Uganda · Wildlife Itinerary

The birds, mammals and creatures you might meet

A companion checklist to the seventeen-day Uganda journey — first by region, then day by day, from the papyrus of Mabamba to the acacia of Lake Mburo. Major targets and Albertine Rift endemics are called out; species are placed where the encounter is most reliable rather than repeated at every possible stop.

← Back to the Uganda tour

By region · seven landscapes on one loop

Uganda strings together radically different bird and mammal communities inside a compact circuit. Each region below is a distinct chapter of the trip; the signature species and endemics are what set that chapter apart.

Days 1–2 · 16–17

Lake Victoria & Mabamba Swamp

Papyrus wetland, lakeshore, tropical gardens

Signature Shoebill (VU · iconic)

Birds

  • Shoebill (VU · iconic)
  • Papyrus Gonolek (papyrus specialist)
  • Blue-headed Coucal
  • Carruthers's Cisticola (papyrus specialist)
  • Ross's Turaco
  • Orange Weaver (near-endemic)
  • Splendid Starling
  • Northern Brown-throated Weaver
  • Slender-billed Weaver
  • Superb Sunbird
  • Great Blue Turaco
  • Lesser Jacana
  • White-winged Tern

Mammals

  • Black-faced Vervet Monkey

Other wildlife

  • Nile Monitor

Days 2–4

Murchison Falls & Victoria Nile

Nile River, Borassus savannah, riparian woodland

Signature Rothschild’s Giraffe (EN) · Shoebill

Birds

  • Saddle-billed Stork
  • Goliath Heron
  • African Skimmer (NT)
  • Red-throated Bee-eater
  • Northern Carmine Bee-eater
  • Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill (VU)
  • Black-headed Lapwing
  • Senegal Thick-knee
  • Silverbird
  • Long-tailed Nightjar
  • Pennant-winged Nightjar
  • Vitelline Masked-Weaver
  • Shelley's Rufous Sparrow
  • Piapiac
  • Black-bellied Bustard

Mammals

  • Rothschild’s Giraffe (EN)
  • African Elephant (EN)
  • Lion (VU)
  • African Buffalo (Cape / Chad)
  • Uganda Kob
  • Oribi
  • Hartebeest (Kongoni)
  • Patas Monkey
  • Warthog
  • Side-striped Jackal
  • Egyptian Mongoose
  • Hippopotamus (VU)

Other wildlife

  • Nile Crocodile
  • Yellow-winged Bat
  • Straw-coloured Fruit Bat

Days 4–6

Budongo Forest & the Royal Mile

Tall primary lowland forest, forest edge, cultivation

Signature Puvel's Illadopsis (rare in East Africa) · African Dwarf Kingfisher

Birds

  • African Dwarf Kingfisher
  • Chocolate-backed Kingfisher
  • Blue-breasted Kingfisher
  • African Pygmy-Kingfisher
  • White-thighed Hornbill
  • Yellow-spotted Barbet
  • Puvel’s Illadopsis (rare in East Africa)
  • Brown Illadopsis
  • Forest Robin
  • Jameson’s Wattle-eye (local)
  • Chestnut Wattle-eye
  • Brown-eared Woodpecker
  • Golden-crowned Woodpecker
  • Yellow Longbill
  • Grey Longbill
  • Rufous-crowned Eremomela
  • Purple-headed Starling
  • Red-headed Malimbe

Mammals

  • Chimpanzee (EN)
  • Blue Monkey
  • Alexander’s Bush Squirrel
  • Olive Baboon
  • Mantled Guereza (Colobus)

Days 6–8

Kibale Forest & Bigodi

Mid-elevation rainforest, community swamp, tea edge

Signature Chimpanzee (EN) · habituated tracking

Birds

  • Red-chested Owlet
  • Grey Parrot (EN)
  • Hairy-breasted Barbet
  • Western Nicator
  • Black Bee-eater
  • Green-throated Sunbird
  • White-spotted Flufftail (skulker)
  • White-winged Swamp Warbler (papyrus specialist)
  • Fan-tailed Grassbird
  • Grey-headed Oliveback (localised)

