Budongo & the Royal Mile

Forest birding at its finest, plus the Nile delta

Days in the field

$2,150

From, per person sharing

2 – 6 guests

Group size

Year round; African Pitta best November to April

When to travel

The trip

What this safari is

Budongo is a mahogany forest older than any nation that has governed it, and the Royal Mile — a straight, wide, cathedral-quiet track cut through mature canopy — is the reason birders fly to Uganda. Add Murchison Falls and the Albert Nile delta, and this trip covers forest, savanna and river in six days without ever feeling rushed.

Highlights

Two full mornings on the Royal Mile, Budongo
Black Bee-eater, Chocolate-backed Kingfisher and Ituri Batis
Boat launch to the base of Murchison Falls
The Albert Nile delta, where Shoebills stalk the papyrus fringe
Great Blue Turaco — the bird on our logo — in its own forest

Day by day

The itinerary

Timings shift with weather and with what the birds are doing. Your guide will tell you the night before.

North out of Kampala through the tea and sugar country, stopping wherever the roadside repays it. We reach Masindi by mid-afternoon, leaving an easy first evening to walk the hotel grounds and settle in before the forest starts early tomorrow.

Grey Crowned Crane Black-headed Weaver Long-crested Eagle Grey Kestrel

You are on the track at 06:30, when the forest is loudest and coolest. The Royal Mile is flat, wide and shaded, which means you can watch canopy birds without the usual neck-breaking scramble. Mixed feeding parties move through in waves and the trick is to stand still and let them come to you. Chocolate-backed Kingfisher calls from deep cover, and the Black Bee-eater — small, dark, with that startling blue belly — hunts from bare snags at the edges.

Black Bee-eater Chocolate-backed Kingfisher Ituri Batis Yellow-crested Woodpecker Forest Robin Blue-breasted Kingfisher

A different face of the same forest. Busingiro's trails run through regenerating growth and clearings, which suits a different cast of birds entirely — and gives us our best odds on Nahan's Francolin, a Budongo speciality that walks the leaf litter and is heard far more often than seen. Chimpanzees are frequently encountered here; we watch, we do not follow.

Nahan's Francolin Great Blue Turaco African Crowned Eagle Chestnut-capped Flycatcher White-thighed Hornbill

We cross into the park and the habitat changes underfoot — borassus palm savanna, open grassland, and the Nile cutting through it. An afternoon game drive brings the savanna species and, if the light holds, our first Abyssinian Ground Hornbills stalking the grass like small dinosaurs.

Abyssinian Ground Hornbill Black-headed Lapwing Silverbird Red-throated Bee-eater Denham's Bustard

The best morning of the trip for many guests. A boat downriver into the delta, where the Nile spreads into papyrus channels and sandbars before it meets Lake Albert — and where Murchison's own Shoebills hunt. Rock Pratincoles work the exposed rocks, Goliath Herons stand in the shallows, and hippo and elephant come down to drink while you watch. Afternoon at the top of the falls, where the entire Nile forces through a seven-metre gap.

Shoebill Rock Pratincole Goliath Heron African Skimmer Red-throated Bee-eater African Fish Eagle

A last unhurried drive out of the park, birding the roadside as we go, and south through Karuma. We aim to have you at Entebbe in good time for an evening flight, or at a lake-shore hotel if you are staying on.

Grey Crowned Crane Piapiac White-browed Sparrow-Weaver Marabou Stork

What is included