Birding in
Bwindi Forest
4-5 HOURS
Get your birding guide and binoculars for a fantastic birding foray through the ancient rainforest of the Bwindi—known for offering “some of the best montane-forest birding in Africa”. The park is home to an impressive 350 species, of which many you will delight in ticking off your list on a 2-3 hour excursion that is hosted by an expert guide. This is a journey of discovery, traversing through the unique habitats along a winding trail framed by exotic and emerald vegetation.
Birding in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Rising through ever green and montane marshes that intertwine across the lush forest floor your birding trail leads you to enchanting falls, booming out a thunderous roar of pristine river water crushing against enormous rocks. Set in exquisite verdant terrain this waterfall is truly a sight to behold. Prolific with birds the cacaphony of chatter and the cascading falls is a magnificent sound.
Acknowledged as a birding utopia Uganda shelters over half of the bird species found in Africa making it the leading birding destination in Africa and the globe. Ambling along the Buhoma Waterfall Trail be sure to look out for the White-tailed Ant Thrush and dapper francolin, the splendid Black Bee-eater, Yellow-eyed Black and African Sooty Flycatchers along the green bamboo zone. Venture to the Mubwindi Swamp trail in Ruhija where sightings of the endemic and localized African green broadbill are frequent. Gaze up at the tree tops and keep your binoculars handy to spot the Short-tailed Warbler and Blue-headed Sunbird as well as the African Green Broadbill and Shelley’s Crimsonwing.
Other birding trails include the Kashasha river valley and Ivy river trail, along the bamboo zone, and Mubwindi swamp trail in Ruhija.
A pocket forest known as Nombe is located some 5km and Buniga forest 300meters from Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge. The location has been received by birders that have stayed with us looking for Bwindi forest endemics. We have a team of enthusiast birding guides working with our Nkuringo Walking Safaris enquire for detailed birding itineraries.
Mubwindi Trail—Ruhija
Some of the great spots of birds include the longtrail to Mubwindi and also the short trail. This area enables a clear Watch of birds like the Montane Oriole, Waller’s starling, Blacke –billed turacos, barbets, Carruthers’ Cisticola Red chested Flufftail,Cabanis’s Green bull, Dwarf Honey guide, Oriole Finch and Bar tailed trogon. These potray the beauty of the forest. Ruhija area also has birds like the Red-tailed and Shelley’s Greenbul, Grey-throated Barbet, Common Buzzard, Black Bee-eater and Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Red-throated Alethe, African Shrike-flycatcher Ayres’s Hawk-eagle, to mention but a few. The forest of bamboo and afro montane habitats surrounding the draughty Rwamunyonyi peak also supports a variety of birds, several endemic to the Albertine rift.
Echuya Forest Trail
With almost 150 species of birds, eighteen (18) of which are endemic to the reserve, including the elusive Grauer’s Swamp warbler, Echuya Forest Reserve is a fantastic birding destination located in the southern western part of Uganda as it lies on the main Kabale to Kisoro road near the Rwandan border in the Albertine Rift section of the Eastern Afromontane Hotspot, the most endemic-rich region in Africa. Muchuya Swamp is home to an important population of 30-50 pairs of the Endangered Grauer’s Swamp-warbler and the entire Reserve is considered a priority amongst Bird Life International’s 30 Ugandan Important Bird Areas (IBAs). Therefore there is no doubt Echuya is a dream come true for bird watchers.
Pocket Nombe Forest Trail
A “Pocket” forest known as Nombe is located some 5km from our incredible Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge in the southern sector of Bwindi impenetrable national park is another tranquil location to further boost your birding experience after tracking the forest gentles in the impenetrable forest. Birds species that exist in the pocket includes the following, Handsome Francolin, Short-tailed Warbler, Collared Apalis, Mountain Masked Apalis, Archer’s Robin-Chat, Dawrf Honey guide, Grauer’s Warbler, Dusky Crimson wing, Rwenzori Batis, Purple-breasted Sunbird, Regal Sunbird, Shelley’s Crimson wing, Strip-breasted Tit, Blue-headed Sunbird, Grauer’s Rush Warbler, Rwenzori Turaco, Strip-breasted Tit, Kivu Ground Thrush among others.