After my trip to Kenya in 2002 I spent some time deciding what would be the best destination to see a number of East African species not found in that country, or that I had simply missed in that trip; the best option for many reasons seemed to be Uganda.  Also, I had my vacation in August and, although not the best time of the year for forest birds, the season was still good for a visit: it was the beginning of the rainy season and I had showers almost daily, although never long enough to ruin a birding day. Besides, nothing can beat the atmosphere and colours in Africa after a downfall of rain.

After reading as many trip reports as I could, as well as all the information I could find about the country, I contacted Access Uganda Tours , a company owned and operated by Hassan Mutebi. I had read many praises about Hassan and his staff, and I was lucky enough to have him as my guide for most of my trip. His reputation is well-deserved: apart from being a very nice guy with excellent disposition and admirable entrepreneurship, he has an outstanding knowledge of the country’s avifauna and wildlife in general.

Hassan created his company shortly after the infamous Bwindi killings in ’99 guessing (correctly as it turned out) that, unlike regular tourists, hardcore birders and dedicated wildlife enthusiasts wouldn’t be put off for long by the events. He used his great knowledge of the country’s avifauna and his organizational skills to put together a small and very efficient organization, with very dedicated staff. He also has the good sense to hire local, specialised help in a number of sites in the form of young local guides, who throughout my trip showed an outstanding knowledge of the best birds in their areas, including in some cases a great ability to imitate their calls (for instance, this is how I got my great views of White-spotted Flufftail). Their talent, knowledge and enthusiasm are among my best memories of the trip.


A herd of Bighorn cattle

There are currently many excellent recent trip reports on Uganda on the Internet, with very detailed, day-to-day information on most of the sites I visited. Many can be found at www.birdtours.co.uk , probably the best site to search when looking for birding trip reports. Another excellent, exhaustive report can be found at Don Roberson’s “Creagrus” pages , a comprehensive and extremely interesting website. It was Don’s report that made me decide to contact Access Uganda Tours. In fact, there is so much up-to-date practical information on the Web that, rather than a day-to-day report, what follows is an account of the trip highlights, including the most sought-after species seen, as well as my general impressions of the country and its people. My idea of a desirable, sought-after species may not exactly match the “traditional” one. For instance, one of my main targets for the trip was Giant Kingfisher, a not uncommon bird that I had missed in Kenya for some reason. Also, I was really looking forward to seeing birds like Abyssinian Ground-hornbill, Northern Carmine Bee-eater and Black Bee-eater, species not often included in the “most wanted” list. That said, of course my mind was set on Shoebill, African Green Broadbill and Green-breasted Pitta, although my hopes were rather low regarding these last two: their breeding season was over at the time of my visit, and I was aware that they could be very elusive, and unresponsive to recorded calls. However, the list of easier birds was exhaustive and mouth-watering enough to make the country worth a visit anytime of the year.

Based on the species I wanted to see, Hassan prepared an itinerary that included Entebbe, Mabamba Swamp, Lake Mburo National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Queen Elizabeth NP and Murchison Falls NP. The north of the country along the Sudanese border is currently off-limits for tourists, due to the activities of insurgent groups. A real pity, because many interesting arid savannah and scrubland species can only be found in that area.

Books.
The field guide I used for this trip is Birds of East Africa by Terry Stevenson and John Fanshawe (T&AD Poyser, 2002), an excellent book commonly accepted as the best available on the region. I also took with me The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals by Jonathan Kingdon (Christopher Helm, 2003) another widely used reference on its subject. My only objection to this one is that distribution maps are purely geographic, without showing countries, which can be a bit confusing.


As a tourist guide I used the Footprint Ugandan Handbook by Michael Hodd & Angela Roche. I found it informative and useful; it includes a nice photo section on Southern & Eastern African wildlife. Unfortunately, I only came upon the excellent Where to watch birds in Uganda, by Jonathan Rossouw and Marco Scacchi (published by the Ugandan Tourist Board), after the trip. But I will most certainly use it for planning my next trip to the country. Finally, I must mention the unusually good information booklets sold at Mgahinga / Bwindi, Murchison Falls, and Kibale National Parks. They are very well written and illustrated, and include a wealth of information well worth their price.