Albertine rift (Uganda and Rwanda) birding, Apr 2015

Links

• List of birds

24 Apr
The flight to Entebbe was surprisingly empty so when we arrived ten minutes early in Entebbe, queues were relatively short and I was quickly through immigration and customs. My guide, Joseph Mugerwa, and his friend Peter were waiting for me and drove me to a forex bureau where we sorted out Joseph’s payment. Accommodation for the night was at Sunset hotel, pretty much on the main Entebbe-Kampala road. It was basic but actually quite a bit better than some of the places where I’ve stayed in Africa – rooms were neat and clean, lighting was good and a fan helped to drive away the mosquitoes and lake flies that were omnipresent. After a quick dinner I was off to bed.

25 Apr
Joseph arranged an early breakfast and after I’d eaten, I started my birding count from the hotel’s gardens. Ruppell’s glossy starling, Black-and-white casqued hornbill, Eastern plantain-eater and a few common jobs were noted. Joseph picked me up at 7am and we birded along the way to Mabamba swamps, picking up African openbill, Grey crowned crane, Long-crested eagle and a few others along the way. We reached Mabamba swamps around 9am and quickly sorted out a boat. Pied kingfisher, African jacana, Long-toed lapwing and Hamerkop were common. We spent a good hour and a half searching fruitlessly for Shoebill when our assistant Hamington spotted something flying high above us. A closer look confirmed it was a Shoebill and I managed to snap a shaky picture as proof. Papyrus gonoleks were calling from several places but apart from the briefest of glimpses, we never got a good view. We returned to the landing place and headed north towards the Fort Portal road. After a quick stop for lunch along the way, we drove almost five hours to get to Fort Portal. A quick stop just outside Fort Portal to let the car’s over-heating engine cool down a bit, yielded Red-headed malimbe, Collared and Variable sunbirds. Our overnight stop was Ruwenzori View Guesthouse – basic accommodation once again but with a fantastic garden that produced no less than five different sunbirds: Superb, Bronzy, Ruwenzori double-collared, Green-throated and Scarlet-chested. After checking in, we took a walk up the road and added the stunning African blue flycatcher, Black-crowned waxbill and Double-toothed barbet. The Ruwenzori mountains towered over Fort Portal but the heavy cloud obscured all but the lower foothills so we never really saw them. Joseph and Hamington then left for their own accommodation while I settled in for an impressive three-course dinner, including ice-cream, sharing a table with three American Peace Corps volunteers. It was already 9pm when we finished dinner so after a quick shower, I climbed into bed.

26 Apr
In the early hours of the morning the wind picked up and not long before my alarm woke me at 04:30, it started raining. With prospects of a very wet day looming, Joseph and Hamington joined me for a decent breakfast before we left into the rainy and misty dark. Thankfully the road down into the Semuliki valley was tarred two years ago – I can only imagine what a nightmare road it used to be, dropping about 800m in altitude from Fort Portal. We reached Semuliki park’s headquarters at 7am but it was still raining so we sat for fifteen minutes or so in a nicely sheltered double-storey structure. The rain stopped and things lightened up a bit so we donned gumboots and headed down one of the forest trails. We got semi-decent views of Black-casqued hornbill, heard Yellow-throated nicator and Blue-headed coucal but not long after spotting some Piping hornbills and a cracking view of Rufous-sided broadbill, we ran into a section of the path completely flooded for more than a hundred metres. We started wading down the path but deep holes stomped by elephants left us focusing on the “path” much more than birds. After five minutes our site guide, Justice, decided that we were not going to get through the water soon, so we turned around and took a different trail a little higher up. This produced Fire-crested alethe, Grey-headed sunbird, Crested malimbe, Xavier’s and Icterine greenbuls. Just before we turned around at 11am, we got excellent views of undoubtedly the highlight of the day – African piculet. Other good birds we heard very well included Black-billed turaco, Lowland sooty boubou, African emerald cuckoo and Tambourine dove. We got back to the camp just before noon just as the rain started coming down again and we drove into the local village for a rather un-appetizing meal of goat and rice. Having nibbled on the goat, getting as much of the stodgy rice down my throat and completely avoiding the oily sauce the goat floated in, we had a short rest back at the camp. The rain calmed down to a slight drizzle by 2pm and we left for another forest trail from the camp. This time we started with excellent views of African dwarf kingfisher and also saw Green hylia, Red-billed dwarf hornbill and Simple greenbul before turning around. We then spent some time walking along the road but apart from a few common birds, this was a bit disappointing. Just after 5pm I called it a day and we drove back to camp for some tea and later dinner. My accommodation was a small hut about 100m into the forest and you couldn’t see the neighbouring huts at all. Unfortunately this is where the nice bits ended – the bathroom was rather filthy, without hot water and a shower drain that clogged the moment you opened the shower taps. There was no gauze in front of the windows either so you couldn’t dare opening them for a bit of less-stale air. Fortunately it wasn’t quite as uncomfortably hot as I’ve experienced in Ghana, Gambia and Cameroon and I was able to sleep reasonably well.

