Matheniko Wildlife Reserve is found in North Eastern Uganda in Moroto district, Karamoja Sub Region. Matheniko is part of the Karamoja plateau surrounded on the east by the Great Rift escarpment which forms the Uganda/Kenya border. The vegetation is thorny deciduous thicket.
Animals in the reserve include lions, leopards, cheetahs, giraffes, eland, roan antelope and Bright’s gazelle.
It is home to Ostriches which are the biggest, tallest and fastest flightless birds in the world weighing up to 90-136 kilograms. They can grow up to 2.7 metres. Ostriches can run up to 80–97 km/h, making them the fastest birds on land. An Ostrich egg can weigh up to 1.3kgs and is equivalent to about 24 chicken eggs.
Birding in Matheniko Wildlife Reserve
Matheniko Game Reserve is a great place for birdwatching in Uganda. The reserve’s diverse habitats, including mountains, rocky outcrops, and varied vegetation, provide ample opportunities for spotting various bird species.
The reserve is home to a variety of bird species, including raptors and savannah birds like: Egyptian Vulture, Grey Cuckoo Shrike, Hartlaub’s Turaco, Mountain Yellow Warbler, Pygmy Falcon, and Verreaux’s Eagle, among others.
Matheniko Wildlife Reserve bird list
- Helmeted Guineafowl Numida meleagris
- Crested Francolin Ortygornis sephaena
- Dusky Turtle-Dove Streptopelia lugens
- Ring-necked Dove Streptopelia capicola
- Laughing Dove Spilopelia senegalensis
- Namaqua Dove Oena capensis
- Long-crested Eagle Lophaetus occipitalis
- Dark Chanting-Goshawk Melierax metabates
- Blue-naped Mousebird Urocolius macrourus
- Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops
- African Gray Hornbill Lophoceros nasutus
- Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbill Tockus flavirostris
- Olive Bee-eater Merops superciliosus
- Abyssinian Roller Coracias abyssinicus
- Purple Roller Coracias naevius
- Red-and-yellow Barbet Trachyphonus erythrocephalus
- Black-crowned Tchagra Tchagra senegalus
- Slate-colored Boubou Laniarius funebris
- Fork-tailed Drongo Dicrurus adsimilis
- Yellow-billed Shrike Corvinella corvina
- Gray-backed Fiscal Lanius excubitoroides
- White-rumped Shrike Eurocephalus ruppelli
- Fan-tailed Raven Corvus rhipidurus
- Kidepo Lark Corypha kidepoensis
- Green-backed Camaroptera Camaroptera brachyura
- Rattling Cisticola Cisticola chiniana
- Croaking Cisticola Cisticola natalensis
- Rüppell’s Starling Lamprotornis purpuroptera
- Superb Starling Lamprotornis superbus
- White-headed Buffalo-Weaver Dinemellia dinemelli
- Speckle-fronted Weaver Sporopipes frontalis
- White-browed Sparrow-Weaver Plocepasser mahali
- Red-billed Quelea Quelea quelea
- Northern Red Bishop Euplectes franciscanus
- Pin-tailed Whydah Vidua macroura
- Eastern Paradise-Whydah Vidua paradisaea
- Straw-tailed Whydah Vidua fischeri
- Reichenow’s Seedeater Crithagra reichenowi
- Mourning Collared-Dove Streptopelia decipiens
- Red-eyed Dove Streptopelia semitorquata
- Bruce’s Green-Pigeon Treron waalia
- Four-banded Sandgrouse Pterocles quadricinctus
- Great Spotted Cuckoo Clamator glandarius
- Common Swift Apus apus
- Little Swift Apus affinis
- White-rumped Swift Apus caffer
- African Palm Swift Cypsiurus parvus
- Gray Heron Ardea cinerea
- Black-headed Heron Ardea melanocephala
- Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus
- African Harrier-Hawk Polyboroides typus
- Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus
- White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus
- Rüppell’s Griffon Gyps rueppelli
- Bateleur Terathopius ecaudatus
- Black-chested Snake-Eagle Circaetus pectoralis
- Wahlberg’s Eagle Hieraaetus wahlbergi
- Booted Eagle Hieraaetus pennatus
- Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis
- Tawny Eagle Aquila rapax
- Montagu’s Harrier Circus pygargus
- Black Kite Milvus migrans
- Augur Buzzard Buteo augur
- Common Buzzard Buteo buteo
- Green Woodhoopoe Phoeniculus purpureus
- Jackson’s Hornbill Tockus jacksoni
- Northern Red-billed Hornbill Tockus erythrorhynchus
- Little Bee-eater Merops pusillus
- Striped Kingfisher Halcyon chelicuti
- D’Arnaud’s Barbet Trachyphonus darnaudii
- Northern Red-fronted Tinkerbird Pogoniulus uropygialis
- Red-fronted Barbet Tricholaema diademata
- Greater Honeyguide Indicator indicator
- Nubian Woodpecker Campethera nubica
- Pygmy Falcon Polihierax semitorquatus
- Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni
- Eurasian Kestrel Falco tinnunculus
- Gray Kestrel Falco ardosiaceus
- African Black-headed Oriole Oriolus larvatus
- Brubru Nilaus afer
- Gray-headed Bushshrike Malaconotus blanchoti
- Northern Fiscal Lanius humeralis
- Pied Crow Corvus albus
- Yellow-breasted Apalis Apalis flavida