Mammals

  • Chimpanzee (EN)
  • Uganda Red Colobus (EN · near-endemic)
  • Grey-cheeked Mangabey
  • L’Hoest’s Monkey (VU)
  • Red-tailed Monkey
  • Rousette Fruit Bat

Days 8–10

Queen Elizabeth NP, Kazinga Channel & Ishasha

Rift savannah, Kazinga waterway, southern acacia flats

Signature Tree-climbing Lion (VU) · African Skimmer

Birds

  • Great White Pelican
  • Yellow-billed Stork
  • African Spoonbill
  • Gull-billed Tern
  • Collared Pratincole
  • Temminck’s Courser
  • Kittlitz’s Plover
  • Long-toed Lapwing
  • Spur-winged Lapwing
  • Rueppell’s Griffon (CR)
  • White-headed Vulture (CR)
  • Palm-nut Vulture
  • Grey Kestrel
  • African Crake
  • Rufous-naped Lark
  • White-tailed Lark
  • Papyrus Gonolek (papyrus specialist)
  • Capped Wheatear (vagrant · ~3rd Uganda record)
  • African Reed Warbler

Mammals

  • Lion (VU · tree-climbing subpopulation)
  • Leopard (VU)
  • Spotted Hyaena
  • African Elephant (EN)
  • Cape Buffalo
  • Defassa Waterbuck
  • Uganda Kob
  • Topi
  • Banded Mongoose

Other wildlife

  • Nile Crocodile
  • Hippopotamus (VU)

Days 10–13

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest — Buhoma, the Neck, Ruhija, Mubwindi

Albertine Rift montane and bamboo forest, swamp

Signature Mountain Gorilla (EN) · Grauer’s (African Green) Broadbill (ARE · VU)

Birds

  • Grauer’s Broadbill (ARE · VU · one of Africa’s rarest passerines)
  • Handsome Francolin (ARE)
  • Ruwenzori Batis (ARE)
  • Ruwenzori Apalis (ARE)
  • Black-faced Apalis (ARE)
  • Regal Sunbird (ARE)
  • Blue-headed Sunbird (ARE)
  • Stripe-breasted Tit (ARE)
  • Willard’s Sooty Boubou (ARE)
  • Dwarf Honeyguide (ARE · rare)
  • Red-throated Alethe (ARE)
  • Grauer’s Warbler (ARE)
  • Archer’s Robin-Chat (ARE)
  • Bar-tailed Trogon
  • Black Bee-eater
  • Many-coloured Bushshrike
  • Doherty’s Bushshrike
  • Lagden’s Bushshrike (local)
  • Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater
  • Mountain Buzzard
  • Crowned Eagle (NT)
  • White-headed Woodhoopoe
  • Waller’s Starling
  • Sharpe’s Starling
  • Red-faced Woodland-Warbler
  • White-bellied Robin-Chat
  • Strange Weaver
  • Streaky / Thick-billed Seedeater

Mammals

  • Mountain Gorilla (EN)
  • L’Hoest’s Monkey (VU)
  • Boehm’s Bush Squirrel
  • Ruwenzori Sun Squirrel
  • Red-legged Sun Squirrel
  • Bush (Grey) Duiker

Days 14–16

Lake Mburo National Park

Acacia savannah, papyrus lake, rolling valleys

Signature African Finfoot (elusive) · Red-faced Barbet (near-endemic)

Birds

  • African Finfoot (elusive)
  • Red-faced Barbet (near-endemic)
  • Crested Barbet (northern limit)
  • Bare-faced Go-away-bird
  • Brown (Meyer’s) Parrot
  • Nubian Woodpecker
  • Green-backed Woodpecker
  • African Scops-Owl
  • Pearl-spotted Owlet
  • Pennant-winged Nightjar
  • Square-tailed Nightjar
  • Trilling Cisticola
  • Tabora Cisticola
  • Rufous-bellied Heron
  • Papyrus Gonolek (papyrus specialist)
  • Martial Eagle (EN)
  • African Hawk-Eagle
  • Black-breasted Snake-Eagle
  • Greater Blue-eared Starling
  • Golden-backed Weaver

Mammals

  • Burchell’s Zebra
  • Impala
  • Topi
  • Common Eland
  • Dwarf Mongoose
  • Lappet-faced Vulture (EN)

Other wildlife

  • Hippopotamus (VU)
  • Nile Crocodile

Day by day · what we might find

Nothing on a birding trip is guaranteed, but each day below carries the species most likely, most memorable, or most distinctive to that ground. Status flags in parentheses: (ARE) Albertine Rift endemic; IUCN threat status CR · EN ·VU · NT;near-endemic, papyrus specialist,vagrant or rare where noteworthy.