27 Apr
Breakfast was a Spanish omelet with two slices of toast, washed down with unfiltered filter coffee. At 7am we went back to the same trail we started with yesterday. There were far fewer clouds in the sky and the temperature was noticeable hotter. Despite this we only got our first new birds about half an hour into the walk: Scaly-breasted illadopsis and Dusky long-tailed cuckoo. We added most of the other birds we’ve seen/heard yesterday but also got good views of Lowland sooty boubou, Blue-shouldered robin-chat and Yellow-throated cuckoo. A quiet raptor floating through the trees got us running for a good view and all of us got a brief but good look before it disappeared. Our guide was very excited and after we browsed through all options and eliminated all the others, we confirmed it – a Congo serpent eagle! An almost knee-deep swamp had us wading very very carefully so that the water wouldn’t spill into the top of the gumboots. Beyond this wet section we came across a decent bird party but only added things we’ve already seen. It was now about 3.5 hours into our walk and my feet were protesting viciously. Just before 11am we turned around. By the time we reached the road, I was limping and gratefully slumped into the car. Lunch was waiting back at the camp – goat again, but thankfully this time with much more palatable chips (or Irish potato as the locals call it). As the day had heated up considerably, I decided to have a siesta until 3pm. In the afternoon we returned once more to the same trail but took a slightly different route, looping back to meet up with the path entering the forest. We didn’t add much but did get a nice look at a Long-tailed hawk and then some crappy back-lit views of Blue-throated roller – a species I would’ve loved to see up close. Dinner was a very decent peanut sauce, spaghetti, chips and rice, none of which I was able to finish, but the power had gone off just before we arrived and I never really saw what I put into my mouth. When Joseph and Hamington returned from the village where they had dinner, we got talking on a number of interesting subjects including economics, education, religion and biology and before I knew it, it was 10pm. The power was still off as I said goodnight to Joseph and Hamington and then had a cold shower in the dark. At last the power came back on as I stepped out of the shower and I was able to finish off my bird list for the day before going to bed.

28 Apr
At 05:30 I packed up quickly to make a 06:15 breakfast and 06:30 departure. Now I saw for the first time the spectacular valley that we had descended into in the dark two days ago – what a beautiful spot! We didn’t linger in Fort Portal but headed straight through on our way to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Reserve. Queen Elizabeth National Park was on the way but we first stopped in a town to get the car’s air filter cleaned and filled up on fuel. Queen Elizabeth reminded me a lot of Muhango Game Reserve in the Caprivi – tall, moist woodland interspersed with thick savannah – perfect for birds! Unfortunately our available time was very limited and the only birds of interest we were able to add were Yellow-throated longclaw, Black-lored babbler and Sooty chat. In another town we bought an early on-the-go lunch of chapatis and coke and then headed down a long dirt road of dubious quality in the Ishasha section of Queen Elizabeth park. This was also excellent woodland birding country and with hindsight, it would’ve been better to leave Semuliki the previous afternoon and spend the night in Queen Elizabeth. But now we were heading up to Bwindi and as we drove higher into the hills, it became cooler and the clouds became more ominous. We reached Bwindi View Guesthouse in Buhoma at 14:45 and having had almost no proper birding the whole morning, I was itching to get going. Our site guide Christopher was ready and immediately after the checking in formalities, we started birding. And what a fantastic three hours we then had! From the guesthouse’s gardens we walked up the road and just birded along the roadside, then took a path down to a small stream which we followed down before climbing back-up to the guesthouse. In the three hours we spent here, I added TWENTY new birds for the year! Even before leaving the garden I notched up my first lifer in Bwindi – Grey-green bush-shrike. Thereafter, the mouth-watering names kept on coming off my pen: Grey apalis, Cinnamon-chested bee-eater, Buff-throated apalis, Barred long-tailed cuckoo, Speckled tinkerbird, Grey-winged robin-chat, White-tailed blue flycatcher, Dusky blue flycatcher, Petit’s cuckooshrike, Yellow-whiskered greenbul, Toro olive greenbul, White-chinned prinia, Luehder’s bush-shrike, Baglafecht weaver, Grey-capped warbler, Mackinnon’s fiscal, Thick-billed seedeater, Brown-capped weaver, Snowy-crowned robin-chat. And each and every one of these I saw as clear as daylight! We were back at the guesthouse at 6pm and I had added 49 birds for the afternoon, taking the whole trip’s total to 194 birds. A three-course dinner came at 19:30 and after a very welcome hot shower I went to bed feeling extremely satisfied with the birding so far and perhaps also slightly upping my hopes for the second half of the trip.