- Red-pate Cisticola Cisticola ruficeps
- Bank Swallow Riparia riparia
- Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
- Common Bulbul Pycnonotus barbatus
- Red-billed Oxpecker Buphagus erythroryncha
- Wattled Starling Creatophora cinerea
- Lesser Blue-eared Starling Lamprotornis chloropterus
- Greater Blue-eared Starling Lamprotornis chalybaeus
- Bronze-tailed Starling Lamprotornis chalcurus
- African Gray Flycatcher Bradornis microrhynchus
- Spotted Morning-Thrush Cichladusa guttata
- Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush Monticola saxatilis
- Whinchat Saxicola rubetra
- Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe
- Scarlet-chested Sunbird Chalcomitra senegalensis
- Purple-banded Sunbird Cinnyris bifasciatus
- White-billed Buffalo-Weaver Bubalornis albirostris
- Gray-capped Social-Weaver Pseudonigrita arnaudi
- African Silverbill Euodice cantans
- Red-cheeked Cordonbleu Uraeginthus bengalus
- Shelley’s Rufous Sparrow Passer shelleyi
- Northern Gray-headed Sparrow Passer griseus
- Vinaceous Dove Streptopelia vinacea
- White-bellied Bustard Eupodotis senegalensis
- White-bellied Go-away-bird Crinifer leucogaster
- White-crested Turaco Tauraco leucolophus
- Mottled Swift Tachymarptis aequatorialis
- Nyanza Swift Apus niansae
- Gabar Goshawk Micronisus gabar
- Abyssinian Scimitarbill Rhinopomastus minor
- Gray Wren-Warbler Calamonastes simplex
- White-browed Scrub-Robin Cercotrichas leucophrys
- Eastern Violet-backed Sunbird Anthreptes orientalis
- Beautiful Sunbird Cinnyris pulchellus
- Little Weaver Ploceus luteolus
- Vitelline Masked-Weaver Ploceus vitellinus
- Chestnut Weaver Ploceus rubiginosus
- Cardinal Quelea Quelea cardinalis
- Purple Grenadier Granatina ianthinogaster
- Chestnut Sparrow Passer eminibey
- White-bellied Canary Crithagra dorsostriata
- Common Ostrich Struthio camelus
- Rock Pigeon Columba livia
- Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove Turtur chalcospilos
- Black-bellied Bustard Lissotis melanogaster
- Hartlaub’s Bustard Lissotis hartlaubii
- Pied Cuckoo Clamator jacobinus
- Crowned Lapwing Vanellus coronatus
- Western Cattle-Egret Ardea ibis
- Brown Snake-Eagle Circaetus cinereus
- Lesser Spotted Eagle Clanga pomarina
- Eastern Chanting-Goshawk Melierax poliopterus
- Mountain Buzzard Buteo oreophilus
- Western Barn Owl Tyto alba
- Northern White-faced Owl Ptilopsis leucotis
- Chinspot Batis Batis molitor
- Red-faced Crombec Sylvietta whytii
- Yellow-bellied Eremomela Eremomela icteropygialis
- Buff-bellied Warbler Phyllolais pulchella
- Rufous Chatterer Argya rubiginosa
- Silverbird Empidornis semipartitus
- Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin Cercotrichas galactotes
- Isabelline Wheatear Oenanthe isabellina
- Marico Sunbird Cinnyris mariquensis
- Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Weaver Plocepasser superciliosus
- Heuglin’s Masked-Weaver Ploceus heuglini
- Black-cheeked WaxbillBrunhilda charmosyna
- Yellow-spotted Bush SparrowGymnoris pyrgita
- African Pied WagtailMotacilla aguimp
- Tree PipitAnthus trivialis
- Clapperton’s SpurfowlPternistis clappertoni
- Buff-crested BustardLophotis gindiana
- Dideric CuckooChrysococcyx caprius
- African CuckooCuculus gularis
- Temminck’s Courser Cursorius temminckii
- Lappet-faced Vulture Torgos tracheliotos
- White-throated Bee-eater Merops albicollis
- Mouse-colored Penduline-Tit Anthoscopus musculus
- Northern Crombec Sylvietta brachyura
- Pale Flycatcher Agricola pallidus
- Lesser Masked-Weaver Ploceus intermedius
- Steel-blue Whydah Vidua hypocherina
- Grayish Eagle-Owl Bubo cinerascens
- Secretarybird Sagittarius serpentarius
- White-headed Vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis
- Tawny-flanked Prinia Prinia subflava
- Pale Prinia Prinia somalica
- Lesser Striped Swallow Cecropis abyssinica
- Yellow-necked Spurfowl Pternistis leucoscepus
- Alpine Swift Tachymarptis melba
- Black-headed Lapwing Vanellus tectus
- Wattled Lapwing Vanellus senegallus
- Black Cuckooshrike Campephaga flava
- White-crested Helmetshrike Prionops plumatus
- Yellow-fronted Canary Crithagra mozambica
- Martial Eagle Polemaetus bellicosus
- African Hawk-Eagle Aquila spilogaster
- Brown-backed Woodpecker Dendropicos obsoletus
- Splendid Starling Lamprotornis splendidus
- Cut-throat Amadina fasciata
Best time to visit Matheniko
Matheniko Game Reserve can be visited any time of the year though best time to visit is during the dry seasons, specifically from June to September and December to February. During these months, the roads are less muddy and slippery, making travel easier. The park is also more green and beautiful shortly after the rains have stopped, offering excellent photo opportunities.