01
22 June

Arrival · Entebbe

Lake Victoria shore · Boma Hotel grounds

Birds

  • Black-headed Gonolek
  • Splendid Starling
  • Scarlet-chested Sunbird
  • Red-chested Sunbird
  • Northern Brown-throated Weaver
  • Slender-billed Weaver
  • African Hobby
  • Grey-headed Gull

Mammals

  • Black-faced Vervet Monkey
02
23 June

Mabamba Swamp · transfer to Murchison Falls

Papyrus labyrinth on Lake Victoria; woodland transit north

Birds

  • Shoebill (VU · iconic)
  • Papyrus Gonolek (papyrus specialist)
  • Blue-headed Coucal
  • Lesser Jacana
  • African Jacana
  • Blue-breasted Bee-eater
  • Pink-backed Pelican
  • Malachite Kingfisher
  • White-winged Tern
  • Woolly-necked Stork (NT)
  • Moustached Grass-Warbler

Other wildlife

  • Straw-coloured Fruit Bat
03
24 June

Murchison Falls NP · game drive & Victoria Nile launch

Borassus grassland and lower Nile

Birds

  • Saddle-billed Stork
  • Goliath Heron
  • African Skimmer (NT)
  • Red-throated Bee-eater
  • Northern Carmine Bee-eater
  • Senegal Thick-knee
  • Long-toed Lapwing
  • Black-headed Lapwing
  • Piapiac
  • Black-bellied Bustard (NT)
  • Silverbird
  • African Fish-Eagle
  • Squacco Heron
  • Palm-nut Vulture
  • Rueppell’s Griffon (CR)
  • Bateleur (EN)
  • Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill (VU)

Mammals

  • Rothschild’s Giraffe (EN)
  • African Elephant (EN)
  • African Buffalo (Cape / Chad)
  • Lion (VU)
  • Uganda Kob
  • Oribi
  • Hartebeest (Kongoni)
  • Patas Monkey
  • Warthog
  • Side-striped Jackal
  • Hippopotamus (VU)

Other wildlife

  • Nile Crocodile
  • Yellow-winged Bat
04
25 June

Murchison morning · transfer to Budongo

Park exit, escarpment scrub, Budongo edge

Birds

  • Dark Chanting-Goshawk
  • Brown-backed Woodpecker (rare)
  • Foxy Cisticola
  • Heuglin’s Francolin
  • Vinaceous Dove
  • Speckle-fronted Weaver
  • Red-winged Grey Warbler
  • Black-shouldered Nightjar
  • Long-tailed Nightjar
  • Slender-tailed Nightjar

Mammals

  • Olive Baboon
05
26 June

Budongo Forest · the Royal Mile

Legendary primary forest trail

Birds

  • African Dwarf Kingfisher
  • Chocolate-backed Kingfisher
  • Blue-breasted Kingfisher
  • African Pygmy-Kingfisher
  • White-thighed Hornbill
  • Yellow-spotted Barbet
  • Puvel’s Illadopsis (rare in East Africa)
  • Jameson’s Wattle-eye (local)
  • Chestnut Wattle-eye
  • Brown-eared Woodpecker
  • Golden-crowned Woodpecker
  • Forest Robin
  • Yellow Longbill
  • Grey Longbill
  • Rufous-crowned Eremomela
  • Purple-headed Starling
  • Rufous Flycatcher-Thrush
  • Red-headed Malimbe