29 Apr
After a decent breakfast, Christopher met us in the guesthouse’s gardens again and we walked the same trail as yesterday afternoon. We started off with a number of the same birds we got yesterday. Our first new one was a White-eyed slaty flycatcher and shortly after we also got Grey-throated flycatcher. Both male and female Pink-footed puffbacks were new, along with Black-faced rufous flycatcher, Sooty flycatcher, Streaky seedeater, Angolan swallow and Western citril. We were back at the guesthouse just before 11am and I spent a few minutes browsing the craft stalls before making a selection and negotiating prices for three masks. We left promptly at 11am and birded along the road for the next three hours as we drove towards Ruhija, another 700m higher up into Bwindi’s hills. Along the road we found Black-and-white mannikins, Cassin’s flycatcher, Red-headed malimbe, Splendid glossy starling and Golden-breasted bunting. Higher up in the forest the road got wetter and muddier and Joseph had to drive carefully through these (thankfully short) patches. Heavy clouds were building around us and it was noticeably colder when we reached our accommodation (Nature’s Gift Guesthouse) just outside Ruhija. Not long after we arrived it started pouring down and it was actually very pleasant to sit inside the lodge, warm and cosy, while watching the cold rain. The storm passed for the most part and by 4pm we were able to leave the guesthouse and drive towards the park’s entrance. From here we birded for another hour and a half and picked up some real gems: Western bronze-naped pigeon, Mountain oriole, Chestnut-throated apalis, Mountain masked apalis, Strange weaver, Mountain greenbul and Regal sunbird. It started dripping again at 17:30 and we turned back to the guesthouse for dinner and bed.

