UBDSSU/001 – 1 DAY BIRDING TOUR IN MABAMBA WETLANDS
Tour highlights
- Spotting birds in gardens, fields, and bushland along the trip to Mabamba
- Canoe ride and Mabamba swamp shoebill Stock experience
What you need:
- Some Binoculars.
- Camera with 200+ mm lens (Optional)
- Identification App (Optional)
Overview
This one-day birding trip is designed for nature lovers with limited time. The trip may start by picking you from your hotel office, home or from Snap Uganda Tours office. The tour offers a high chance of seeing the elusive Shoebill Stork and is also a great way to experience and sample the unique birdlife in Uganda in short time.
Mabamba swamp, is the only place rated as the best in Africa or probably in the world where the elusive shoebill can be easily spotted at any one time of the day. Apart from, the shoe bill, you will also enjoy a variety of other birds and plants.
Itinerary summary:
Day1: Birding in Mabamba Shoebill & Search for Shoebill Storks
Location:
48.9 km via Nakawuka Road.
60.8 km via Kampala-Mpigi Expresway/Masaka Road.
25.6 km from Mpigi.
2.km by Boat from Entebbe.
Coordinates: 0.0766039, 32.3505735
After an early morning breakfast, with packed lunch, we start birding towards Mabamba swamp for the Shoebill Stork and a variety of other bird species. The swamp is one of Uganda’s 33 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and a Ramsar-listed wetland of international importance hosting key protected bird species.
Mabamba swamp is the nearest place from Kampala where the critically endangered Shoebill can easily be seen. The marshland forms part of Buwaya Bay, South-west of Nakiwogo Bay both of which are located west of Entebbe International Airport.
Mabamba swamp, is the only place rated as the best in Africa or probably in the world where the elusive shoebill can be easily spotted at any one time of the day. Following in in the footsteps of Mabamba is Murchison Falls National Park.
Apart from the shoe bill, here are some of the birds you might see: African and Lesser Jacana, White-breasted, Blue-breast and Little Bee-eaters, Lesser Moorhen, Malachite and Pied Kingfishers, Black-headed, Long-toed Lapwing, Yellow-billed and White-backed Duck, African Marsh Harrier, Weyns’s Weaver, Blue Swallow and Red-headed among others. . After that we proceed on to Lake Mburo National Park, with stopovers at the Equator, for the water experiment and a quick look at the craft shops and another stopover at Kaaku swamp to check on some birds like Lesser Moorhen, Little Grabe, African Darter, Grey-crowned Crane, Saddle-billed Stork, Spur-winged and Egyptian Geese, White-faced and Fulvuos Whistling-Duck and African Jacana among others.
Read more: List of birds in Mabamba Swamp
Detailed activity at Mabamba
Birding is done on traditional canoe so once at Mabamba we will board a mortised boat and ride through water channels lined with a healthy papyrus swamp. The Local guides, know how to track the shoes bill. While in the boat, you will spot a variety of birds.
Approximately 38% of the global population of the Blue Swallow (Hirundo atrocaerulea), and the globally-threatened Papyrus Yellow Warbler plus other birds of global conservation concern reside in Mabamba. It is also a habitat to rare plant species like Scadoxus species. Recently, Mabamba has become one of the strong holds for the migrant Blue Swallow with over 100 individuals recorded every year. Mabamba has been surveyed in recent years and now boosts of over 260 species with one day’s record of 157 species (Bird Life International)
A canoe ride through papyrus swamp will take you at the best spot of spotting the Shoebill bird among other rare Africa birds like those mentioned above.
Price Inclusions
- Airport transfers
- Ground transportation
- Services of English speaking driver/guide
- Entrance fees
- All fees
- Boat rides
Price Exclusions
- Air ticket
- Entrance visas
- Drinks which are not included on the itinerary
- Tourist insurance
- Tips
You can send your enquiry via the form below.
Trip name: * UBDSSU/001 – 1- day birding tour in Mabamba Wetlands
Thank you for choosing Snap Uganda Tours. We will be pleased to hear your comments after the Photographic Safari.
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