Mammals

  • Chimpanzee (EN)
  • Blue Monkey
06
27 June

Budongo → Kibale via Kafu crossings

Woodland edges, Royal Ranch swamp, tea-belt transit

Birds

  • White-crested Turaco
  • White-shouldered Black-Tit
  • Lesser Blue-eared Starling
  • Marsh Widowbird
  • Pale Flycatcher
  • Yellow-throated Greenbul
  • Grey-headed Oliveback (localised)
  • Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

Mammals

  • Alexander’s Bush Squirrel
07
28 June

Kibale National Park · chimpanzee trek

Kanyanchu rainforest

Birds

  • Red-chested Owlet
  • Grey Parrot (EN)
  • Hairy-breasted Barbet
  • Western Nicator
  • Cassin’s Flycatcher
  • Green-throated Sunbird
  • Narrow-tailed Starling
  • Dusky-blue Flycatcher

Mammals

  • Chimpanzee (EN · permitted hour with habituated group)
  • Grey-cheeked Mangabey
  • Uganda Red Colobus (EN · near-endemic)
  • L’Hoest’s Monkey (VU)
  • Red-tailed Monkey
  • Mantled Guereza (Black-and-white Colobus)

Other wildlife

  • Rousette Fruit Bat
08
29 June

Bigodi Wetland · transfer to Queen Elizabeth NP

Community papyrus swamp, then Rift descent

Birds

  • White-spotted Flufftail (skulker)
  • White-winged Swamp Warbler (papyrus specialist)
  • Fan-tailed Grassbird
  • Grosbeak Weaver
  • Yellow-mantled Widowbird
  • Yellow-billed Barbet
  • Grey-capped Warbler
09
30 June

Queen Elizabeth NP · Kasenyi plains & Kazinga Channel

Rift savannah morning, waterway afternoon

Birds

  • Great White Pelican
  • Yellow-billed Stork
  • African Spoonbill
  • Gull-billed Tern
  • Collared Pratincole
  • Temminck’s Courser
  • Kittlitz’s Plover
  • Marsh Sandpiper
  • Common Greenshank
  • Lesser Flamingo (NT)
  • Rufous-naped Lark
  • White-tailed Lark
  • Martial Eagle (EN)
  • African Marsh-Harrier
  • Yellow-billed Oxpecker
  • White-headed Vulture (CR)
  • Capped Wheatear (vagrant · ~3rd Uganda record)

Mammals

  • Lion (VU · tree-climbing subpopulation)
  • Spotted Hyaena
  • African Elephant (EN)
  • Cape Buffalo
  • Defassa Waterbuck
  • Uganda Kob
  • Banded Mongoose

Other wildlife

  • Hippopotamus (VU)
  • Nile Crocodile
10
1 July

Ishasha sector · transfer to Bwindi (Buhoma)

Southern QENP acacia to Bwindi rainforest edge

Birds

  • Black Bee-eater
  • Lilac-breasted Roller
  • Green Woodhoopoe
  • Common Scimitarbill
  • Black-headed Batis
  • Petit’s Cuckooshrike
  • African Emerald Cuckoo
  • Chubb’s Cisticola
  • Grey-winged Robin-Chat

Mammals

  • Leopard (VU)
  • Lion (VU · tree-climbing in Ishasha figs)
  • Topi
  • Warthog
11
2 July

Bwindi · mountain gorilla trek

Buhoma sector · permitted hour

Birds

  • Bar-tailed Trogon
  • Blue-headed Sunbird (ARE)
  • African Wood-Owl
  • Mountain Wagtail
  • Slender-billed Greenbul
  • "Kakamega" Greenbul
  • Cabanis’s Greenbul
  • Black-and-white Shrike-Flycatcher

Mammals

  • Mountain Gorilla (EN · permitted hour with habituated family)
  • L’Hoest’s Monkey (VU)
  • Red-tailed Monkey
12
3 July