30 Apr
With the prospect of an 11-hour drive ahead of us to Nyungwe forest in Rwanda, we had precious little time available for birding today. A light drizzle had replaced the hard rain during the night when we ate breakfast at 06:15. By 06:45, pre-dawn light had started filtering through the clouds and we left for the same spot where we birded yesterday afternoon. Immediately we started with White-breasted nigrita and Yellow-rumped tinkerbird and heard both Ross’s and Black-billed turacos calling. The beautiful trilling that only a broadbill can make was heard clearly and Christopher confirmed this as African broadbill. I then heard another soft trilling call, rising in pitch, very similar to our Scaly-throated honeyguide but a fair bit shorter. It was very far off and the others couldn’t really hear it but when I described it to Chris he thought he knew what it was and played back the call for Grauer’s warbler – it was spot-on! A few hundred metres down the track we could all hear it very clearly. We had fantastic views of Red-faced woodland warbler, Stripe-breasted tit, Strange weaver and Sharpe’s starling, a bird that Christopher has never actually seen before. Just before we turned around we picked up Ruwenzori batis, almost identical to Chinspot batis except for a large yellow instead of black eye. Just before reaching the car Christopher heard Mountain illadopsis calling and in response to playback, it came to sit for about ten seconds on some fern leaves less than five metres from us. We had a good hour and forty five minutes birding but now we had to get going. We said goodbye to Chris and his trainee guide Kenneth and left. It wasn’t long before we reached the tar road despite the wet and muddy tracks of the higher Bwindi forest. We stopped in Kabale to fill up with fuel – a horrible little town with roads in appalling condition. From here it was a short drive to the border where it took us about 40 minutes to get through – not bad as African borders go. On the Rwandan side, driving wasn’t easy as we now had to stick to the right (wrong) side of the road and the speed-limit was strictly set at 60km/h on more open roads and 40km/h in built-up areas, of which there were never-ending numbers. The road surface was excellent though and the rumour that Rwanda was one of the cleanest countries in Africa (thanks to a presidential decree of everyone taking one Saturday a month to clean up) certainly appeared to be true. Houses also seemed to be better constructed that those elsewhere in Africa and the people have caught on to large-scale farming of tea, rice, sugar cane and maize as we constantly drove past massive fields of these, as opposed to the almost invariable subsistence farming in the rest of Africa. Kigali came in sight about an hour and a half after leaving the border and after getting a little lost on the by-roads, we eventually got onto the road leading south to Huye. The going was maddeningly slow though. I doubt that there’s a straight road of longer than 1km in Rwanda and if there is, it’s nowhere near where we drove. There are also no dual carriageways or overtaking lanes so if you get stuck behind a truck on an uphill (which happened about twenty times), chances were you would not get past anytime soon. The 140kms from Kigali to Huye took us about three hours and here we turned west and up into Nyungwe forest. It was getting late in the afternoon and heavy mist swirled around the forested mountain summits. As Joseph had never been here before, we had to stop several times to ask for directions and when we finally did reach our accommodation at Gisakura Guesthouse, on the other side of Nyungwe forest, it was already pitch dark. I was very concerned that we had completely driven out of the forest and it seemed to me we would waste a lot of time to get back into it. But Joseph went to fetch the site guide Narcisse, who assured me it would be OK. I had an ordinary dinner before counting up all the birds for the day. A Handsome francolin that we saw in the deepening gloom high in Nyungwe forest, was the 802nd bird for the year – exactly one hundred new birds for the Uganda/Rwanda trip!

01 May
It was a beautiful morning but spoiled a little by the staff arriving late and starting breakfast only at 06:45. I stuffed toast and omelet down my throat before we left, driving for about ten minutes back up the mountain. Narcisse spotted Yellow-eyed black flycatchers and we stopped next to the road and picked up four immature and noisy birds picking up insect road-kill. This spot actually turned out to be excellent and we wandered up and down the road for thirty minutes, adding Mountain greenbul, Mountain masked apalis, Thick-billed seedeater, African hill babbler, Chubb’s cisticola, Grey apalis, Regal sunbird, Waller’s starling, Strange weaver, Cinnamon-bracken warbler, Mountain sooty boubou, Dusky tit and Grauer’s warbler. Driving for another twenty minutes, we reached the Uwinka Overlook and Narcisse and I left from here, walking down the main road. Although we heard both Ruwenzori turaco and Doherty’s bush-shrike, we couldn’t find them but we had stunning views of Blue-headed and Ruwenzori sunbirds, Ruwenzori apalis and Red-faced woodland warbler. We turned off the main road onto a track and at a tall flowering tree picked up a couple of Purple-breasted sunbirds high in the canopy. We kept descending the slopes for another thirty minutes, adding Narina trogon, Stripe-breasted tit, Yellow-streaked greenbul and White-eyed slaty flycatcher. A smaller muddier track led to a small stream and just beyond we finally got good views of White-bellied elminia (crested flycatcher). We reached the main walking trail and slowly ascended this back to Uwinka as heavy clouds started rolling in and thunder threatened in the distance. Close to the top we heard Red-throated alethe calling for the third time today and finally I got a brief glimpse of this skulking forest-floor bird. We reached Uwinka as the first drops of rain fell and we just made it to the car before it started hailing. Back at Gisakura Guesthouse I was told I couldn’t have lunch in the dining room because some other people had booked out the lunch service. After giving them a piece of my mind about this poor service I took lunch in my room and a short siesta before we were to leave again at 3pm. Unfortunately things took a turn for the worse. As I stood by the car waiting for Narcisse, Hamington talked to the one employee at the guesthouse. Hamington told me they wanted us to leave because they had given all the rooms to someone else. With blood rising to my head I asked the employee to take me to his boss, one Mazimpaka Laurent. I asked him why he’s telling us to leave when we had a booking. He just looked at me and refused to answer. He didn't apologize, didn't explain, didn't arrange alternative accommodation. Then I lost it completely and told him what an arrogant bastard he was and what piss-poor service he is giving to a paying client. I packed my bags and left. At the car we saw another two guys sitting at the reception office and I was told they were also told to leave despite having booked. I went back to the “boss” and told him I will write to everyone I could think of to tell them how bad his place is and he just waved his hand in my face to dismiss me. So, to everyone out there reading this blog, I hope you take notice of this and that you will avoid at all costs, Gisakura Guesthouse in Nyungwe forest. There are a number of other options available so please, for the sake of improving the hospitality industry in Rwanda, boycott this place. It hasn’t much going for it anyway – it’s outside the forest, the rooms do not have en-suite bathrooms and the shared ones aren’t particularly clean or nice anyway. The lighting in the room is the worst I’ve had on the entire trip so far and the food was rather mediocre. I’ve traveled a lot in Africa and have only had one other bad experience at a hotel in Kumasi in Ghana but Gisakura really takes the cake. I know I am in Africa and I shouldn’t expect much but I’m fed-up with this attitude of “I don’t have to give good service, because this is Africa”. Grow up. Figure out that your livelihood depends on the money that guests bring to your establishment. Mr Mazimpaka Laurent, I hope you read this and I’d like you to know that I also wrote to the Rwanda Tour and Travel Association as well as the Tourism department of the Rwanda Development Board as I have promised you I will. You are a disgrace to your country and the tourism industry and I hope you suffer the consequences. Our afternoon’s birding was not great. We walked around the edges of a tea plantation where Dusky crimsonwings frequent the covered grassy verges but these have recently been cleared and the only things we saw were Streaky seedeaters, Black-crowned and Yellow-bellied waxbills. Down in the forest we did have great views of Luehder’s bush-shrike and a glimpse of Banded and White-chinned prinias but that was about it. With heavy clouds making the late afternoon very dark, we squeezed through the tea plantation to get back to the car and then drove to a different place to overnight. This place was a little further down the road in a little settlement and to be honest, was a bit of a dump. But Joseph and Hamington joined me for dinner along with the two other guys who got told to leave Gisakura Guesthouse – they were two young, very pleasant Dutch fellows, having a good time in East Africa. I enjoyed the chat over dinner and said goodnight to have a shower in a dingy bathroom and try to get some sleep.

