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A business trip to Uganda gave me an ideal opportunity to add 2 days of birding. With over 1100 species recorded, Uganda probably has one of the highest bird species counts per surface area. And it provided an opportunity to go see Africa's most sought-after species - the Shoebill. Unfortunately, partly because it was a short-notice trip, and partly due to leave issues, Nicola couldn't come along.
I arrived in Kampala on the evening of Sunday the 27th and sat in weekend traffic returning from the Entebbe beaches for almost two hours before reaching Banda Inns, a very neat, clean, quiet and affordable B&B about 20 minutes from Kampala CBD. On the Monday I was picked up for work, did a full 8 hour day and returned, very excited about the next day.
My guide, Joseph Mugerwa, picked me up at 6am and we drove through light rain curtains to Mabamba wetlands, one of 11 RAMSAR sites in Uganda. It was still raining when we arrived but the tropical climate made up for it and soon four of us (me, Joseph, a local guide and a rower) were in a small dhow, slowly cruising through the papyrus swamp. Black-headed weavers were common and although a lifer, it was not as interesting as the drenched Blue-headed coucal calling in plain view. As we went deeper, looking for Shoebill, we added lots of African jacanas and Squacco herons, Black kites and an African marsh harrier and when our local guide decided we were not having any luck and turned around, we spotted a pair of Long-toed lapwings.
We returned to the main channel and saw two other dhows very intent on something in the distance. We pulled up, and there it was! My first Shoebill! There are currently nine pairs of Shoebills in these papyrus swamps. They live of mudfish (at least, here in Uganda), are often grouped with storks, and are extremely skittish. This one was about 50m away and although a fantastic sighting through the binoculars, a rather poor photo opportunity for a 6x zoom aim-and-shoot. So we left the two dhows and about 5 minutes later, spotted another one, this time about 40m away. The two other dhows arrived shortly and then the bird got scared and flew off. We tried to estimate where it landed and rowed over, now closer to the main body of Lake Victoria and then spotted it again. The other two dhows also arrived but we took care not to approach closer than about 35 metres and we had really fantastic sightings of this unique species.
Having seen the Shoebill, I was keen on other birds and we rowed to a dense stand of papyrus where Papyrus gonolek are regularly seen. We had no luck and were turning around when the rower spotted something red and there it was, skulking deep in the papyrus! The other two dhows evidently got tired of the Shoebill and was soon next to us, also watching the gonolek. One of their guides had a voice recording and when she played it, the gonolek responded spectacularly and suddenly there were two of them, coming into open view close enough for photos. Another magnificent sighting. Having seen what we came for we headed back and added Swamp flycatcher, White-winged tern, Malachite kingfisher, Purple heron and Winding cisticola among a few other common birds. Back on shore I went to the "bathroom" (some really smelly long drops) and spotted a group of twelve Great blue turacos. Rushing back to get Joseph, we were able to approach close enough for photos and then also saw two Yellow-throated longclaws nearby. We drove to another spot on the lake shore where a few bushy trees about 10m off-shore provided great nesting sites for Northern brown-throated and Orange weavers.
We headed back to Kampala where Joseph bought us lunch at a truly African roadside "restaurant". Generally I'm keen to try new and local things but I must admit I was a little apprehensive. Having ordered for me in Luganda (most common Ugandan language), Joseph explained the dish as fish with peanuts steamed in banana leaves. Along with loads of carbohydrates in the form of rice, chapati, matoke (mashed and steamed unripe bananas), bean stew, sweet potato and cassava porridge. When it arrived I tasted the fishy stew and immediately knew I would never finish it. Nibbling on the rice, chapati and sweet potato I satisfied my hunger and then apologised for my bad manners leaving so much food untouched. Joseph dropped me off at Banda Inns and I spent the afternoon reading and catching up on e-mails.
On the 30th Joseph picked me up at 7am to drive through to Entebbe. We counted the inevitable Marabou storks and Black kites on the drive. While waiting for the botanical gardens to open, we stopped at a spot where the road runs right next to the lake and added Hamerkop, Openbill, Little egret, Ovambo sparrowhawk, Crowned and Black-and-white casqued hornbills and Red-chested cuckoo. We parked just inside the gardens and while Joseph went to find another local guide I added African yellow white-eye, Northern black flycatcher, Woodland and Grey-headed kingfishers, Klaas's cuckoo and Grey-backed Camaroptera. When the guide arrived we took a stroll through the gardens, down to the lake, along the shore and back up again. We saw Black-headed batis, Blue-headed coucal, Grey-backed fiscal, Black-headed gonolek, African harrier hawk, Spurwinged lapwing, Eastern grey plantain-eater, Broadbilled roller, Marico, Red- and Scarlet-chested sunbirds, Palmnut vulture and of course, lots of African fish eagles. Based on calls, we also added Klaas's and Diderick cuckoos, Yellow-fronted and Yellow-rumped tinkerbirds, White-browed robin-chat and Black-throated wattle-eye.
Leaving the magnificent trees (some older than a 100 years) behind, we drove to a nearby village where Joseph had some land and got a few different species: Sooty chat, Red-cheeked cordonbleu, Magpie mannikin, White-throated bee-eater, Northern grey-headed sparrow and Ruppel's long-tailed starling. We stopped at a beach resort for a soda, then drove to a restaurant in Entebbe for lunch. Opting this time for fish fillets, I had a splendid meal before Joseph dropped me again at Banda Inns.
Admittedly, I expected to have a higher species count for the two days and especially hoped to add quite a few non-Southern African species. But the long rainy season being only a month passed, water levels were high and the it wasn't the best birding time in Uganda. Also, we didn't go near the more famous Ugandan birding areas like Murchison falls National Park (voted as the top birding site in the world) and Bwindi or Mabira forests. But the Shoebill and Papyrus gonolek were undoubtedly outstanding sightings and I will certainly return (with Nicola this time!).
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