Uganda the “Pearl of Africa” is among the top destinations in the African continent and famously known for wildlife, culture and primates.
But today the birding tours in Uganda are common from several tour companies taking birders to experience the wide range of different bird species which include both forest and Aquatic species.
It’s located in the Eastern part of the African Continent bordering Kenya in the East, Democratic Republic of Congo in the West, South Sudan in the north, Rwanda and Tanzania in the Southern part. It covers about 241,038 km2of Area and it’s characterized with both Mountainous and Flat areas.
Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the central of the country, including the capital Kampala.
The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country.
This country is located on the East African Plateau, lying mostly between latitudes 4°N and 2°S (a small area is north of 4°), and longitudes 29° and 35°E.
It averages about 1,100 metres (3,609 ft) above sea level, sloping very steadily downwards to the Sudanese Plain to the north. Uganda has over top ten National Parks listed below to visit each with recorded number of different Bird species to sight.
Queen Elizabeth National Park
This protected area is located in the South western part of Uganda with wide range of wildlife primates in its diversity. It occupies about 1,978km2 of Area extending from Lake George in the north-east to Lake Edward in the south-west and includes the Kazinga Channel.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is known for its wildlife, including Cape buffaloes, hippopotami, crocodiles, elephants, leopards, lions, and chimpanzees.
It is a home to over 95 mammal species and 500 species of Birds. These Bird Species are mostly sighted in the Ishasha sector mostly known for the Tree climbing Lions, Kyambura Gorge is another site for birding watching although it’s mostly known for the rare chimpanzees, Maramagambo forest and along the Kazinga Channel were Aquatic bird species are a variety.
These wide scopes of bird species in Queen’s diversity are sighted usually when on both game drive around the park and Launch cruise along the Kazinga Channel, usually morning and evening time is the prominent time for bird watching.
Kidepo Valley National Park
This park is located in the North Eastern part of Uganda Karamoja region in Kabong District covering about 1442km2 of Area.
It is approximately 220 kilometres, by road northwest of Moroto, the largest town in the sub-region and approximately 520 kilometres, by road, northeast of Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.
The northwestern boundary of the park runs along the international frontier with South Sudan and abuts against its Kidepo Game Reserve.
It hosts over 86 mammal species including spotted hyenas, lions, cheetahs, leopards, wild dogs, elephants, giraffes, zebras, Cape buffaloes, bat-eared foxes, Rothschild’s giraffes plus almost 500 bird species which makes it a charming destination for bird watching to Birders.
Kibale Forest National Park
This National Park is located in the Southern part of Uganda characterized with evergreen rainforest. It is covering 766km2 of area and is located between 1,100 metres to 1,600 metres in elevation. Despite encompassing primarily moist evergreen forest, it contains a diverse array of landscapes.
It has 13 species of primates and protects several well-studied habituated communities of common chimpanzee, as well as several species of Central African monkey including the Uganda mangabey, the Ugandan red colobus and the L’Hoest’s monkey. Other primates that are found in the park include the black-and-white colobus and the blue monkey.
Its population of elephant’s travel between the park and Queen Elizabeth National Park, terrestrial mammals that are found within Kibale National Park include red and blue duikers, bush bucks, sitatunga, bush pigs, giant forest hogs, common warthogs, African buffalo and carnivores that are present include leopards, African golden cats, servals, different mongooses and two species of otter.
In addition, lions visit the park on occasion, over 325 sited species of birds are recorded in Kibale national Park including the olive long-tailed cuckoo, western tinker bird, two species of pittas (African and green-breasted) and the African grey parrot.
Murchison Falls National Park
This mostly known National park is located in the North Western part of Uganda covering 3,893 km2 of Area. It nears the Ugandan districts of Bulisa, Nwoya, Kiryandongo, and Masindi.
Driving distance from Masindi, the nearest large town, to the Kibanda area of the national park is about 72 kilometers. This area is about 283 kilometers, by road, north-west of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The coordinates of the park near the Kibanda area are 02°11’15.0″N, 31°46’53.0″E.
It is bisected by the Victoria Nile from east to west for a distance of about 115 kilometers. Over 76 species of mammals are recorded as well as Uganda’s largest population of crocodiles, 450 bird species are present starting with variety of water birds, including the rare shoe-billed stork, dwarf kingfisher, Goliath heron, white-thighed horn bill and great blue turaco.
Mount Elgon National Park
It is 140 kilometers northeast of Lake Victoria and covers an area of 1,279 km2, it is bisected by the border of Kenya and Uganda. The Ugandan part of the park covers 1,110 km2 while the Kenyan part covers 169 km2, the Kenyan part of the park was gazetted in 1968 and that of Ugandan was gazetted in 1992.
It is known for its wildlife including Elephants, buffaloes can be found on the lower slopes, small antelope and duiker, forest monkeys, including the black-and-white colobus and blue monkey plus over 144 bird species recorded in the park including francolin, the eastern bronze-naped pigeon, Hartlaub’s turaco, the Tacazze sunbird and the endangered lammer geyer.
Rwenzori Mountains National Park
This UNESCO World Heritage site in also located in the South western part of Uganda in the Rwenzori Mountains covering about 1000km2 and it has Africa’s third highest Mountain peak.
It lies along Uganda’s border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and borders the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park.
It is situated in the Bundibugyo, Kabarole, and Kasese districts, 25 km from the small town of Kasese, it includes most of the centre and eastern half of the Rwenzori Mountains, a mountain range rising above dry plains located just north of the equator.
Over 89 bird species are recorded in the park, 15 species of butterfly, and four primate species, some of the primates include the forest elephant, chimpanzee, hyrax, black-and-white colobus, L’Hoest’s monkeys, and duiker.
Lake Mburo National Park
This park is located in Kiruhura district in western part of Uganda, it about 30 kilometers east of Mbarara and is approximately 240 kilometers, west of Kampala.
It covers about 260km2 of Area and ranked to be the smallest Uganda’s National Park, it’s commonly known for its wildlife which includes zebras, hippopotami, impala, warthogs, elands, buffaloes, jackals, leopards, and over 300 bird species are recorded in the park.
Mabamba
This is a popularly known bird watching site located along the shores of Lake Victoria. It is a swampy area and mostly found bird species in this area are the Shoe bill, blue swallow and papyrus gonolek.