02 May
Rain started at around 4am and poured down until breakfast time when it eased up a little. When we left at 7am it was only drizzling. We were headed for a swamp up in the mountains to find Grauer’s swamp warbler so first stopped at the Gisakura office to rent some gumboots. At 07:30 we reached the start of our trail but first spent half an hour running around on the road, looking for the elusive Ruwenzori turacos we could hear calling in the canopy. This was unsuccessful but we did see a small flock of birds I’ve been looking for in several other countries before – White-headed wood-hoopoe! A little further up the road Narcisse heard Dusky crimsonwings calling and we kept following the movements in the dense vegetation for about ten minutes before we finally managed to get a good sighting. We got a cracker view of a Bar-tailed trogon before eventually starting the trail down into the forest. It was very wet and muddy and I was very glad for the gumboots, despite the discomfort. About ten minutes into the descent we did get some great views (finally) of Ruwenzori turaco but this was completely overshadowed another ten minutes later when we were slowly walking in dripping, moss-covered, dense thickets. Narcisse let out a soft yelp and pointed furiously-calmly at a dark spot about ten metres away. I saw the blob and focused on it quickly – it was a Neumann’s warbler! I could clearly make out the heavy supercilium and lighter belly before it disappeared into the undergrowth. Narcisse had seen them only five times before in nine years of guiding and he was obviously ecstatic. I felt really happy with this sighting but it got even better as not long after, we got a brilliant close-up (two metres) view of an Archer’s ground robin and Narcisse even managed a photo before it too, disappeared. We finally reached the swamp at around 9am and sat for less than two minutes before seeing our first Grauer’s swamp warbler climbing up some grasses about thirty metres away. Red-chested flufftails were calling frequently and when we made our way across a short boardwalk through the swamp, we also got a quick glimpse of one flying just above the grass. The ascent back to the road was uneventful but we had such a good morning’s birding that we reached the car in great spirits. At the Uwinka Overlook we had an early lunch at the restaurant where you can have anything, as long as it’s an omelet. The sun had started peeking out occasionally and it was a very pleasant late morning. At noon we set off again on another trail and although we heard Red-collared mountain babblers calling up high in a tree, we didn’t really get any views of these tricky birds. With the sun rapidly heating up the forest, the birds settled down and we didn’t really see much. Narcisse managed to lure out a Grauer’s warbler and we finally had a good view of this bird. Later I also had a nice look at Banded prinias but then shortly before starting our ascent back up to the road we met up with a small flock of Red-collared mountain babblers. My feet by now had had enough of the gumboots and were not happy. After taking some pictures of a Handsome francolin I asked Narcisse if we could push on to the road. Mist had started rolling in from the valley floor and not-so-distant thunder also urged us along. We were back at the car at 14:30 and after a heartfelt thanks and goodbye to Narcisse, we turned east, back towards Huye. My birding trip in Uganda and Rwanda had now come to an end and it was time to make my way back home. On our way to Huye we had some heavy rain but we drove out of the storm to reach Huye close to 5pm. It took a few stops to ask for directions to Shalom guesthouse but when we found it, checked in without issues. There was no water (due to repairs by the town council) but at least the internet was working. For dinner we visited a local “coffee shop” where I had a decent enough pizza before spending the rest of the night listening to a children’s choir concert or something repeating the same chorus over and over and over again. It was maddening and I couldn’t understand how you could do that for three hours straight (from 9pm to midnight). Finally they quieted down and I was able to crawl under the mosquito net for some sleep.