Buhoma → Ruhija via The Neck

Cool ridge road to the Albertine Rift heart

Birds

  • Handsome Francolin (ARE)
  • Ruwenzori Batis (ARE)
  • Ruwenzori Apalis (ARE)
  • Black-faced Apalis (ARE)
  • Stripe-breasted Tit (ARE)
  • Mountain Sooty Boubou (Albertine · likely split)
  • Willard’s Sooty Boubou (ARE)
  • Doherty’s Bushshrike
  • Many-coloured Bushshrike
  • Chestnut-throated Apalis
  • Mountain Buzzard
  • Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater
  • Waller’s Starling
  • Sharpe’s Starling
  • Red-faced Woodland-Warbler

Mammals

  • Boehm’s Bush Squirrel
  • Ruwenzori Sun Squirrel
  • Red-legged Sun Squirrel
  • Bush (Grey) Duiker
13
4 July

Bwindi · Mubwindi Swamp trek

Full-day forest walk for Albertine specialities

Birds

  • Grauer’s Broadbill (ARE · VU · one of Africa’s rarest passerines)
  • Grauer’s Warbler (ARE)
  • Regal Sunbird (ARE)
  • Archer’s Robin-Chat (ARE)
  • Red-throated Alethe (ARE)
  • Dwarf Honeyguide (ARE · rare)
  • Least Honeyguide
  • Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo
  • White-bellied Crested-Flycatcher
  • Strange Weaver
  • Lagden’s Bushshrike (local)
  • Yellow-eyed Black-Flycatcher
  • Mountain Yellow-Warbler
  • Streaky Seedeater
  • Thick-billed Seedeater
  • Olive Thrush
  • Cinnamon Bracken-Warbler

Mammals

  • L’Hoest’s Monkey (VU)
14
5 July

Ruhija → Lake Mburo

Long descent from highland to acacia country

Birds

  • Rock Martin
  • Golden-breasted Bunting
  • Yellow-crowned Canary
  • Western Citril
  • Mackinnon’s Shrike
  • White-necked Raven
  • Augur Buzzard
  • Black-crowned Waxbill
15
6 July

Lake Mburo · game drive, boat & night drive

Acacia savannah, papyrus lake, after-dark tracks

Birds

  • African Finfoot (elusive)
  • Red-faced Barbet (near-endemic)
  • Crested Barbet (northern limit)
  • Nubian Woodpecker
  • Green-backed Woodpecker
  • Trilling Cisticola
  • Tabora Cisticola
  • Pennant-winged Nightjar
  • African Scops-Owl
  • Pearl-spotted Owlet
  • Square-tailed Nightjar
  • Martial Eagle (EN)
  • African Hawk-Eagle
  • Black-breasted Snake-Eagle
  • Rufous-bellied Heron
  • Papyrus Gonolek (papyrus specialist)
  • Greater Blue-eared Starling
  • Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove
  • Golden-backed Weaver
  • Bronze Sunbird
  • Brown (Meyer’s) Parrot

Mammals

  • Burchell’s Zebra
  • Impala
  • Topi
  • Common Eland
  • Defassa Waterbuck
  • Dwarf Mongoose
  • Bushbuck
  • Hippopotamus (VU)

Other wildlife

  • Nile Crocodile
16
7 July

Lake Mburo morning · transfer to Entebbe

Walking safari · final acacia listing

Birds

  • African Wattled Lapwing
  • Southern Red Bishop
  • Northern Red Bishop
  • Lappet-faced Vulture (EN)
  • Hottentot Teal
  • Three-banded Plover
  • Fan-tailed Widowbird
  • Village Indigobird
  • Pin-tailed Whydah
17
8 July

Entebbe Botanical Gardens · departure

Final Lake Victoria morning · 40 hectares of tropical planting

Birds

  • Great Blue Turaco
  • Ross’s Turaco
  • Orange Weaver (near-endemic)
  • Superb Sunbird
  • Bare-faced Go-away-bird
  • Double-toothed Barbet
  • Eastern Plantain-eater
  • Grey Parrot (EN)
  • Northern Brown-throated Weaver
  • Slender-billed Weaver
  • Village Weaver
  • Grey-capped Warbler
  • African Pied Wagtail
  • Yellow-billed Kite

Mammals

  • Black-faced Vervet Monkey

This wildlife list sits alongside the full Uganda tour dossier— dates, lodging, permits, route map and registration.