

Meal Plan (B, L, D)
Dinner and Overnight stay at Sheraton Kampala Hotel-Luxury
Dinner and Overnight stay at Kaazi Beach Resort- Mid-range

Day 3 Transfer to Lake Mburo National park
In the morning wake have breakfast and transfer to Lake Mburo. Lake Mburo is Uganda’s smallest savanna National Park. It is conveniently close to the highway that connects Kampala to the parks of western Uganda. The park is underlain by ancient Precambrian metamorphic rocks which date back more than 500 million years. Mburo is home to over 350 bird species with 90% chances of seeing the African Finfoot.

Lake Mburo National Park with 13 other lakes forms part of a 50km-long wetland system linked by a swamp. Five of these lakes lie within the park’s borders. In the western part of the park, the savanna is interspersed with rocky ridges and forested gorges while patches of papyrus swamp and narrow bands of lush riparian woodland line many lakes.

Meal Plan (B, L, D)
Dinner and Overnight stay at Mihingo Lodge-Luxury
Dinner and Overnight stay at Rwakobo Rock – Mid-range

Day 4 Birding in Lake Mburo
Game drive
We shall wake up 6am have a quick cup of tea and packed breakfast and go for a game drive in search of birds. The network of game tracks in the east of the park passes a variety of landscape features; acacia woodland, wetlands, grassy hillsides, rock outcrops and seasonally flooded valley floors.

Lake Mburo has about 350 bird species including White-winged Warbler, Shoebill stork, Crested Francolin, Brown Parrot, Red-necked Spur, Common Quails, African grey Hornbill, Nubian Woodpecker, Trilling Cisticola, Coqui Francolin, Long-tailed Cisticola, Southern red Bishop and so much more. The best birding spots in the park include the swampy valleys of Warukiri and Miriti, and the roadsides between Rwonyo camp and the jetty. There are viewing platforms at the salt lick, in Miriti valley, and in Rubanga Forest. From the morning game drive we come back for lunch, have a rest and go for a boat cruise in the evening.

Boat cruise
The park is well-to-do with a variety of animal and plant species which can only be seen clearly if you take a boat trip. The Hippopotamuses, crocodiles and birds like Pelicans, Herons, and African fish Eagle, Black Crake, African Finfoot and Cormorants. Lake Mburo also has stunning sunsets if it’s not cloudy.

Meal Plan (B, L, D)
Dinner and Overnight stay at Mihingo Lodge-Luxury
Dinner and Overnight stay at Rwakobo Rock- Mid-range

Day 5 Transfer to Kampala from Lake Mburo.
Wake Up early in the morning have breakfast and check out the lodge and drive from the park to Kampala through the Ankole-Masaka corridor as you do birding en route

Meal Plan (B, L, D)
Dinner and Overnight stay at Sheraton Kampala Hotel-Luxury
Dinner and Overnight stay at Kaazi Beach Resort – Mid-range

Day 6 Birding at Botanical gardens and Departure.
Wake up early in the morning, have breakfast, check out of the hotel and drive to Entebbe Botanical gardens for birding. This is the only National Botanical Garden in Uganda. It was established in 1901 and is strategically located on the shores of Africa’s greatest Lake – Victoria. The place is just 34 km’s from Kampala.

The gardens host a variety of water, open country and woodland bird species among which include: the Pink-backed Pelican, Yellow-billed Stork, Eastern plantain-eater, Yellow White-eye, Purple-banded Sunbird, African Jacana, Lesser Jacana, Yellow-billed Duck, Glossy Ibis, African Open-bill, Malachite Kingfisher, Blue-checked Bee-eater, Common Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Black Crake, Long-tailed Cormorant, Crowned Hornbill, Vieillot’ Black Weaver, Woodland Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, the Africa and Red-billed Firefinch, Black-and-white-Casqued Hornbill, Senegal Coucal, Little Stint, Little Weaver, Striated Heron, Ruff, Gull-billed Tern, White-winged Tern, Klaas’s and Diederik Cuckoos, Green Crombec, Tambourine Dove, Little and Tooro Olive Greenbuls, Water Thick-knee, Madagascar Bee-eater, Egyptian Goose, Black-headed Weaver, Slender-billed Weaver, Yellow-backed Weaver, Black-headed Gonolek, Long-tailed Sterling, Grey-Headed Sparrow, Spur-winged Lapwing, Orange weaver and a variety of primates.

Depending on your flight time, this will mark the end of the 6 days birding tour in Uganda. From the Botanical Gardens we drive you to the airport to catch your flight.
Meal Plan (B, L)

Tour Prices
This is a private Safari and can be booked by an individual or a group.

Cost Includes