03 May
After breakfast at 7am, I spent some time cleaning up and hoped to work through some emails but then the power went off. I worked on battery power before we left for Kigali at 09:30. Just after noon we arrived at the airport and I said goodbye to Joseph and Hamington who still had to make it to the border, another two hours away and then drive to Kampala, probably another 5-6 hours. Unfortunately I couldn't even enter the main Departures terminal before check-in time so had to sit out three hours in a coffee shop. With lunch and internet available, it wasn't so bad. The flight was on time and almost completely empty and I got home just after midnight.

In summary
I was expecting to get at least 80 new species, hoping for a hundred and had 120 in my head as a high hope. My new bird total for 2015 was 125! I got 19 of the 25 high-altitude Albertine rift endemics. My total for the year now stands at 827, just 173 to go. Mabamba swamps were OK this time and is still definitely worth a visit to pick up Shoebill and Papyrus gonolek. Semuliki is definitely worth it if you're looking for variety - this is lowland forest and links up with the Congo basin, so you'll get a number of birds here you won't find anywhere else. But it's hot and humid as you can expect and the available accommodation and food rather dismal. On hindsight, I'd have been happy with just one night here instead of two and spending the extra night then at Queen Elizabeth park to pick up some of the savannah/woodland birds. Bwindi was special. Even at Buhoma that's only at about 1500m, the air is cooler and more pleasant and you're surrounded by Afromontane forest. The birding here was the best I had on the entire trip and I would gladly return here in future. Unfortunately, the accommodation prices are rather shocking so make sure you shop around before picking something. Nyungwe was good too and definitely warrants an extra night or two to visit areas around Lake Kivu. My guide, Joseph Mugerwa, based in Kampala, did an excellent job of arranging all the accommodations, food, birding guides and driving always carefully and with great skill, on sometimes rather terrible roads. He also handled the issues we had (like at Gisakura Guesthouse) quickly and efficiently and I would highly recommend him to anyone planning birding tours in the area.

Tips

• In the Albertine rift, in rainy season, it rains twice a day, every day. Luckily it's mostly thunderstorms so the rains stop after an hour or three and there always seems to be enough birding time every day. But never leave a rain jacket behind. And get a pair of decent gumboots. They rent them out around the place but it's better to get your own that fit properly because you'll be spending a lot of time in it.
• Unless you're desperate to pick up lowland forest species, I wouldn't spend more than one night at Semuliki. The birding there is reasonably good but if you want to find all the endemics here, you'll need to stay a week (and still may not get half of them) in very unpleasant accommodation and even worse food. Rather pay a quick visit, spend one night and have most of two days to bird the area properly and then head back to Fort Portal on the way to Bwindi.
• Bwindi and Nyungwe warrants longer stays. Despite the rains, birding at these higher altitudes are much more pleasant and the accommodation and food (at least in Bwindi) are much better (and more expensive obviously). At Nyungwe, try the expensive Nyungwe Forest Lodge or some other places I've seen on the internet, but please, at all costs, avoid Gisakura Guesthouse.